Massive Number of Disappeared Detainees

September 10, 2004 Off By leigh

The New York Times is reporting along with the Australian Broadcasting Commission from the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee testimony of Army Generals that “dozens to perhaps up to 100” detainees were not reported to the International Committee of the Red Cross.


The New York Times is reporting along with the Australian Broadcasting Commission from the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee testimony of Army Generals that “dozens to perhaps up to 100” detainees were not reported to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

These euphemistically entitled “Ghost Detainees” were “disappeared” Pinochet-style by the CIA in collusion with the Army staffing the Iraq prisons including Abu Ghraib. A concerted effort was made to avoid disclosing their identity to the ICRC and to move them around to avoid their discovery by that world body. This is a direct contravention of the Geneva convention and therefore a crime under U.S. law. While ghost detainees have been reported for some time, the wide scope of the practice is new. The next question to haul George Tenet before the committee and demand an answer to is who in the CIA knew and was this passed further up the chain to the Whitehouse?