Barack Obama: The nigger in the woodpile

Barack Obama: The nigger in the woodpile

US seeks Afghan prison interrogation deal: report

June 9, 2010

(AFP) – WASHINGTON — The United States is seeking a deal with the Afghan authorities to retain the ability to hold and interrogate foreign terror suspects at a notorious prison in Afghanistan, a report said Wednesday.

The plan would see a special wing of the prison at Bagram Air Field, north of Kabul, kept under US jurisdiction beyond the scheduled 2011 transfer of power at the facility, The Los Angeles Times reported.

President Barack Obama's administration is desperate to find somewhere to hold and interrogate terrorism suspects captured in countries such as Somalia or Yemen, the report said, quoting an unnamed senior administration official.

"Now, administration officials are developing a compromise plan to hand over control, but also carve out a section of the prison for non-Afghan detainees who would remain under US custody," it said.

The LA Times linked the move to Obama's drive to shut down the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying this would leave nowhere to lock up those suspected of plotting attacks against the United States.

Only a handful of the 800 or so detainees at Bagram, most of whom are Taliban-linked militants captured by US and NATO troops, are non-Afghans.

Afghanistan began taking control of the facility in February and the process is expected to be completed by early next year.

A US appeals court ruled three weeks ago that Bagram detainees cannot challenge their case in US civil courts, even though Guantanamo detainees can.

According to the LA Times, the proposal to allow the US to continue to hold and interrogate foreign suspects at Bagram is "still in the early days of development" and has not yet been floated to Afghan officials.

The Bagram prison was established after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001 to hold prisoners taken during that campaign, which toppled the country's Taliban rulers.

Last year new buildings were constructed on the base, the biggest US military facility in Afghanistan, to replace decades-old prison facilities that drew criticism from rights groups and the Afghan government.

Human rights campaigners say it fails to comply with international norms as some inmates are victims of arbitrary detention, have no recourse to legal representation or knowledge of the charges against them.

Bagram prison gained a reputation for extra-judicial brutality in December 2002, when two inmates died within a week of each other.

They were officially said to have died of natural causes but an inquiry later revealed they had been beaten, chained and deprived of sleep.

n.b. Nigger in the woodpile