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  • In December, a Polish ex-president admitted that Poland had hosted a secret interrogation

  • prison for the CIA in the early 2000s. Such locations are commonly calledblack sites”,

  • and are best known as terrorist holding cells located in countries without strict anti-torture

  • laws. So what exactly is a black site?

  • Well, in the week following 9/11, President George W. Bush issued a classified memo to

  • the National Security Council. It allowed the CIA to set up secret foreign prisons for

  • purposes of detainment and [quote] “enhanced interrogation”. Five years later, Bush finally

  • acknowledged the existence of such sites. And then in 2014, the Senate Intelligence

  • Committee released a report investigating the torture methods carried out by the CIA

  • during the Bush administration. The Torture Report found that the first black site was

  • opened in 2001 and held multiple terrorism suspects, including top al-Qaida operatives.

  • At least 53 countries were involved in the CIA’s torture program and some of them,

  • like Thailand, Poland and Lithuania, were hosts to black sites. One infamous black site

  • was located in Afghanistan, and was known as the Salt Pit or the Dark Prison. The Torture

  • Report revealed that prisoners were kept in total darkness at all times, given a bucket

  • to use for waste, and in at least one case, left in a cold cell to freeze to death. To

  • learn more about the Torture Report, check out Trace’s explanation.

  • Despite harsh, and potentially unlawful conditions, in 2006, the Bush Administration maintained

  • that the detention ofillegal combatantsin foreign black sites is the US’ “right

  • under the laws of war.” President Bush also maintained, in a historical sound bite:

  • the United States does not torture.” Considering the recently released torture

  • report, it would appear that this was not true.

  • In 2003, the CIA kidnapped German citizen, Khaled El-Masri, while he was on vacation.

  • For the next four months, El-Masri was interrogated, beaten, tortured and even sodomized during

  • his imprisonment in Afghanistan’s Salt Pit. Eventually the CIA realized that he was not

  • the Al Qaeda suspect they were looking for, and the then National Security Advisor ordered

  • his release. El-Masri went on to sue a number of government bodies he claimed were responsible

  • for his detainment. All US courts, including the Supreme Court, refused to hear his case.

  • In 2012, the European Court of Human Rights found the CIA to be in violation of international

  • law and awarded El-Masri 60,000 Euros as compensation. Two years later, the U.S. acknowledged in

  • the Torture Report that El-Masri was one of 26 people mistakenly detained.

  • Despite President Barack Obama’s 2009 reversal on torture and unlawful extradition, black

  • sites are reportedly still in use around the world.

  • If youre full of curiosity about the world, youll be excited to hear that weve launched

  • a brand new daily show called Seeker. It’s all about finding the unique perspectives

  • and inspiring stories that make us ask questions that really matter. Take a look at this recent

  • video I made that questions if there are ever times censorship can be a good thing. Click

  • the link in the description if you want to see more, and please don’t forget to subscribe!

In December, a Polish ex-president admitted that Poland had hosted a secret interrogation

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B2 中高級

什麼是中情局黑點? (What Is A CIA Black Site?)

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    BH 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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