Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

We read the earlier accounts from courageous reporters such as Seymour Hersh about the calamitous torture chambers existing in U.S. run prisons at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, in which service and private contracted personnel ran amok, humiliating those suspected of terrorism by physical and psychological means.

Amid that background new evidence is released about the CIA running secret prisons in Poland and Romania to, in the words of Henry Samuel in the Daily Telegraph article, "interrogate and even torture some detainees in its `war on terror' under a program authorized by the countries' presidents, an official European inquiry concluded yesterday."

Swiss Senator Dick Marty said Poland housed some of the CIA's most sensitive prisoners.  They were referred to as "high value" detainees and included Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-professed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

"There is now enough evidence to state that secret detention facilities run by the CIA did exist in Europe from 2003-2005, in particular in Poland and Romania," Senator Marty said in a report for the Council of Europe human rights watchdog, which constituted the culmination of a 19-month investigation.

The ongoing prison torture investigations also call to mind reports concerning the practice of "rendition," in which those deemed to be terrorist suspects by the Cheney-Bush Administration were kidnapped and sent to prisons at various places throughout the world and summarily tortured.  

One such victim recently told his story in one of the most meaningful "60 Minutes" segments ever broadcast.  This victim's family life was thoroughly disrupted and his wife ultimately divorced him.

Rendition played a role in the CIA secret prison operation according to the Council of Europe report.  The prisons were part of what the report termed a "global spider's web" of detentions and illegal transfers known as "extraordinary renditions" and spun in spider-like fashion around the world by America and its allies.  

Senator Marty expressed confidence that the evidence emanating from the report would hold up in court, indicating that his sources had spoken on condition of anonymity.    

Think back to the childishness of the Cheney-Bush Administration after a disagreement with the French.

In that instance President Jacques Chirac of France dared to clash with the neocons over the issue of allowing the UN weapons inspection team headed by Hans Blix of Sweden to finish its job prior to the U.S. launching an assault on Baghdad based on the unproven assumption that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.

The childishness was evidenced by Air Force One's menu renaming French toast to a more appropriately American machismo "freedom toast."  Since Senator Dick Marty is Swiss and Switzerland is known for its tasty cheese fondue, the neocons with their penchant for childish labeling should use their emissaries Limbaugh, O'Reilly and Hannity to put a new idea before the public.

Use a little alliteration and launch the new patriotic term of "freedom fondue," which should go over big with the Limbaugh dittohead and Fox zombie faithful.