Posted on 11/25/2005 10:52:04 AM PST by jmc1969
THE US military ran a Guantanamo Bay-type detention centre in Kosovo as an investigation by the organisation into alleged CIA-run secret prisons gathered pace.
The camp resembled "a smaller version of Guantanamo", he told France's Le Monde newspaper, referring to the US centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where hundreds of terrorism suspects remain detained without trial.
More recently, it has also been accused of maintaining a network of so-called "black sites", covert CIA detention centres in foreign countries, notably in Asia and in eastern Europe, where suspects are subjected to vigorous interrogation techniques some critics say amount to torture.
Mr Gil-Robles said he had no evidence that Camp Bondsteel was linked to the alleged CIA operations.
"But I do believe that an explanation should be given for this base in Kosovo, as for other potentially suspect sites" in Europe, he told the paper.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
But, the Kosovo prsion camp would have been under Clinton's watch?
"But, the Kosovo prsion camp would have been under Clinton's watch?"
But that little factoid will never see the light of day in the French surrender monkey cheese eating press.
Maybe the CIA shouldnt keep secret prisons filled with terrorists all over the place.
They have my vote to just shoot the prisoners and close down the prisons.
So what is it? Prison camps, good or bad?
Prison camps good.
Media bad.
After the recent violence in France I would hardly think the French are in any position to lecture anyone.
Exactly. The Euro-twits want to embrace all these scum-of-the-earth terrorists with their leftist lawyers, etc. but we should be shooting them just as soon as we squeeze any info out of them. There's no reason to keep these vermin alive one day longer than absolutely necessary. My proposal is to buy an old freighter, convert it to a prison ship, and sail the most remote reaches of the world's oceans interrogating terrorist vermin until they are of no more use, at which point they can be pitched overboard....... relatively simple solution, not without some logistical challenges but easier to deal with than all the Euro-twits and MSM fools who will now be hounding us at every base in Europe. Now that WaPo has started on this topic, there will be demands for Euro-twit "human rights" investigators to examine every last US military base worldwide.....just watch allegations will be made over and over again, even without the slightest foundation, that every base in the world has had terrorist prisoners and we will be called upon to allow Euro-twit and MSM investigations at ever last base.....
Prison camps for Christian Serbs who really don't want to mess with America--good.
Prison camps for Muslim terrorist slime who want to screw over America--bad.
I'll bet not one KLA/UCK prisioner was being held there.
"So what is it? Prison camps, good or bad?"
I think it's Clinton good, Bush bad.
Gil-Robles visited Bondsteel in 2002 and raised the issue of KFOR being able to operate outside of the civilian (UNMIK) judicial structure in regards to detaining individuals it perceived as a threat to itself, and effectively holding them indefinitely if it deemed that a proper course of action, which on one hand is in violation of the European Court of Human Rights Convention for the Protection of Human Rights, but on the other hand can be (and is) construed as an option available to KFOR under UNSCR 1244.
So this point of contention came up in 1999 and is still in play today.
Gil-Robles was allowed to visit the Bondsteel detention facility, observe the 13 detainees, and had the following to say in his report to the CoE of October 16th, 2002:
KOSOVO : THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION AND THE FATE OF PERSONS DISPLACED FROM THEIR HOMES (.pdf)
103. Finally, it should be noted that the treatment afforded to detainees held in KFOR facilities should correspond to the highest human rights standards. The KFOR detention facilities I visited in Bondsteel appeared, in this respect, quite satisfactory, although the impressive security machinery could well, in cases of prolonged detention, have considerable impact on the psychological well being of the detainees. I would stress in this respect that the possibility should be given to authorised human rights observers (such as OSCE personnel and some NGOs) to monitor the conditions of detention, as foreseen in COMKFOR Directive 42, Article 7.
In other words, we're not going to worry too much about Mr. Gil-Robles' comments on the matter at this time, and the international lawyers can hash it out if they get around to it prior to KFOR turning over all its responsibilities to Kosovo's civilian authorities, after which the issue will become moot.
There might still be time to hand Kosovo back over to its rightful owners (Serbia) before the UN comes over here demanding that we hand the American southwest and California over to Mexico on the same perverted basis that the new worlders want to hand Kosovo to the Albanians.
This is pure Barbara Streisand.
The US has a detention facility at Camp Bondsteel, but it's pretty much out of use now. It was originally used to house criminals provoking the unrest or who were suspected of war crimes. It's maintained in case they detain wanted war criminals, but is usually empty and closed.
It shouldn't surprise anyone that there were muslims there. The majority population of the Kosovo province of Serbia are ethnic Albanias and they are almost universally muslim.
As for wooden huts surrounded by barbed wire - that describes the entire camp, to include the facilities that house our troops.
Furthermore, this was not a US facility so much as it was a NATO facility run by the US. There are probably similar facilities in the other parts of Kosovo administered by other NATO nations. It is also supervised by NATO and NATO has established inspection and prisoner review standards that must be met.
Mr Robles knew all of this. This is merely a political ploy to take the heat off France and place it back on the US as regards treatment of Muslims in Europe.
Like I said, pure BS.
This is just to cover the KLA as being justified after they attack Bondsteel.
Thanks for the very interesting link!
This report isn't a complete farce. I have been here at C. Bondsteel for over a year now as part of KFOR 6B. However, i have yet to see anyone detained here matching the description given. " orange boiler suits " yadda, yadda, yadda. BUT !! I hear rumor that Elvis and J. Hoffa are cellmates. Bigfoot is in solitary, for his own protection.
Thanks for the pings! I'm currently on holiday in Australia so don't have the time to post much, but will continue to log in when I can to keep up to date.
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