SYRIA - Official's Crimes of War

"Syrian official faces war crime charges for overseeing brutal prison torture" PBS NewsHour 1/12/2022

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SUMMARY:  On Thursday in a German courtroom, a verdict will be rendered in the world's first trial against a high-ranking former officer in the Syrian regime for crimes against humanity.  Anwar Ruslan was in charge of interrogations in a government prison and stands accused of overseeing mass torture, rape and killing.  For Reveal and PBS NewsHour, Adithya Sambamurthy and Luna Watfa report.

TRUMP - The Betrayal

For the first time that I can remember (I'm 74) I witnessed an American President betray an ally and the American people.  In 2018 Trump promised the Kurds we would protect them if they fought ISIS as our ally.  Trump has absolutely no honer.

"As U.S. departs Syria, Kurds join Assad regime to fight a NATO ally" PBS NewsHour 10/14/2019

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SUMMARY:  In the days since the announced withdrawal of U.S. troops from northern Syria, the country’s map is being redrawn.  Both Turkey and the Russia-backed Syrian regime made territorial advances, and U.S.-partner Syrian Democratic Forces turned to Damascus for support.  As a result, an estimated 130,000 civilians have fled their homes, and imprisoned ISIS fighters have escaped.  Nick Schifrin reports.

"What Trump’s Syria withdrawal means for the Kurds, Russia and American allies" PBS NewsHour 10/14/2019

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SUMMARY:  President Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. forces from northern Syria has profound implications for stability both within Syria and throughout the Middle East.  Nick Schifrin talks to the University of Oklahoma’s Joshua Landis and career diplomat Ted Kattouf of Amideast about how Trump has handled the move and what it means for Syrian Kurds, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other U.S. allies.

"This Syrian city embodies the consequences of Trump’s decision" PBS NewsHour 10/15/2019

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SUMMARY:  In 2012, the Syrian city of Manbij joined nation-wide protests.  In 2014, those Syrian rebels lost the city to the Islamic State group.  In 2016, the U.S. fought back with the help of Kurdish forces, liberating the city.  In 2018, U.S. troops arrived to help stabilize Manbij as it recovered.  But last week the U.S. started to withdraw, and a free-for-all began.  Nick Schifrin reports.

"Turkish ambassador to U.S. disputes that Erdogan agreed to a ‘cease-fire’" PBS NewsHour 10/17/2019

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SUMMARY:  Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Thursday about Turkey’s military offensive in northern Syria.  They agreed to a five-day pause in the operation, but disagreed about whether or not it constitutes a "cease-fire."  Judy Woodruff reports and sits down with Serdar Kilic, Turkish ambassador to the U.S., to discuss.

"Fighting abates in northern Syria, but political and humanitarian crises endure" PBS NewsHour 10/18/2019

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SUMMARY:  The battleground in northeastern Syria appears to be quieting, after a cease-fire between Turkish forces and Kurdish fighters got off to a rocky start.  But will Turkey keep its word -- and was the U.S. pullout from the region appropriate?  President Trump's decision to withdraw troops has drawn bipartisan condemnation, with Sen. Mitch McConnell calling it a “grave mistake.”  Amna Nawaz reports.

"U.S. troops, Kurdish fighters to leave Syrian border region" PBS NewsHour 10/20/2019

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SUMMARY:  As Kurdish fighters evacuated areas of Syria near the Turkish border on Sunday, a U.S. official said American forces in the region will be redeployed to Iraq to conduct operations against the Islamic State.  Those developments came as Lebanon’s prime minister agreed to reforms amid widespread protests.  Associated Press reporter Sarah El Deeb joins Alison Stewart from Beirut to discuss.

SYRIA - War Criminal Bashar al-Assad's Prisons

WANTED - Dead or Alive

"In Syria, more than 100,000 have entered Assad’s prisons — and never returned" PBS NewsHour 5/13/2019

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SUMMARY:  While one phrase of Syria's brutal nine-year civil war may be concluding, the systemic forced disappearance, torture and murder of hundreds of thousands of Syrians has not ceased.  Amna Nawaz talks to Anne Barnard of the Council on Foreign Relations and formerly The New York Times about the staggering inhumanity of Bashar al-Assad's regime and what accountability, if any, it will face.

