Today's Headlines and Commentary

According to Noah Rosenberg of the New York Times, Viktor Bout, a high-profile Russian terrorist who became known as the "Merchant of Death," was found guilty in NY federal district court of a raft of crimes Rosenberg describes as follows:

conspiring to kill American citizens, officers and employees by agreeing to sell weapons to drug enforcement informants who he believed were members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a terrorist organization known as FARC. He was also found guilty of conspiring to acquire and export surface-to-air antiaircraft missiles, and of conspiring to provide material support or resources in the form of weapons to a foreign terrorist organization.

From Russia to Georgia--though not the Georgia of the Caucusus--Joby Warrick of the Washington Post and Kim Severson and Robbie Brown of the Times have more on another terrorist plot, this one involving the four Georgia men accused of conspiring to blow up government buildings and kill thousands with the biological toxin ricin. The Department of Justice refuses to confirm that the Office of Legal Counsel memo on Anwar al-Aulaqi's targeting exists in this letter responding to Times reporter Charlie Savage's Freedom of Information Act request for it. Fewer than two months before U.S. troops leave Iraq, the U.S. government is seeking custody of its highest-profile detainee there, a Hezbollah operative by the name of Ali Mussa Daqduq, report Phil Stewart and Suadad al-Salhy of Reuters. If the Iraqis agree, as Bobby has written about here and here and here, the government will face a real can of worms of where to hold and try him. Bobby is quoted in the piece. Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, the Associated Press informs us that the Obama administration is considering moving to an advisory role even sooner than previously thought--as early as next year. This trial balloon comes on the heels of yet another violent attack in Kabul, says Tarek el-Tablawy, also of the AP. In other Afghanistan news, twelve countries in the region have adopted a strategy known as the Istanbul Protocol to "rebuild security and stability in and around Afghanistan," reports Sebnem Arsu of the Times. Andrew Cockburn argues in a Los Angeles Times op-ed that targeted killing, which he calls "taxpayer-funded assaasinations," are ineffective. Harpers Magazine has an interview with former FBI special agent Ali Soufan on his new book, "The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda." And from the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, here is your Moment of Zen. For more interesting law and security-related articles, follow us on Twitter and visit the Georgetown Center on National Security and the Law’s Security Law Brief. Feel free to email me noteworthy articles I may have missed at singh.lawfare@gmail.com.