DAILY 11-02-05 DC M2 A1 CMYK ABCDE - Washington...

2
ABCDE 128th Year No. 332 M2 DC M1 M2 M3 M4 V1 V2 V3 V4 Wednesday, November 2, 2005 DAILY 11-02-05 DC M2 A1 C M Y K Details, B8 Prices may vary in areas outside metropolitan Washington. (See box on A2) 35¢ DISTRICT FINAL Weather Today: Mostly sunny, breezy. High 64. Low 43. Thursday: Mostly sunny. High 66. Low 48. By Carol Morello Washington Post Staff Writer When the Kilgores of Gate City invited a few hundred friends and associates to a barbe- cue at their farm in October, the family business of politics was in full tilt. The old barn beside a twisting road two miles from town was plas- tered with huge blue-and-orange election signs for two sons who be- gan following politics while still in Little League. “Kilgore Governor” promoted Jerry W. Kil- gore, who stepped down as attorney general to become the Republican candidate for Vir- ginia governor in Tuesday’s election. “Kilgore Delegate” was for his identical twin, Terry G. Kilgore, seeking reelection to the House of Delegates. Matriarch Willie Mae Kilgore, the Scott County registrar, greeted guests by the des- sert table. Her husband, John, chairman of the county GOP committee, worked the crowd. Youngest son John Jr., head of the local Economic Development Authority, played on stage in the country equivalent of a garage band. For someone who grew up in a family steeped in politics, Jerry Kil- gore sounded almost surprised to be in Tuesday’s contest. “I thought Terry would be the one who’d run for governor,” he said. The Kilgore that ended up running for gov- Kilgore Parlays Tenacity, Luck Republican Touts Rural Roots, Statewide Experience BY EARL NEIKIRK — ASSOCIATED PRESS Jerry Kilgore signs a photo for Margaret Lansford, his sixth-grade English teacher, in Gate City, Va. CAMPAIGN 2005 See KILGORE, A14, Col. 3 By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum Washington Post Staff Writer A presidential commission rec- ommended changes in the federal income tax system that would low- er rates, reduce paperwork and eliminate or scale back most tax breaks, including popular deduc- tions for home mortgage interest and employer-provided health in- surance. Lawmakers and interest groups attacked several of components of the plan, which was presented yes- terday to Treasury Secretary John W. Snow. But Snow said he hoped to refine the suggestions for Presi- dent Bush by year-end and ex- pressed optimism that Congress would enact a version of them. “We will take the ball,” Snow said. “It’s our turn to run with it.” Tax experts and other analysts think the president, whose approv- al ratings have dropped significant- ly, might want to champion a new domestic initiative now that his ef- fort to add private accounts to So- cial Security has stalled. As a result, they give a plan that purports to make the tax code simpler and fair- er a decent chance despite its many vocal opponents. Bush established the bipartisan panel in January and asked it to find Commission Proposes Changes in Tax System See TAXES, A4, Col. 1 INSIDE K The White House focuses on moderates in both parties as it seeks to build a Senate coalition to confirm Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. K The nominee has not made a public statement on Roe v. Wade, but his record points to a likely vote to overturn the landmark abortion ruling. NATION, A6 Judge Alito and The Supreme Court The rising cost of building materials for the D.C. baseball stadium complex is pushing up the price tag, and officials are batting around ideas for economizing. METRO, B1 Stadium Cuts? Los Angeles chef and restaurateur Gerry Garvin is creating a buzz with his cooking show. FOOD, F1 Turning Up the Heat The Kennedy Center’s China festival delivered, unlike earlier efforts at festival-making. STYLE, C1 The Real Deal Bob Swartz wants to make street luge more mainstream. He has started by strapping a $5,000 jet engine to his board. METRO, B1 Gentleman, Start Your Luge BY ROBERT A. REEDER — THE WASHINGTON POST 1 Contents 2005 The Washington Post The Post on the Internet: washingtonpost.com By David Brown Washington Post Staff Writer President Bush yesterday asked Congress for $7.1 billion to help prepare the country for a global epi- demic of influenza, telling a high- powered gathering of scientists and public officials at the National In- stitutes of Health that “our country has been given fair warning of this danger to our homeland.” The request — the latest addi- tion to a burgeoning investment in public health preparedness since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — would go toward vaccine development, drug and vaccine stockpiling, dis- ease surveillance, and local health departments’ manpower needs. The biggest share, $2.8 billion, would subsidize the rapid devel- opment of cell-based technology for making influenza vaccine — an in- vestment that the United States’ dwindling vaccine industry has been making only slowly. Between $1.2 billion and $1.5 bil- lion would be used to build a 20 mil- lion-dose stockpile of an experi- mental vaccine based on the bird flu virus now circulating in Asia, $1 bil- lion for antiviral medicines, $800 million to develop new flu treat- ments, and $644 million to help lo- cal governments make their own preparations for a flu pandemic. Bush said he will also ask law- makers “to remove one of the great- est obstacles to domestic vaccine production — the growing burden of litigation,” adding that “Con- gress must pass liability protection for the makers of life-saving vac- cines.” He did not provide any de- President Requests Billions in Flu Plan Vaccine Research Would Be a Priority Proposal Highlights President Bush requested $7.1 billion in emergency spending to prepare for a pandemic of influenza, inluding: SOURCE: White House THE WASHINGTON POST $2.8 billion to accelerate development of cell-culture technology. $1.5 billion for the departments of Defense and Health and Human Services to purchase influenza vaccines. $1 billion to stockpile antiviral medications. $251 million to help detect and contain global outbreaks $800 million for development of new treatments and vaccines. $644 million to promote preparedness on the local, state and federal levels to respond to an outbreak. See FLU, A10, Col. 1 By Dana Priest Washington Post Staff Writer The CIA has been hiding and in- terrogating some of its most im- portant al Qaeda captives at a So- viet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and for- eign officials familiar with the ar- rangement. The secret facility is part of a co- vert prison system set up by the CIA nearly four years ago that at various times has included sites in eight countries, including Thai- land, Afghanistan and several de- mocracies in Eastern Europe, as well as a small center at the Guan- tanamo Bay prison in Cuba, ac- cording to current and former in- telligence officials and diplomats from three continents. The hidden global internment network is a central element in the CIA’s unconventional war on ter- rorism. It depends on the coopera- tion of foreign intelligence servic- es, and on keeping even basic information about the system se- cret from the public, foreign offi- cials and nearly all members of Congress charged with overseeing the CIA’s covert actions. The existence and locations of the facilities — referred to as “black sites” in classified White House, CIA, Justice Department and congressional documents — are known to only a handful of offi- cials in the United States and, usu- ally, only to the president and a few top intelligence officers in each host country. The CIA and the White House, citing national security concerns and the value of the program, have dissuaded Congress from demand- ing that the agency answer ques- tions in open testimony about the conditions under which captives are held. Virtually nothing is known about who is kept in the fa- cilities, what interrogation meth- CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons Debate Is Growing Within Agency About Legality and Morality of Overseas System Set Up After 9/11 See PRISONS, A12, Col. 1 Congress. Beneath the political pyrotechnics was an issue that has infuriated liberals but flum- moxed many of the Democratic lawmakers who voted three years ago to approve the war: allegations that administration officials exaggerated Iraq’s weapons capabilities and terrorism ties and then resisted inquiries into the intelligence failures. Friday’s indictment of top White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby on perjury and obstruction charges gave Democrats a new opening to demand By Charles Babington and Dafna Linzer Washington Post Staff Writers Democrats forced the Senate into a rare closed-door session yesterday, infuriating Re- publicans but extracting from them a prom- ise to speed up an inquiry into the Bush ad- ministration’s handling of intelligence about Iraq’s weapons in the run-up to the war. With no warning in the mid-afternoon, the Senate’s top Democrat invoked the little-used Rule 21, which forced aides to turn off the chamber’s cameras and close its massive doors after evicting all visitors, reporters and most staffers. Plans to bring in electronic- bug-sniffing dogs were dropped when it be- came clear that senators would trade barbs but discuss no classified information. Republicans condemned the Democrats’ maneuver, which marked the first time in more than 25 years that one party had insist- ed on a closed session without consulting the other party. But within two hours, Repub- licans appointed a bipartisan panel to report on the progress of a Senate intelligence com- mittee report on prewar intelligence, which Democrats say has been delayed for nearly a year. “Finally, after months and months and months of begging, cajoling, writing letters, we’re finally going to be able to have phase two of the investigation regarding how the in- telligence was used to lead us into the intrac- table war in Iraq,” Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters, claiming a rare victory for Democrats in the GOP-controlled Senate Democrats Force Closed Meeting Republicans Bristle but Agree to Speed Probe Of Prewar Intelligence BY MARK WILSON — GETTY IMAGES Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, with Sens. Charles E. Schumer, left, and Richard J. Durbin, cited frustration with delays by Republicans. See SENATE, A4, Col. 1 By Mary Jordan Washington Post Foreign Service LONDON, Nov. 1 — When he was a child in the Soviet Union, Kon- stantin Volosov studied Lenin and Marx. But now, 30 minutes before taking Britain’s new citizenship test for immigrants, he focused on the queen’s ceremonial duties, the Liv- erpool accent and the rituals of Box- ing Day. “It’s a good idea to learn these things,” said Volosov, 32, a mathe- matics student working on his doc- torate at a London university. “I find it ridiculous that people are living here 25 years and know nothing about this country.” Starting Tuesday, the tens of thousands of immigrants who apply for British citizenship each year must pass a new “Britishness” exam, designed to test familiarity with this country’s politics, life and customs. The prime minister’s offi- cial residence is at 10 Downing Street; a dog must wear a collar bearing its owner’s name and ad- dress — those who want to hold a British passport are to learn this and much more. The test was designed by government officials who are in- creasingly worried that immigrants are not integrating into British soci- ety, preferring to live in urban en- claves where language, culture and food are separate from this coun- try’s traditions. Fears about immigrants feeling no connection or loyalty to their new country surged following the London transit bombings in July, which killed 52 commuters and in- jured 700 others. Police have said that the men who carried out the at- Pub Manners, Boxing Day All Part of Being British Would-Be Citizens Cram for New Exam See BRITAIN, A18, Col. 1 Venture capitalist Frederic V. Malek’s group is the front-runner to purchase the Nationals. SPORTS, E1 Malek’s MLB Move K Federal Reserve raises key rate. | Business, D1

