The Word Not Spoken: Bagram

When the Fox network staged a special Veterans' Day version of its NFL pregame show at Bagram AF Base last Sunday, two hours was apparently not long enough to mention one interesting fact about Bagram: It's the site of America's other Gitmo, a prison where detainees have been kept for years outside the purview of U.S. law, outside even the scope of the Supreme Court's habeas corpus decision on Gitmo detainees.

Interestingly, it was at Bagram that the only detainees (that we know of) to have died while in US custody were kept.

When Eric Holder held a press conference announcing the plans for trying several Gitmo detainees, he was peppered with questions from the Washington media about the trials, about security, about the closing of Gitmo.  The word not spoken at that briefing: Bagram.

And, of course, the president's promise to close Gitmo within the year, much debated, said nothing about Bagram.

People can keep a secret when they want to...

 

Follow Harry Shearer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/letwits

Comments

[vascopyjama]

I doubt they also mentioned that renditions (kidnappings) are still being conducted.

[FishOfTheProletariat]

The CACI, intelligence coordinating subcontractors to the CIA, in Bagram, were protected by the Bush Junta from Justice Dept scrutiny, so the family members s of victims [prisoners] sued the corporation directly in U.S. Courts.

Every time this case is appealed, more is lost. If it ever reaches the Supreme Court I'll be surprised.

Please note that the allegations are worse than torture. Family members were kidnapped. Children were beaten and raped. The horrors of Abu Grahib (sp) were only the tip of the iceberg.

I don't believe this topic should be broached without reference to, and an airing of, these families grievances and their unresolved civil suit. These CACI contractors are War Criminals, and they are scott free.

[mimsnpips]

..and Uncle Sam loves them: "CACI Rated Fortune Magazine's Most Admired Company in Virginia", and"Government Contractor of the Year"..and..they're hiring!

[minigun]

Yes, and they pay very well, too!

[TCPITS]

we have met the enemy and he is us -- pogo

[Enliberate]

Is anyone still puzzling over why "they" hate "us"?

[mimsnpips]

didn't someone write a book with that as the title?

[WhoneedsGoverment]

Isn't The Patriot Act the excuse to detain, torture, hold secrets????

Our government still, spies on us, can still hold us w/no charges, open our mail, etc.

Doesn't sound very patriotic to me.

[horhay]

Doesn't even remotely sound like a democracy.

[minigun]

We are a republic at war..
And you know what they say about love and war.

[rissole]

Hope Change, Hope Change, Hope Change.

[Dredd]

That is the nature of propaganda.

[RoseMerry]

First of all, thank you, Mr. Shearer and HuffPo, for Real Journalism and not just reprinting and discussing press releases and photo op's fed to us by the Empire.
The war crimes just go on and on and on.
I pray for justice. Impeach the criminal we elected to change things, not continue the crimes of the Bush/Clinton mafia and protect them.
Down with Empire, restore the Republic.

[Ishmael1]

I'm sure all those dead detainees were "shot while trying to escape".

[RepugsOut08]

"People can keep a secret when they want to..."

Funny how that reminds me of how Stephen King usually describes the people in the small towns that populate his novels. The small towns where all manner of evil takes place, but the occupants keep a tight lip and go on as if all is well.
No horror story writer or slasher film director, has ever been able to come close to depicting the evil in the real world. But I bet they'd appreciate the sinister plot device, of a national news network televising an NFL pregame show next to a torture chamber.
Because if you get benched at Bagram, the water boys will get you.

[Enliberate]

This is very depressing. Still, even though one assumes the same horrific events couldn't still be happening, the very facade of concentration camp has to be kept up and maintained. Why? Thanks for reminding us of some serious work still undone.

[Tim303]

For a second I wondered whether staging the sporting show was a sick joke. How typical of rightist tactics, both farcical and brutal simultaneously.

[anitaj]

bread and circuses

[skialethia]

Thank you! This is what brought the Roman Empire down:- moral decay.

[research]

(AP) At least 108 people have died in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan, most of them violently, according to government data provided to The Associated Press. Roughly a quarter of those deaths have been investigated as possible abuse by U.S. personnel.

But yes We need to stop committing war crimes.

[burndiscoinferno]

government data provided by AP? Please provide evidence of this, and the 25 people who have been investigated... who died, and who investigated them?

[ObamaSheeple]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/30/accountability/

[northstar11]

im curious ,is the managment of the bagram inn done by the military or has that job been contracted out to one of CHENEYS hotel managment companies.

[DannyRose]

Mr Shearer, thank you for bringing up that which is unmentionable.