Amnesty International says Lithuania admits existence of secret prison

Washington, DC : For the first time a European government has admitted that a secret “Black Site” existed on its territory, Amnesty International said today after a Lithuanian parliamentary committee concluded that a CIA secret prison operated in Lithuania during the US-led “war on terror”.

“Confirmation of the existence of a secret prison in Lithuania marks a modern low point for human rights protection in Europe,” said Julia Hall, Amnesty International’s expert on counter-terrorism in Europe. “But the Lithuanian inquiry signals a turning point in the quest for the truth about what role European states played in helping the United States in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Other European governments should take note and commit to full investigations of similar serious allegations.”

The Lithuanian Parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defense issued a report, which stated that officials from the Lithuanian State Security Department assisted in constructing a secret prison for terrorist suspects on the country’s territory. Many detainees held at such secret sites were victims of enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment by U.S. agents, often with the cooperation and assistance of foreign governments.

The committee concluded that CIA airplanes had landed in Lithuania without border checks and claimed that Lithuanian State Security Department officials had failed to notify the president or the prime minister in violation of Lithuanian law.

“The Lithuanian government should have known what its own agencies were doing and is ultimately responsible for the secret prison and any human rights violations that may have taken place there.”

“The inquiry’s findings are only a first step toward accountability,” said Hall. “The investigation in Lithuania should continue and those persons responsible for any involvement in the secret site must be identified and prosecuted.”

Poland and Romania have also been named by the European Parliament and the Council of Europe as allegedly having hosted secret detention facilities for the CIA.

“It is high time that European governments review and tighten civilian control over intelligence and security agencies. It is not enough for governments to claim that they did not know what their security apparatus was up to,” said Hall. 

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.

For more information, please go to www.amnestyusa.org

DOD Announces Afghanistan Force Deployment

               The Department of Defense (DoD) today announced the deployment of approximately 6,000 additional forces to Afghanistan, part of the 30,000 troops authorized by President Barack Obama on Nov. 30. The 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky., will deploy approximately 3,400 soldiers during early summer 2010.

              According to the U.S. Department of Defense deployment of this brigade will increase the capabilities of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Secretary of Defense Robert Gates also approved the deployment of approximately 2,600 support forces, which will deploy at various times through spring 2010. This immediate news item has been released by the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) 

              

             The DoD will continue to announce major unit deployments as they are approved. For additional information on the Brigade Combat Team, contact Army Public Affairs at 703-614-2487.

I would not be alive today without Amnesty International--Rebia Kadeer China

A Letter from Rebia Kadeer to Rector Kathuria


Dear Rector, 


Ten years ago I was arrested on my way to a human rights meeting with U.S. Congressional staff visiting China. Tried for "leaking state secrets," I was condemned to eight years in a Chinese prison — the closest thing to hell on earth. I spent two of those years in solitary confinement.



Here's the truth: I was a passionate defender of women's rights and of the rights of my community — the Uighurs in China.

Throughout my struggle I faced repeated arrests and imprisonment. Chinese authorities threatened my family. I witnessed the brutal beatings and murders of men, women and children as they stood in peaceful protest against a government that silenced them with bloody violence.

But there was a force not even prison walls could withstand — you.

You joined Amnesty members from around the world to write letters and bring international attention to my case. You helped spare me the brutal torture that many of my fellow inmates suffered.

Thanks to the unwavering commitment of Amnesty and its allies, I was released early and reunited with my family in the United States.

My freedom is a testament to the idea that no government is immune to persistent pressure from dedicated human rights activists worldwide.

Your gift to Amnesty today will help keep this idea alive.

We have proven that ordinary people armed with the truth and acting together have the power to make a difference. Keep this global rights movement strong. Make your donation to Amnesty today.

Sincerely,

Rebiya Kadeer


President, World Uyghur Congress


Note: Don't forget to know the Whole Story ....--Rector Kathuria

Face of Defense: Third-generation Paratrooper Deploys

By Army Spc. Michael J. MacLeod 
Special to American Forces Press Service

CAMP RAMADI, Iraq : In the dew-laden predawn darkness of June 6, 1944, Everton Bushnell jumped into Sainte-Mere-Eglise, France, with the two-year-old 82nd Airborne Division. Twenty-five years later, his son, Ellsworth Bushnell, fought with the "All Americans" in Vietnam and spent six months as a prisoner of war.



And in September of this year, Army Sgt. 1st Class John Bushnell became the third generation of Bushnells to wear the All American patch to a war zone when he deployed to Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade.

For the military intelligence electronic repair specialist, it has been the golden chalice of his 13-year Army career. Its attainment marked the fulfillment of a family tradition that at times seemed like the prize of an Indiana Jones saga.

Bushnell knows what it's like to part of a small unit, cut off from the main body.

"It's called recruiting," he joked.

"Where I spent the last 45 months on recruiting duty, most people had never seen an active-duty soldier in their lives. In the Army, they teach you how to work with people during seven weeks of recruiting training, but when you get out there on your own and are no longer surrounded by other soldiers, it's completely different," he said. 

........Read full story (Army Spc. Michael J. MacLeod serves in the Multinational Force West with the 82nd Airborne Division's  1st Brigade public affairs office.)