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Home Front: WoT
Investigator: US Shipped Out Detainees...Really....I Think....
2005-12-14
EFL...
Dick Marty, a Swiss senator looking into claims the CIA operated secret prisons in Europe, said an ongoing, monthlong investigation unearthed "clues" that Poland and Romania were implicated — perhaps unwittingly. "To my knowledge, those detainees were moved about a month ago, maybe a little more," he told reporters after briefing the legal committee of the Council of Europe, a human rights watchdog, on his findings. "They were moved to North Africa." Asked by The Associated Press on the sidelines of the meeting to which North African country detainees might have been moved, he said: "I would imagine that it would be Morocco — up to you to confirm it."
Apparently that's Swiss-politico speak for "I just pulled this outta my ass."
Moroccan government spokesman Nabil Benabdellah denied any connection to such prisons when reports of the transfers surfaced last week. "We have nothing to do with and we have no knowledge about this subject," he told the AP.
"So piss off. Y'bother me, infidel!"
The investigator told reporters he could not offer proof that secret detention centers existed.
Didn't stop him from having a press conference, though. Is there an election coming up in Helvetia?
But he cited two suspected cases of detainees held by U.S. authorities in Europe as signs that suspects were held at least temporarily in Europe. The cases cited were the alleged February 2003 kidnapping of Egyptian cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr by the CIA in Milan, Italy; and claims by Khaled al-Masri, a Lebanese-born German, that the agency took him to Afghanistan and tortured him after mistakenly identifying him as being linked to al-Qaida. Al-Masri said he was released in Albania in May 2004.
Albania? I'd be annoyed if they dropped me off there, too.
Marty told reporters that his aim was not to expose any U.S. wrongdoing but to ensure that he gets his 15 minutes too, dammit! the Council of Europe's 46 member states did not violate its rules. Marty has asked for air traffic logs from European countries as he seeks to trace flight patterns for several dozen suspected CIA airplanes. He also has asked for satellite images of the Sczytno-Szymany airport in northeastern Poland and the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base in Romania.
"And a pony, too!"
Marty said some governments may not have known of detention centers on their own soil and it was "still too early to assert that there had been any involvement or complicity of member states in illegal actions."
Yet not too early to start throwing around accusations before he has any real proof of anything....
The senator also was critical of the United States, saying he "deplores the fact that no information or explanations" were provided by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who faced repeated questions about the CIA prison allegations on her recent visit to Europe.
Ask her about stuff involving the diplomatic corps, idjits. That's her responsibility, not the spies.
Rice has said the United States acts within the law and argued that Europeans are safer because of tough U.S. tactics, but she refused to discuss intelligence operations or address questions about clandestine CIA detention centers.
Posted by:Desert Blondie

#8  The last photo (bottom) in the link I provided above is highly suspicious. Looks like an actual photo of a "rendition" taking place.
Posted by: Rafael   2005-12-14 19:39  

#7  "I would imagine that it would be Morocco — up to you to confirm it."

Morocco was also mentioned by a Polish newspaper. Not sure who's using who as a source. But it kinda makes sense if the final destination is Guantanamo.

Sczytno-Szymany airport in northeastern Poland

Former air base. Now a commercial airport. Polish newspaper said it's possible FBI planes also landed here, as part of their training of Polish agents (police?). Though FBI usually flies commercial, doesn't it? Oh well. So many planes, so little time.

It was also reported that George Tenet could have visited this airport during one of his 5 visits to Poland. The plot thickens...
Posted by: Rafael   2005-12-14 19:15  

#6  Soylent Green is detainees!

Wait a minute...
Now that I think about it, I did notice that the boneless chicken patties in the chow hall always did taste different the day after the detainees were "transferred to division"...
Posted by: N guard   2005-12-14 15:07  

#5  Soylent Green is detainees!
Posted by: SteveS   2005-12-14 13:43  

#4  Lead story, Le Temps (Geneva paper): "MORSURES. S'il existe bien des races de chiens dangereuses, que faire des bâtards qui en sont issus, sachant qu'ils ne sont pas toujours faciles à reconnaître? Problème." Translation: "Certain breeds of dogs [Rottweiler, etc.] may be dangerous, but what about mixed-breed offspring of those breeds, which are not always easy to recognize? It's a real problem."
Posted by: Curt Simon   2005-12-14 12:05  

#3  Time to demand transaction records for all Swiss bank accounts. Swiss banks could be used for unlawful purposes you know.
Posted by: ed   2005-12-14 00:56  

#2  Put them in little mini-states around the world like: Sealand
Posted by: 3dc   2005-12-14 00:51  

#1  Nice comments, Blondie. But technically, as NSA boss Dr. Rice prolly did know something about where all the renditionees were renditioned to...not that I can really work up a sense of outrage about poor poor Mahmoud
Posted by: Seafarious   2005-12-14 00:32  

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