Posted on 03/03/2003 11:18:54 PM PST by HAL9000
BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) - Mystery surrounds the whereabouts of al-Qaida mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who was captured in Pakistan over the weekend in a joint raid by CIA agents and Pakistani police.Some say Mohammed was brought here to Bagram after his capture Saturday, joining an unknown number of al-Qaida and Taliban suspects at a secretive holding facility at America's main military base in Afghanistan.
Intelligence sources in Pakistan say he was flown from the Pakistani Air Base at Chaklala, outside the federal capital to Bagram Air Base. The U.S. is refusing to say where Mohammed has been taken.
Other than acknowledging the existence of the holding facility -- and a similar one at a U.S. base in the southern city of Kandahar -- U.S. military officials are tight-lipped.
The military does not comment on individual prisoners, even to confirm their presence, and they won't say how many suspects are being held at the base, or under what conditions.
Methods of interrogation at the base have been criticized by human rights groups such as Amnesty International, especially after a Washington Post report late last year that alleged techniques included forcing inmates to stand or kneel for hours in black hoods or spray-painted goggles, holding them in "awkward, painful positions," and depriving them of medical care or sleep with a "24-hour bombardment of lights."
The military flatly denies the report, saying the prisoners are all treated humanely and allowed to meet regularly with representatives of the International Red Cross. The U.S. maintains it strictly adheres to international law prohibiting torture, but officials say they can use psychological inducements to get suspects to talk.
U.S. and Pakistani officials have said off the record that Mohammed is in American custody outside Pakistan, but Pakistani Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayyat says he and the other two men arrested over the weekend remain in Pakistani custody and there are no immediate plans to turn any of them over to the Americans.
Boo Hoo. Cry me a river. Keep on crying. Mohammed would do far worse to genuine Americans if the tables were turned.
After our CIA and other intel boys have finished with him: I vote for turning him over to the families of 911 victims. Suggest hammers, electric drills, and skill saws to start with at high noon. With really good doctors present, might be able to keep him alive for 12 hours. Tell the relatives to work as slowly as possible, starting with smaller joints first.
On the other hand, I heard Castro's hospitals had perfected the techniques involving really deep surgery without the use of anesthetic. Also heard they team work the procedures and can keep the prisoner alive for months. Maybe that would be better. Then they can wheel him out, blind and deaf, on a skate board with his only stubby arm to propel him along.
No chance he will be able to even dream about 72 black-eyed virgins in Paradise now.
These days, they call it a glitch in the matrix.
;)
Somebody get me a hankie. < sniff>
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