ISRAEL - Heightened Tensions

Again, Israel's over reactions is 50% of the problem in the Middle East War without end.

"With Trump’s Golan Heights move, Netanyahu may be the biggest winner" PBS NewsHour 3/21/2019

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SUMMARY:  President Trump announced Thursday that the U.S. will now recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a strategic 40-mile strip of land on the Syrian-Israeli border.  The decision, which Trump announced via Tweet, overturns decades of U.S. policy in the Middle East.  The Woodrow Wilson Center's Aaron David Miller joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the implications for both politics and policy.

SYRIA - Collapse of the Caliphate and New Threats

We may have defeated the ISIS army but you do not defeat a religious movement with military action.

"As caliphate collapses, new ISIS threats emerge in Syria" PBS NewsHour 3/19/2019

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SUMMARY:  After nearly five years of fighting, a U.S.-led coalition has almost completely destroyed what's known as the territorial caliphate, the Islamic pseudo-state created in Iraq and Syria by ISIS--but that doesn’t mean the end of the terror group.  Amna Nawaz talks to special correspondent Jane Ferguson for an on-the-ground look at what war has left behind in Syria and the threat that remains.

POLICY - Negotiating With Terrorists

IMHO:  I agree with not negotiating with terrorists because of all the stated reasons.  This policy does put current hostages in danger, but to negotiate (reward) WILL lead to more terrorist organizations endangering even more American or other Western citizens.

"Why U.S. policy toward negotiating with terrorists may be risking Americans’ lives" PBS NewsHour 3/4/2019

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SUMMARY:  In “We Want to Negotiate: The Secret World of Kidnapping, Hostages and Ransom,” author Joel Simon analyzes hostage situations involving Westerners taken from Syria.  One example: American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, who were executed.  Judy Woodruff sits down with Foley's mother, Diane Foley, and author Simon to discuss why the U.S. might need to reconsider its negotiation policies.

TRUMP AGENDA - Syria

Our Generalissimo changes his pea-sized mind.

"After announcing full withdrawal, Trump says U.S. will keep hundreds of troops in Syria" PBS NewsHour 2/22/2019

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SUMMARY:  White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Friday that a few hundred American troops may stay in Syria as a stabilizing force after the majority of U.S. forces withdraw.  Still, American allies fear that ISIS will have the capability to create a powerful insurgency as U.S. presence in Syria recedes.  Nick Schifrin talks to Judy Woodruff about President Trump's new plan and the reaction to it.

CAPTIVE IN SYRIA - Majd Kamalmaz (U.S. citizen)

"Family of American grandfather imprisoned in Syria asks Trump for help" PBS NewsHour 1/24/2019

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SUMMARY:  The family of an American who disappeared in Syria two years ago is going public with their story, hoping to persuade President Trump to intervene.  American citizen Majd Kamalmaz came to the U.S. as a child.  He dedicated much of his career to helping people affected by war and natural disasters.  According to his family, he was also the "glue that brought everybody together."  Nick Schifrin reports.

WAR AGAINST ISIS - Latest Civilian Death Estimates

"‘Systemic shortfalls’ obscure true civilian cost of U.S. airstrikes against ISIS" PBS NewsHour 12/31/2018

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SUMMARY:  The U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria released its latest estimate of civilians killed by U.S. airstrikes since 2014.  Over the past four years, 1,139 civilians were killed by accident.  But how was this figure calculated, and is it accurate?  Larry Lewis of the Center for Naval Analyses, a former official at the Defense and State Departments, joins Nick Schifrin to discuss.

SYRIA - Deal Between Two Authoritarian Criminals

"How Russia and Turkey struck a deal to avoid imminent bloodshed in Idlib" PBS NewsHour 9/17/2018

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SUMMARY:  Russia and Turkey agreed Monday to create a demilitarized zone in Idlib province between the Syrian opposition and areas under the Assad's regime control.  The agreement seems to save the region from a military assault and averts what was expected to be a humanitarian disaster.  Nick Schifrin reports.

