In the aftermath of 9/11, CIA interrogation centres known as ‘black sites’ were set up outside the US to run a secret programme where suspected terrorists were subjected to ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’. Parallel to this, another practice called ‘extraordinary rendition’ was incorporated by means of which suspected terrorists were transferred into the custody of a foreign government for the purpose of ‘interrogation’. Both the secret detention and extraordinary rendition programme were highly classified. The purpose of conducting these programmes outside the US was to keep the interrogation process beyond the reach of US law. Abduction, disappearance, extra-legal transfer of terrorists on secret flights to undisclosed locations around the world followed by their incommunicado detention, interrogation, torture and abuse were the hallmarks of both the programmes. The administration of George W Bush embraced the ‘dark side’, a new paradigm to counter terrorism after 9/11 that has now become a blot on the face of the US’s values of human rights. The Republicans on the US Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC) will soon release a report asserting how the harsh interrogation techniques adopted by the CIA helped track down terrorists like Osama bin Laden. According to the Republicans, it was these extraordinary interrogation techniques that eventually led to the capture of prime terrorists and helped in dismantling their network. The Democrats on the SIC will also produce their own report on the issue, showing that the tactics yielded no information that would have been otherwise unavailable to the spy agency through normal interrogation.
Looking back at the Bush-era practices of detaining terrorist suspects and applying torture, Obama told a White House news conference: “We did some things that were contrary to our values.” A large part of Obama’s fist election campaign was devoted to criticising the torture techniques employed and detention centres run by his predecessor in the White House through the CIA. He had promised to close down the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison on coming to power. Whatever Obama’s intentions, he could not get any of these issues resolved amidst the uproar of the Republican majority in Congress that denied Obama the right to close down something that according to them helped safeguard the US against terrorism.
The question is, if the torture techniques euphemistically termed ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ were not obnoxious and illegal, why did the US have to run such detention centres outside the purview of its legal system? Though the US is guilty of civil, legal and human rights violations, countries that provided it cover for renditions and torture should also be held accountable as is being done with Poland. *