[Mb-civic] CBC News - POWELL'S EX-AIDE SPEAKS OF TORTURE 'CABAL'

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POWELL'S EX-AIDE SPEAKS OF TORTURE 'CABAL'
WebPosted Fri Nov  4 08:12:01 2005

---A former top official in the Bush administration is making new
allegations that Vice-President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld approved the use of torture against al-Qaeda suspects and other
foreign-held prisoners.

 BACKGROUND: Torture: Outlawed by convention

"They began to authorize procedures in the armed forces that led to, in
my view, what we've seen," said Col. Larry Wilkerson, who was chief of
staff to former secretary of state Colin Powell.

Wilkerson claims that Cheney and Rumsfeld formed what he called a "cabal"
– a small secret group within the administration that tacitly
approved torture.

According to a report published in the Washington Post this week, much of
the alleged torture may be taking place in a number of covert Central
Intelligence Agency prisons called "black sites."



 FROM NOV. 3, 2005: EU to investigate allegations of secret CIA prisons

Several of them are allegedly located in Eastern Europe, where they are
used to house and interrogate al-Qaeda suspects.

Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter said that if the Washington Post story
is true, the existence of the prisons is a disgrace.

"It's an abomination," he said. "It's a discredit to our country; it's
an embarrassment to our country, and it's a direct violation of the
fact that America in the past has been looked upon as a champion of
human rights."

The Bush administration declined to either confirm or deny the existence
of secret CIA prisons around the world. It has also repeated its claim
that it does not condone torture.

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