Original Article Here
According to this article in the New York Times, the CIA wants these tactics secret -- prisoners would somehow be forbidden from disclosing what happened to them -- so that Qaeda can't adapt. Obviously, the problem with this sort of secrecy is that there is no accountability. I also am not impressed with assurances that various related rollbacks in prisoners' rights "do not apply to U.S. citizens".
American citizens, and all semi-to-fully conscious human beings, should be concerned that our prisons, whether for petty crimes or for the containment of "terrorism", do not become the Gulags we once vilified in the days of the Cold War. If we do not know what is going on, there may be -- no, make that there WILL be innocent and relatively innocent people subjected to horrendous abuses. We the People cannot grant unfettered power without accountability to our government. Even in a great democracy, there are nuts running around vying for, and often gaining, power. Without accountability, the terror will come more from them than anyone else they may be claiming to thwart for our safety.
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