ISIS
414 Articles
On the Ground with FRONTLINE in Mosul and Yemen
As I watched “The Vietnam War,” the extraordinary documentary by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, over the last few weeks, I was struck by the level of access U.S. journalists had…
What next for Raqqa?
The military battle for Raqqa city appears to be over. The Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), with support from the US-led coalition, seized the Raqqa National Hospital, one of the…
ISIS’s Vegas Claim Tells Us More about the Group Than About the Attacker
One day after the cold-blooded murder of 58 people in Las Vegas, the authorities had identified the attacker as Stephen Paddock, a 64-year-old man from Mesquite, Nevada. An isolated…
Acknowledging the Harm Done to Civilians by the U.S.-Led Coalition in Syria
Ahed is an 11 year-old Syrian girl whose life was upended on the evening of March 20 when an airstrike hit the school near Raqqa where she and her family had sought shelter. Ahed…
The Increasingly Unsettling Indifference Toward the US Citizen “Enemy Combatant”
It’s now been over three weeks since an American citizen who is being held by the United States in military detention as an “enemy combatant” after allegedly…
New UN Team Investigating ISIS Atrocities Raises Questions About Justice in Iraq and Beyond
On September 21, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) unanimously passed resolution 2379 to pursue accountability for atrocity crimes perpetrated in Iraq by the Islamic State…
France: The Dangers of Permanent Emergency Legislation
On July 18, the French Senate adopted a new law “To Strengthen Internal Security and the Fight Against Terrorism” (Projet de loi renforçant la sécurité intérieure et la…
Episode 37 of the National Security Law Podcast: Enemy Combatants, Agents of Foreign Powers
In this week’s episode, Bobby Chesney and I explore three big national security law developments from the past few days. First is that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court…
Legal Questions About the Airstrike Against the ISIS “Happy Journeys” Convoy
This week American-led airstrikes deterred the advance of a convoy carrying a group of ISIS fighters and civilians as it traveled from Lebanon to an ISIS safe-haven in Syria. The…
Bringing the AUMF Debate Back to its Constitutional Roots, and Recent History
A U.S. Army howitzer firing at Islamic State positions in Iraq in 2016. Last Friday, Rita Siemion published an insightful analysis of the Trump Administration’s first meaningful…
Rape as a Tactic of Terror: Holding the Islamic State Accountable
Earlier this year, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney spoke at the United Nations to press the global body to hold the Islamic State accountable for rape and other crimes committed…
The Resignation of George Selim and the Implications for CVE in the U.S.
George Selim, the first head of the countering violent extremism (CVE) office at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and of the federal CVE task force, resigned July 28.…