EU Parliament Condemns CIA Black Sites
The European Union parliament has voted to endorse a report conducted by Italian Giovanni Fava uncovering the over 1200 CIA flights to and from EU member states in which US prisoners were "rendered" for interrogation to "black sites".
BBC News The EU report said the CIA had operated 1,245 flights, some taking suspects to states where they could face torture.
In addition to being tortured, victims of the CIA operation were seized illegally, given no counsel, given no access to the Red Cross (per international law), and were not listed on any US report. Their very existence was eliminated by this program. Known victims include Maher Arar, whom I have written about; Abu Omar, an Egyptian cleric living on asylum in Italy; and Khalid Masri, a German citizen abducted on vacation in the Balkans. Each of these individuals is innocent, and after torturing them, the CIA dumped them without a word, much less an apology.
While Maher Arar's case does not fit the profile of this article exactly (he is Canadian and abducted illegally at JFK airport), it is virtually indistinguishable from the other two cases I mention, which do involve abductions in Europe which resulted in torture. And although the vote was a majority (382 for, 256 against, 74 abstaining, where 382 of 712 is 54%), it has no force in law. Still, the evidence reported is "damning", according to the BBC article I linked above.
Many of those taken from EU states were subjected to torture to extract information from them, the report said.
It said there was a "strong possibility" that this intelligence had been passed on to EU governments who were aware of how it was obtained.
It also uncovered the use of secret detention facilities used as the flights made their journey across Europe towards countries such as Afghanistan.
It was not possible to contradict evidence or suggestions that secret detention centres were operated in Poland and Romania, the report said.
I emphasized the last paragraph because what we have is a definitive statement that the CIA tortured people in European prisons. Let me repeat: The European Union has definitively stated that the CIA tortured people in European prisons.
It is no wonder this is not being reported in American media. It is, however, the front page, top story in the BBC. I hate to think that the EU has more power to investigate the illegal activities of this administration than our own government, but so it seems. I have experienced some pride in my Democrats this week as they ask explicitly for an end to the Iraq occupation. But like the EU endorsing a report with "evidence" but no action, a non-binding Congressional resolution has no teeth.
Who is going to stop this administration, or is it too late?
Previous articles on 'black sites'