UNITED NATIONS - On Human Rights

"The universal danger of ignoring human rights violations" PBS NewsHour 4/20/2018

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SUMMARY:  In Syria, almost every conceivable atrocity has been committed in the last few years, says UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein.  Al Hussein joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the U.S. role in the destruction of Raqqa, the investigation into a suspected chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime, as well as the “horrific” conflict and humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

WAR POWERS - U.S. Congress Abdicated Long Ago

"Did Trump have the authority to strike Syria?  It’s ‘a gray area,’ says Sen. Coons" PBS NewsHour 4/16/2018

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SUMMARY:  The airstrikes launched by the U.S., UK, and France to punish the Assad regime's alleged use of chemical weapons have renewed questions about Presidential warmaking powers.  Lisa Desjardins reports on the reaction to the strikes, then talks to Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del) about Congress’ role in authorizing military action, as well as concerns about protecting Robert Mueller’s investigation.

War Powers

Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war. The President, meanwhile, derives the power to direct the military after a Congressional declaration of war from Article II, Section 2, which names the President Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.  These provisions require cooperation between the President and Congress regarding military affairs, with Congress funding or declaring the operation and the President directing it.  Nevertheless, throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, Presidents have often engaged in military operations without express Congressional consent.  These operations include the Korean War, the Vietnam War, Operation Desert Storm, the Afghanistan War of 2001 and the Iraq War of 2002.

Commander in Chief
The questions of whether the President possesses authority to use the military absent a Congressional declaration of war and the scope of such power, if it exists, have proven to be sources of conflict and debate throughout American history.  In general, scholars express various views on the amount of power that the President actually has and the amount of power that the Constitution promises to the holder of that position.

After the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon Administrations had spent nearly a decade committing U.S. troops to Southeast Asia without Congressional approval, Congress responded by passing the War Powers Resolution in 1973.  The War Powers Resolution requires that the President communicate to Congress the committal of troops within 48 hours.  Further, the statute requires the President to remove all troops after 60 days if Congress has not granted an extension.

When passed, Congress intended the War Powers Resolution to halt the erosion of Congress's ability to participate in war-making decisions.  This resolution, however, has not been as effective as Congress likely intended (see the "War Powers Resolution" section in the Commander in Chief Powers article).  The terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 further complicated the issue of war powers shared between the President and Congress.  After September 11, the United States Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force against Terrorists (AUMF).  When the United States invaded Afghanistan, the U.S. military rounded up alleged members of the Taliban and those fighting against U.S. forces.  The military then placed these "detainees" at a U.S. base located at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba at the direction of the Bush Administration who designed the plan under the premise that federal court jurisdiction did not reach the base.  Consequently, the Bush Administration and military believed that the detainees could not avail themselves of habeas corpus and certain protections guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

As the military held many of these prisoners at the base for years without bringing formal charges against them, the prisoners found counsel within the United States to file habeas corpus petitions within U.S. federal courts.  A series of cases then came before the U.S. Supreme Court dealing with the constitutionality of the prisoners' detentions at Guantanamo.

In 2004 Rasul v. Bush became the first case in which the Supreme Court directly discussed the Bush Administration's Guantanamo detention policies. 542 U.S. 466.  The Court held that 28 U.S.C. § 2241 permits federal district courts to hear habeas corpus petitions by aliens held within territory over which the United States exercises "plenary and exclusive jurisdiction."  This holding included Guantanamo detainees.  The Court then instructed the district courts to hear the petitions.

After the Bush Administration responded to Rasul by permitting detainees to bring their petitions before military tribunals, the Supreme Court again addressed the matter in 2006 when they decided Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. 548 U.S. 557.  The Court in Hamdan held that the President lacks constitutional authority under the Commander-in-Chief Clause to try detainees in military tribunals.  The tribunals also violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Geneva Conventions. Furthermore, the Court rebuked the government's arguments that the AUMF expanded Presidential authority.

Congress responded by passing the Detainee Treatment Act, which provides that "no court, court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider . . . an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by . . . an alien detained . . . at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba."  In 2008, an Algerian citizen challenged the constitutionality of this statute in Boumediene v. Bush (06-1195).  The Court held that a Congressional suspension of habeas corpus requires an explicit suspension of the writ and that merely stripping the federal courts of jurisdiction does not actually suspend the writ.  The Court also stated that the detainees lacked proper procedural safeguards to ensure they obtained fair trials and the ability to ascertain the nature of the charges against them.

Post-Boumediene, the Supreme Court has continued to uphold the constitutionality of the Detainee Treatment Act.  In 2014 the Supreme Court refused two separate appeals for certiorari which related to the Detainee Treatment Act.  In the first appeal, the Supreme Court refused to hear a case in which a Syrian man sought to sue the United States over his alleged torture at Guantanamo.  In the second appeal, the Supreme Court blocked the release of images purported to show evidence of a Saudi man's mistreatment by Guantanamo officials.

The Supreme Court deferred to the lower appeals courts, which found that due to the Detainee Treatment Act, "courts do not have the authority to hear lawsuits like the one[s] filed [here]."

Emergency Powers
The Constitution does not expressly grant the President additional powers in times of national emergency.  However, Presidents have claimed they have this power, often conflicting with the Supreme Court's interpretation of the extent of Presidential powers.

President Abraham Lincoln's suspended habeas corpus without Congressional approval in 1861, and he claimed he could do so due to emergency war powers. Lincoln claimed that the rebellion created an emergency that permitted him the extraordinary power of unilaterally suspending the writ.  With Chief Justice Roger Taney sitting as judge, the Federal District Court of Maryland struck down the suspension in Ex Parte Merryman, although Lincoln ignored the order. 17 F. Cas. 144 (1861).

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt similarly invoked emergency powers when he issued Order 9066, placing Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II.  The U.S. Supreme Court upheld this order in Korematsu v. United States. 323 U.S. 214 (1944).

Harry Truman declared the use of emergency powers when he seized private steel mills that failed to produce steel because of a labor strike in 1952.  With the Korean War ongoing, Truman asserted that he could not wage war successfully if the economy failed to provide him with the material resources necessary to keep the troops well-equipped.  The U.S. Supreme Court, however, refused to accept that argument in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, voting 6-3 that neither Commander in Chief powers nor any claimed emergency powers gave the President the authority to unilaterally seize private property without Congressional legislation. 343 U.S. 579.

OPINION - Shields and Salam 4/6/2018

"Shields and Salam on China tariff tit-for-tat, Scott Pruitt under fire" PBS NewsHour 4/6/2018

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SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and National Review executive editor Reihan Salam join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week’s news, including President Trump’s escalating calls for tariffs on Chinese imports, the decision to deploy the National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border, ethics concerns for EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, and the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. 50 years after his death.

Judy Woodruff (NewsHour):  From calling for a National Guard presence at the U.S.-Mexican border, to floating the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, the President’s announcements this week raised more questions than answers.

And that brings us to the analysis of Shields and Salam.  That is indicated — syndicated…

(LAUGHTER)

Judy Woodruff:  … columnist Mark Shields and “National Review” executive editor Reihan.

Reihan, welcome to the program.

And, Mark, you are more than indicated.  You’re syndicated.

Mark Shields, syndicated columnist:  Thank you.

(LAUGHTER)

Mark Shields:  Part of the syndicate.

(LAUGHTER)

Judy Woodruff:  So let’s start, Mark, with the lead tonight, and that is these mixed signals mining from the top of the administration over trade.

The President putting out the word, the White House, late last night that they were looking seriously at more taxes, more tariffs on China.  And then the President’s chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, saying — today saying, well, no, no, we’re still in negotiations.

What are we to make of this?  The President clearly wants to send some sort of signal to China.

