Community | January 23, 2009 | 25 comments

Obama shuts network of CIA's 'ghost prisons' in foreign countries

source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/23/obama-rendition-torture

bansheewail
I like the moral highground. I can see all the bullshit more clearly from up here.

Barack Obama embarked on the wholesale deconstruction of George Bush's war on terror, shutting down the CIA's secret prison network, banning torture and rendition, and calling for a new set of rules for detainees. The repudiation of Bush's thinking on national security yesterday also saw the appointment of a high-powered envoy to the Middle East.

Obama's decision to permanently shut down the CIA's clandestine interrogation centres went far beyond the widely anticipated move to wind down the Guantánamo Bay detention centre within a year.

He cast his scrapping of the legal apparatus set up by Bush as a way for America to reclaim the moral high ground in the fight against al-Qaida.
  1. groups:
    Community,   News and Politics,   Politics
  2. tags:
    News,  News and Politics,  Politics,  US,  6 more
  3.     
    |

25 comments // Obama shuts network of CIA's 'ghost prisons' in foreign countries

  • Bren589
  • wally60
    • 0
      wally60  

    • we as a free people would not want to be treated
      like we have treated others.if they locked us up
      with no end in sight. it goes against everything
      america stands for.
      obama did the right thing for a change

    • 3 years ago
  • numinant
    • 0
      numinant  

    • no place for secret prisons in a democracy.*

      *and yes, i realize that we're a democratic republic and not a true democracy, but we generally regard ourselves as one and expect our government to function accordingly, so this is a start.

    • 3 years ago
  • crob80227
    • 0
      crob80227  

    • President Obama is making a wise decision.

      I think it's hysetrical how some people are already ranting, "He's just going to release them and let them wander the streets! We're all going to die!"

      Not at all. What he's doing is intelligent and (gasp!) moral in terms of our national security.

      All President (I love saying that!) Obama is doing is closing down illegal and immoral POW camps.

      These POW's will be transferred to non-ass raping/non-water boarding detention facilities either here in the US or aboard -- Switzerland has actually offered to take some POW's if we need them too if they cannot be safely transferred back to their country of origin. Gotta love the Swiss.

      If we have evidence against them -- and we damn well better after 7 years! -- then they will be tried, found guilty and issued a sentence in a fair trial. If we don't have any evidence against them then we will release them -- like we've done for the dozens and dozens of other GitMo POW's Bush already released. You know, the kids under 16 and the old men over 85 that Bush already let go.

      Constantly ass-raping a 14 year old kid for 7 years while screaming, "Where's Osama? Where's Osama?" was NEVER an intelligent or effective national security strategy. And it made us look really depraved and idiotic.

      Thank God Obama is President now and is ending the humilation we suffered under while Bush was in charge.

    • 3 years ago
  • oreo4sho
  • ahimsapls
    • 0
      ahimsapls  
    • crob80227:

      "Thank God Obama is President now and is ending the humilation we suffered under while Bush was in charge."

      AMEN to that and HALLELUJAH

      in the time that i have been old enough to be somewhat aware of politics, i have only known bush. it is extremely refreshing to finally have hope for a feeling of patriotism and to, for once, be glad to call this "my" country. let's hope for more of this from our president. looking good so far.

    • 3 years ago
  • bluestranger
    • 0
      bluestranger  

    • He keeps doing what he said he would do. Not what we have come to expect from politicians. If he is not carefull this could start a trend.

    • 3 years ago
  • evph
  • bansheewail
    • 0
      bansheewail  

    • Keffar, Melsmity, and evph, you all have to stop living in fear. The terrorist organizations around the world use Gitmo and Bush hipocritical abandonment of the Geneva Convention to recruit new terrorist. Radical Muslims don't hate us for our freedoms. They hate us for our action against their people in thier countries; Putting our military on their holy land, torture, redition, destroying infrasturcture and killing people, and over throwing their leaders(1953 Moussadegh). Obama's actions over the passed 48 hours will make us more safe. Don't be afraid.

