Watching the Shadows
Judge dismisses Yemen drone strike lawsuit
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought against Obama administration officials for the 2011 drone strikes that killed three US citizens in Yemen.
Tag: Yemen
Greater Middle East
Yemen: autonomy or separatism?
A presidential panel in Yemen released a plan to transform the country into a "federal state of six regions"—rejected by southern separatists as insufficient.
Greater Middle East
Yemen: war comes to capital
A suicide attack on the defense ministry thrust Yemen briefly into the news—as an invisible sectarian war rages across much of the countryside.
Greater Middle East
Syria war portends Middle East ‘balkanization’?
Elements of Washington wonkdom are calling for the break-up of Syria into ethno-sectarian mini-states, and see the separatist contagion spreading to the rest of the Middle East.
Greater Middle East
Yemen: US terror alert enflaming conflict?
The closing of the US embassy in Yemen has coinicided with drone strikes and clashes in Marib province, and a gun-battle between rival factions in the capital Sanaa.
Greater Middle East
Yemeni pro-democracy leader barred from Egypt
Egypt banned Yemeni activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkol Karman from entering the country for “security reasons”—to protest from the Muslim Brotherhood.
Watching the Shadows
Obama addresses drone strikes, steps to close Gitmo
President Obama’s speech outlining plans to restrict drone strikes and renew efforts to close Guantánamo Bay did little more than reiterate existing policy.
Watching the Shadows
Barbara Lee: repeal AUMF to stop ‘perpetual war’
Rep. Barbara Lee called for the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force to be repealed, warning that the alternative could be a “state of perpetual war forever.”
Greater Middle East
Yemen: protesters press release of Gitmo detainees
Approximately 250 Yemeni demonstrators gathered in front of the US embassy in Sanna to demand the release of Yemeni detainees held at Guantánamo Bay.
Watching the Shadows
Gitmo detainee requests immediate relief
Human rights lawyers filed an emergency motion alleging that guards at Guantánamo Bay have denied drinking water and sufficient clothing to a Yemeni prisoner.
Watching the Shadows
Press was prone on drones, but cover blown
The media are abuzz with reports that the CIA has a secret drone base in Saudi Arabia—but the New York Times and Washington Post admit they sat on the information for two years.
Afghanistan
UN rights expert to investigate drone strikes
UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism Ben Emmerson announced that he will begin investigating the legality of the use of drone strikes.