Crime Archive

The release of previously classified, Bush administration legal opinions analyzing whether “harsh” interrogation techniques would violate legal prohibitions against torture has reopened a moral and ethical debate about the U.S. response to the Sept. 11 terror attacks. It is certainly appropriate to question whether the measures adopted were consistent with the traditions of the nation, or whether they would even work. But there is no criminal charge for acting immorally, for making decisions contrary to our country’s principles or for choosing an ineffective intelligence gathering technique. At its core, then, the underlying issue that advocates for the criminal investigation and […]

President Barack Obama’s visit to Mexico today marks the culmination of a month-long binge of attention from the U.S. government. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a heavily publicized trip to the country in March, followed soon thereafter by Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Attorney General Eric Holder and a congressional delegation, who took part in a series of meetings in Mexico City on immigration and border issues. The diplomatic flurry couldn’t have come at a better time, steadying a bilateral conversation that the Obama and Bush administrations had increasingly lost control of over the last six months. U.S. […]

Up until now I have avoided addressing the issue of piracy off the coast of East Africa. I’ve done this both because it’s not a personal area of focus, and because the coverage of the issue, both in the mainstream media and the blogosphere, has been extremely heavy – arguably heavier than the issue merits. I’m not saying that the disruption of a major strategic waterway doesn’t matter. It does. Still, compared with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a global financial and economic crisis, the creeping disaster of climate change and nuclear proliferation, this is a second-tier problem getting first-tier […]

In his previous post, Matt asked readers for “less cynicism and more solutions” to the Somali pirate problem. I can’t provide that, unfortunately, but John Robb at Global Guerillas has a thought-provoking post in which he provides a sort of cynical solution while dismissing the most commonly floated strategies. Here’s what Robb concludes: The most commonly suggested solutions, patrols by conventional navies and nation-building, aren’t the answer. Both are expensive and would be futile over the longer term. The Pyrrhic solution that will eventually be adopted is a combination of A) funded militias (Somali anti-pirates that raid pirate dens) and […]

Citing national security concerns and a need to crack down on drug trafficking, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez, with the support of leading lawmakers, dispatched federal agents and security forces to take over major seaports and airstrips in four Venezuelan states last week. Chávez opponents blasted the move as a bid to tighten political control amid plunging oil prices, which have softened the OPEC nation’s economy. Three of the ports are in states governed by opposition politicians, and Chávez has suggested that anyone who interferes could face prison. The true motives of the controversial Venezuelan leader may be as varied and […]