Today's Headlines and Commentary

Not a whole lot going today. I guess all the drones, detainees, and terrorists were busy yesterday following the Iowa caucuses. A few items worth mentioning, though. Yesterday, Iran warned a U.S. aircraft carrier to stay out of the Persian gulf, but the DOD is not listening. Read Thomas Erdbrink's article at the Washington Post here, and the Associated Press's story here (courtesy of the Politico). Daphne Eviatar of Human Rights First opines in the Huffington Post on President Obama's NDAA signing statement, discussing his comments on detaining U.S. citizens and the detainee status review mandated by the law, and giving a brief comparison between candidate Obama and President Obama on the use of signing statements:

Back when he was a candidate, then-Senator Obama criticized President George W. Bush for his frequent reliance on signing statements to circumvent Congressional intent: "[I]t is a clear abuse of power to use such statements as a license to evade laws that the president does not like or as an end-run around provisions designed to foster accountability. I will not use signing statements to nullify or undermine congressional instructions as enacted into law." What a difference executive power makes.

While Eviatar takes Obama's promise to ignore some provisions in the NDAA at his word, Andrew Cohen at The Atlantic is not so sure. It's official: the Taliban are opening a political office in Qatar, taking another step forward in getting to direct negotiations with coalition forces in Afghanistan (although it's unclear whether this signals a shift toward peace or just to hasten NATO's withdrawal). Matthew Rosenberg at the New York Times has the story here. Colum Lynch over at Foreign Policy's Turtle Bay blog ponders why the U.N. hasn't commented on the U.S. use of drones in war. Lynch reports on his interview with Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. Secretary General, on this topic:

"I don't have much to say about all this, what kind of means the member states use," Ban answered. "This is something which national governments, military authorities, they may decide." Ban said that while he hoped these nations act within the bounds of "international regulations and understandings" he realizes that "with the rapid development of technology, many countries develop their own military means of getting, collecting information. Other than that, I do not have comments on this matter." Ban's reluctance to address the drone policy stands in contrast to his predecessor Kofi Annan's criticism of other controversial aspects of the U.S. led war on terror, particularly its detention and rendition policies.

The London School of Economics's Fawaz Gerges walks step-by-step to debunk myths about Al Qaeda in the Huffington Post. 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 as well as the Fordham Law Center on National Security’s Morning Brief. Feel free to email me noteworthy articles we may have missed at wakeman.lawfare@gmail.com.