defense/foreign policy

681 items, displayed chronologically.

Report Cites Torture in U.S. Prison

The United States operated a secret prison in Afghanistan as recently as last year, torturing detainees by chaining them to walls and forcing them to listen to loud music in total darkness for days, a human rights group alleged in a report released today.[...] "They were chained to walls, deprived of food and drinking water, and kept in total darkness with loud rap, heavy metal music, or other sounds blared for weeks," the report said. "Some detainees said they were shackled in a manner that made it impossible to lie down or sleep."

Pentagon to Seek $100 Billion More for War Costs

The Pentagon is in the early stages of drafting a request for up to $100 billion more for military costs in Iraq and Afghanistan, lawmakers say, a figure that would push spending related to the wars toward half a trillion dollars.

Pentagon rolls out stealth PR

A $300 million Pentagon psychological warfare operation includes plans for placing pro-American messages in foreign media outlets without disclosing the U.S. government as the source, one of the military officials in charge of the program says.

ROGUE STATE: Investigator Sees Signs of CIA Role in Abductions

A European investigator said Tuesday that information he has gathered suggests U.S. intelligence operatives have abducted and transferred terrorism suspects in Europe "without respect for any legal standards" and that he has formally asked Poland and Romania whether the CIA operated secret prisons on their soil.

U.S. officials push to include former Baathists in Iraqi election

In a reversal of policy, U.S. officials in Iraq are encouraging some former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party to run in Thursday's election, saying it's one way to bring marginalized Sunni Muslims into the new government.

U.N. Official Faults U.S. Detentions

The U.S.-led fight against terrorism is eroding the time-honored international prohibition of torture and other forms of cruel or degrading treatment of prisoners, the top U.N. human rights official said Wednesday in a statement commemorating Human Rights Day.

Cruel treatment banned everywhere, Rice says, signaling policy shift

In what appears to be a major shift in U.S. policy on detainees, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that U.S. forces operating overseas are prohibited from mistreating suspected terrorists.

Rice Fails to Clarify U.S. View on Torture

Rice's latest comments left much unclear. She did not try to define banned prisoner interrogation measures or specify what, in the American view, constitutes cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment. She also did not address restrictions imposed by the torture convention on U.S. security contractors.

CIA Director Defends Detention Policy

CIA Director Porter J. Goss defended the agency's "debriefings" of terrorist suspects, saying in an interview broadcast today that they yield "good results" but do not involve torture.

Cheney accused on prisoner abuse

A top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell has launched a stinging attack on US Vice-President Dick Cheney over abuse of prisoners by US troops.

EU states warned over CIA prisons

The European Union’s top justice official on Monday warned that any member state that housed secret US Central Intelligence Agency prisons faced losing its EU voting rights.

US Military Admits It Burned Bodies

The U.S. military admitted on Saturday that its soldiers in Afghanistan had burned the bodies of two dead Taliban guerrillas and taunted insurgents about it, but had not meant it as a desecration. [...] "You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing west and burned. You are too scared to retrieve their bodies. This just proves you are the lady boys we always believed you to be," read one soldier identified as psyops specialist Sgt. Jim Baker.

US reveals blueprint for Iraq pullout

The White House has announced its plans to withdraw from Iraq, saying that a blueprint advocated last week by a Democratic senator was "remarkably similar" to its own.

Washington elite bring Chalabi in from the cold

Ahmed Chalabi comes in from the cold today, arriving in Washington to meet senior Bush administration officials for the first time in two years - despite lingering allegations that the Iraqi politician provided bogus pre-war intelligence, and a continuing investigation into whether he passed US secrets to Iran.

Chalabi offers the White House an exit route from Iraqi quagmire

But Ahmad Chalabi should never be counted out. Once again he has manoeuvred himself into a position where Washington cannot ignore him. The FBI investigation into the alleged intelligence leak has been put on a back-burner, and Mr Chalabi himself has not yet even been questioned. Instead he arrives in Washington seemingly as influential as ever.

