Friday, June 03, 2005

No Gulags Here

Jason Burke of the Observer runs by some of the highlights of our own little archipelago:

The United States government, in conjunction with key allies, is running an 'invisible' network of prisons and detention centres into which thousands of suspects have disappeared without trace since the 'war on terror' began. In the past three years, thousands of alleged militants have been transferred around the world by American, Arab and Far Eastern security services, often in secret operations that by-pass extradition laws. [...]

The ghost prison network stretches around the globe. The biggest American-run facilities are at the Bagram airbase, north of Kabul in Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, where around 400 men are held, and in Iraq, where tens of thousands of detainees are held. Saddam Hussein and dozens of top Baath party officials are held in a prison at Baghdad airport.

However, Washington is relying heavily on allies. In Morocco, scores of detainees once held by the Americans are believed to be held at the al-Tamara interrogation centre sited in a forest five miles outside the capital, Rabat. Many of the detainees were originally captured by the Pakistani authorities, who passed them on to the Americans. [Observer]


So remember: This system is not comparable to the Stalinist version. It is built by God-fearing American free-marketeers, and as such, can only speed the planet's way toward peace, security, liberty and understanding by eliminating the threat of terrorism through terrorism. If the War On Terror is as successful as The War On Drugs and the War On Poverty, we will have much to be proud of, soon. Why, one can't find any drugs or poor people anywhere, anymore!

We are America. We are right. That's just the way it is.--Pete

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