The CIA has been operating a "covert global prison system that has included sites in eight countries and was set up after the September 11, 2001, attacks." Reuters. This "hidden global internment network is a central element in the CIA's unconventional war on terrorism. It depends on the cooperation of foreign intelligence services, and on keeping even basic information about the system secret from the public, foreign officials and nearly all members of Congress charged with overseeing the CIA's covert actions." Washington Post (registration required).
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A secret CIA detention center in Afghanistan, codenamed "Salt Pit."
some more reading on their infrastructure of secrecy: Dozens of Abu Gulags | KENNEDY Letter to Rumsfeld on limiting UN access to Guantanamo detainees
welcome Empire goodbye Republic
NYT: Detainee Policy Sharply Divides Bush Officials over the CIA exemption Cheney and gang are seeking from McCain's anti-torture legislation, which would then justify this covert network of gulags, if not at least make them immune from charges of torture.
Also, reminds me of this story about this time last year, a couple of American mercs were running a private detention facility in Afghan, and then the FBI quickly denied ever having them on the payroll.
yup, couple more from the past:
BBC: US challenged over 'secret jails'
Growing evidence U.S. sending prisoners to torture capital. Despite bad record on human rights, Uzbekistan is ally
EU is now investigating the secret CIA prison system...
Surely there's the most kick-ass spy novel ever written in this story somewhere? The Gulag Archipelago meets The Constant Gardener via, say, Alias...
The first major screenplay - written by Archinect...
Maybe throw in a little Graham Greene and Terry Gilliam for added measure?
"The House Republican leadership has delayed a vote on a proposed ban against cruel and degrading treatment of prisoners in American custody, and Democrats say the move is an effort to spare Vice President Dick Cheney an embarrassing defeat."
well, the EU is starting to accept denials of any secret prison operations from Romania and Poland, and seems to be taking a tone of 'let the clean air prove itself'. I don't know, I'd like to think the EU would go after this more rather than taking a stance of extending benefit of the doubt. We'll see. Read
"The men from the pages of a bad spy novel throw people they don't like into secret prisons that officially do not exist, snug little dungeons hidden away in undisclosed countries. These spy-novel men keep to the shadows; if a ray of sunlight happens to fall upon one of their lairs, they scurry away to some other dark corner. They make their "high-value" prisoners simply disappear -- no charges, no hearings, no exit."
| Bush Declares: 'We Do Not Torture' | US troops accused of Iraq 'abuse'
now look who's crying foul because their secret torture system got called out into the light? GOP Leadership Considers Leak Probe.
| C.I.A. Asks Criminal Inquiry Over Secret-Prison Washington Post Article
then, they (the Senate) strips Guantanamo detainees of their right to sue, hmmmm.......
Old article, but an interesting look at America's "empire of bases." Would be interesting to see what the author has to say about the secret prison archipelago.
Spain probes 'secret CIA flights'
This, as the US admits to using chemical weapons - excuse me, "incendiary weapons" - in Falluja...
: The European Union is to formally ask the US to clarify reports that it ran secret CIA prisons in eastern Europe.
So, Connie further encourages the Europeans to back off, even though they have already in large part on their own. Now, again, they call out China on their notorious torture practices, though as MoJo points out what they classify as Chinese torture is merely acceptable interrogation in Cheney's practitioner lexicon.
German sues after mistaken identity resulted in 5 months of torture and abuse in the secret CIA prison archipelago.
The US backpedals, where once they claimed that interational torture policies for interrogators did not apply to the US, now in an apparent shift, no, excuse me, "a clarification of policy", Condi says that these rules do apply to US personell. Great, so when do the prosecutions begin? BBC
MoJo uncover the Iraqi run torture prisons recently uncovered in Iraq.
For many Iraqis, descriptions of Saddam's horrific rule sound a lot like Iraq's present.
now, finally while Bush relents on McCain's torture ban, another secret prison is located in Afghanitan.
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