Transcript of DAILY 11-02-05 DC M2 A1 CMYK ABCDE - Washington...

ABCDE128th Year No. 332 M2 DC M1 M2 M3 M4 V1 V2 V3 V4Wednesday, November 2, 2005

DAILY 11-02-05 DC M2 A1 CMYK

Details, B8

Prices may vary in areas outside metropolitanWashington. (See box on A2)

35¢

DISTRICTFINAL

Weather

Today: Mostly sunny,breezy. High 64. Low 43.Thursday: Mostly sunny.High 66. Low 48.

By Carol Morello

Washington Post Staff Writer

When the Kilgores of Gate City invited afew hundred friends and associates to a barbe-cue at their farm in October, thefamily business of politics was infull tilt.

The old barn beside a twistingroad two miles from town was plas-tered with huge blue-and-orangeelection signs for two sons who be-gan following politics while still inLittle League.

“Kilgore Governor” promoted Jerry W. Kil-gore, who stepped down as attorney generalto become the Republican candidate for Vir-ginia governor in Tuesday’s election.

“Kilgore Delegate” was for his identical

twin, Terry G. Kilgore, seeking reelection tothe House of Delegates.

Matriarch Willie Mae Kilgore, the ScottCounty registrar, greeted guests by the des-sert table. Her husband, John, chairman of the

county GOP committee, worked thecrowd. Youngest son John Jr., headof the local Economic DevelopmentAuthority, played on stage in thecountry equivalent of a garage band.

For someone who grew up in afamily steeped in politics, Jerry Kil-gore sounded almost surprised to be

in Tuesday’s contest.“I thought Terry would be the one who’d

run for governor,” he said.The Kilgore that ended up running for gov-

Kilgore Parlays Tenacity, LuckRepublican Touts Rural Roots, Statewide Experience

BY EARL NEIKIRK — ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jerry Kilgore signs a photo for Margaret Lansford,his sixth-grade English teacher, in Gate City, Va.

CAMPAIGN

2005

See KILGORE, A14, Col. 3

By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum

Washington Post Staff Writer

A presidential commission rec-ommended changes in the federalincome tax system that would low-er rates, reduce paperwork andeliminate or scale back most taxbreaks, including popular deduc-tions for home mortgage interestand employer-provided health in-surance.

Lawmakers and interest groupsattacked several of components ofthe plan, which was presented yes-terday to Treasury Secretary JohnW. Snow. But Snow said he hopedto refine the suggestions for Presi-dent Bush by year-end and ex-pressed optimism that Congresswould enact a version of them.

“We will take the ball,” Snowsaid. “It’s our turn to run with it.”

Tax experts and other analyststhink the president, whose approv-al ratings have dropped significant-ly, might want to champion a newdomestic initiative now that his ef-fort to add private accounts to So-cial Security has stalled. As a result,they give a plan that purports tomake the tax code simpler and fair-er a decent chance despite its manyvocal opponents.

Bush established the bipartisanpanel in January and asked it to find

CommissionProposesChanges inTax System

See TAXES, A4, Col. 1

INSIDE

K The White House focuses onmoderates in both parties as itseeks to build a Senatecoalition to confirm JudgeSamuel A. Alito Jr. K The nominee has not made apublic statement on Roe v.Wade, but his record points toa likely vote to overturn thelandmark abortion ruling.NATION, A6

Judge Alito andThe Supreme Court

The rising cost of buildingmaterials for the D.C. baseballstadium complex is pushing upthe price tag, and officials arebatting around ideas foreconomizing. METRO, B1

Stadium Cuts?

