The depths - and illegalities? - of the Bush Administration, and its CIA's actions, become more extraordinary by the day.
ProPublico - journalism in the public interest - in "Dozens of Prisoners Held by CIA Still Missing, Fates Unknown" reports:
"Last week, we pointed out that one of the newly released Bush-era memos inadvertently confirmed that the CIA held an al-Qaeda suspect named Hassan Ghul in a secret prison and subjected him to what Bush administration lawyers called "enhanced interrogation techniques." The CIA has never acknowledged holding Ghul, and his whereabouts today are secret.
But Ghul is not the only such prisoner who remains missing. At least three dozen others who were held in the CIA's secret prisons overseas appear to be missing as well. Efforts by human rights organizations to track their whereabouts have been unsuccessful, and no foreign governments have acknowledged holding them. (See the full list.)
In September 2007, Michael V. Hayden, then director of the CIA, said "fewer than 100 people had been detained at CIA's facilities." One memo (PDF) released last week confirmed that the CIA had custody of at least 94 people as of May 2005 and "employed enhanced techniques to varying degrees in the interrogations of 28 of these ".”
One thing is almost certain. If the Obama Administration wants to be shown to have any legitimacy, decency and integrity, it really has no alternative to at the very least set up an inquiry into who was doing what during the Bush years. As matters stand it appears that if Obama doesn't some of the Europeans Governments will. The Washington Post reports:
"European prosecutors are likely to investigate CIA and Bush administration officials on suspicion of violating an international ban on torture if they are not held legally accountable at home, according to U.N. officials and human rights lawyers.
Many European officials and civil liberties groups said they were disappointed by President Obama's opposition to trials of CIA interrogators who subjected terrorism suspects to waterboarding and other harsh tactics. They said the release last week of secret U.S. Justice Department memos authorizing the techniques will make it easier for foreign prosecutors to open probes if U.S. officials do not."
ProPublico - journalism in the public interest - in "Dozens of Prisoners Held by CIA Still Missing, Fates Unknown" reports:
"Last week, we pointed out that one of the newly released Bush-era memos inadvertently confirmed that the CIA held an al-Qaeda suspect named Hassan Ghul in a secret prison and subjected him to what Bush administration lawyers called "enhanced interrogation techniques." The CIA has never acknowledged holding Ghul, and his whereabouts today are secret.
But Ghul is not the only such prisoner who remains missing. At least three dozen others who were held in the CIA's secret prisons overseas appear to be missing as well. Efforts by human rights organizations to track their whereabouts have been unsuccessful, and no foreign governments have acknowledged holding them. (See the full list.)
In September 2007, Michael V. Hayden, then director of the CIA, said "fewer than 100 people had been detained at CIA's facilities." One memo (PDF) released last week confirmed that the CIA had custody of at least 94 people as of May 2005 and "employed enhanced techniques to varying degrees in the interrogations of 28 of these ".”
One thing is almost certain. If the Obama Administration wants to be shown to have any legitimacy, decency and integrity, it really has no alternative to at the very least set up an inquiry into who was doing what during the Bush years. As matters stand it appears that if Obama doesn't some of the Europeans Governments will. The Washington Post reports:
"European prosecutors are likely to investigate CIA and Bush administration officials on suspicion of violating an international ban on torture if they are not held legally accountable at home, according to U.N. officials and human rights lawyers.
Many European officials and civil liberties groups said they were disappointed by President Obama's opposition to trials of CIA interrogators who subjected terrorism suspects to waterboarding and other harsh tactics. They said the release last week of secret U.S. Justice Department memos authorizing the techniques will make it easier for foreign prosecutors to open probes if U.S. officials do not."
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