What to Do With Detained Islamic State Fighters in Iraq and Syria
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 28 July 2020
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For a while, there have been large numbers of alleged former Islamic State state fighters and affiliates detained by the Iraqi government and by autonomous authorities in Syria. The fate of these detainees—and the more than 60,000 people affiliated with the men who live in refugee camps in the region—remains a pressing national security issue for countries in the region, as well as the United States and its Western allies. To talk about the situation, Jacob Schulz spoke with Bobby Chesney, Lawfare co-founder and professor of law at the University of Texas; Vera Mironova, a research fellow at Harvard and, among other things, author of a recent Lawfare post on trials of Islamic State fighters in Iraq; and Leah West, a lecturer at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University and a fellow at the McCain Institute. They talked about how the trials have gone in Iraq and Syria; how the U.S., Canada and European countries have responded to the situation; and what lessons can be drawn from U.S. experiences with post-9/11 detention and trials of suspected terrorists.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising to access an ad-free version of the LawFair |
| 0:07.2 | podcast become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash LawFair. |
| 0:14.7 | That's patreon.com slash LawFair. |
| 0:18.2 | Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, rational security, chatter, LawFair |
| 0:25.6 | no bull and the aftermath. |
| 0:30.9 | Trials in Iraq are very far from what would would consider justice. |
| 0:39.8 | So there is no action investigation, there is a lot of torture. |
| 0:44.8 | So there are their rock confessions on the torture. |
| 0:47.0 | I interviewed a lot of people from former inmates who know exactly what's going on behind bars |
| 0:52.4 | there. |
| 0:53.8 | And also arrests are not for actual participation in ISIS, but for personal settling sport. |
| 1:03.2 | I'm Jacob Schultz and this is the LawFair podcast July 28th, 2020. |
| 1:11.0 | For a while there have been large numbers of alleged former Islamic state fighters and |
| 1:15.4 | their affiliates detained by the Iraqi government and by autonomous authorities in Syria. |
| 1:21.2 | The fate of these detainees and the more than 60,000 people affiliated with the men who |
| 1:25.7 | live in refugee camps in the region remains a pressing national security threat. |
| 1:30.5 | It affects countries in the region as well as the United States and its western allies. |
| 1:36.3 | We assembled an all-star panel to talk about the situation. |
| 1:40.0 | Joining me in the virtual jungle studio was Bobby Chesney, LawFair co-founder and professor |
| 1:45.1 | of law at the University of Texas School of Law. |
| 1:48.8 | Here in Miranova, a research fellow at Harvard and among other things author of a recent |
| 1:53.3 | law fair post on trials of Islamic state fighters in Iraq and Leo West, a lecturer at the Norman |
... |
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