Why we shouldn’t destroy Al QaedaAs tempting as it is to pull the trigger on the world’s most notorious terrorist network, keeping Al Qaeda intact may be in the world’s best interests: by funnelling extremists into one “social network”, it’s easier to spot, track and contain them.
Anti-terrorism
The FBI’s 400,000-strong terrorist watch list
Recently released FBI data shows 1600 new names are nominated every day for the agency’s terrorist watch list, which contains more than 400,000 unique names and over a million entries.
Airport security madness could get a whole lot crazier
So you think airport security screening is bad now? asks Ben Sandilands: a new report about terrorists smuggling bombs in their anal cavities (no, really) could see cabin-security fever reach new levels.
Read the full CIA torture report
Read the full 2004 inspector general’s report that has revealed shocking allegations of CIA interrogators using techniques such as “mock executions”, and threatening to kill and rape terror suspects’ family members to get them talking.
CIA hired Blackwater for Al Qaeda hitsquad
The CIA ‘death squad’ plot thickens: the intelligence agency reportedly hired outside security contractor Blackwater — recently marred by allegations of murder, gun-running and child prostitution — to help with its plan to assassinate key members of Al Qaeda.
Guy Rundle: McClelland’s new terror bill is soft totalitarian nonsense
Robert McClelland’s new terror bill is based on the notion that people are simply psychological crash-test dummies, rather than robust and resilient citizens in a free society.
At last, an Australian terrorism law watchdog
The Rudd government’s new office to review the impact of anti-terrorism laws, the National Security Legislation Monitor, may sound pedestrian — but its role couldn’t be more important, write Andrew Lynch and Nicola McGarrity.
Bush lawyer: Why we endorsed warrantless wiretaps
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, former Bush-administration lawyer John Yoo defends the former President’s warrantless wiretapping program instituted after the September 11.
