Wednesday, December 07, 2005

'Black Sites' Open or Closed?

Todays WaPo reports that Condoleeza Rice would not confirm nor deny whether secret CIA black site prisons exist in Europe....
In an effort to calm tensions triggered by the disclosure, Rice began her trip Monday by reading a detailed statement designed to allay concerns in Europe over CIA practices in the war on terrorism. She neither confirmed nor denied the existence of the clandestine prison system. But she said the CIA's interrogations helped prevent terrorist attacks, and she strongly suggested that the questioning took place with the cooperation of European governments.
However The Guardian is reporting new claims by ABC that the sites were closed....
There were also new and embarrassing revelations yesterday that the CIA had closed down its secret jails in eastern Europe after their existence was revealed early last month by the Washington Post. According to ABC, citing CIA officials, the prisons believed to be in Poland and Romania were shut last month. The 11 al-Qaida suspects held there were flown to north Africa before Ms Rice's trip, the network said.
I don't know if the closures are true but it points out to me that if ever there was a time that America needs hard hitting investigative journalism it is now. This administration will do whatever it can get away with and then more. It has proven to be congenitally incapable of honesty or self correction. Our press is needed to cast a light on all the secrets, deals, corruption, incompetence and graft. Then and only then will there be any hope of accountability.

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