On the heels of Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama's second formal appointment—former Sen. Tom Daschle for secretary of health and human services—appears to be another tilt to the neocons. The New York Times Nov. 20 notes potential conflicts of interest related to his work for the Mayo Clinic. But we recall his comments as Senate majority leader in which he advocated "regime change"—and not for Iraq, but for Palestine. And not against Hamas, but against Fatah and Arafat. We noted his extremist comments to Fox News interviewer Tony Snow in June 2002:

Al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri released a video statement Nov. 19 calling US President-elect Barack Obama a "house slave" who had aligned himself with the "enemies" of Islam. "You were born to a Muslim father, but you chose to stand in the ranks of the enemies of the Muslims, and pray the prayer of the Jews, although you claim to be Christian, in order to climb the rungs of leadership in America," the militant leader said.

Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon acknowledged Nov. 16 while speaking to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child that the US has held 12 juveniles at the Guantánamo Bay prison. The announcement came in response to a study released last week by the Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas (CSHRA). In May, the US reported to the CRC that only eight juveniles were detained in the prison. The study was based on information available through the US military and diplomatic sources. Other sources, including former detainees, the Red Cross and international sources, indicated to the CSHRA that the number of juveniles could potentially be higher. Eight of the 12 juveniles listed in the study have been released from the prison.

Now they tell us. From the New York Times, Nov. 10, links and emphasis added:

Secret Order Lets U.S. Raid Al Qaeda
WASHINGTON — The United States military since 2004 has used broad, secret authority to carry out nearly a dozen previously undisclosed attacks against Al Qaeda and other militants in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere, according to senior American officials.

Judge Richard Leon of the US District Court for the District of Columbia Nov. 6 began habeas corpus hearings for six Algerians challenging their detention at Guantánamo Bay. The hearings are the first to be held since the Supreme Court granted detainees at the facility the right to challenge their captivity in Boumediene v. Bush in June. The government has not brought criminal charges against the men, but has said that they planned to join al-Qaeda in hostilities against the US. Lawyers for the men challenged the sufficiency of the government's evidence, and criticized Leon's decision to close the hearing to the public after he found that some of the evidence used against the six should be kept classified. His ruling on the petition is expected later this month.

The US Department of Defense Nov. 4 announced the transfer of one Guantánamo Bay detainee to Somaliland. DOD hailed the move as proof of the effectiveness of its review processes and of US desire not to hold detainees any longer than necessary. The Department reports that approximately 60 detainees at Guantanamo are currently eligible for transfer or release.

A panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit Nov. 4 suspended its review the status of Guantánamo Bay detainee Yasin Muhammed of Yemen as an "enemy combatant," saying it may lack jurisdiction over the case. Basardh had petitioned the court to review a Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT) determination that he could be held as an "enemy combatant," but the court said that provisions of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 that gave it authority to review the decision were likely at odds with a 2007 Supreme Court decision in Boumediene v. Bush giving federal district courts authority to review habeas corpus petitions by detainees.

The jury in the US military commission trial of alleged al-Qaeda media director Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al Bahlul reached a verdict in the case Nov. 1, finding him guilty of material support for terrorism. The verdict was sealed until Nov. 3, with al-Bahlul present in the courtroom at the Guantanamo Bay prison. Al-Bahlul, a 39-year-old Yemeni citizen, vowed earlier this year to boycott proceedings against him, saying he would attend only when a verdict was handed down or he was sentenced. The military jury deliberated for only four hours before reaching a verdict. Al-Bahlul is only the second detainee to go on trial at Guantanamo since the prison there opened in 2002.