Today's Headlines and Commentary

Our many terrorism trials are about to take a break for the weekend, so here's your fix: The Los Angeles Times has the horrifying story of Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, who was found guilty yesterday of killing three Afghan civilians for sport "in the most gruesome war crimes case to emerge from the war in Afghanistan." Reuters and Associated Press provide more background. The AP and the BBC have the story of Abdeladim El-Kebir, a suspected al-Qaeda member currently in German custody, who has been indicted in federal court in NY on charges of "conspiring with others to provide material support to Al Qaeda as well as plotting to use a destructive device." Bobby discusses the case here. Tarek Mehanna's trial continues; a Scotland Yard investigator testified that the Massachusetts man accused of conspiring to aid al-Qaeda “had contacts with a member of a London terrorist ring with reputed ties to Al Qaeda,” according to the Boston Globe. Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, a Saudi arrested in Texas and charged with plotting terrorist attacks, is challenging the FBI's use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to search Aldawsari's apartment and monitor his communications, says KCBD News. In other news, here is the Washington Post story on former chief military prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay, Air Force Col. Morris Davis, who is suing the Library of Congress for firing him after he criticized the Obama administration's continued use of military tribunals in two newspaper columns. Bobby has posted the briefs and a summary of the oral argument here. The AP informs us that 83 victims and family members "are seeking $750 million in compensation from the Army, alleging that willful negligence enabled psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan to carry out a terrorist attack at Fort Hood, Texas." Hasan is to be tried in March. Twitterers are all a'twitter: Somni Sengupta at the New York Times reports that a federal judge in Virginia has ordered Twitter to give up information about three of its account-holders who have alleged ties to WikiLeaks. Meanwhile, here's one way to take care of your friends: the Wall Street Journal announces that the Obama administration is going to sell "thousands of advanced 'bunker-buster' bombs and other munitions" to the United Arab Emirates in an effort to counter Iranian influence in the region. The Washington Times has the story of a "cybergang"--six Estonians and a Russian--who "infected more than 4 million computers in 100 countries with malicious software and earned $14 million in fraudulent advertising fees from them." And in the job-creation department, the Post reports that the U.S. will turn to more private contractors after the withdrawal of the last remaining troops from Iraq by the year's end. Spencer Ackerman of Wired magazine's Danger Room covers Attorney General Eric Holder's remarks to the Senate Judiciary Committee denouncing the FBI's training on Muslims. Laura Pitter, a counterterrorism advisor at Human Rights Watch, argues in Foreign Policy that that Nashiri case is flawed and that the military commissions system "is not the example the United States should want to set." And from Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the D.C. Circuit, writing in Latif the other day, here is your Moment of Zen: "Boumediene's logic is compelling: take no prisoners. Point taken." 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.