Bush administration's torture policy increasingly under fire

With Vice President Dick Cheney in the lead, the White House has fought a vigorous campaign - much of it behind the scenes - to reject limits on how to treat prisoners who might have information on terrorist plots. But a growing number of lawmakers, both moderate Republicans and Democrats, argue that abuse of prisoners is immoral, has devastated the United States' image and ability to project its values overseas, and would endanger captured American soldiers or civilians.

Questions about Chalabi pose dilemma for Bush administration

When Iraq's controversial deputy prime minister, Ahmad Chalabi, arrives in Washington on Tuesday for an eight-day visit, he'll bring a lot of baggage and a tough question for the Bush administration: Is Chalabi with us or against us?

Cheney Fights for Detainee Policy

Over the past year, Vice President Cheney has waged an intense and largely unpublicized campaign to stop Congress, the Pentagon and the State Department from imposing more restrictive rules on the handling of terrorist suspects, according to defense, state, intelligence and congressional officials.

Delays Hurting U.S. Rebuilding in Afghanistan

The U.S. has spent $1.3 billion on reconstruction, but Afghans say they see a wasteful, slow-moving effort.

Policies on Terrorism Suspects Come Under Fire

The Bush administration's policies for holding and detaining suspected terrorists came under sharp scrutiny and criticism yesterday after disclosure that the CIA had set up covert prisons in several Eastern European democracies and other countries.

Europe to investigate reports of secret CIA jails

The European Commission said Thursday it will investigate reports that the CIA set up secret jails in eastern Europe.

US 'had no policy' in place to rebuild Iraq

The US government had “no comprehensive policy or regulatory guidelines” in place for staffing the management of postwar Iraq, according to the top government watchdog overseeing the country’s reconstruction.

Despite Warnings, U.S. Leans on Syria

The Bush administration has embarked on an effort to build strong international pressure on Syria despite warnings from some Arab lead

CIA Leak Linked to Dispute Over Iraq Policy

As the investigation into the leak reaches its expected climax this week with the expiration of the grand jury's term, the internal disputes have been further amplified by a recent string of speeches and interviews criticizing the administration's handling of Iraq, including by former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, the former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and State Department diplomats, and other officials involved in the early efforts to stabilize Iraq.

Iraq war forces Western military rethink says IISS

Western military powers are being forced to rethink strategy because conflict in Iraq has shown the limits of their conventional armies, the International Institute of Strategic Studies said on Thursday.

Think tank: U.S. likely to stay in Iraq after Bush's term

Continuing violence and instability are likely to force President Bush's successor to keep large numbers of troops in Iraq, despite the recent passage of the Iraqi constitution in a referendum and other political progress, a leading military think thank said Tuesday.

White House Seeks Exception in Abuse Ban

Stepping up a confrontation with the Senate over the handling of detainees, the White House is insisting that the Central Intelligence Agency be exempted from a proposed ban on abusive treatment of suspected Qaeda militants and other terrorists.

'Cheney cabal hijacked US foreign policy'

Vice-President Dick Cheney and a handful of others had hijacked the government's foreign policy apparatus, deciding in secret to carry out policies that had left the US weaker and more isolated in the world, the top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell claimed on Wednesday.

Billions of dollars short, U.S. must scale back Iraq reconstruction

The Bush administration cannot fulfill all its grand promises to rebuild Iraq because soaring security costs, mismanagement and poor planning have cost billons of dollars, federal auditors said Tuesday. [...] In one case, security costs for a U.S. Agency for International Development program on economic reform increased from $894,000 to $37 million, an auditor told Congress.

Administration's Tone Signals a Longer, Broader Iraq Conflict

Senior officials say the intelligence reports flowing over their desks in recent months argue that even if democratic institutions take hold, the insurgency may strengthen. And that possibility has created a quandary for an administration that desperately wants to equate democracy-building with winning the war, but so far has not been able to match the two.