[fastpat]

Yet another piece of evidence in the moutain of impeachable offenses commited by Bush.

The fax that reveals the US is flying terror suspects to Europe's secret jails


SPECIAL REPORT: By Neil Mackay, Investigations Editor


THE intercepted top-secret fax contained information that Amer ica never wanted the world to know -- that the US was holding war-on-terror captives at clandestine -black site- prisons in eastern Europe.

The fax, datelined November 10, 2005, 8.24pm, was sent by the Egyptian foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, in Cairo, to his ambassador in London. It revealed that the US had detained at least 23 Iraqi and Afghani captives at a military base called Mihail Kogalniceanu in Romania, and added that similar secret prisons were also to be found in Poland, Ukraine, Kosovo, Macedonia and Bulgaria.

The discovery of the fax seriously undermines the US's denial that it has ever used secret detention facilities, breaching international law. It also adds to the pressure for the release of information on "extraordinary renditions". These rendition flights see kidnapped terror suspects taken by the CIA to countries where torture is common, such as Uzbekistan. British intelligence has supported this practice and UK airports, particulary Prestwick, have given CIA jets logistical support.

The Council of Europe last week published the results of its long-running investigation into rendition and found that 14 European countries, including Britain, had colluded with the CIA. It also suggested that secret prisons were operating in eastern Europe, but did not have conclusive proof.

The fax, intercepted by Swiss intelligence, indicates that Egypt has such proof. It is headed: "The Egyptians have access to sources which confirm the existence of American secret prisons". http://www.sundayherald.com/56171