Los Angeles chef andrestaurateur Gerry Garvin iscreating a buzz with hiscooking show. FOOD, F1

Turning Up the HeatThe Kennedy Center’s Chinafestival delivered, unlikeearlier efforts atfestival-making. STYLE, C1

The Real Deal

Bob Swartz wants to make street luge more mainstream. He hasstarted by strapping a $5,000 jet engine to his board. METRO, B1

Gentleman, Start Your LugeBY ROBERT A. REEDER — THE WASHINGTON POST

1 Contents 2005TheWashingtonPost

The Post on the Internet:washingtonpost.com

By David Brown

Washington Post Staff Writer

President Bush yesterday askedCongress for $7.1 billion to helpprepare the country for a global epi-demic of influenza, telling a high-powered gathering of scientists andpublic officials at the National In-stitutes of Health that “our countryhas been given fair warning of thisdanger to our homeland.”

The request — the latest addi-tion to a burgeoning investment inpublic health preparedness sincethe Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — wouldgo toward vaccine development,drug and vaccine stockpiling, dis-ease surveillance, and local healthdepartments’ manpower needs.

The biggest share, $2.8 billion,would subsidize the rapid devel-opment of cell-based technology formaking influenza vaccine — an in-vestment that the United States’dwindling vaccine industry hasbeen making only slowly.

Between $1.2 billion and $1.5 bil-lion would be used to build a 20 mil-lion-dose stockpile of an experi-mental vaccine based on the bird fluvirus now circulating in Asia, $1 bil-lion for antiviral medicines, $800million to develop new flu treat-ments, and $644 million to help lo-cal governments make their ownpreparations for a flu pandemic.

Bush said he will also ask law-makers “to remove one of the great-est obstacles to domestic vaccineproduction — the growing burdenof litigation,” adding that “Con-gress must pass liability protectionfor the makers of life-saving vac-cines.” He did not provide any de-

PresidentRequestsBillions inFlu PlanVaccine ResearchWould Be a Priority

Proposal HighlightsPresident Bushrequested$7.1 billionin emergencyspending toprepare fora pandemic ofinfluenza, inluding:

SOURCE: White House THE WASHINGTON POST

$2.8 billion to acceleratedevelopment of cell-culturetechnology.

$1.5 billion for the departmentsof Defense and Health andHuman Services to purchaseinfluenza vaccines.

$1 billion to stockpile antiviralmedications.

$251 million to help detect andcontain global outbreaks

$800 million for developmentof new treatments and vaccines.

$644 million to promotepreparedness on the local, stateand federal levels to respond toan outbreak.

See FLU, A10, Col. 1

By Dana Priest

Washington Post Staff Writer

The CIA has been hiding and in-terrogating some of its most im-portant al Qaeda captives at a So-viet-era compound in EasternEurope, according to U.S. and for-eign officials familiar with the ar-rangement.

The secret facility is part of a co-

vert prison system set up by theCIA nearly four years ago that atvarious times has included sites ineight countries, including Thai-land, Afghanistan and several de-mocracies in Eastern Europe, aswell as a small center at the Guan-tanamo Bay prison in Cuba, ac-cording to current and former in-telligence officials and diplomatsfrom three continents.

The hidden global internmentnetwork is a central element in theCIA’s unconventional war on ter-rorism. It depends on the coopera-tion of foreign intelligence servic-es, and on keeping even basicinformation about the system se-cret from the public, foreign offi-cials and nearly all members ofCongress charged with overseeingthe CIA’s covert actions.

The existence and locations ofthe facilities — referred to as“black sites” in classified WhiteHouse, CIA, Justice Departmentand congressional documents —are known to only a handful of offi-cials in the United States and, usu-ally, only to the president and afew top intelligence officers ineach host country.

The CIA and the White House,

citing national security concernsand the value of the program, havedissuaded Congress from demand-ing that the agency answer ques-tions in open testimony about theconditions under which captivesare held. Virtually nothing isknown about who is kept in the fa-cilities, what interrogation meth-

CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret PrisonsDebate Is Growing Within Agency About Legality and Morality of Overseas System Set Up After 9/11

See PRISONS, A12, Col. 1

Congress.Beneath the political pyrotechnics was an

issue that has infuriated liberals but flum-moxed many of the Democratic lawmakerswho voted three years ago to approve thewar: allegations that administration officialsexaggerated Iraq’s weapons capabilities and

terrorism ties and then resisted inquiries intothe intelligence failures. Friday’s indictmentof top White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter”Libby on perjury and obstruction chargesgave Democrats a new opening to demand

By Charles Babington

and Dafna Linzer

Washington Post Staff Writers

Democrats forced the Senate into a rareclosed-door session yesterday, infuriating Re-publicans but extracting from them a prom-ise to speed up an inquiry into the Bush ad-ministration’s handling of intelligence aboutIraq’s weapons in the run-up to the war.

