Amid a flurry of news about their secret prisons being in Europe, the CIA has decided to move their prisoners to Northern Africa.
From ABC News:
Dec. 5, 2005 — Two CIA secret prisons were operating in Eastern Europe until last month when they were shut down following Human Rights Watch reports of their existence in Poland and Romania.
Current and former CIA officers speaking to ABC News on the condition of confidentiality say the United States scrambled to get all the suspects off European soil before Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived there today. The officers say 11 top al Qaeda suspects have now been moved to a new CIA facility in the North African desert.
So where were the prisons exactly? Well, while they won’t talk specifics, the CIA gives us a few hints.
CIA officials asked ABC News not the name the specific countries where the prisons were located, citing security concerns.
The CIA declines to comment, but current and former intelligence officials tell ABC News that 11 top al Qaeda figures were all held at one point on a former Soviet air base in one Eastern European country. Several of them were later moved to a second Eastern European country.
And yes, they’re being tortured.
All but one of these 11 high-value al Qaeda prisoners were subjected to the harshest interrogation techniques in the CIA’s secret arsenal, the so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” authorized for use by about 14 CIA officers and first reported by ABC News on Nov. 18.
So, how long do you think it’ll take before we find out where these North African prisons are?
I give it a month.