P U L S E

A film shot from Taxi to the Dark Side of a captured man being transferred to Bagram Theater Internment Facility in Afghanistan.

The majority of Americans only became aware of the existence of Abu Ghraib Prison after the emergence of photographs revealing disturbing forms of inmate abuse and torture forced them to acknowledge their government’s dark secret. The widely circulated images of smiling US soldiers subjecting prisoners to atrocious forms of sexual abuse and other disturbing forms of mental and physical torture were consequently supplemented with well-documented outrage by the mainstream media (MSM), who after failing to investigate the situation independently, decided to bank on the juicy newsworthiness of the pictures for months. Even though members of the Bush Administration and US military initially attempted to brush off the incidents as isolated events, further emerging evidence ultimately revealed the contrary: not only were these events widespread—they had also been long-running. Even worse was a former Abu Ghraib commander’s declaration that most of the detainees were probably innocent.

Although male and female military members continue to be tried for their alleged involvement in the prisoner abuse (many of them have evaded responsibility or simply received the equivalent of a slap on the wrist), the closure of Abu Ghraib ultimately resulted in the memory of the notorious institution being associated with the “Dark Era” of the Bush Administration. Moreover, while the likes of Dick Cheney blip in and out of the mainstream media every now and then to defend their violations of the Geneva Conventions on torture, demands for investigations into the Bush Administration’s direct endorsement of torture as a CIA interrogation technique (no matter how diluted they may be) don’t get anything close to the same amount of coverage. In response to calls to investigate the Bush Administration’s crimes carried out under the hollow pretense of a so-called “War on Terror,” Obama claims he is more interested in moving forward than looking back.  Accordingly, writers like constitutional lawyer turned political analyst Glenn Greenwald argue that America can only move forward by actively addressing and confronting its shadowy past. Unsurprisingly, much of liberal media’s refusal to press the Obama Administration to hold the Bush Administration accountable indicate that they have followed their government’s lead.

Obama inherited Gitmo, but his administration’s ongoing moves with regards to a lesser known prison, Bagram Theater Internment Facility in Afghanistan, are a product of his own policies. While his party is requesting additional funding for “Afghan projects,” his administration is also simultaneously working to “overhaul” the prison. Although that linked The New York Times article makes it seem like the US is working to improve conditions for the prisoners, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) argues that the Obama Administration may be doing the opposite while also trying to keep the procedures that govern the prison “shrouded in secrecy.” Significantly, this new chapter in American history is still mostly undocumented by American MSM; it’s almost as though US news media can only focus on one dirty secret (in each category of Americian dirty secrets) at a time.

We only have estimates because the US Government continues to deny the ACLU’s requests for documents to be released about the prisoners, but it is believed that at least 600-700 prisoners are now being detained in Bagram, outnumbering those being held at Gitmo.  Alex Gibney’s 2007 documentary Taxi to the Dark Side, which received extremely low viewership by American audiences, is one film that documents the torture and violent murder of an innocent Afghan taxi driver who had the bad fortune of being taken to Bagram. Moazzam Begg is another innocent detainee (he has since been released and was never charged due to lack of supporting evidence) who suffered at the hands of both Bagram and Guantanamo jailers, and has become a vocal advocate for prisoners’ rights since.  These are just a few of America’s victims in Bagram.  Hundreds more are unnamed and unknown.

As I speak both the prison and air base in Bagram are being further “developed” while prisoners continue to be handled with little insight into how they are being treated; no independent body has been admitted to the prison. The Obama Administration has also been trying to implement legislation to continue denying the majority of prisoners the right to habeas corpus, and some have been held for 6 years without trial.  What will it take for Americans to become critical of their government’s newest dark secret, and putting aside the apparently frivolous question of prisoner’s rights for a moment, has Obama learned nothing from Guantánamo?

Included below are two clips from the Riz Khan Show where author of the Guantanamo Files Andy Worthington discusses the question of whether America’s prison in Bagram can be considered Obama’s Guantánamo.  He is joined by David Rivkin, a former member of the justice department during the Reagan and George H.W. Bush Administrations, who argues that closing the prison would hurt America’s objectives in the region.