On November 2, 2005 —nearly nine years ago—The Washington Post published an article citing former CIA officials who claimed that the Agency was secretly detaining, interrogating and torturing detainees suspected of terrorism, in secret prisons in Europe. (Dana Priest, “CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons. Debate Is Growing Within Agency About Legality and Morality of Overseas System Set Up After 9/11,” The Washington Post, November 2, 2005). While the Bush administration preferred to refer to the CIA engaging in “enhanced interrogation techniques”, President Obama finally admitted this year (2014) “we tortured some folks” (Guardian, 1 August 2014; here).
Illegal wars, occupations, interventions, detaining individuals without charge for inordinate amounts of time without granting them access to the outside world, torture and ill-treatment of “suspected terrorists” all fuel the rage that incites terrorism. In 2006, a National Intelligence Estimate stated that the war in Iraq has increased the threat of terrorism (see this reported in the Guardian, here). Yet, U.S. and allied governments continue on their same self-destructive path refusing to learn lessons, and attempting to shield themselves from accountability for past abuses.
Just days after the September 11 attacks in 2001, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney argued on national TV that it was necessary for the U.S. to work on the “dark side” to spend time in the “shadows in the intelligence world.” Unabashedly discrediting the idea of open, transparent governance (necessary for accountability in a thriving democracy), Cheney explained that the government would work “quietly” and “without any discussion”. It is “going to be vital for us to use any means at our disposal…to achieve our objective,” he explained (Meet the Press, NBCNews, September 16, 2001; see here).
For too much time two consecutive U.S. governments have been able to conceal much of what happened “in the shadows of the intelligence world.” They have been supported in this by European governments who refused to cooperate with inquiries into the CIA extraordinary rendition, detention and torture program. States have made strenuous efforts to keep their involvement in the CIA program hidden from public scrutiny (Fava report, 2007, here), denying victims redress, and denying the public of the right to truth about what exactly has been done in the name of “national security”.
This year, on 22 July 2014 the European Court of Human Rights shone some light on aspects of the CIA torture program. The Court found that Poland participated in the CIA program (Al Nashiri v Poland; Abu Zubaydah v Poland). The Court held that Polish authorities knew the CIA was using its territory between 2002 and 2003 for renditions and secret detention and knew that CIA interrogation practices amounted to torture. This followed a December 13, 2012 decision (also by the European Court of Human Rights) in El-Masri v Macedonia where it was found that a CIA rendition team had tortured Mr. El-Masri, and that Macedonia was responsible (see further here). Macedonian government agents stood by and did nothing while Mr. El-Masri was ill-treated in a process that was designed to break his spirit. The CIA program followed a systematic pattern that was designed to break detainees.
Poland is not the only country to have supported the CIA torture program. The current UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism has said that – in addition to Poland – there is now credible evidence to show that CIA secret prisons (also known as “black sites”) were located on the territory of Lithuania, Morocco, Romania and Thailand and that the officials of at least 49 other states allowed their airspace or airports to be used for rendition flights (Ben Emmerson QC (1 March 2013 Report)). Eastern European countries (Poland, Lithuania and Romania) were targeted by the U.S. to house secret prisons due to their desire to form closer diplomatic and economic ties with the U.S.
A report by the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) shines further light. The report documents wide-spread international complicity in the CIA program. States showed support by allowing rendition flights to stop and refuel – and/or by transferring individuals to the CIA where they knew there was a real risk that the CIA would use torture. The OSJI report identifies the following countries as participants in the secret program: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Libya, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Yemen, and Zimbabwe (OSJI Report).
Noticeably absent from the OSJI list of countries that supported the CIA program, are Latin American nations. While Latin American countries refused to participate in the program, they are now being encouraged to house Guantanamo Bay detainees (Guantanamo to Close, Biden Confirms, but Not with Latin America’s Help, teleSUR, July 18, 2014). Former leader of the Tupamaros guerilla group, and current President of Uruguay, Jose Mujica, has agreed to grant political asylum to six prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, cleared for release. For his participation in the Tupamaros guerilla group Mujica spent fourteen years in prison, ten of which were in solitary confinement. One can understand his motivation, therefore, to grant refuge to some of many prisoners cleared for release at Guantanamo.
Not enough information is known about how the CIA was covertly able to organize an international program of extraordinary rendition, secret detention and torture and ill-treatment; including with the support of some avowed foes of the U.S. Information has trickled out through the courage of whistle-blowers, and through the work of committed journalists and human rights advocates. However, much of the information remains concealed in the shadows.
More than seventy prisoners detained at Guantanamo Bay have been cleared for release (Close Guantanamo project; here). Only a few face trial. Key among these are the five prisoners linked in the Khaled Sheik Mohammed and Others v USA litigation at the Guantanamo Bay Military Commission. Their trial is rife with due process violations. In April this year (2014) defence lawyers discovered that the FBI had secretly interviewed a defence-team security expert and have since learned that others on several of the five defense teams (one for each co-defendant) were also questioned. The lawyers suspect that at least one person might have even been an informant for the FBI. Previously, defense teams have learned of listening devices disguised as smoke detectors in attorney-client meeting rooms; CIA monitoring of the court room; the disappearance of large volumes of both defense and prosecution files from specially-designed military commission servers; and the accumulation of piles of rat feces and mold in defense attorney office space at Guantanamo Bay. Defense lawyers are required to sign a restrictive protective order which effectively precludes them from disclosing any information to third parties. This makes it impossible for them to share information about the torture their clients will inevitably have been subjected to.
In March Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Dianne Feinstein has accused the CIA of spying on her committee. The CIA confirmed in July 2014 that it did. The motivating factor being to suppress further disclosures of U.S. torture of suspected terrorists. Accountability and justice for torture is necessary. We need more light to shine on the shadows of concealment that allowed Bush and Cheney to operate on the “dark side”.
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