Friday, December 12, 2014

Black Sites


It is well-documented that since 2001, American authorities have used overseas black sites and foreign data collection as legal gray areas for things that would clearly be illegal if done to US citizens on American soil. This practice increases the chances that officials, who violate the law or even break its letter outright, will never be prosecuted in an American court. No longer willing to let the United States hide behind national security, the world is beginning to unearth our crimes and try them in open courts.

I am personally repulsed by the information I obtained from the three articles I have read about the SIA’s “Black Sites.” How could something like this be kept so awfully quiet? There is no way that our government has not been aware. Such a widespread global operation requires not only the participation of our government, but other governments as well, and that is where human rights advocates may find new inroads. Foreign leaders and international courts have increasingly begun to step in to inform the public and hold the United States accountable for abuses. But this is AFTER these foreign leaders had played dumb for over 12 years. Foreign leaders knew that these “Black Sites” were located in their countries and they still kept quiet.

                As if the torture tactics were not enough to make American citizens cower, imaging the disgust that they felt that $80 Million of their tax money went to funding just two men to come up with more methods of horrific torture.

                Personally I believe that this torture is not about finding information, it is in some twisted way revenge. These prisoners are interrogated to the point that they could no longer communicate, or that they would give false information to stop the torture. They call these prisoners “medium value suspects,” I cannot even imagine what they do to the ones of high value. They claim that these people are terrorist suspects and could be involved for the killing of Americans, but if we kill and torture them what makes us any less forms of terrorists? Where is our humanity? I am in fear of what the future holds for America’s reputation.

 

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