Nov. 05, 2005 - 18:52 MST

BACK FROM MEMORY LANE

Back again and almost ready to retreat back there again. A Denver Post editorial in this mornings JOA Denver Post - Rocky Mountain News is a shocker if true. And in my pessimistic mind it feels to be true. Rendition and all that.

In full:

LIGHT MUST BE SHED ON SECRET DETENTIONS

A revelation that the CIA is operating a hidden prison network in Europe for terror suspects has stirred serious questions from international groups

"The revelation that the U.S. is operating secret prisons in Eastern Europe to detain top terrorist suspects is like something out of a mystery novel. Most of Congress don't know about them, even though federal money is paying for them."

"The Washington Post reported this week that the CIA created the prison network after Sept. 11 to house suspected al-Qaeda terrorists overseas because it is illegal in this country for the government to hold prisoners in isolation in secret prisons. More than 100 suspected terrorists are being held in the clandestine system."

"Virtually nothing is known about who is kept in the facilities, what interrogation methods , and its existence is raising concern at home and abroad are employed with them, or how decisions are made about whether they should be detained or for how long," the article said. The prisons are known only to a handful of officials in the host countries."

"The fight against terror is a shadowy one that demands unconventional methods. but The Post's story indicated that prisoners are being detained and dying in conditions that are un-American. One detainee apparently froze to death after being stripped naked and chained to a concrete floor without blankets. In the winter of 2001, prisoners captured in Afghanistan suffocated after being held in metal shipping containers while awaiting transport to who knows where ?"

"The top 30 al-Qaeda prisoners are said to be held in dark, sometimes underground cells in a Soviet-era facility, where they have no recognized legal rights. No one outside the CIA is allowed to talk to them, or even verify their well-being, said Post sources that included current and former governmient and intelligence officials from the U.S. and other governments."

"The Post withheld the names of the Eastern European countries involved at the request of senior U.S. officials."

"Members of Congress were not the only ones stunned by the report. The European Union and the United Nations said they would investigate, and the Red Cross has sought access to the prisons to ensure human rights are not being violated."

The need for secrecy when it comes to dealing with terrorists is all too real, but we question whether there is justification to maintain this prion system indefinitely. THe likelihood that human rights are being violated is unacceptable. Given the question surrounding the prisons, the Bush administration should re-evaluate its long-term plan for terrorist detentions.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Coupled with the news recently that Mr. Cheney is trying to excuse the CIA from being forbidden to use torture tactics, it all leaves me with the urge to throw up my shoe tongues.

I cannot see how as a country we can ever condone that sort of thing. Solitary confinement and light deprivation are methods used here in our country to punish recent offences by current prison inmates, heavy enough offences to warrant such routine.

Why on earth should we do things such as rendition, have a secret prison system overseas where anything is permissible in the way of prisoner abuse ? Seems to me we are in the process of becoming indistinguishable from our worst enemies.

There must be enough truth in it for the Post to publish it, I wonder if the administration is going to pull another 9-11 ploy to scare hell out of us and then seek to find out who leaked the info to the press ?

I have returned and am sickened, BACK FROM MEMORY LANE . . . . . . . . . . .

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