Re: [Thinkpad] Rendition...

Looks like the spammers found us.
There was an article in Newday yesterday about how the detainees at Guantanimo were tortured by having women dressed in bras and miniskirts and boots rub against them.
I HATE AMERICA. TORTURE ME TORTURE ME. PLEASE. I PROMISE NOT TO TALK FOR HOURS!!!!
First we have cable TV in prison, now terrorists get tortured by rubbing against scantily clad playmates.
When do the honorable American taxpayers get some of this treatment from their government??????
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Allan Ballard
  To: Morris ; donliamo@eircom.net ; thinkpad@stderr.org ; Sheila D. Lambert ; Allan Ballard
  Sent: Saturday, January 29, 2005 10:39 AM
  Subject: [Thinkpad] Rendition...

      Australian's Long Path in U.S. Antiterrorism Maze

  *By RAYMOND BONNER *

  Published: January 29, 2005

  SYDNEY, Australia, Jan. 28 - For more than three years, Mamdouh Habib,
  an Egyptian-born Australian with a volatile temper and an intense
  devotion to radical Islam, was in American custody, transported from
  Pakistan to Afghanistan to Egypt to the prison at Guantánamo Bay.

  The Americans designated him an "enemy combatant," saying he had
  admitted to having prior knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks and to having
  trained some of the hijackers. He said he confessed while in Egypt only
  to stop the waves of torture.

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  But Mr. Habib's journey came to an unexpected end on Friday afternoon at
  Sydney's international airport when he stepped off a white executive jet
  and was set free.

  His release was accompanied by little public explanation. But behind the
  turn of events, according to interviews here and the United States, were
  high-level negotiations between allies.

  Australian officials say Mr. Habib, who is in his late 40's and the
  father of four, attended a Qaeda camp in Afghanistan; he was apprehended
  in Pakistan shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks. As he was held, like
  hundreds of other terror suspects, without a formal hearing, the
  Australians pressed American officials to charge him with a crime or
  release him.

  In June, Australian officials said, President Bush assured Prime
  Minister John Howard that Mr. Habib would be formally charged. Then,
  earlier this month, after Mr. Habib had spent 40 months in prison, word
  came that there would be no charges. "They weren't confident the charges
  would stick," said an Australian official involved in the negotiations.

  Even then, the Australian officials said, the Americans did not want to
  release Mr. Habib, knowing that without criminal charges, he would be a
  free man in Australia. But an announcement that four Britons were being
  released from Guantánamo set off a flurry of diplomatic activity, said
  another Australian official involved in the case.

  "They had no option," the official said. "They couldn't do what they had
  done with the Brits and not do the same for us."

  The United States has returned dozens of Guantánamo detainees to their
  home countries. But what distinguishes Mr. Habib's case are the severity
  of the accusations on both sides - the Americans' allegations of his
  connection to Sept. 11, and his charges, in legal papers made public
  earlier this month, that he was subjected to a process called
  "rendition," under which the United States sent him to Egypt. There, he
  says, he was tortured with beatings and electric shocks, and hung from
  the walls by hooks.

  In a statement, the Department of Defense said, "There is no evidence
  that any Australian detainee in D.o.D. custody was tortured or abused."
  United States officials have acknowledged using renditions but say they
  do not condone torture.

  Australian officials confirmed that Mr. Habib was indeed taken to Egypt,
  and added that when they interviewed him at Guantánamo, he told them of
  being beaten and given electric shocks in Egypt.

  In separate interviews, three senior Australian officials agreed to
  discuss the case on condition of anonymity, in part because they were
  discussing intelligence material and sensitive diplomatic negotiations.
  Moreover, some of what they said went beyond what has been asserted
  publicly.

  For instance, the Australians said there was no evidence that Mr. Habib
  trained any of the hijackers or even that he was an enemy combatant,
  since he was not in Afghanistan when American troops arrived. In
  addition, the government said, Mr. Habib's activities did not break any
  Australian laws in effect before Sept. 11. (Antiterror laws were
  toughened after the attacks.)

  Another Australian, David Hicks, captured in Afghanistan in late 2001,
  remains at Guantánamo, and has been charged.

  Mr. Habib immigrated to Australia from Egypt in 1982, and became a
  citizen a few years later. He married a Lebanese woman, Maha, and they
  started a family, according to friends. "He was very successful, very
  happy with his family, they had a nice house," said a sister, Sally. "I
  don't know what happened.
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Received on Sat Jan 29 15:19:42 2005