ISLANDS IN A DARK SEA

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH has identified two island in the dark sea where the CIA tortures ghost detainees. Unable legally to do in the United States what  the President says he would never allow anywhere, the United States tortures in Poland and Romania.  Bush tortures credibility in denying what will now come out [story]

Tom Malinowski, the director of Human Rights Watch, told The Times that his investigators had tracked CIA aircraft transferring detainees from Afghanistan to airfields in Eastern Europe that are closed to the public and press, including two in Poland and Romania.
Mr Malinowski said that Human Rights Watch was “90 per cent certain” the CIA used Szymany airport in Poland.
“This is an obscure, rural airport which is very close to a Polish intelligence facility,” Mr Malinowski said.
He said the second major eastern European site was the Mihail-Kogalniceanu military airbase in Romania.

WHILE THE UNITED STATES may feel within its rights in torturing,  the Europeans who have found torture resident on their territory find a moral line crossed.  If the United States will not honor decency and morality, the Europeans will.[story]

The European Union and the continent's top human rights group said Thursday they will investigate allegations the CIA set up secret jails in eastern Europe and elsewhere to interrogate terror suspects, and the Red Cross demanded access to any prisoners. . . . Such prisons, European officials say, would violate the continent's human rights principles. At work may be a complex web of global politics, in which eastern European countries face choices between the views of the European Union and their interest in close ties with the United States. 

MORE THAN POLITICS is involved. Nothing less than hypocrisy will be exposed to start.  More horror remains to be uncovered.  Some countries haven't gone along with United States requests.  Who has gone along and continues to hide this abomination will soon come to light. 

Red Cross chief spokeswoman Antonella Notari said the agency asked Washington about the allegations and requested access to the prisons if they exist. The Red Cross, which has exclusive rights to visit terror suspects detained at a U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, long has been concerned about reports U.S. officials were hiding detainees from ICRC delegates. . . . She said the Red Cross was "concerned about the fate of an unknown number of persons detained as part of what is called the 'global war on terror' and held in undisclosed places of detention."

IN THE WAR ON TERROR what do we lose if we win small battles but become worse than the monsters we "defeat?"  If our prisoners are "ghosts" we cannot see, is there not something in our souls that will hear their silenced screams?

PREVIOUS RELATED HERETIK POSTS [The Black Sea]  [Bully For You] [Cheney’s Cheney]

THE HERETIK ON EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION [Keep Your Friends Close] [Anarchy USA] [Band On the Run] [Extraordinary Rendition Ruled Ordinary Crime in Italy]

Talk Left has some great background here.
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Comments

[eRobin]

Looking on the bright side of this, I'm glad that the torture that has always gone on behind the scenes is being openly discussed.

Looking on the dark side: I'm pretty sure if we put it to a fair vote, America would choose an official policy of torture exactly as Cheney is setting one out.

[Neil Shakespeare]

So the Red Cross has "exclusive rights" to visits in Guantanamo? What, did they have to go through competitive bidding? I'm sorta surprised they didn't give it to Halliburton. They're well-known for their humanitarian efforts, aren't they?