10 POW's Tortured in Secret
Prisons
ABC News
Sources Tell ABC News Top Al Qaeda Figures Held in Secret CIA Prisons By BRIAN
ROSS and RICHARD ESPOSITO
December 5, 2005
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.
CIA officials asked ABC News not to 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.
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.
Rice today avoided directly answering the question of secret prisons in
remarks made on her departure for Europe, where the issue of secret prisons and
secret flights has caused a furor.
Without mentioning any country by name, Rice acknowledged special handling
for certain terrorists.
"The captured terrorists of the 21st century do not fit easily into
traditional systems of criminal or military justice, which were designed for
different needs. We have had to adapt," Rice said.
The CIA has used a small fleet of private jets to move top al Qaeda suspects
from Afghanistan and the Middle East to Eastern Europe, where Human Rights
Watch has identified Poland and Romania as the countries that housed secret
sites.
But Polish Defense Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told ABC Chief Investigative
Correspondent Brian Ross today: "My president has said there is no truth in
these reports."
Ross asked: "Do you know otherwise, sir, are you aware of these sites being
shut down in the last few weeks, operating on a base under your direct
control?"
Sikorski answered, "I think this is as much as I can tell you about
this."
In Romania, where the secret prison was possibly at a military base visited
last year by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the new Romanian prime minister
said today there is no evidence of a CIA site but that he will investigate.
Sources tell ABC that the CIA's secret prisons have existed since March 2002
when one was established in Thailand to house the first important al Qaeda
target captured. Sources tell ABC that the approval for another secret prison
was granted last year by a North African nation.
Sources tell ABC News that the CIA has a related system of secretly
returning other prisoners to their home country when they have outlived their
usefulness to the United States.
These same sources also tell ABC News that U.S. intelligence also ships some
"unlawful combatants" to countries that use interrogation techniques harsher
than any authorized for use by U.S. intelligence officers. They say that
Jordan, Syria, Morocco and Egypt were among the nations used in order to
extract confessions quickly using techniques harsher than those authorized for
use by U.S. intelligence officers. These prisoners were not necessarily
citizens of those nations.
According to sources directly involved in setting up the CIA secret prison
system, it began with the capture of Abu Zabayda in Pakistan. After treatment
there for gunshot wounds, he was whisked by the CIA to Thailand where he was
housed in a small, disused warehouse on an active airbase. There, his cell was
kept under 24-hour closed circuit TV surveillance and his life-threatening
wounds were tended to by a CIA doctor specially sent from Langley headquarters
to assure Abu Zubaydah was given proper care, sources said. Once healthy, he
was slapped, grabbed, made to stand long hours in a cold cell, and finally
handcuffed and strapped feet up to a water board until after 0.31 seconds he
begged for mercy and began to cooperate.
While in the secret facilities in Eastern Europe, Abu Zubaydah and his
fellow captives were fed breakfasts that included yogurt and fruit, lunches
that included steamed vegetables and beans, and dinners that included meat or
chicken and more vegetables and rice, sources say. In exchange for cooperation,
prisoners were sometimes given hard candies, desserts and chocolates. Abu
Zubaydah was partial to Kit Kats, the same treat Saddam Hussein fancied in his
captivity.
"One of the difficult issues in this new kind of conflict is what to do with
captured individuals who we know or believe to be terrorists," Rice said. "The
individuals come from many countries and are often captured far from their
original homes. Among them are those who are effectively stateless, owing
allegiance only to the extremist cause of transnational terrorism. Many are
extremely dangerous. And some have information that may save lives, perhaps
even thousands of lives."
Sources tell ABC News that Jordanians, Egyptians, Moroccans, Tunisians,
Algerians, Saudis, Pakistanis, Uzbekistanis and Chinese citizens have been
returned to their nations' intelligence services after initial debriefing by
U.S. intelligence officers. Rice said renditions such as these are vital to the
war on terror. "Rendition is a vital tool in combating transnational
terrorism," she said.
Of the 12 high-value targets housed by the CIA, only one did not require
water boarding before he talked. Ramzi bin al-Shibh broke down in tears after
he was walked past the cell of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the operational planner
for Sept. 11. Visibly shaken, he started to cry and became as cooperative as if
he had been tied down to a water board, sources said.
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