The Environment and the Laws of War

The Iraq invasion of Kuwait and the resulting environmental carnage caused by the burning of oil wells and the fouling of Gulf waters have heightened international concern for the adverse environmental effects of armed conflict. The questions which arise relate to the sufficiency of the existing legal regime intended to protect the environment, and to parallel concern that more extensive strictures could restrict legitimize defensive military operations under the law of armed conflict. This paper examines these issues, and concludes that the current framework of relevant international law, when understood and applied, protects both the environment and the broader interests represented in the law of armed conflic

Torture and the Interrogation of Detainees

Following the September 11, 2001, attack on the United States by al Qaeda, the United States captured a number of high value detainees who were believed to have knowledge of imminent terrorist threats against our nation and its allies. CIA operatives, who understood that the use of torture is unlawful under both international and domestic law, and above all, is abhorrent to American values, interrogated the high value detainees. The United States rejects torture as a means to garner information - a fact reflected in our domestic criminal law, but also by the country\u27s signature on the United Nations Convention Against Torture

Torture and the Interrogation of Detainees

Following the September 11, 2001, attack on the United States by al Qaeda, the United States captured a number of high value detainees who were believed to have knowledge of imminent terrorist threats against our nation and its allies. CIA operatives, who understood that the use of torture is unlawful under both international and domestic law, and above all, is abhorrent to American values, interrogated the high value detainees. The United States rejects torture as a means to garner information - a fact reflected in our domestic criminal law, but also by the country\u27s signature on the United Nations Convention Against Torture

Law in Support of Policy in Panama

Operation Just Cause, the December 1989 military intervention in Panama by the United States to restore order, protect U.S. lives, and ensure the integrity of the Panama Canal Treaty, was the fifth such incursion into that nation by the United States in this century

Crisis and Command: A History of Executive Power from George Washington to George W. Bush

John Yoo’s most recent book is far more than a defense of the George W. Bush administration, which he served, as some of his many critics may find it. In fact, Crisis and Command is a carefully documented study of the exercise of presidential power from George Washington to President Obama. This is the last book in a trilogy by Yoo, the first two being The Powers of War and Peace (2005), which explains the founders’ original understanding of the foreign affairs power within the Constitution, and War by Other Means (2006), which discusses the law and logic behind the Bush administration’s counterterrorism policies