    • 3 years ago
  • Hunab_Ku
  • Gargaryun
    • 0
      Gargaryun  

    • Too many neo-nazis here proclaiming "We can't afford to use decency, common sense, & Our own laws to deal with the rest of the world"...SHEESH !

    • 3 years ago
  • kuffar
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  
    • kuffar:

      That means that 90% got tortured for no reason then. 9:1 doesn't sound like a very good ratio to me.

      And technically speaking, that 10% could have been innocent before and has now become a terrorist after their lives were ruined by Gitmo.

      Nice try, you can go back to your cave now.

    • 3 years ago
  • quixotic12
  • smizzle1
    • 0
      smizzle1  

    • this man is challenging everything.....i hope he has his own securtiy team...not just the one provided by the government.....GOD bless him

    • 3 years ago
  • melsmity
    • 0
      melsmity  

    • You thought the prisoners were angry in prison... wait till they get out. They don't understand sympathy... terrorists don't see Obama as a savior. They see him as a man leading a country with freedoms and rights that their country doesn't have and hopes never will. Terrorists HATE America... they did before 9/11 (hence, 9/11) and they probably always will. I hope Obama doesn't resign the CIA during his term.

    • 3 years ago
  • Hoax_Productions
  • evph
    • 0
      evph  

    • total idiocy, examine your facts, the alternatives are worse both for the prisoners and for us 1) they either are returned to their countries and treated worse or released to do further harm

    • 3 years ago
  • ocanada
    • 0
      ocanada  
    • evph:

      Total idiocy is not allowing the public the satisfaction of public trials of these monsters. There are procedures in place that allow a closed jurry pool or partialy closed hearings that protect sensitive information but still offer a free trial. Many of these men deserve to be put to death. This process has denied closure and safety to America and harmed our moral standing in the world in one bitter fell swoop.

    • 3 years ago
  • ras_menelik
  • omordn
  • blknight
  • ras_menelik
    • 0
      ras_menelik  
    • Image

    • "Blacksite"
      In military terminology, a black site is a location at which a black project is conducted. Recently the term has gained notoriety in describing secret prisons operated by the CIA, generally outside of the mainland U.S. territory and legal jurisdiction, and with little or no political or public oversight. It can refer to the facilities that are controlled by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) used by the U.S. in its War on Terror to detain alleged unlawful enemy combatants. One of the alleged purposes is to detain suspected terrorists outside of the Intelligence Oversight Act which authorizes Congressional supervision.[citation needed] Another purpose, according to the February 2007 European Parliament report, is for detaining suspects while CIA flights used in the extraordinary rendition program make their way through European territory [1].

      US President George W. Bush acknowledged the existence of secret prisons operated by the CIA during a speech on September 6, 2006.[2][3] A claim that the black sites existed was made by The Washington Post in November 2005 and before by human rights NGOs.[4]

      Many European countries[who?] have officially denied they are hosting Black Sites to imprison terrorists or cooperating in the US extraordinary rendition program. Not one country has confirmed that it is hosting black sites. However, according to the EU report, adopted on February 14, 2007 by a majority of the European Parliament (382 MEPs voting in favour, 256 against and 74 abstaining), the CIA operated 1,245 flights, and stated that it was not possible to contradict evidence or suggestions that secret detention centres were operated in Poland and Romania. This 2007 report "regrets that European countries have been relinquishing control over their airspace and airports by turning a blind eye or admitting flights operated by the CIA which, on some occasions, were being used for illegal transportation of detainees" [1][5].

      An investigation on the origins of the leaks has also been opened by the U.S. Justice Department to investigate what may have been illegal release of classified information.

      Newly inaugurated President Barack Obama issued an executive order closing the CIA's black sites on January 23rd, 2009.

    • 3 years ago
  • AndreaKnoll
  • cantucwearebrothers
  • oracleruby
  • cerealforeal
    • 0
      cerealforeal  

    • Let's hope he continues to act for himself and not for his buddy's interests. It's looking to shape out pretty well right now, but let's not put the magnifying glass away yet.

    • 3 years ago
  • ruberube
more from Community:
from the community

top videos