M of A - Obama Excludes "Black Sites" From Torture Prohibition

Obama to United Nations Committee Against Torture: "We tortured some folks. We'll keep our options open to do that again and again."

The Obama administration, after an internal debate that has drawn global scrutiny, is taking the view that the cruelty ban applies wherever the United States exercises governmental authority, according to officials familiar with the deliberations. That definition, they said, includes the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and American-flagged ships and aircraft in international waters and airspace.

But the administration’s definition still appears to exclude places like the former “black site” prisons where the C.I.A. tortured terrorism suspects during the Bush years, as well as American military detention camps in Afghanistan and Iraq during the wars there. Those prisons were on the sovereign territory of other governments; the government of Cuba exercises no control over Guantánamo.

Obama says that the convention against torture does doesn't apply where torture by U.S. goons is most likely.

Is there anything which tells us that the Obama administration is not using this self-defined exclusion?

Complete story at - M of A - Obama Excludes "Black Sites" From Torture Prohibition

US Plans to Create More Guantanamos in Ukraine | News | teleSUR

The US and Ukrainian government have been negotiating the use of illegal detention and torture centers in Ukraine, for both Islamic State terrorists and Ukrainian separatists.

The U.S. government is planning to create secret prisons modeled on Guantanamo, reported today the press agency Kriminform.

The U.S. intelligence services are considering imprisoning the Islamic State militants in these new torture centers, while the Ukrainian government will be able to use them for its opponents, especially in the south of the country.

According to Kriminform, who did not want to reveal its sources for “obvious reasons,” the negotiations occurred between August and October this year, and parties agreed that Washington will fund the reinforcement of the defensive system in Ukraine, as a long-term debt.

In exchange, the Ukrainian government will let the U.S. use its territory for the facilities, claimed the press agency.

After the scandal that involved various EU countries, especially Lithuania and Poland, suspected of hiding CIA “black sites,” President Obama decided in 2009 to close the prisons and torture centers in these territories. For this reason, the U.S. intelligence services are considering creating more, as the Islamic State threat has represented a useful justification for the need for centers of unlimited and extra-judicial detention.

Complete story at - US Plans to Create More Guantanamos in Ukraine | News | teleSUR