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Attorneys say clients have religious rights afforded by same law cited by SCOTUS in controversial Hobby Lobby ruling.Lawyers for two Guantanamo Bay detainees have filed motions asking a U.S. court to block officials from preventing the inmates from taking part in communal prayers during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The lawyers argue that – in light of the Supreme Court’s recent Hobby Lobby decision – the detainees’ rights are protected under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The motions were filed this week with the Washington D.C. district court on behalf of Emad Hassan of Yemen and Ahmed Rabbani...

WASHINGTON — Lawyers for six low-level detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, whom Uruguay has offered to resettle sent a letter to the Obama administration on Thursday urging it to act on the deal, which has been awaiting the signature of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel since March. In addition, a military judge overseeing the war-crimes tribunal against a high-level detainee issued an order this week that generated a new dispute over military commission rules. The order relates to how much classified information about C.I.A. interrogations must be turned over to defense lawyers. Together, the developments reflect the legal, policy and political...

Sgt Bowe Bergdahl spoke English for 23 years until he was captured by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan five years ago. But since his release, he has trouble speaking it, says his father. How can you lose your native language, asks Taylor Kate Brown. Some people have gone decades without speaking or hearing their first language but they retain the ability to speak it easily, says Dr Monika Schmid, a linguistics professor at the University of Essex in the UK. But others begin losing fluency within a few years of not speaking it. It's rare to totally lose command of a...

U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who spent five years as a Taliban prisoner of war before being released last month, has been discharged from a military hospital in Texas and will continue treatment as an outpatient, the Army said Sunday. Bergdahl was transferred from Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, to the nearby Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, said Army spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Carol McClelland. "It’s a sign of progression, showing he's no longer a patient of a hospital," McClelland said. Bergdahl's next phase of recovery, during which he'll continue to get medical care and undergo psychological...

In a story unlikely to receive attention from the mainstream media in the United States, a former Guantanamo Bay captive has been arrested in Spain for operating what authorities there say is a sophisticated jihadist recruitment network. Spanish media is reporting that the one-time Gitmo prisoner is a 46-year-old Moroccan named Lahcen Ikassrien, who heads an Islamic cell that recruits fighters for the Syrian and Iraqi-based terror group known as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Ikassrien and seven others were arrested in Madrid recently as part of a dozen raids on terrorism cells in the Spanish capital,...

For the first time since being freed by the Taliban in a covert and hasty exchange, US Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is being exposed Tuesday to limited media and made aware of the swirling controversy surrounding his release. Bergdahl, his freedom brokered by the Obama administration in exchange for five top Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay military prison (Gitmo), now faces a formal military investigation into his disappearance in Afghanistan. "He is gradually being provided media coverage about him," US Army Colonel Hans Bush, reintegration mission spokesman, said in a brief statement. Republican leaders are referring to the exchange as...

The U.S. military has captured a man believed to be one of the ringleaders of the deadly attacks on the American diplomatic compound and a CIA base in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012, officials said Tuesday.

President Obama delivered brief comments today on the capture of a man suspected to be involved in the 2012 attack on the Benghazi consulate. The president said the capture sends a clear message to the world that whenever an American is attacked, “no matter how long it takes, we will find those responsible and we will bring them to justice.” Yesterday U.S. special forces captured Ahmed Abu Khattala in a surprise raid. Khattala had previously denied in a number of interviews he gave that he had any direct involvement in the Benghazi attack. In his comments today, Obama praised the...

Earlier in the State Department briefing, AP reporter Matt Lee pointed out that Ahmed Abu Khattala was not in hiding as Bin Laden was for so many years, and basically asked why it took so long to capture him, especially when he did several news interviews. Lee got little in response to his question from State Dept. spokeswoman Jen Psaki, other than there were a ‘range of factors’ that led to Khattala being captured on Sunday and her reasoning that terrorists would gladly meet with news reporters to get their message out but wouldn’t likely meet with US Special forces...

