At Guantanamo, a Prison Within a Prison CIA Has Run a Secret Facility for

[seriousstan]

CIA Has Run a Secret Facility for Some Al Qaeda Detainees, Officials Say


Within the heavily guarded perimeters of the Defense Department's much-discussed Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, the CIA has maintained a detention facility for valuable al Qaeda captives that has never been mentioned in public, according to military officials and several current and former intelligence officers.

The buildings used by the CIA are shrouded by high fences covered with thick green mesh plastic and ringed with floodlights, officials said. They sit within the larger Camp Echo complex, which was erected to house the Defense Department's high-value detainees and those awaiting military trials on terrorism charges.


The facility has housed detainees from Pakistan, West Africa, Yemen and other countries under the strictest secrecy, the sources said. "People are constantly leaving and coming," said one U.S. official who visited the base in recent months. It is unclear whether the facility is still in operation today. The CIA and the Defense Department declined to comment.

Most international terrorism suspects in U.S. custody are held not by the CIA but by the Defense Department at the Guantanamo Bay prison. They are guaranteed access to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and, as a result of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this year, have the right to challenge their imprisonment in federal courts.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5918-2004Dec16.html

[oldhat]

1. You're two years late, WaPo.

Hersh scooped you.

At least this travesty will be further exposed.

[oldhat]

2. Kick.

[Rose Siding]

3. If the bushies had "valuable" prisoners...

they'd break in on Fox trial coverage and break their own arms slapping themselves on the back. This part is bs. The prisoners are whoever they FEEL like imprisoning.

snip>
The roster of CIA prisoners is not public, but current and former U.S. intelligence officials say the agency holds the most valuable al Qaeda leaders and many mid-level members with knowledge of the group's logistics, financing and regional operations.

[NNN0LHI]

4. Wonder how many American citizens are being held here? n/t

[neweurope]

5. West Africa? Yemen? Just where and how do they

find these people? My God, must one be scared to be dragged off by the US to Guantanamo here in Europe, too?

It's time for everybody to be scared. A government that keeps prisoners in secret is a threat to everybody.

[NNN0LHI]

6. "A government that keeps prisoners in secret is a threat to everybody."

We have a population that is more interested in Scott Peterson and Michael Jackson than in the actions of their government. Just watch. When Scott Peterson farts in prison someone will find the story newsworthy enough to post here.

Don

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Your government might stop you being sent to Guantanamo

if you're an EU citizen, but if not, you're shit out of luck.

Bosnia suspects headed for Cuba

Washington has confirmed that six Arab terror suspects handed over by the authorities in Bosnia-Hercegovina will be moved to prison at Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba.

The five Algerians and a Yemeni were spirited out of a Sarajevo prison overnight by Bosnian police after a local court ordered their release for lack of evidence.
...
The protesters had blocked roads around the prison to demand the immediate release of the six, five of whom have Bosnian citizenship
...
A lower court has already banned the men's extradition.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1767554.stm

The Bosnian government has also defended the men's extradition, insisting it had the right as a sovereign state to revoke their Bosnian citizenship and expel them as undesirables.

But Kresimir Zubak, a Bosnian minister for human rights and refugees, conceded: ``The Americans didn't tell us what to do, but they hinted that further cooperation between the U.S. and us depended on our decision.''

After millions of dollars and six years spent on nation-building efforts in Bosnia, critics are questioning why the United States chose to ignore the Bosnian Supreme Court and Chamber for Human Rights.

``This was a clash between the authorities and the law,'' said Fahrija Karkin, the lawyer for the six suspects. ``The bottom line is that the police refused to carry out the decision of the court.''

http://www.jsonline.com/news/attack/ap/jan02/ap-attacks-bosnia012702.asp?format=print

and finally - they were still there 2 and a half years later:

AP via DOW JONES NEWSWIRES - July 13, 2004

Lawyers for two Algerian terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba , said Tuesday they have filed suit challenging the U.S. government's authority to hold the men and saying they were wrongly handed over to U.S. forces in Bosnia.
...
The lawyers said the two Algerians were among six arrested by Bosnian police in October 2001. Bosnian authorities said the police, investigating possible al-Qaida cells, acted on a tip-off from U.S. authorities who suspected the six of threatening U.S. and British embassies.
...
Their families sued the Bosnian government at the Human Rights Chamber, which ruled the families should be paid compensation. In December, the Bosnian government said it would offer each family 32,500 convertible marks.

http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20040712/003595.html

[baldguy]

7. Can you say "Lubianka"?