With no warning in the mid-afternoon, theSenate’s top Democrat invoked the little-usedRule 21, which forced aides to turn off thechamber’s cameras and close its massivedoors after evicting all visitors, reporters andmost staffers. Plans to bring in electronic-bug-sniffing dogs were dropped when it be-came clear that senators would trade barbsbut discuss no classified information.

Republicans condemned the Democrats’maneuver, which marked the first time inmore than 25 years that one party had insist-ed on a closed session without consulting theother party. But within two hours, Repub-licans appointed a bipartisan panel to reporton the progress of a Senate intelligence com-mittee report on prewar intelligence, whichDemocrats say has been delayed for nearly ayear.

“Finally, after months and months and

months of begging, cajoling, writing letters,we’re finally going to be able to have phasetwo of the investigation regarding how the in-telligence was used to lead us into the intrac-table war in Iraq,” Minority Leader Harry M.Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters, claiming a rarevictory for Democrats in the GOP-controlled

Senate DemocratsForce ClosedMeetingRepublicans Bristle but Agree to Speed Probe Of Prewar Intelligence

BY MARK WILSON — GETTY IMAGES

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, with Sens. Charles E. Schumer, left, and Richard J. Durbin, cited frustration with delays by Republicans.

See SENATE, A4, Col. 1

By Mary Jordan

Washington Post Foreign Service

LONDON, Nov. 1 — When hewas a child in the Soviet Union, Kon-stantin Volosov studied Lenin andMarx. But now, 30 minutes beforetaking Britain’s new citizenship testfor immigrants, he focused on thequeen’s ceremonial duties, the Liv-erpool accent and the rituals of Box-ing Day.

“It’s a good idea to learn thesethings,” said Volosov, 32, a mathe-matics student working on his doc-torate at a London university. “I findit ridiculous that people are livinghere 25 years and know nothingabout this country.”

Starting Tuesday, the tens ofthousands of immigrants who applyfor British citizenship each yearmust pass a new “Britishness”exam, designed to test familiarity

with this country’s politics, life andcustoms. The prime minister’s offi-cial residence is at 10 DowningStreet; a dog must wear a collarbearing its owner’s name and ad-dress — those who want to hold aBritish passport are to learn this andmuch more. The test was designedby government officials who are in-creasingly worried that immigrantsare not integrating into British soci-ety, preferring to live in urban en-claves where language, culture andfood are separate from this coun-try’s traditions.

Fears about immigrants feelingno connection or loyalty to theirnew country surged following theLondon transit bombings in July,which killed 52 commuters and in-jured 700 others. Police have saidthat the men who carried out the at-

Pub Manners, Boxing DayAll Part of Being BritishWould-Be Citizens Cram for New Exam

See BRITAIN, A18, Col. 1

Venture capitalist Frederic V.Malek’s group is thefront-runner to purchase theNationals. SPORTS, E1

Malek’s MLB Move

K Federal Reserve raiseskey rate. | Business, D1

DAILY 11-02-05 MD SU A12 CMYK

A12 Wednesday, November 2, 2005 S The Washington PostCOMBATING TERRORISM

ods are employed with them, orhow decisions are made aboutwhether they should be detained orfor how long.

While the Defense Departmenthas produced volumes of public re-ports and testimony about its de-tention practices and rules after theabuse scandals at Iraq’s Abu Ghraibprison and at Guantanamo Bay, theCIA has not even acknowledgedthe existence of its black sites. Todo so, say officials familiar with theprogram, could open the U.S. gov-ernment to legal challenges, partic-ularly in foreign courts, and in-crease the risk of politicalcondemnation at home and abroad.

But the revelations of wide-spread prisoner abuse in Afghani-stan and Iraq by the U.S. military— which operates under publishedrules and transparent oversight ofCongress — have increased con-cern among lawmakers, foreigngovernments and human rightsgroups about the opaque CIA sys-tem. Those concerns escalated lastmonth, when Vice President Che-ney and CIA Director Porter J.Goss asked Congress to exemptCIA employees from legislation al-ready endorsed by 90 senators thatwould bar cruel and degradingtreatment of any prisoner in U.S.custody.

