CIA secret prisons

Inquiry Finds No Proof of C.I.A. Jails But Stays Skeptical

Just because we have no evidence does not mean they are not there. Well, we have no evidence that elves don't exist too, does that mean elves are real?

By CRAIG S. SMITH
Published: January 24, 2006

STRASBOURG, France, Jan. 24 - The Council of Europe's inquiry into allegations that the C.I.A. has operated secret detention centers in Eastern Europe has turned up no evidence that such centers ever existed, though the inquiry's leader, Dick Marty, said there are enough "indications" to justify a continuing investigation.

Remember, no evidence of crime is still "indicates" evidence when it involves the Americans.

The report added, however, that it was "highly unlikely" that European governments were unaware of the American program of renditions, in which terrorism suspects were either seized in Europe or transferred through the Continent to third countries where they may have been tortured. Drawing from news reports, Mr. Marty contended that "more than a hundred" detainees have been moved anonymously and illegally through Europe under the program.

If this really happened, don't you think that foreign governments would have a vested interest in nailing the jihad boys before they can blow up people?

The findings, delivered to the council today, drew scornful reactions from some representatives of the council's 46 member states, particularly from the British, who called the interim report "as full of holes as Swiss cheese" and "clouded in myth and motivated by a desire to kick America."

You mean eurotrash can actually figure that out? Damn, I'm impressed.

Mr. Marty, a Swiss senator and chairman of the council's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, was put in charge of the inquiry after a Washington Post article in November cited unnamed intelligence officials as saying that the C.I.A. had maintained detention centers in eight countries, including some in Eastern European democracies.

Ok, if they belive what the Washington (com)Post has to say without bothering to try and find out which "unnamed intelligence officials" (it was Spongebob, we swear!) said we had secret prisons in eastern Europe (or was it in bikini bottom atoll?).

A subsequent report by Human Rights Watch named Poland and Romania as two of those countries. Both countries, as well as others in Europe, have denied the allegations.

But, we all know that Poland and Romania are good American friends and should not be believed, even with no evidence of wrongdoing.

Mr. Marty's findings to date amount to little more than a compendium of press clippings.

We all know how accurate THAT is.

"It would seem from confidential contacts that the information revealed by The Washington Post, Human Rights Watch and ABC came from different sources, probably all well-informed official sources," one passage in the report reads. "This is clearly a factor that adds to the credibility of the allegations, since the media concerned have not simply taken information from one another."

The well-informed official (to the press) source was a magic 8-ball. I swear to Allah it's true. "Since the media concerned have not simply taken information from one another." You know this, how?

Part of the reason Mr. Marty finds the allegations credible are other well-documented cases of America's rendition of terrorism suspects on European soil, including the 2003 C.I.A. abduction of an Egyptian cleric, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, who was sent to Egypt for interrogation.

Maybe the Egyptians wanted to ask him a few questions too.

Mr. Marty is equally wary of Romanian and Polish denials of the detention center allegations, noting that both countries are part of the American-led coalition fighting in Iraq and "escaped long dictatorships thanks largely to the American intelligence services."

Oh, yes, unimpeachable proof that they are American lackeys in the eyes of the EU. Wasn't it not too long ago they were bitching because Poland, Romania, and the rest of East Eurostan were thinking for themselves and not listening to france and Germany?

He has requested data on aircraft movements from Eurocontrol, the European air traffic control agency, and satellite imagery from the European Union's Satellite Center. But it is not clear what he hopes to find in the data or photographs.

Hoping to get good pics of naked eurotrash stewardesses, I suspect. Or maybe stewards. You can never tell with eurotrash.

His assertion that more than a hundred detainees have been moved through Europe - a number that he took from an article in the German newspaper Die Zeit - is not of a scale that would show up in satellite imagery.

He is after porn, don't worry about it. Is it just me or is "Die Zeit" translate as "The zit"? Maybe it's just me.

The debate over renditions and secret prisons reflects the deep mistrust that has developed in parts of Europe toward the Bush administration and its Eastern European coalition partners since the invasion of Iraq.

They haven't trusted us after George did what he said he was going to. How dare we!

Both Mr. Marty and the Council of Europe's secretary general, Terry Davies, are convinced that the American media know more about the alleged detention centers but are under government pressure to keep the information secret.

They don't know our papers very well do they?

Ok, Mr. Marty sounds like a name you would find belonging to an inhabitant of San Francisco's flaming pink district. It does. The guy needs to get a different last name. Sounds like one of those lame kids show host names. I had to say that.

"I know of a television company that has information that they are not willing to broadcast out of concern for their employees," Mr. Davies said. He declined to name the broadcaster or the source of the allegation.

I have information that all eurotrash are gay, I can't name my source because they are concerned for their employees. Sorry bub, but saying you can't name your source just makes me wonder if you have one.

Mr. Davies is scheduled to issue a report in February on what the council's 46-member states have done to ensure that such breaches of the Council's European Convention on Human Rights do not occur. Mr. Marty is expected to issue a final report on his inquiry in March or April.

(Song and dance routine) We have no proof, we have no proof, it doesn't matter because we hate Americans.

"This is no easy task; uncovering information about the operations of the world's most powerful spy agencies is not easy," said John Swift, terrorism researcher for Human Rights Watch. "The information doesn't fall out of the sky."

World's most powerful? Considering how often the CIA has been busted doing something stupid, I would hardly call them powerful. Oh, and have you figured out yet if Castro is still holding prisoners in gulags? Get back to us when you have found out.

For now, though, there is nothing concrete beneath the chatter to the allegations of secret prisons. "At this stage of the investigations, there is no formal, irrefutable evidence of the existence of secret C.I.A. detention centers in Romania, Poland or any other country," Mr. Marty's report found.

If at the end of your investigation, you still have not found evidence, will you apologize to the US and our European Allies? Probably not.

Doreen Carvajal of The International Herald Tribune contributed reporting from Paris for this article.

No idea who she is, nor do I care.