Wednesday, December 07, 2005



Scuttling for cover

So far, the Bush Administration has refused to confirm not deny allegations that it has been running a secret gulag in Eastern Europe. Fortunately, the CIA have been more forthcoming:

Current and former CIA officers speaking to ABC News on the condition of confidentiality say the United States scrambled to get all the suspects off European soil before Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived there today. The officers say 11 top al Qaeda suspects have now been moved to a new CIA facility in the North African desert.

It's like shining a strong light under a rock, and seeing the slithering things scuttle for cover, isn't it?

ABC's sources did not want the new host country named, but there's only a limited number of options: Morocco, Algeria and Egypt are all members of the axis of impunity, and all have shitty human rights records. It's only a matter of time before people start tracking the rendition flights and working out where people are being held again - or simply leak the location to force the US's gulag into the open once more. I get the impression that some parts of the CIA are deeply unhappy with this policy, possibly for noble reasons, more likely because they don't want to be left holding the bag (and facing jail) when the whole thing comes tumbling down. But either way, they're doing us - and the US - a service in exposing this pernicious policy.

ABC's sources have also provided a list of 12 "high value" Al-Qaeda suspects imprisoned in the secret network. All but one was held in Poland; all but one have been waterboarded. So now we have a list of victims. All we need now is a list of their torturers, and the records of who approved the "escalation" in their treatment. Then, we can start sending people to jail where they belong.

1 comments:

Tunisia isn't much better, human rights-wise

Posted by Hans Versluys : 12/07/2005 10:07:00 AM