Mark Shields:  No question about it, Judy, and he has, I think it’s fair to say.  Larry Kudlow is an interesting case.

I first ran into him, he was working on the anti-war campaign of Senator Gene McCarthy, a Democrat, then worked for Senator Edmund Muskie, a Democrat, and then became a supply-sider, free trader with Ronald Reagan, and is now whatever Donald Trump is economically, and one can’t be absolutely sure.

But I think his time is short, because he’s been cast as the interpreter of Donald Trump, and Donald Trump fancies himself the world’s greatest communicator, and he doesn’t need an interpreter.

But that having been said, I think it’s fair to say that China in the short run — in the long run, is in tougher shape on this than we are, because we’re a bigger share of their market.  But in the short run, which is where we all live, especially in a November election and the Republican majorities hanging by a thread, I think the pressure will mount on Donald Trump politically from his own base.

These are red states particularly being felt on the soybeans and the retaliation by the Chinese.  So I think that’s where it is politically.  I mean, if you’re a Republican up for reelection this year — and I would just point that more Republicans have retired in the year 2018 than any year since 1930, which was the middle of the first Depression, which tells you something about how they see it.

You want to talk about tax cuts.  That’s what you want to talk about.  You don’t want to talk about trade and immigration and borders, quite frankly.  And I think that’s where the President’s returned.

Judy Woodruff:  Reihan, how do you see the calculus?

Reihan Salam, National Review:  I disagree politically.

Mark raises a very good point when he says the Chinese have been shrewd.  They are targeting Republican constituencies, rock-ribbed, middle-of-the-country, farm Republican constituencies, et cetera.

But there is also the fact that Donald Trump presented himself as a different kind of Republican.  He was a sort of third-party candidate running under the Republican banner.  And protectionism is an idea that is awfully popular with many people.

Now, when you’re talking about the negative impacts here, the thing is that sometimes we have a tendency to overstate them, because a lot of the negative impact is borne by companies that have relied on those supply chains, right?

But the thing is that, overall, think back to the Soviet grain embargo.  You had a lot of farmers who said, yes, this is going to hurt me, but ultimately I support the policy.

You might wind up having a lot of people rally around the flag and saying that, yes, China, they engage in a lot of trade abuses, and this is something where they need to get clamped down.  And so that’s why I think that, as opposed to tax cuts, which are a classically orthodox Republican thing to do, here Donald Trump left to his own devices is trying to do something a bit different that might be appealing to people who otherwise don’t vote Republican.

Judy Woodruff:  But you don’t see mixed signals coming from the administration, or do you?

Reihan Salam:  Oh, I absolutely see mixed signals.

So, part of this could be the savviness of, hey, this is my opening bid, and then I try to get something halfway, but there are definitely mixed signals.

Mark Shields:  I respectfully disagree, in the sense that, if you want to go back to the grain embargo, you ask Democrats who lost their seats at that time under Jimmy Carter.

I do think, quite bluntly, that Donald Trump is playing Presidential politics, and he’s keeping his promise.  He’s talking about his constituents.  That’s why he returns to tariffs.  That’s why he returns to the border and the hordes of rapists descending upon us, quite contrary to fact and reality.

But I don’t think, Judy, that this is helping Republicans, who are in an increasingly discouraging situation and condition heading into November 2018.

TRUMP AGENDA - Mexico/Amazon/Putin/Syria

#OurFakePresident

"Analyzing Trump’s statements on Mexico, Amazon, and Putin" PBS NewsHour 4/3/2018

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SUMMARY:  The U.S. military may soon be guarding the nation's border with Mexico.  That's according to President Trump, who also warned he could tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement if the Mexican government doesn't cooperate.  Lisa Desjardins joins Judy Woodruff to discuss revelations and questions that came out of the President’s news conference.

"Trump, top U.S. general strike different tones on stabilizing post-ISIS Syria" PBS NewsHour 4/3/2018

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SUMMARY:  President Trump said Tuesday that the end is in sight for the U.S. military mission in Syria, yet military leaders have said the U.S. should remain until the Islamic State is wiped out.  American reinforcements have arrived in Manbij in recent days, a sign that they will remain a counterweight in the conflict.  John Yang talks to former USAID official Mona Yacoubian, and Amberin Zaman of Al Monitor.

