I Was Illegally Detained by the U.S. Government and Held in CIA-Run "Black Sites"

[laststeamtrain]

I Was Illegally Detained by the U.S. Government and Held in CIA-Run "Black Sites"
By Mohamed Farag Bashmilah, Huffington Post
Posted on February 20, 2009, Printed on February 20, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/story/127847/

From October 2003 until May 2005, I was illegally detained by the U.S. government and held in CIA-run "black sites" with no contact with the outside world. On May 5, 2005, without explanation, my American captors removed me from my cell and cuffed, hooded, and bundled me onto a plane that delivered me to Sana'a, Yemen. I was transferred into the custody of my own government, which held me -- apparently at the behest of the United States -- until March 27, 2006, when I was finally released, never once having faced any terrorism-related charges. Since my release, the U.S. government has never explained why I was detained and has blocked all attempts to find out more about my detention.

What I do know is that the Jordanian government -- after torturing me for several days -- handed me over to a U.S. "rendition team" in Amman, which then abducted me, forced me onto a plane, and flew me to Afghanistan. During this, and several other transfers between CIA prisons, I was subjected to a brutal and deeply humiliating "preparation" ritual. I was stripped naked, dressed in a diaper, shackled, blindfolded and hooded, and then boarded onto a waiting plane. I was forced into painful positions, often reeling from the blows and kicks of the men who had "prepared" me for flight.

During my detention, I agonized constantly about my family back in Yemen, knowing they had no idea where I was. They never once received information about who had taken me, why I was taken, or even whether I was alive. They were never contacted by the U.S. government or the International Committee of the Red Cross. My mother and wife were in such anguish that they had to be hospitalized for illness, stress, and anxiety. My father passed away while I was disappeared and I am still distraught thinking that he died without knowing whether I was dead or alive. I continue to suffer from bouts of illness that medical doctors attribute to the treatment I experienced in the "black sites." My physical symptoms are made worse by the anxiety caused by never knowing where I was held, and not having any form of acknowledgment that I was disappeared and tortured by the U.S. government.

I believe that acknowledgment is the first step toward accounting for a wrongdoing. The American public needs to face what has happened to those of us who were disappeared and mistreated in the name of their national security, demand accountability for those who committed torture and other crimes, and acknowledge the suffering of those who became victims. Today, a group of concerned Americans called on President Obama to take the first steps to do just that, by demanding that he establish an independent commission of inquiry into the treatment of detainees in the "War on Terror."

President Obama himself recently said that "democracy requires accountability and accountability requires transparency." If he establishes this commission, it would break the silence about what has happened and signal a real commitment not only to changing the practices of the past but also to ensuring that they do not happen again. Both the American public and the victims of these past policies need to understand what the CIA did in the name of U.S. national security. We need to find out where we were all held and who is still missing. And we need justice for the crimes that were committed in violation of our most basic human rights -- rights the United States has always claimed to uphold and defend. President Obama's recent order to the CIA to shut down its secret prisons was a significant step in the right direction, but it did not resolve the unfinished business of establishing accountability and restoring transparency.

The American public deserves to know what was done to people like me -- and I deserve to know why I lost nineteen months of my life -- all in the name of protecting their security. It gives me faith to see that Americans are standing up for my rights and calling for the truth to be exposed. It is my hope that the President will not only establish this commission, but that he will also direct the relevant authorities to investigate and prosecute those who broke American laws in ordering the torture and disappearance of people like me. Truth and justice are not in opposition; both are necessary, and both are the right of all Americans and the victims harmed in their name.

<more>

http://www.alternet.org/rights/127847/i_was_illegally_detained_by_the_u.s._government_and_held_in_cia-run_%26quot%3Bblack_sites%26quot%3B/

[Hekate]

1. KnR

:kick:

God help us back from this evil swamp.

Hekate

[acmavm]

2. You know, this is why I cannot stand those movies that 'glorify' our

'intelligence' community. You know, the ones where they protect the civilians and go in and rescue the good guy being held by terraists.

Because 'we' are terraists too.

edit: I KNOW we need intelligence people to help protect us. But we've loaded up the services with goons. And hell, look at Tenet. He was a piece of shit if there ever was one.

Nope, we need a complete do-over.

[ThomCat]

5. The problem is, when you have power and nobody looking over your

shoulder you become corrupt. When you are above the law, and you can be as petty and vindictive as you want, and you've got even the barest racist and nationalistic ideology behind you to justify it, there's no limit to what you'll do.

The US has been the world's biggest terrorist for a long time. Look at the mess we made in Central and South America. Look at what we did in Cuba. Look at our history in the Philippines. Hell, look at our history with Native Americans right up to today.

[HillWilliam]

3. The repiglican types that are all for this type of illegal activity

are happy with torturing "someone else" or removing rights from "someone else". They never once stop to realize that once rights are removed from "someone else", rights are immediately and just as irrevocable removed from them. There's nothing standing in the way of the government doing the same thing to them. I've reminded pigs of this fact and when they try to counter with "but I'm a murrican!!", I remind them that over 60% of the detainees in Gitmo are Americans who were walking around minding their own, too, before someone decided to point a finger at them. "Whiteness" is no "get out of jail free"; neither is being a card-carrying Talibabdist. If they can snatch one off the street and render them to G'd-knows-where, they can render any other one just as breathtakingly easy. There is no law, no fact, no help, nowhere to run or hide, no plea, no bargaining, no difference; the precedent is set -- anyone can be snatched, rendered, tortured, and "disappeared" just as quickly and easily as anyone else, if the wrong accusation is laid.

It's a simple fact. Folks ought to be more careful when they scream to take rights away from "someone else". They're screaming to take rights from their own selves.

You should see faces go pale when reality sets in. Try it some time.

[ThomCat]

4. Our country has become the terrorist nation.

We are disappearing people. When are we going to start holding hearings to break this open and lay all of it out in the sunlight?

I don't care how much of a PR disaster it is for the US. It will be much better for the US to clean house and arrest all the bastards. The Neocons, the people in the military, in the CIA, in any other government agency that participated or organized this terrorism. I don't care what their security ratings or how high they go.

They need to be rounded up and put on trial publicly. It needs to be broadcast for all the world to see. And all the victims who survived, and the families of those who did not survive, need to be able to take part in the prosecution if they can.

:grr: