World Reacts to CIA Secret Prisons

[sabra]

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=nation_world&id=4537574

World Reacts to CIA Secret Prisons

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - September 7, 2006 - Staunch U.S. supporter Australia on Thursday backed Washington's use of secret CIA prisons to interrogate terrorist suspects, but Muslim critics in Asia said President Bush's defense of the practice amounted to a tacit approval of torture.

Lawmakers at the European Parliament, meanwhile, demanded the U.S. give the locations of the secret detention facilities.

...

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said information from one secret prison detainee had led to the arrest of Riduan Isamuddin, a key leader of Southeast Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, as well as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, al-Qaida's alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks. Bush had also mentioned Mohammed's capture in his defense of the program Wednesday.

...

But Muslim politicians and activists decried Bush's secret prison program and the types of interrogation techniques used on detainees.

Asma Jehangir, a senior member of Pakistan's Human Rights Commission, demanded Washington end the program immediately and apologize for ever bringing it into existence.

[dipsydoodle]

1. I'm hoping that if any turn out

to be in those countries counting down for EU membership that their applications get revoked.

[AX10]

2. Shame on Australia!

[0007]

3. Double shame on Australia!

[w4rma]

4. The neo-cons kept their majorities in the last election in Australia. (nt)

[hootinholler]

16. Triple Dog Shame! n/t

[gratuitous]

5. How does Downer know what led to what?

Downer is quoted in the story as saying definitively that the torture and imprisonment of one detainee led to the arrest of Riduan Isamuddin and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. How does he know that? Bush told him so? And what evidence does Downer have that convicts Isamuddin and Mohammed -- beyond a reasonable doubt -- of the crimes of which they are accused?

For a country that started off as a penal colony, their current leadership seems remarkably cavalier about the rights of the accused.

[The Stranger]

6. There have been approx. 50 "20th hijackers" and hundreds of "Masterminds

the September 11 attacks" -- literally.

[Drum]

8. True dat!

Everybody thay snag seems to be an "important" leader...blahblahblah.

And we are yet to hear of the trial of anyone. What happened to law and order??? :shrug:

[redqueen]

7. What a slanted piece... ABC is really workin those kneepads.

This one's a little better: Detainee Decision Greeted Skeptically

Wonder if this has anything to do with Blair's sudden decision to resign.

Wonder how much cooperation we'll get from Britain in the future.

[CollegeDUer]

9. What is wrong with the Aussies?

How did they get a Washington-lite government and not get rid of it yet? Blair's on his way out. How about the Australians?

[lumpy]

10. This is how the detainees are treated

http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,,1810329,00.html


No rights to legal process

[librarycard]

11. Why have these prisons been kept secret and lied about?

Obviously, there is something to hide. And why come out with it now? Did the Bushies want to beat the next issue of Vanity Fair to the punch?

[otherlander]

18. I was wondering why Bush admitted it

Maybe, if other Republicans pretend to object to the secret jails, it'll make them look good for the election. Could be... :shrug:

[Miss Chybil]

12. Bush: Let's shove a firecracker up the worlds' butt, just to see what

happens.

The world starts limping. Nothing happens to Bush.

[Straight Shooter]

13. Another day, another lie exposed.

It's gotten to the point where I'm sure many of his supporters are thinking, "Well, yeah, he's a liar, but he's doing it for our own good."

Other supporters think he's being persecuted unfairly for trying to "pertect" us.

:banghead:

[BootinUp]

14. many are just blinded by faith in the almighty chimpster.

[Kurovski]

15. K&R.(nt)

[Supersedeas]

17. any defense of the tactic must also acknowledge al-Libi

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_11/007504.php

According to a newly declassified memo, not only did al-Libi provide us with false information suggesting that Iraq had trained al-Qaeda to use WMD, but U.S. intelligence had a pretty good idea the information was false as early as 2002. Colin Powell nonetheless presented this to the UN as credible evidence of Iraqi WMD programs in February 2003, shortly before we invaded Iraq.

Via Atrios, it turns out that we had excellent reasons to be skeptical of al-Libi's testimony. As Newsweek reported last year, al-Libi was one of the first test cases for Dick Cheney's campaign to introduce torture as a standard interrogation technique overseas, replacing the FBI's more mainstream methods:

Al-Libi's capture, some sources say, was an early turning point in the government's internal debates over interrogation methods...."They duct-taped his mouth, cinched him up and sent him to Cairo" for more-fearsome Egyptian interrogations, says the ex-FBI official. "At the airport the CIA case officer goes up to him and says, 'You're going to Cairo, you know. Before you get there I'm going to find your mother and I'm going to f--- her.' So we lost that fight."

No wonder DIA was skeptical of al-Libi's information. Not only did the details of his testimony seem inconsistent with known facts, but DIA knew perfectly well he had given up this information only under torture and was probably just saying anything that came to mind in order to get it to stop.