from the diaries –Jérôme
ABC news is reporting:
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.
More below:
The CIA declines to comment, but current and former intelligence officials tell ABC News that 11 top al Qaeda figures were all held at one point on a former Soviet air base in one Eastern European country. Several of them were later moved to a second Eastern European country.
All but one of these 11 high-value al Qaeda prisoners were subjected to the harshest interrogation techniques in the CIA’s secret arsenal, the so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” authorized for use by about 14 CIA officers and first reported by ABC News on Nov. 18. <snip>
Sources tell ABC News that the CIA has a related system of secretly returning other prisoners to their home country when they have outlived their usefulness to the United States.
These same sources also tell ABC News that U.S. intelligence also ships some “unlawful combatants” to countries that use interrogation techniques harsher than any authorized for use by U.S. intelligence officers. They say that Jordan, Syria, Morocco and Egypt were among the nations used in order to extract confessions quickly using techniques harsher than those authorized for use by U.S. intelligence officers. These prisoners were not necessarily citizens of those nations.
According to sources directly involved in setting up the CIA secret prison system, it began with the capture of Abu Zabayda in Pakistan. After treatment there for gunshot wounds, he was whisked by the CIA to Thailand where he was housed in a small disused warehouse on an active airbase. There, his cell was kept under 24-hour closed circuit TV surveillance and his life-threatening wounds were tended to by a CIA doctor especially sent from Langley headquarters to assure Abu Zubaydah was given proper care, sources said. Once healthy, he was slapped, grabbed, made to stand long hours in a cold cell and finally handcuffed and strapped feet up to a water board until after .31 seconds he begged for mercy and began to cooperate.
While in the secret facilities in Eastern Europe, Abu Zubaydah and his fellow captives were fed breakfasts that included yogurt and fruit, lunches that included steamed vegetables and beans, and dinners that included meat or chicken and more vegetables and rice, sources say. In exchange for cooperation, prisoners were sometimes given hard candies, deserts and chocolates. Abu Zubaydah was partial to Kit Kats, the same treat Saddam Hussein fancied in his captivity. <snip>
Of the 12 high value targets housed by the CIA, only one did not require water boarding before he talked. Ramzi bin al-Shibh broke down in tears after he was walked past the cell of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the operational planner for Sept. 11. Visibly shaken, he started to cry and became as cooperative as if he had been tied down to a water board, sources said.
And a list of prisoners:
Following is a list of 12 high-value targets housed by the CIA.
Abu Zubaydah: Held first in Thailand then Poland
Ibn Al-Shaykh al-Libi: Held in Poland. Previously held in Pakistan/Afghanistan
Abdul Rahim al-Sharqawi: Held in Poland
Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri: Held in Poland
Ramzi Binalshibh: Held in Poland
Mohammed Omar Abdel-Rahman: Held in Poland
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed: Held in Poland
Waleed Mohammed bin Attash: Held in Poland
Hambali: In U.S. custody. Kept isolated from other high-value targets.
Hassan Ghul: Held in Poland.
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani: Held in Poland
Abu Faraj al-Libbi: Held in Poland
Following is a list of 12 high-value targets housed by the CIA.
Abu Zubaydah: Held first in Thailand then Poland
Ibn Al-Shaykh al-Libi: Held in Poland. Previously held in Pakistan/Afghanistan
Abdul Rahim al-Sharqawi: Held in Poland
Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri: Held in Poland
Ramzi Binalshibh: Held in Poland
Mohammed Omar Abdel-Rahman: Held in Poland
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed: Held in Poland
Waleed Mohammed bin Attash: Held in Poland
Hambali: In U.S. custody. Kept isolated from other high-value targets.
Hassan Ghul: Held in Poland.
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani: Held in Poland
Abu Faraj al-Libbi: Held in Poland
As I continue to scan the media, it is clear that this is being picked up by papers all over the world, but not in the US. UPI just posted this sorry little wire story .
I’ll try to keep on top of this and add to it later.
Here is the link to my torture post on dKOS , should you care to recommend it.
Thanks.
.
On European CIA torture flights, Jack Straw had to redo his homework, and send a new request for answers to Condoleezza Rice earlier this week.
Press Conference in Berlin, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice followed her preset replies formulated over the weekend, and new Chancellor Angela Merkel tried to stay friendly for their first meeting, but different mindset could not be masked.
Merkel: US Admitted Wrongful Abduction of German National Khaled el-Masri
Parliament to investigate abduction and CIA flights
≈ Cross-posted from my diary ::
Bill of Rice ¶ AQ Prisoners Moved to North Africa ≈
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
I think it would be quite significant if Germany’s (rightwing) Merkel came out strongly opposed to the actions of the US in the torture business.
You know, between the Secretary of State flat-out lying about the secret prisons, and the president’s press secretary lying about America being a leader in human rights, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry any more.
I do know that I can’t trust a single, solitary thing that comes out of their mouths anymore, and haven’t been able to for a long time. It just amazes me that people can treat other human beings this way — especially when we’re talking about people like Khaled Masri (his situation was discussed on yesterday’s Democracy Now) who just happened to have the wrong name in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It’s shameful, is what it is; but as we know, this administration has no shame.
Condoleeza Rice is a crypto-fascist and an enemy of humanity. She must be stopped.
It’s time to quote Martin Niemöller again:
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
By ALEXANDRU ALEXE, Associated Press Writer
BUCHAREST, Romania — The heads of Romania’s two chambers of parliament on Tuesday called for an investigation into allegations a secret U.S. prison operated in the country. In Poland, the Justice Ministry said any official who would have allowed such a facility to operate would have been breaking the law, but that no inquiry was planned.
Officials in both countries insisted Tuesday that there is no evidence that the United States operated secret prisons on their territory.
is that it is finite. It is also kind of like good and bad cholesterol. You need to have a lot of good cholesterol if you hope that it will outweigh the bad.
Plausible deniability is only plausible against the backdrop of a very strong credibility. And credibility is delicate stuff.
In the US’s case, there is negative credibility, if US says it has moved its kidnap victims to Africa, it is neither credible, nor plausible, nor even relevant.
It does, however, accurately reflect Washington’s opinion of the stupidity of both Americans, Europeans, and Africans, in case there were any fence sitters on the question.