SYRIA - War Keeps Raging

"Syria’s war keeps raging, amid threats of a new Hezbollah-Israel conflict" PBS NewsHour 3/15/2018

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SUMMARY:  What began seven years ago as an uprising against the Assad regime has become a regional proxy war.  Now there is talk of another war in the offing, one between Hezbollah and Israel.  What would that look like, and how would it differ from the 2006 conflict?  Special correspondent Jane Ferguson joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the growing fears, Iran’s influence, and the bombardment of Eastern Ghouta.

SYRIA - U.S. Troops, Indefinitely

"U.S. troops could be in Syria indefinitely.  Here’s why" PBS NewsHour 1/19/2018

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SUMMARY:  Turkey's military appeared ready on Friday to invade a Kurdish area of Syria and attack a force who, backed by the U.S., helped liberate Raqqa from the Islamic State.  While the U.S. wants to convert them into a stabilization force, Turkey's president says they are a grave threat.  Nick Schifrin talks with former Pentagon official Andrew Exum and Mona Yacoubian of the U.S. Institute of Peace.

NEWSHOUR INTERVIEW - Ehud Barak, former Israeli Prime Minister

"U.S. doing ‘a lot of work’ behind the scenes on Israeli-Palestinian relations, says Ehud Barak" PBS NewsHour 11/30/2017

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SUMMARY:  Ehud Barak, former Israeli Prime Minister, says Israel is still waiting for the Trump administration to offer its plan on how to move forward with the Palestinians.  Barak joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the deadline for changing the location of the U.S. embassy, why he doesn’t think pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal would be helpful, and the threat for Israel of a post-war Syria.

SYRIA - Young Girl's Plea

"How a young Syrian girl's plea for peace drew worldwide attention" PBS NewsHour 11/4/2017 😢

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SUMMARY:  Last year, Bana Alabed sparked a worldwide following for tweeting from Aleppo in Syria while it was under attack amid a years-long civil war.  Now, the 8-year-old is authoring a book about surviving and escaping the conflict.  NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Marcia Biggs talked to Alabed and her mother in Ankara, Turkey, where they are living today.

ISIS - After

Reminder, the extreme interpretation of Islam by ISIS is an idea, and ideas are never defeated by military action.

"The battle for Mosul is over, but this hidden ISIS danger could lurk for years" PBS NewsHour 10/18/2017

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SUMMARY:  Iraq may have ousted Islamic States militants from the city of Mosul over the summer, but the major task of finding and destroying the mines, booby traps and bombs remains.  A security firm hired by the U.S. and Iraqi workers are making progress to clear major areas, but it could take years or even decades.  Special correspondent Marcia Biggs reports on the safety of Mosul after ISIS.

"Raqqa has fallen, but ISIS isn't going away" PBS NewsHour 10/20/2017

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SUMMARY:  U.S.-backed forces in Syria have declared victory in the city of Raqqa, the self-proclaimed capital of the Islamic State.  But four years of ISIS control and four months of fighting have left a majority of the city uninhabitable.  Special correspondent Nick Schifrin reports on what this milestone means for Raqqa and what's next for ISIS as it plans to revert to its roots and go back underground.

CRIME SCENES - Access to Violent Extremist Videos

"When limiting access to violent extremist videos could be erasing evidence" PBS NewsHour 9/13/2017

The answer is, WHY and by WHO the video is posted?  Was it posted for sensitizing violence, an extremest view, or to promote hate?

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SUMMARY:  Aiming to remove violent and extremist content from its website, YouTube took down hundreds of videos from the Syrian war.  But researchers and advocates have pushed back, claiming the company removed potential evidence of human rights violations.  Former U.S. Ambassador Stephen Rapp and Issie Lapowsky of Wired Magazine, join Hari Sreenivasan to discuss these concerns.