Although the CIA will not ac-knowledge details of its system, in-telligence officials defend the agen-cy’s approach, arguing that thesuccessful defense of the countryrequires that the agency be empow-ered to hold and interrogate sus-pected terrorists for as long as nec-essary and without restrictionsimposed by the U.S. legal system oreven by the military tribunals es-tablished for prisoners held atGuantanamo Bay.

The Washington Post is not pub-lishing the names of the EasternEuropean countries involved in thecovert program, at the request ofsenior U.S. officials. They arguedthat the disclosure might disruptcounterterrorism efforts in thosecountries and elsewhere and couldmake them targets of possible ter-rorist retaliation.

The secret detention system wasconceived in the chaotic and anx-ious first months after the Sept. 11,2001, attacks, when the workingassumption was that a secondstrike was imminent.

Since then, the arrangement hasbeen increasingly debated withinthe CIA, where considerable con-cern lingers about the legality, mo-rality and practicality of holdingeven unrepentant terrorists in suchisolation and secrecy, perhaps forthe duration of their lives. Mid-level and senior CIA officers beganarguing two years ago that the sys-tem was unsustainable and divert-ed the agency from its unique espi-onage mission.

“We never sat down, as far as Iknow, and came up with a grandstrategy,” said one former seniorintelligence officer who is familiarwith the program but not the loca-tion of the prisons. “Everythingwas very reactive. That’s how youget to a situation where you pickpeople up, send them into a nether-world and don’t say, ‘What are wegoing to do with them after-wards?’ ”

It is illegal for the government tohold prisoners in such isolation insecret prisons in the United States,which is why the CIA placed themoverseas, according to several for-mer and current intelligence offi-cials and other U.S. government of-ficials. Legal experts andintelligence officials said that theCIA’s internment practices alsowould be considered illegal underthe laws of several host countries,where detainees have rights tohave a lawyer or to mount a defenseagainst allegations of wrongdoing.

Host countries have signed theU.N. Convention Against Tortureand Other Cruel, Inhuman or De-grading Treatment or Punishment,as has the United States. Yet CIAinterrogators in the overseas sitesare permitted to use the CIA’s ap-proved “Enhanced InterrogationTechniques,” some of which areprohibited by the U.N. conventionand by U.S. military law. They in-clude tactics such as “waterboard-ing,” in which a prisoner is made tobelieve he or she is drowning.

Some detainees apprehended bythe CIA and transferred to foreignintelligence agencies have allegedafter their release that they weretortured, although it is unclearwhether CIA personnel played arole in the alleged abuse. Given thesecrecy surrounding CIA deten-tions, such accusations haveheightened concerns among for-eign governments and humanrights groups about CIA detentionand interrogation practices.

The contours of the CIA’s deten-tion program have emerged in bitsand pieces over the past two years.Parliaments in Canada, Italy,France, Sweden and the Nether-lands have opened inquiries into al-leged CIA operations that secretlycaptured their citizens or legal resi-dents and transferred them to theagency’s prisons.

More than 100 suspected terror-ists have been sent by the CIA into

the covert system, according to cur-rent and former U.S. intelligenceofficials and foreign sources. Thisfigure, a rough estimate based oninformation from sources who saidtheir knowledge of the numberswas incomplete, does not includeprisoners picked up in Iraq.

The detainees break downroughly into two classes, the sourc-es said.

About 30 are considered majorterrorism suspects and have beenheld under the highest level of se-crecy at black sites financed by theCIA and managed by agency per-sonnel, including those in EasternEurope and elsewhere, accordingto current and former intelligenceofficers and two other U.S. govern-ment officials. Two locations in thiscategory — in Thailand and on thegrounds of the military prison atGuantanamo Bay — were closed in2003 and 2004, respectively.

A second tier — which thesesources believe includes more than70 detainees — is a group consid-ered less important, with less di-rect involvement in terrorism andhaving limited intelligence value.These prisoners, some of whomwere originally taken to black sites,are delivered to intelligence servic-es in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Af-ghanistan and other countries, aprocess sometimes known as “ren-dition.” While the first-tier blacksites are run by CIA officers, thejails in these countries are operatedby the host nations, with CIA fi-nancial assistance and, sometimes,direction.

Morocco, Egypt and Jordan havesaid that they do not torture detain-ees, although years of State Depart-ment human rights reports accuseall three of chronic prisoner abuse.

The top 30 al Qaeda prisonersexist in complete isolation from theoutside world. Kept in dark, some-times underground cells, they haveno recognized legal rights, and noone outside the CIA is allowed totalk with or even see them, or tootherwise verify their well-being,said current and former and U.S.and foreign government and in-telligence officials.

