UN Special Rapporteur on human rights Martin Scheinin March 10 cited the case of Canadian citizen and former US detainee Maher Arar in presenting a report critical of international counter-terrorism practices to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva. Scheinin flagged Arar's deportation from the US as an example of how intelligence sharing without "adequate safeguards" can lead to human rights violations. The report was broadly critical of US "rendition" policies and also censured the United Kingdom, Australia and other countries for providing assistance to the US.

Twelve of the 92 videotapes destroyed by the CIA contained evidence of torture, according to redacted documents filed March 6 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) had acknowledged last week that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) destroyed 92 videotapes of high value terrorism suspect interrogations, in response to an August 2008 judicial order that the CIA turn over information regarding the tapes or provide specific justifications on why it could not release the information.

Former Guantánamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed claimed in March 8 media reports that documents sent from MI5 to the CIA show that the British intelligence agency was involved with his alleged torture in Morocco. Mohamed claimed the documents reveal that MI5 fed the CIA questions that ended up in the hands of his Moroccan interrogators. A telegraph to the CIA dated Nov. 5, 2002, reportedly has the heading, "Request for further Detainee questioning."

The US Supreme Court March 6 granted a motion by the government to dismiss as moot an appeal challenging the indefinite detention of suspected al-Qaeda operative Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri. The Court had agreed in December to hear al-Marri's appeal of a ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upholding his detention. Acting Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler presented a motion to the Court, asking it to dismiss the appeal as moot in light of the administration's decision last week to try al-Marri in US federal court. Al-Marri was indicted last week on two charges of providing material support to al-Qaeda and conspiring with others to provide material support to al-Qaeda.

The CIA has destroyed 92 tapes of interrogations of "terror" suspects, far more than previously acknowledged, government lawyers said March 2 in a letter filed as part of a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). "The large number of videotapes destroyed confirms that the agency engaged in a systematic attempt to hide evidence of its illegal interrogations," said the ACLU's Amrit Singh.

Chairman of the US Senate Judiciary Committee Patrick Leahy (D-VT) called for the creation of a truth commission to investigate the national security policies of the George W. Bush administration at a hearing March 4. Leahy said a nonpartisan inquiry "could focus on the issues of national security and executive power in the government's counter-terrorism efforts, including the issues of cruel interrogation, extraordinary rendition, and executive override of laws.

The UK government's independent reviewer of terror laws March 1 called for a judicial inquiry into British complicity in US "rendition" and torture. The reviewer, Lord Carlile of Berriew, specifically cited the case of Binyam Mohamed, the British resident who alleges that he was tortured with the knowledge of MI5 while held in US custody in Pakistan in 2002. Labour Party Deputy Leader Harriet Harman was non-committal, saying only that, "We'll have to listen to what he [Berriew] says, but at the moment, we've got an investigation by the Attorney General." Asked if she would rule out a judicial inquiry, Harman responded, "We'll just have to see what lies ahead on that."

Our February issue featured the story "Obama's Iraq Withdrawal: 'A Risk That is Unacceptable'?" by Billy Wharton, documenting the bureaucratic slight-of-hand by which "counter-terrorist" troops could remain in Iraq even after "combat troops" have been removed in 2010. Our January Exit Poll was: "After Obama took office, the Washington Post announced in a headline: 'Bush's "War" On Terror Comes to a Sudden End.' Does this mean that World War 4 Report has outlived its mission? If you don't think so, will you please make a $10 donation to encourage us to keep going?" We received the following responses: