Jesus Herbert!
More than 80,000 held by US since 9/11 attacks
The US has detained more than 80,000 people in facilities from Afghanistan to Cuba since the attacks on the World Trade Centre four years ago, the Pentagon said yesterday. The disclosure comes at a time of growing unease about Washington's treatment of prisoners in its “war on terror” and Europe's unknowing help in the CIA's practice of rendition.
...But it was an even less visible aspect of America's detention policy that was causing a furore in European capitals yesterday: the CIA practice of rendering terror suspects for interrogation to secret prisons in third countries. Washington faced mounting pressure yesterday to respond to reports of secret landings by private jets used by the CIA to transport terror suspects in at least six countries. “If these allegations turn out to be true, the crucial thing is whether these flights landed in the member states with or without the knowledge and approval of the authorities,” Terry Davis, the Council of Europe's secretary general, said....The practice has been widely condemned by human rights organisations for operating outside the scrutiny of the courts and for transporting prisoners to countries known to use torture. Spain, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland are all reported to have served as stopovers for such flights.
The revelations have deepened disquiet about European collaboration with the more disturbing aspects of America's war on terror. This month it was reported that the CIA had situated two of its secret prisons in Romania and Poland.
The council, which has named a Swiss senator, Dick Marty, to investigate the allegations, called for cooperation with the inquiry yesterday. “This issue goes to the very heart of the Council of Europe's human rights mandate,” René van der Linden, the president of the parliamentary assembly, said in a speech to the Council of Europe's executive body.
How many of these folks are victims of bad information or of informants with agendas? How many received habeas corpus? No wonder the Bush administration is so nervous about the Pinochet investigation. If Pinochet can be prosecuted for a few murders back in the 70's, why not Rumsfeld? The U.S. Cabinet better not leave the country.
Tags: habeas_corpus, /Worst_President, /torture, /CIA
