The CIA Is Blaming The Federal Bureau Of Prisons For A Detainee Death At A 'Black Site'

Jason Leopold, VICE News: After a Detainee Died at a Black Site, the CIA Blamed Training From the Federal Bureau of Prisons

In late 2002, the CIA asked the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to send a training team to a CIA black site in Northern Kabul, Afghanistan, code-named COBALT. While there, the BOP team instructed guards on the proper use of a restraining technique against detainees called "short chaining," also referred to as short shackling.

Not long after the BOP team left the black site, the technique was used on an Afghan militant and suspected al-Qaeda operative named Gul Rahman, who had been captured by the Pakistani government during a raid a month earlier. Deemed a high-value detainee, he was then taken to COBALT. While being held captive at the black site, the CIA said Rahman became violent, and on numerous occasions had threatened to kill guards.

On November 19, 2002, at about 3pm, guards brought food to Rahman's cell. The last meal he'd eaten had been the day before. When the guards entered Rahman's cell, he was nude from the waist down. The captive again threatened to kill the guards and proceeded to throw his food, water bottle, and waste bucket at them.

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WNU Editor: I am surprised that this report on the death of this Afghan militant and suspected al-Qaeda operative has been made public .... albeit heavily redacted. But I suspect that this debate is going to go on for a very long time, and in the event of another 9/11 (or worse) .... I can only speculate on where this discussion will then go. But I do know one thing .... since the start of President Obama's term in office, capturing militants and questioning them for intelligence is no longer the priority .... drone strikes and targeted assassinations are. Case in point .... and we saw this being enforced only last week .... U.S. intelligence knew where Taliban leader Mullah Mansour was last week when he was killed in a drone strike .... it looks like they were tracking him for a very long time. So .... why the targeted assassination .... why not conduct a special ops mission to capture him. Again .... no one in the media are asking the right questions.