The CIA's International Torture Club

[babsbunny]

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2011/09/the-cias-international-torture-club.html

Gaddhafi's secret service had excellent relations with the CIA and the MI6. This was widely assumed but is now supported by new evidence.

But the NYT's report on Files Note Close C.I.A. Ties to Qaddafi Spy Unit depicts a wrong premise of the cooperation between those services. It opening paragraph states:

Documents found at the abandoned office of Libya’s former spymaster appear to provide new details of the close relations the Central Intelligence Agency shared with the Libyan intelligence service — most notably suggesting that the Americans sent terrorism suspects at least eight times for questioning in Libya despite that country’s reputation for torture.

The CIA folks never had qualms about other countries torturing as it is doing just the same when no subcontractor is available to do it for them. Indeed a country that tortures is of much more value to the CIA than a country that has reservations about such crimes. A correct version of that paragraph would therefore read:

Documents found at the abandoned office of Libya’s former spymaster appear to provide new details of the close relations the Central Intelligence Agency shared with the Libyan intelligence service — most notably suggesting that the Americans sent terrorism suspects at least eight times for questioning in Libya because of that country’s reputation for torture.

[Supersedeas]

1. looking for love in all the wrong places