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Investigation of Two CIA Deaths may be Concluded Soon

The Justice Department’s investigation into the deaths of two detainees in Central Intelligence Agency custody should conclude soon, Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday.

Holder made no mention of proceeding with prosecutions in the cases and suggested they would be closed.

“There were ….things that were done during the course of those interrogations that are antithetical to American values, that resulted in the deaths of certain people,” Holder said during testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “That investigation has run its course. We are at a point where we are about to close those investigations.”

Holder stirred significant controversy by re-opening inquiries into alleged abuses involving about 100 terrorism suspects during the “enhanced interrogation techniques” program authorized by President George W. Bush and during interrogations before that program was formally authorized.

Seven former CIA chiefs asked President Barack Obama to shut down the probes, but he did not do so. Then-CIA director Leon Panetta also reportedly objected to the renewed inquiries, saying they could demoralize Agency personnel.

Last year, Holder announced that the bulk of the inquiries would be closed, but that a full investigation would proceed into two detainee deaths.

The probe, conducted by a federal prosecutor from Connecticut, John Durham, reportedly used a grand jury investigation in Alexandria, Va. to look into the deaths, including that of a prisoner in Afghanistan at a site called the Salt Pit.

A spokesman for Durham had no comment Thursday.

By Josh Gerstein

Action Alert: Victim of Five Years US Abduction & Torture Needs Donations

16 Oct

Suleiman Abdallah Salim is a Tanzanian national who was abducted in Somalia in April 2003 by a notorious Somali warlord known as Mohammed Deere, well-known for being in the pay of the CIA. During his capture at the hands of Deere’s henchmen, Suleiman was so badly injured that he had to be taken to hospital. However, after less than 24 hours he was dragged from his hospital bed by Deere, and delivered to some Americans who were waiting at an airstrip just outside Mogadishu.

After a short time in Somalia, Suleiman was taken to Nairobi, where he was held near the airport for eight days, and interrogated by members of the CIA and FBI. It appears that initially Suleiman’s interrogators thought that he was someone else – a Yemeni – but even so, they did not release him. After eight days in Nairobi, Suleiman was taken on a CIA plane to Bossasso in Somalia, and then to Djibouti. From Djibouti, Suleiman was taken to Afghanistan, where he spent over five punishing years in secret US prisons, including the notorious Dark Prison, the Saltpit, and finally Bagram Airforce Base.

During his entire time in US custody, Suleiman never saw a lawyer, nor was he allowed any contact with family members. Indeed, Suleiman’s family had absolutely no idea where he was until he reappeared over five years after his disappearance.

Ultimately, Suleiman was released back to Tanzania in July 2008, with a piece of paper from Bagram saying that he was not considered a threat to the United States. To this day, Suleiman has been given no assistance at all by any of the governments or individuals complicit in his abduction, secret detention and torture, and there is no court in the world where he could bring a case with any hope of getting through the doors of the court, let alone an award to help him get on with his life.

Undeterred, since his release, Suleiman has worked to rebuild his life again, and has done remarkably well so far. Last year Suleiman married a local woman, who has recently given birth to a baby girl. However, Suleiman is struggling to provide for his new family, and he cannot find work in his already, economically depressed island home. Suleiman is looking for funds to travel to Japan where he has been offered a job loading containers in a dock, and to provide for his new family whilst he gets himself on his feet.

Donate:

You can donate to Suleiman at the following bank account details below:

Account name: Suleiman A Salim

Account number: 5391729998

Swift Code: EXTNTZTZ

Chips UID 370780

Bank Address: Exim Bank (T) Ltd, Dar-Es-Salam, Tanzania

IBAN: GB85DEUT40508130585400

US Admits to “Cold Cell” Torture, DOJ, US Court Judges Implicated

25 Jun

Jun 24, 2011

It ends up that something called “Cold Cell” torture was the most widely used torture
technique used by the United States in the fight against terrorism. Government operatives “praised” hypothermic torture as the most effective of all the techniques they employed.

When the less redacted previously released torture documents were made available to the public, the new revelations revealed how wide spread hypothermic torture was utilized, in
many facilities it was used every night, all night long, and all year round. Apparently, hypothermic torture produced the largest amount of actionable intelligence, it produced it
“consistently,” and it worked in the shortest amount of time. Water boarding it ends up,
was the least used. The eeriest was something called the “box.”

With the “box” a captive would be folded up and locked into a box the size of a foot locker. No air or light could get in. After two days of sheer panic in the box, what emerged was a psychological vegetable.

The United States finally described cold cell torture they used on Private Manning, the Army soldier that leaked national secrets to WikiLeaks. The US Military brigs, both in Charleston andQuantico, have entire wings of temperature controlled hypothermic torture chambers.

At night Private Manning was stripped naked and locked onto a cold metal slab. The air conditioning units blew 45 degree air into the cell at great speed. Private Manning curled into the fetal position and shook violently all night long. There was no way to sleep when the body sustains that level of pain. The constant shivering causes severe pain after a while. That level of pain lasted all night long. During the day Private Manning was allowed to dress and sleep, but the nights were reserved for punishing torture.

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