Egypt Protestors Seize Torture Files…Will U.S. Cases be Revealed?

[The Straight Story]

Egypt Protestors Seize Torture Files…Will U.S. Cases be Revealed?

Described as Egypt’s version of the French storming of the Bastille in 1789, hundreds of protestors last weekend invaded the headquarters of former President Hosni Mubarak’s intelligence force, taking with them a large volume of files that may shed light on the government’s torture program that was supported by the United States.

The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights estimates that there may have been 17,000 political prisoners during the Mubarak regime, some of whom were among the protestors who broke into the State Security offices. “Some former prisoners sobbed as they saw their old cells, recalling electric shocks and severe beatings,” reported Hannah Allam of McClatchy Newspapers.

American involvement with Egypt’s secret police began as early as 1995, and expanded during the Bush administration’s secret rendition program. During the administration of President Bill Clinton, the CIA wanted a place where it could interrogate terrorism suspects without being subject to U.S. law. Egypt was the perfect candidate because it was receiving billions of dollars a year in U.S. aid and, during the reign of dictator Hosni Mubarak, it was known to practice torture.

One of the earliest reported collaborations was in September 1995, when American agents in Croatia helped kidnap accused Egyptian terrorist Talaat Fouad Qassem, who fled the country after participating in the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. After interrogating him aboard a ship in the Adriatic Sea, U.S. agents delivered Qassem to their Egyptian counterparts. Qassem then disappeared for good. The CIA continued to send kidnapped suspects to Egypt, where they would submit questions to be put to the suspects. The Egyptian interrogators would use their usual techniques and then return with the answers.

http://www.allgov.com/Top_Stories/ViewNews/Egypt_Protestors_Seize_Torture_Files__Will_US_Cases_be_Revealed_110308

[mmonk]

1. Interesting.

The US won't be able to hold these people in indefinite detention. It will be interesting to see what comes out of this.

[xchrom]

2. Recommend

[kenny blankenship]

3. I'm getting a mental picture of pallets of crisp $100 bills being loaded onto a C-141 Starlifter.

bound for Cairo. Pallet after pallet - marked "Fragile" and "Untraceable".