Most of the facilities were builtand are maintained with congres-sionally appropriated funds, butthe White House has refused to al-low the CIA to brief anyone exceptthe House and Senate intelligencecommittees’ chairmen and vicechairmen on the program’s gener-alities.

The Eastern European countriesthat the CIA has persuaded to hideal Qaeda captives are democraciesthat have embraced the rule of lawand individual rights after decadesof Soviet domination. Each hasbeen trying to cleanse its intelli-gence services of operatives whohave worked on behalf of others —mainly Russia and organizedcrime.

Origins of the Black Sites

The idea of holding terroristsoutside the U.S. legal system wasnot under consideration beforeSept. 11, 2001, not even for Osamabin Laden, according to formergovernment officials. The plan wasto bring bin Laden and his top asso-ciates into the U.S. justice systemfor trial or to send them to foreigncountries where they would betried.

“The issue of detaining and in-terrogating people was never, everdiscussed,” said a former senior in-telligence officer who worked inthe CIA’s Counterterrorist Center,or CTC, during that period. “It wasagainst the culture and they be-lieved information was bestgleaned by other means.”

On the day of the attacks, theCIA already had a list of what itcalled High-Value Targets from theal Qaeda structure, and as theWorld Trade Center and Pentagonattack plots were unraveled, morenames were added to the list. Thequestion of what to do with thesepeople surfaced quickly.

The CTC’s chief of operationsargued for creating hit teams ofcase officers and CIA paramilitar-ies that would covertly infiltratecountries in the Middle East, Africaand even Europe to assassinatepeople on the list, one by one.

But many CIA officers believedthat the al Qaeda leaders would beworth keeping alive to interrogateabout their network and otherplots. Some officers worried thatthe CIA would not be very adept atassassination.

“We’d probably shoot our-selves,” another former senior CIAofficial said.

The agency set up prisons underits covert action authority. UnderU.S. law, only the president can au-thorize a covert action, by signing adocument called a presidential find-ing. Findings must not break U.S.law and are reviewed and approvedby CIA, Justice Department andWhite House legal advisers.

Six days after the Sept. 11 at-tacks, President Bush signed asweeping finding that gave the CIAbroad authorization to disrupt ter-rorist activity, including permis-sion to kill, capture and detainmembers of al Qaeda anywhere inthe world.

It could not be determined

whether Bush approved a separatefinding for the black-sites program,but the consensus among currentand former intelligence and othergovernment officials interviewedfor this article is that he did nothave to.

Rather, they believe that the CIAgeneral counsel’s office acted with-in the parameters of the Sept. 17finding. The black-site programwas approved by a small circle ofWhite House and Justice Depart-ment lawyers and officials, accord-ing to several former and currentU.S. government and intelligenceofficials.

Deals With 2 Countries

Among the first steps was to fig-ure out where the CIA could secret-ly hold the captives. One early ideawas to keep them on ships in in-ternational waters, but that wasdiscarded for security and logisticsreasons.

CIA officers also searched for asetting like Alcatraz Island. Theyconsidered the virtually unvisitedislands in Lake Kariba in Zambia,which were edged with craggycliffs and covered in woods. Butpoor sanitary conditions could easi-ly lead to fatal diseases, they decid-ed, and besides, they wondered,could the Zambians be trusted withsuch a secret?

Still without a long-term solu-tion, the CIA began sending sus-pects it captured in the first monthor so after Sept. 11 to its longtimepartners, the intelligence servicesof Egypt and Jordan.

A month later, the CIA found it-self with hundreds of prisonerswho were captured on battlefieldsin Afghanistan. A short-term solu-tion was improvised. The agencyshoved its highest-value prisonersinto metal shipping containers setup on a corner of the Bagram AirBase, which was surrounded with atriple perimeter of concertina-wirefencing. Most prisoners were left inthe hands of the Northern Alliance,U.S.-supported opposition forceswho were fighting the Taliban.

“I remember asking: What arewe going to do with these people?”said a senior CIA officer. “I keptsaying, where’s the help? We’ve gotto bring in some help. We can’t bejailers — our job is to find Osama.”

Then came grisly reports, in thewinter of 2001, that prisoners keptby allied Afghan generals in cargocontainers had died of asphyxia-tion. The CIA asked Congress for,and was quickly granted, tens ofmillions of dollars to establish alarger, long-term system in Afghan-istan, parts of which would be usedfor CIA prisoners.

The largest CIA prison in Af-ghanistan was code-named the SaltPit. It was also the CIA’s substationand was first housed in an old brickfactory outside Kabul. In Novem-ber 2002, an inexperienced CIAcase officer allegedly orderedguards to strip naked an uncooper-ative young detainee, chain him tothe concrete floor and leave himthere overnight without blankets.He froze to death, according to fourU.S. government officials. The CIA

officer has not been charged in thedeath.

