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The Other Gitmo: U.S. Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan VIDEO

by TheCameraObscura | May 25, 2009 at 02:04 pm

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While the Republicans (and many Democrats) try to stop President Obama from closing the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison based on the non-logical fearmongering mantra of "terrorists will be on American soil" (many convicted terrorists are already imprisoned at a Super Max prison in Florence, Colorado), another Gitmo-like prison is being expanded in Afghnastan.

Although President Barack Obama has promised to close the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, his administration has no intention of closing the much larger center at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, which currently holds more than 600 prisoners and is about to double in size as part of a $60 million expansion of the base.

According to an article which originally appeared in the Independent, “Human rights groups and journalists have been barred from Bagram, where former prisoners say they were tortured by being shackled to the ceiling of isolation cells and deprived of sleep. … The Red Cross issued a formal complaint to the U.S. government in 2007 about harsh treatment of some prisoners held in isolation for months.”

CNN’s Stan Grant spoke recently with a former senior Taliban member, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, who was held at Bagram as an “unlawful energy combatant.”