Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Secret CIA Prisoners Disappeared

Required for Con Law and Internship Students (Read Human Rights Watch Press Release)
Human Rights Watch, a highly respected non-partisan human rights group, published a detailed report identifying 38 people who were held in CIA black sites and are still missing. The report titled “Ghost Prisoner: Two Years in Secret CIA Detention,” includes a detailed description of a secret CIA prison given by a former detainee released from custody last year. In a letter to President Bush(pdf), HRW called on the President to account for the whereabouts of the "disappeared" prisoners. In its press release Joanne Mariner, the terrorism and counterterrorism director at Human Rights Watch, stated:
The CIA program – and the civilian leaders who created it – have inflicted tremendous harm on the reputation, moral standing, and integrity of the United States. It’s time for President Bush to repudiate this program, and to take steps to repair the damage it has done.
See also this BBC report.
Take Action through Amnesty International, and through Human Rights First.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is this what democracy looks like?

Anonymous said...

As I have said before this is another "dirty little secret". Everyone acts so shocked that Americans would do these things, but why? How do you think this type of information is gathered?

Is it unethical? Hell yes it is! What are willing to do about it? How far are Americans willing to go? Are we willing to risk our lives and the lives of our loved ones to make these secrete CIA prisons go away? What is the lesser of two evils?

And if they're "secret" how will we know if they are out of business?

To answer your question: This is what bureaucracy looks like:)

-Patriot

Anonymous said...

This is not what democracy looks like, but this is what happens when you give any president a free pass. After 9-11, many of us were more concerned about getting the bad guys than protecting our civil rights. President Bush's approval numbers went from 40's to the 90's. He did not do anything special to deserve those numbers, but the bad guy hit us in the mouth and all we wanted was revenge. By our actions, we told the president to go and get the bad guy regardless of how you do it. As a result, Congress gave the president a blank check and now we are complaining because we don't like how he filled it out. Shame on all of us.

Anonymous said...

Don't we ever get tired of blaming the president for everything? I guess not.

Anyway, just because the CIA falls under the control of the executive branch doesn't mean that Bush is the puppet master. Seriously, do you think that he has the time to make every decision in every agency? If you really believe that then you're giving him way too much credit.

The CIA has been a rogue agency since the Bay of
Pigs.

-Patriot

Anonymous said...

The reason the government is allowed to get away with this stuff is the mere apathy of the majority of Americans. This "Idol" watching MTV society of ours is more interested in where Anna Nicole Smith will be burried than how "democratic" our country is.

Until enough people wake up, there is nothing that will stop this insanity.

Anonymous said...

and as I've said before "Those who give up liberty for safety deserve neither safety nor liberty"

Anonymous said...

"Those who would trade liberty for security deserve neither"...Benjamin Franklin. I love this quote, but I believe that Ben was talking about Americans in there struggle for independence from England. Unless I am mistaken, this story is about foreign detainee's.

-Patriot