The Salt Pit was protected bysurveillance cameras and tough Af-ghan guards, but the road leadingto it was not safe to travel and thejail was eventually moved insideBagram Air Base. It has since beenrelocated off the base.

By mid-2002, the CIA hadworked out secret black-site dealswith two countries, including Thai-land and one Eastern European na-

tion, current and former officialssaid. An estimated $100 millionwas tucked inside the classified an-nex of the first supplemental Af-ghanistan appropriation.

Then the CIA captured its firstbig detainee, in March 28, 2002.Pakistani forces took Abu Zubaida,al Qaeda’s operations chief, intocustody and the CIA whisked himto the new black site in Thailand,which included underground in-terrogation cells, said several for-mer and current intelligence offi-cials. Six months later, Sept. 11planner Ramzi Binalshibh was alsocaptured in Pakistan and flown toThailand.

But after published reports re-vealed the existence of the site inJune 2003, Thai officials insistedthe CIA shut it down, and the twoterrorists were moved elsewhere,according to former governmentofficials involved in the matter.Work between the two countries oncounterterrorism has been luke-warm ever since.

In late 2002 or early 2003, theCIA brokered deals with othercountries to establish black-siteprisons. One of these sites —

which sources said they believed tobe the CIA’s biggest facility now —became particularly importantwhen the agency realized it wouldhave a growing number of pris-oners and a shrinking number ofprisons.

Thailand was closed, and some-time in 2004 the CIA decided it hadto give up its small site at Guanta-namo Bay. The CIA had planned toconvert that into a state-of-the-artfacility, operated independently ofthe military. The CIA pulled outwhen U.S. courts began to exercisegreater control over the militarydetainees, and agency officialsfeared judges would soon extendthe same type of supervision overtheir detainees.

In hindsight, say some formerand current intelligence officials,the CIA’s problems were exacerbat-ed by another decision made withinthe Counterterrorist Center atLangley.

The CIA program’s originalscope was to hide and interrogatethe two dozen or so al Qaeda lead-ers believed to be directly responsi-ble for the Sept. 11 attacks, or whoposed an imminent threat, or hadknowledge of the larger al Qaedanetwork. But as the volume of leadspouring into the CTC from abroadincreased, and the capacity of itsparamilitary group to seize sus-pects grew, the CIA began appre-hending more people whose in-telligence value and links toterrorism were less certain, accord-ing to four current and former offi-cials.

The original standard for con-signing suspects to the invisibleuniverse was lowered or ignored,they said. “They’ve got many, manymore who don’t reach any thresh-old,” one intelligence official said.

Several former and current in-telligence officials, as well as sever-al other U.S. government officialswith knowledge of the program, ex-press frustration that the WhiteHouse and the leaders of the in-telligence community have notmade it a priority to decide wheth-er the secret internment programshould continue in its current form,or be replaced by some other ap-proach.

Meanwhile, the debate over thewisdom of the program continuesamong CIA officers, some of whomalso argue that the secrecy sur-rounding the program is not sus-tainable.

“It’s just a horrible burden,” saidthe intelligence official.

Researcher Julie Tate contributedto this report.

Intelligence Officials Defend Secret Overseas PrisonsPRISONS, From A1

SPACE IMAGING MIDDLE EAST

In Afghanistan, the largest CIA covert prison was code-named the Salt Pit, at center left above.

In 2002, Abu Zubaida, left, al Qaeda’s operations chief, was covertlyimprisoned in Thailand. Later, 9/11 planner Ramzi Binalshibh was sent there.

������� �� �� ���

� � �� � � � � � � � � � � � � � ����

� � � � � � � � � � � � �

������ � ��� � ��� ������� �� � ����

��� ��� ���� ���� �� ����

� � � �� � � � � �� � � � � � ��

������� �� ������� ���� ��!!�

����� ������ �"#

$� ��� �" �������� %������"&'� '��(�() ('��� �'� (*��� +,�' �*�����()

���,�! ,(�( ��� �����-(*�!� � !� ,���,� �..�* �()�! ! +��//�� ,� � ���(�) /����� ��(�'��,*�0

� ������ ������� � � ��� ������ ����

$� ��� �" �������� %������"&'� '��(�() ('��� �'� (*��� +,�' �*�����()

���,�! ,(�( ��� �����-(*�!� � !� ,���,� �..�* �()�! ! +��//�� ,� � ���(�) /����� ��(�'��,*�0

� ������ ������� � � ��� ������ ����