CIA’s Secret Prisons

November 2nd, 2005 at 17:50 Björn Hallberg

Needless to say this promises to be the story that everyone keep talking about for the rest of the season. Unless the US manages to top even this, which seems just as unlikely every time, but nevertheless happens shortly after.

WAPO – 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 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 Washington Post is not publishing the names of the Eastern European countries involved in the covert program, at the request of senior U.S. officials. They argued that the disclosure might disrupt counterterrorism efforts in those countries and elsewhere and could make them targets of possible terrorist retaliation.

The problems here are endless. First the US does not have any legal right to do what they do. “Everything changed after 9/11″ does not make it alright. And because this is illegal, they get various eager client states to host these prisons for them. The usage of “Soviet-era compound”(s) just underlines the tackiness and historical precedence for this human rights abuse. But I guess the US elites are immune to irony. It is a bit like with their military base in Seoul, which tastelessly enough occupies the exact same spot as the headquarters of the old occupiers, the Japanese Imperial Army. Poor taste is second nature to American Imperial planners it seems, but it is still worth pointing out.

That democratic nations would bend human rights to jump the American bandwagon shows a very dangerous, yet predictable development, especially in former Soviet republics. We know that the US has been there all along to try and fill the void, supporting the so called orange revolutions. It was curious for many, including myself, that America was so interested in the internal politics of Ukraine for instance. After all, they went along with whatever happened in Uzbekistan, hell, they even trained their armed forces in the midst of the worst human human rights abuses of our time. Now we know of course that American instruments of power, like the National Endowment for Democracy, played a central part in reshaping the Ukrainian political map to better serve the despicable masters in Washington. As far as we know and has been disclosed, the NED has been involved in Georgia, Serbia and Slovakia as well. So my bet will be that at least one of these nations are among these aforementioned “democracies in Eastern Europe.” Another horrifying implication emerges when you realize that at least Slovakia is part of the European Union. And so is most of what is regularly in sloppy media lingo viewed as Eastern Europe. I believe these are exactly the abuses that we keep holding up to denounce Turkey at every turn of their application into the Union. As such the US has created a win-win situation, flouting the law of their own country, surely that of the client countries AND driven a wedge between whoever is found out here and the rest of Europe. Possibly, in time, crippling the eastward expansion of the EU by example and by added influence over the region. Partners in crime are usually bound by artificial cohesion.

This is just unacceptable. And too close to home. If the leaders of the EU will not stand up and curb American efforts to derail the project, we, the people will have to act to protect our freedom and ensure our future. I expect no less from regional authorities than to come down upon this like a ton of bricks and give these CIA pigs a taste of their own inhumane medicine. It is time that direct American influence over the region is curtailed. Enough with NATO and military cooperation, especially in Eastern Europe. Enough with the imperial outposts, dotting the landscape ranging from Greenland and Iceland via Norway, Germany to FR Yugoslavia and Turkey. Enough with deceitful American so called NGOs who offer only subterfuge.

Entry 308 filed under: Europe. This entry was posted 4 years, 4 months ago. RSS feed for comments on this post.