NEWS: CIA's Secret Prisons

“War on terror.” Does this make sense to anyone? “Bush’s war on war.” “Blaire’s terror on terror.”

“But, Jeff, terror is based on fear while war is based on military might, you know, fighting. Terror is evil. Fighting with large infantry units is civilized.”

Oh, I see, and can you explain the motivation behind Rumsfeld’s shock and awe? Isn’t it something like, “If they’re scared enough, they’ll just give up.” Right, now I see how the U.S. is more civilized. We’re so much better than the freaks who say, “If we scare the U.S. enough, they’ll get off our land.”

“But, Jeff, we liberated them from Saddam.” I like this one, because it was sure a nice thing to do (never mind the other evil dictators that we could have removed for a lot less money or the fact that the U.S. supplied Saddam to begin with.). But it misses the point, at least my point. In the process of getting rid of the enemy, we have become like the enemy. Animal Farm. How many lives did we have to destroy in order to destroy the man who destroyed so many lives? How many of his methods have we adopted?

“But, Jeff, he tortured people.” Right, now I see how the inmates tortured by their liberators in Abu Ghreib can be thankful that Saddam was removed.

“But, Jeff, we held the perpetrator’s to justice. We don’t allow it to continue.” Really? Justice? How long did the torturers end up behind bars? Were any superiors held responsible? Right, now I see.

“And, Jeff, we don’t have secret prisons where untold things can happen. We treat our prisoners responsibly.” That’s where tonight’s CNN.com secondary news article comes in…

The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement, the Washington Post reported.

The secret facility is part of a covert prison system set up by the CIA nearly four years ago that at various times has included sites in eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several democracies in Eastern Europe, as well as a small center at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, according to current and former intelligence officials and diplomats from three continents, the paper said Tuesday.

The hidden global internment network is a central element in the CIA's unconventional war on terrorism, the Post said.

Those concerns [about prisoner abuse] escalated last month, when Vice President Cheney and CIA Director Porter J. Goss asked Congress to exempt CIA employees from legislation already endorsed by 90 senators that would bar cruel and degrading treatment of any prisoner in U.S. custody. (http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/02/cia.report.ap/index.html)

GOLDEN RULE: Treat others how we want to be treated.

Let’s tell our reps in D.C., “Fair treatment. Due process. Red Cross inspections. No more secret prisons.”