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Classified U.S. government information was found in the cells of high-value detainees at the Guantanamo Bay military prison that houses the world’s most dangerous terrorists, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Constitutional defender and appellate attorney David Rivkin debates Vincent Warren of the Center for Constitutional Rights on the tenth anniversary of Guantanamo, how the U.S. treats its terror suspects, the U.S. Justice paradigm, and current legislation. "For the first time Congress has explicitly put its stamp of approval on what here to for has been done either based upon indirect congressional support and authorization to use military force, executive branch practices and judicial decisions." - David Rivkin on not seeing the legislation as "new."

British spies will be cleared in a number of cases of alleged complicity in the torture of detainees abroad, the BBC understands. Scotland Yard and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) are to issue a joint statement on Thursday. It follows an investigation into the conduct of officers from MI5 and MI6. Although it is expected that no charges will be brought in some cases it is understood the statement will contain other significant information. The BBC's home affairs correspondent, Danny Shaw says the fact that the statement has been prepared by the DPP, together with Scotland Yard, is highly...

Washington Post opinion writer Marc A. Theissen has published a list of the Taliban leaders President Obama is reportedly planning to release from Guantanamo Bay detention center — and their wrap sheets just might (or not) shock you. The Obama administration is allegedly considering the release of these senior Taliban leaders as part of a deal to bring the militant Islamist group to engage in peace talks. According to Theissen, if Obama does in fact proceed with the release, he will do “tremendous harm” to U.S. national security “and to his prospects for reelection this fall.” Theissen writes: To understand...

The United States has reportedly released three high-ranking Taliban leaders from Guantanamo Bay Prison in return for an American soldier held by the militant group. The move is also considered as a big concession by Washington to persuade the Taliban to the negotiating table. The three senior Taliban leaders are reportedly on their way to Qatar despite strong opposition from Afghanistan. According to media reports, the released prisoners include Mullah Khair Khowa, a former interior minister, Noorullah Noori, a former governor in northern Afghanistan and maybe Mullah Fazl Akhund, a Taliban Army Chief of Staff. Kabul says the prisoners must...

It is as if the USA surrendered in installments and the caliph has been installed in the Oval office. Imagine reading the following on September 12, 2011. We would have stormed the capital. The Obama administration is set to release Taliban leaders with operational ties to Al Qaeda from Gitmo, even before the heinous Taliban has agreed to come to the table for "peace talks". The war criminals set for release are hardcore jihadist leaders who fought on the fields of Islamic imperialism and killed US and coalition troops. These Muslim leaders would return to the battlefield and serve to...

The Obama administration has agreed to release Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for the Taliban opening an office in Qatar to engage in peace talks. A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, announced on Tuesday morning that the insurgent leadership had reached an agreement with the Qatar government and other “relevant parties” about the opening of the office but did not say when it would happen. Secret discussions between American and Taliban officials have been under way for months about taking confidence-building measures including the establishment of a political office outside the immediate region and the release of Taliban prisoners.

The US has agreed in principle to release high-ranking Taliban officials from Guantánamo Bay in return for the Afghan insurgents' agreement to open a political office for peace negotiations in Qatar, the Guardian has learned. According to sources familiar with the talks in the US and in Afghanistan, the handful of Taliban figures will include Mullah Khair Khowa, a former interior minister, and Noorullah Noori, a former governor in northern Afghanistan. More controversially, the Taliban are demanding the release of the former army commander Mullah Fazl Akhund. Washington is reported to be considering formally handing him over to the custody...

Per Fox, Obama is considering ordering the release of top terrorist Fasal being held at Gitmo "to facilitate the peace process" in Afghanistan. Fasal is known to be responsible for the murder of hundreds of Afghanis and is a proclaimed Al Quadda leader.

*snip* As part of the accelerating, high-stakes diplomacy, Reuters has learned, the United States is considering the transfer of an unspecified number of Taliban prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay military prison into Afghan government custody. It has asked representatives of the Taliban to match that confidence-building measure with some of their own. Those could include a denunciation of international terrorism and a public willingness to enter formal political talks with the government headed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The officials acknowledged that the Afghanistan diplomacy, which has reached a delicate stage in recent weeks, remains a long shot. Among the...