A Libyan militant suspected in the deadly Sept. 11, 2012, attack on Americans in Benghazi has been captured and is in U.S. custody, marking the first U.S. apprehension of an alleged perpetrator in the assault that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. President Barack Obama said Ahmed Abu Khattala, a senior leader of the Benghazi branch of the terror group Ansar al-Shariah in Libya, will "now face the full weight of the American justice system." "The fact that he is now in U.S. custody is a testament to the painstaking efforts of our military, law enforcement, and...

When Barack Obama made the Bergdahl trade, an obvious breach of U.S. policy to not negotiate with terrorists, many around the country were outraged. The anger has continued to build as information about the rescued Army Sargent has surfaced indicating that he deserted his post and may have been working with the enemy to kill American troops. These actions, coupled with the VA scandal and Benghazi cover up, all which point back to the president, have led some to believe that impeaching the Obama isn’t going to be enough. Many in Congress and across the nation believe the president should...

Ahmed Abu Khatallah, the captured suspect considered to be a “key figure” in the Benghazi, Libya, attack, will not be sent to Guantanamo, White House officials insisted today. “Abu Khatallah is currently in U.S. custody in a secure location outside the United States, and en route to the United States to face the charges against him,” National Security Council spokesperson Caitlin Hayden said in a statement today. “Some have suggested that he should go to [Guantanamo Bay]. Let me rule that out from the start. The Administration’s policy is clear on this issue: we have not added a single person...

Remember last week when Hillary Clinton said about the Taliban 5: “These five guys are not a threat to the United States. They are a threat to the safety and security of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It’s up to those two countries to make the decision once and for all that these are threats to them. So I think we may be kind of missing the bigger picture here.” No ma’am, you are missing the bigger picture here and are therefore not qualified to be president of the United States. We’ve already had a failed “first of” Democrat presidential experiment. These...

As the political firestorm concerning Sergeant Bowe Berghdahl continues, I am hearing people state as fact that enlistment standards dropped far too low after 9/11, allowing either hardened criminals or, as they claim in Bergdahl's case, men with serious mental issues into the Army. It is a recurring notion that I've read often, and it is an idea that, I believe, is a red herring hiding a profounder and harder reality. After commanding an intelligence company in Iraq in 2003 and 2004, I volunteered for recruiting duty to, hopefully, spend more time with my family. I had no idea what...

The Army has initiated its investigation into the facts and circumstances surrounding the disappearance and capture of Sgt. Bowe R. Bergdahl from Combat Outpost Mest-Lalak in Paktika Province, Afghanistan on or about June 30, 2009. The Army has appointed as the investigating officer Maj. Gen. Kenneth R. Dahl, an Army officer with Afghanistan combat experience. The primary function of this investigation, as in any other investigation, is to ascertain facts and report them to the appointing authority. These types of investigations are not uncommon and serve to establish the facts on the ground following an incident. The investigating officer will...

A two-star U.S. Army general will begin investigating this week how and why Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl left his base in Afghanistan, resulting in his capture, a senior defense official said. Bergdahl spent five years in captivity until his release May 31, in exchange for five Taliban figures being held at a U.S. military detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Bergdahl, 28, returned to the United States -- specifically to an Army medical facility in San Antonio, Texas -- early Friday. Though the investigation begins this week, it's not known when the sergeant will undergo formal questioning. The senior defense...

Deadline reports there are a pair of films in development centering on recently released Taliban POW Bowe Bergdahl, one with The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty duo Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal and another from Todd Field (Little Children) directing based on the "Rolling Stone" article "America's Last Prisoner of War" written by the late Michael Hastings. The film with Field attached is set up at Fox Searchlight while the other is being set up at Boal's Megan Ellison-supported production house Page One, giving Ellison's Annapurna a first look at Boal's screenplay once completed. That said, it sounds to...

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Editor: As our dear voluntary soldier Bowe Bergdahl returns to us, let's rejoice with his family. If he chose to walk away in Afghanistan instead of committing suicide, we rejoice. His message reaches us here at home: American soldiers are objecting to multiple deployments and multiple injuries. Those who commit suicide are sending an unheeded message. America's problem at this moment is not judgment of a soldier who has served 5 years imprisonment by terrorists. Let us instead discern what must be done about detainees at Gitmo. Instead of trading them to terrorists, NATO must step up. The 27 other...

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