This story was first revealed in the British press last week, but I haven't seen anyone reference it yet, so forgive me if this is not news.
In September 2006, President Bush stated that the network of secret prisons has been shut down and all the captives transfered to Guantanamo. Most of us suspected that he was being deceitful, if not boldly lying, but there was at the time little evidence to support it. But evidence is building that he was lying and there is one more piece of the puzzle here.
It's a given that Bush lies, that he never backs down unless forced to, that he views the Office of the President as above the law and that deceit, lying and other methods are fully acceptable if secrecy does not sustain illegal efforts. So the liklihood is very high (90+%) that the Bush administration was in some way or another still operating rendition flights, still maintaining secret prisons and still torturing prisoners after the September 2006 disclaimer. But putting together the bits and pieces of information is difficult.
Then in March 2007 a new prisoner, Abdul Malik was transfered to Guantanamo from points unknown, from places unknown, after an unknown period of time after his capture. The only logical conclusion was that a secret prison system was still ooperating, but probably not the same one that was originally revealed. Oddly enough, it was revealed back in 2005 that there was another secret prison operating somewhere in North Africa, but the major focus of investigations have been on the secret prisons which have been revealed by Swiss Senator Dick Marty to have been operating in Poland and Romania.
Now,one more piece of evidence has fallen in place. A report last week from the Daily Mail described the landing of a flight operated by Blackwater at a British Military base. This plane was previously identified as being involved in secret renditions during the time that the Polish and Romanian prisons were operative. This time it was carrying military personnel, but was using a civilian flight code. The flight originated at a CIA base in Virginia and ended in Malta, a short hop to North Africa. My, what a surprise.
So now we have more evidence that the US continues to operate secret prisons and rendition flights and the liklihood that we continue to torture prisoners is extemely high. Other groups such as Human Rights Watch have recently noted that 37 people including young children have disappeared into this prison system and have never been accounted for since. It's enough to make a Republican proud. In addition, there was this report from the AP which oddly acknowledges in its title and first sentence that the secret prison system is still operating. Meanwhile political shill Nancy Pelosi has taken impeachment off the table because...? Makes me want to puke.