Wouldn't surprise me in the least.
Pax Night and day you can find me Flogging the Simian
Freedom is on the run!
Let's hope that the Commission does not try to cover this up. At least with the Council of Europe involved, we may see some investigation that we would not have otherwise seen. The Council of Europe does not exist under the same political constraints as the EU (though it does have others). The Council of Europe exists in a legal/human rights/democracy professional ethos or atmosphere. This is its reason for being, so it is likely to be a bit more forceful and diligent in its investigation. If the Council of Europe cannot stop something like this IN Europe, then its reason for its existence is truly in question.
It would be a good use of my tax money and my share of the EU budget. guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper
There's also a picture (no idea of the date) here.
So, any idea which part of it is the gulag?
Impossible to guess which tiny area might be the gulag.
THE HAGUE Nov. 24 -- When CIA-prisons and detainee abuse in Europe is proven to be true, the Dutch will reconsider their participation in Enduring Freedom by its special forces in Afghanistan.
FM Bernhard Bot made this statement in parliament this morning. The State of the Netherlands has formally requested a clarification from the chargé d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy in The Hague earlier this week. A possible use of Schiphol Airport for the spook transport of prisoners by the CIA has been put forward for answers.
The 'consequences' FM Bot referred to, is possible suspension of Dutch Special Forces operation under U.S. Command in Afghanistan. Participation of an extension within NATO to the Afghan province of Uruzgan within the ISAF contingent, may also be at stake.
The Dutch right-wing partner in the coalition, VVD Liberal Conservatives, already criticized the suggestion by VP Dick Cheney to make an exception for torture by the CIA in Iraq or Afghanistan.
For the new ISAF-mission in Uruzgan, the United Kingdom and Canada have committed forces and Dutch troops are following special training assignments in preparation, and Minister of Defense Kamp has been an advocate for Dutch participation.
Minister Bernhard Bot as Foreign Minister has the possibility to veto the commitment when the U.S. cannot provide adequate information and when the peace and security mission of the Dutch forces under ISAF interferes with the military operation Enduring Freedom.
The Dutch cabinet has requested written promises of the Afghan government, that prisoners handed over by the Dutch will be treated in accordance with the Geneva Conventions, will not be tortured during interrogation and cannot receive a death sentence.
LEAVE Iraq to the Iraqis
"Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason."
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
Gordon Thomas, investigative journalist and author of Gideon's Spies: the Secret History of the Mossad asserts that "high level leaders and operatives of Al Qaida and the Taliban are held there (on Diego Garcia)" and "none are being protected by the Geneva Conventions".
Thomas claims: "the interrogation techniques used on Diego Garcia are contained in a secret CIA manual on coercive questioning. It contains sections headed 'Threats and Fear', 'Pain', 'Narcosis' and 'Heightened Suggestibility and Hypnosis'."
He further suggests "the presence of the prisoners on Diego Garcia is so secret that a counter-terrorism official in Washington said President Bush 'had informed the CIA he did not want to know where they were'."
A recent report by Human Rights First entitled "Ending Secret Detentions" cites Diego Garcia as a suspected site for the detention of individuals, including the leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah, Hambali, otherwise known as Riduan Isamuddin.
Thomas suggests that private Lear jets regularly fly into the island with a new batch of prisoners, which, he says, have included Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi Bin Al Shibh and Abu Zubaydah, kidnapped from Pakistan. He says this is done with the knowledge of US Defence Secretary Rumsfeld and often with the approval of the White House.
It seems that the US administration realizes the Guantanamo experiment has failed. Rumsfeld has already admitted to "ghost" detainees who don't show up in any official documents and who have no name. How many of these are being tortured on Paradise Isle, I wonder. According to various reports, others are being held on two US prison ships - the USS Bataan and the USS Peleliu.
Ibrahim Habaci and Arif Ulusam, both Turkish; Saudi citizen Faha al Bahli; Mahmud Sardar Issa from Sudan; and Kenyan national Khalifa Abdi
He was taken inside a building where he was stripped to his underwear and made to stand in a freezing cold room. He was kicked. His money and passport were taken away and the soldiers laughed as they did this. When he fell over, they beat him again and again - "maybe 20 times", according to the account he gave to BHHRG. Then he was told to sit down. A heater was brought and his clothes returned. After an hour or so, he was handcuffed very tightly and painfully and dragged by the wrists to a helicopter. He was convinced that the soldiers were going to kill him by throwing him out of the helicopter but instead he was flown to Camp Bondsteel, the huge American military base in Kosovo. There he was kept outside in the cold for half an hour. He was then taken inside, finger-printed and told to sign a form outlining the rules and regulations of the camp. He was given orange prison clothes and placed inside a small hut measuring 3 metres square. By this time it was about 10 p.m. Although there was a heater, it did not work and consequently the hut was extremely cold. Although he begged his American captors to let him go and return to his family, the man was to be kept in Camp Bondsteel for 38 days. Only after 6 days was he allowed to phone his family. He was interrogated 20 or 30 times during his incarceration. On one occasion, the interrogation occurred at 4 o'clock in the morning. Every night, he was woken every fifteen minutes and then every hour. Torches were shone into his eyes to make sure that he was awake, or the door slammed in order to disturb him. During the interrogation, a number of false allegations and accusations were made. This had a profound psychological impact on the captive, who told BHHRG, "It destroyed me". He begged not to be kept in solitary confinement. After 4 days, a letter was brought accusing him of complicity in the attack on the USS Cole and saying that he would be detained for 30 days. He was made to sign this form. Later, however, his captors returned and asked for his signed copy back. 10 days later they brought a different letter saying that he was being detained as a danger to security of Kosovo under the terms of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244. In other words, no proper charge was made.
After an hour or so, he was handcuffed very tightly and painfully and dragged by the wrists to a helicopter. He was convinced that the soldiers were going to kill him by throwing him out of the helicopter but instead he was flown to Camp Bondsteel, the huge American military base in Kosovo. There he was kept outside in the cold for half an hour. He was then taken inside, finger-printed and told to sign a form outlining the rules and regulations of the camp. He was given orange prison clothes and placed inside a small hut measuring 3 metres square. By this time it was about 10 p.m. Although there was a heater, it did not work and consequently the hut was extremely cold.
Although he begged his American captors to let him go and return to his family, the man was to be kept in Camp Bondsteel for 38 days. Only after 6 days was he allowed to phone his family. He was interrogated 20 or 30 times during his incarceration. On one occasion, the interrogation occurred at 4 o'clock in the morning. Every night, he was woken every fifteen minutes and then every hour. Torches were shone into his eyes to make sure that he was awake, or the door slammed in order to disturb him.
During the interrogation, a number of false allegations and accusations were made. This had a profound psychological impact on the captive, who told BHHRG, "It destroyed me". He begged not to be kept in solitary confinement. After 4 days, a letter was brought accusing him of complicity in the attack on the USS Cole and saying that he would be detained for 30 days. He was made to sign this form. Later, however, his captors returned and asked for his signed copy back. 10 days later they brought a different letter saying that he was being detained as a danger to security of Kosovo under the terms of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244. In other words, no proper charge was made.
