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CIA Secret Prisons

by susanhu Wed Nov 2nd, 2005 at 11:23:16 AM EST

Cross-posted from BoomanTribune.com. (and edited for formatting by whataboutbob)

Although we should be boycotting the WaPo, there's Dana Priest's story today -- "CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prison," via Memeorandum and Buzzflash -- that is generating huge buzz on the blogs and even the MSM. MSNBC just interviewed Priest.

As Andrew Sullivan writes in his must-read "TORTURER-IN-CHIEF," "Well, it's all beginning to come out now. The CIA has been operating a secret network of detainment facilities across the globe to capture and interrogate suspected terrorists, facilities that would be illegal in the U.S. and where torture is enforced by explicit permission by the president. These facilities were improvised on the fly - like the rest of the war. ..." (Read all -- Sullivan has been among the most outspoken opponents of the torture policies of the Bush administration.)


ReddHedd at firedoglake blog is also on the story: "As Long as We're Looking Into Things...."

If Priest is correct, Jay Rockefeller (D-WVa), the ranking minority member, and Vice Chairman, of the SSCI (Senate Select Intelligence Committee) -- knew about this. His counterpart in the House, Jane Harman (D-Calif.), may have known as well. However, both Rockefeller and Harman may have not been told much. Priest writes: "[T]he White House has refused to allow the CIA to brief anyone except the House and Senate intelligence committees' chairmen and vice chairmen on the program's generalities."

Update [2005-11-2 14:29:8 by susanhu]: Another must-read: "Secret Prisons in Secret Places" by Meteor Blades, posted at BooTrib.

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European Commission and EU diplomats on Wednesday (2 November) declined to comment on the report.

"This is an issue between the US and any member states concerned", a commission spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana indicated that "this has nothing to do with the European Union"

EUObserver

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Wed Nov 2nd, 2005 at 12:18:23 PM EST
Uh, oh, we need to get the European Parliament on this one.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Nov 2nd, 2005 at 12:29:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]
MEPs want Brussels to take action
But MEPs have called for an urgent EU investigation into the matter.

UK liberal MEP and member of the parliament's civil liberties committee baroness Sarah Ludford said "I will be asking commissioner Frattini to check out urgently this suggestion that EU member states may be implicated in the most barbaric practices of the misguided US 'war on terror'".

She added that if EU member states were involved "this has the most devastating implications for the EU's credibility in upholding human rights and the rule of law".

Dutch green MEP Kathalijne Buitenweg, also a member of the civil liberties committee as well as of the EU-US parliamentary delegation said that "Mr Solana should clarify with the Americans what exactly is going on".

"If human rights are violated in an EU country, or in a candidate member state, than this is an EU issue", she added.

Ms Buitenweg indicated the parliament's civil liberties and foreign affairs committees should discuss ways for the European Parliament to further research the issue itself.

The member announced she would personally raise the question at an EU-US parliamentary meeting in December.


From the same source.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Wed Nov 2nd, 2005 at 12:33:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Well good, but let's see if they can get any information from the stonewalling DC crew...

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia
by whataboutbob on Wed Nov 2nd, 2005 at 12:41:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
They should be able to establish pretty quickly if it's in a Union country - I'd imagine they parliament has enough local knowledge to work that one out. I'm guessing it's not in the EU proper.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Wed Nov 2nd, 2005 at 12:58:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Here's the thing: the Commission is stonewalling, and you can bet national governments will stonewall too. So it could be in the EU, and the Commission doesn't want to know.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Nov 2nd, 2005 at 01:09:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The MEPs are local politicians. This isn't something you can easily hide from local knowledge.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Wed Nov 2nd, 2005 at 01:11:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I keep saying that the Commission, Council of Ministers and national governments are not to be trusted. The Parliament is our only hope.

Can the European Court of Justice investigate ex-officio?

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Nov 2nd, 2005 at 12:50:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The Council of Europe, and its adjunct, the European Court for Human Rights, should also be a good forum, not that they have much power - but they would shame any EU or accession country involved.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Wed Nov 2nd, 2005 at 04:53:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
A diary is up on dKos saying that the Times and the FT have narrowed it down to Poland and/or Romania:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/11/2/18159/7329

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Wed Nov 2nd, 2005 at 06:49:11 PM EST
by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Wed Nov 2nd, 2005 at 06:50:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]
were reported on BBC World by a Human Rights Watch spokesperson.
After watching CNN come out with some wank about being responsible and not naming the countries it was great to see the BBC have them named on the second up story.
by observer393 on Wed Nov 2nd, 2005 at 10:40:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Gazeta Wyborcza has it today, along with the inevitable denials from the Polish authorities, including the 'services' chief back in 2003. The director of the airport in question only started working their in 2004 but is saying that he certainly wouldn't have heard of it. The Poles claim that a 737 would have a hard time landing at that airport because the runway is to short. Gazeta also mentions that a Czech newspaper is reporting that the Czech Interior Minister is stating that the Czech government refused the CIA permission to imprison suspected terrorists on its soil.
by MarekNYC on Thu Nov 3rd, 2005 at 02:06:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]
is just reprinting comments from The Guardian and the Washington Post. We'll see what happens on the evening news.
by gradinski chai on Thu Nov 3rd, 2005 at 08:11:31 AM EST


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