We either kill them or we don’t, you can’t negotiate with these animals. (Reuters) — After 10 months of secret dialogue with Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents, senior U.S. officials say the talks have reached a critical juncture and they will soon know whether a breakthrough is possible, leading to peace talks whose ultimate goal is to end the Afghan war. As part of the accelerating, high-stakes diplomacy, Reuters has learned, the United States is considering the transfer of an unspecified number of Taliban prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay military prison into Afghan government custody. It has asked representatives of the Taliban...

As our involvement in Iraq has wound down, a few loose ends remained. The most important was the status of Ali Mussa Daqduq. Daqduq is a Hezbollah operative, apparently directed by Iran, who was responsible for the capture, torture and murder of five American servicemen. Under the status of forces agreement, he was to be turned over to Iraqi authorities, and could only be removed from that country with the permission of its government. A number of conservative activists and politicians campaigned to retain custody of Daqduq and bring him to Guantanamo Bay or another suitable venue for trial. A...

President Barack Obama faced a civil liberties backlash today after he signed a law that will allow terror suspects to be held indefinitely- even raising the prospects of U.S. citizens being sent to Guantanamo Bay. The controversial move, revealed last night, effectively extends the laws of the battlefield to American soil. The move shows a clear hardening of Mr Obama’s anti-terror policies, and a major shift from the liberal stance that helped him sweep into power three years ago.

Barack Obama has abandoned a commitment to veto a new security law that allows the military to indefinitely detain without trial American terrorism suspects arrested on US soil who could then be shipped to Guantánamo Bay. Human rights groups accused the president of deserting his principles and disregarding the long-established principle that the military is not used in domestic policing. The legislation has also been strongly criticised by libertarians on the right angered at the stripping of individual rights for the duration of "a war that appears to have no end". The law, contained in the defence authorisation bill that...

This is a critical step over the ‘stuck on stupid’ line to the traitorous and treasonous line by our Senate this week. They voted for our Military to detain American citizens as long as they want to, without charges, representation or trial……just because they are suspected of being a terrorist. Americans could be gathered up and placed at GITMO for a ‘mystery’ terrorist reason decided by the military front and directed by Obama or any other power hungry President. It is all kosher and approved by the Senate and President now. Naturally, Obama is threatening a veto, of course that...

The Arizona lawmaker—who was tortured himself while a prisoner of war in Vietnam — said the controversial practice was both illegal and ineffective. BY ALIYAH SHAHID Republican Sen. John McCain is ripping presidential candidates in his party who insist waterboarding is an effective technique for interrogating suspected terrorists. The Arizona lawmaker—who was tortured himself while a prisoner of war in Vietnam — said the controversial practice was both illegal and ineffective on Monday evening. “Very disappointed by statements at SC GOP debate supporting waterboarding,” he tweeted. “Waterboarding is torture.” McCain, who ran for President in 2008, elaborated on CNN later,...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Tuesday that he does not believe that the detention center at Guantanamo Bay will close because the Obama administration has not found better options for holding enemy combatants. “I have tried to be as supportive as I know how to be in creating flexibility for the executive branch and not micromanage the war,” Graham told Attorney General Eric Holder, who was testifying at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

In October of 2000, the Navy suffered a tremendous blow in the USS Cole attack. To this day, it greatly affects the way we execute force-protection. One of the ringleaders of the assault is finally facing a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay. As a former Gitmo Sailor, I wholeheartedly endorse the tribunal process as a vehicle to prosecute enemy combatants. It truly is the best option, after we extract the intel they carry:

Via Greg Hengler and Guy Benson, if this answer doesn’t destroy him, nothing will. I get the sense watching it that he’s so unsure of how to answer this exceedingly easy question that he defaults to Netanyahu’s position on the assumption that prisoner swaps must always be the wise, statesmanlike, conservative thing to do. The alternative, that he knows what he’s talking about yet is still sincerely inclined to release the guy who planned 9/11 plus dozens upon dozens of other jihadi fanatics in exchange for one G.I., is even worse. I’d bet 95 percent of people asked on the...

Afghan security police officers stand guard in front of the Pul-e Charkhi prison's gate in Kabul. Photograph: Musadeq Sadeq/AP WaPo: KABUL— Afghan officials used torture while investigating suspected militants kept in some detention centers, the United Nations said in a report Monday, weeks after NATO troops halted the transfer of prisoners to Afghan authorities because of alleged mistreatment of the inmates. The report found that detainees endured treatment that amounted to torture in 47 detention facilities, run by Afghan police and intelligence service, in 24 of the country’s 34 provinces. The 74-page report raised particular concerns about detention centers run...