Discovering the "Disappeared" and Other Detainees Ghost Prisoners, Shadowy Prisons & Secret Trials

Col. DAN SMITH, CounterPunch

There's a new sheriff in town--and it's neither the U.S. nor a U.S.-sponsored surrogate "invited" by the U.S. It's another of those pesky international conventions the administration loves to hate and refuses to join--but still cannot stop from taking effect. Fifteen years in the making, the pact outlaws state terrorism of a type frequently practiced by the United States: "extraordinary rendition." On this topic, February was a month of unwelcome revelations (from the administration's perspective) and long overdue (from the people's perspective) media attention on the policies and programs the White House created and justified for incarcerating "known" or suspected terrorists in the extensive acknowledged and unacknowledged Defense Department and CIA prison systems created nearly 5 years ago...

continua / continued