Dana Priest Appreciation Thread

This post is more than just an appreciation thread for Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Dana Priest. This is also going to be our crash course in the existence of CIA "black sites", or classified facilities whose existence is denied by the U.S. government.

In November 2002, a newly minted CIA case officer in charge of a secret
prison just north of Kabul allegedly ordered guards to strip naked an
uncooperative young Afghan detainee, chain him to the concrete floor and leave
him there overnight without blankets, according to four U.S. government
officials aware of the case.

The Afghan guards -- paid by the CIA and working under CIA supervision in
an abandoned warehouse code-named the Salt Pit -- dragged their captive around
on the concrete floor, bruising and scraping his skin, before putting him in his
cell, two of the officials said.

As night fell, so, predictably, did the temperature.

By morning, the Afghan man had frozen to death.

The above excerpt is from an article authored by Priest. "CIA Avoids Scrutiny of Detainee Treatment" was published by The Washington Post on March 3, 2005, and although it never got the attention it deserved in the mainstream media, it sparked an international debate on the existence of "black sites". Priest also wrote "CIA Holds Terror Suspects In Secret Prisons", which was published by The Washington Post on November 2, 2005.

Both articles are important because they were the first to reference "The Salt Pit", the detention facility that Khaled al-Masri was detained at for five months in 2004. Take a few minutes to read the articles and I'll have more on "The Salt Pit" on a future post.

CORRECTION: Everything you need to know about "The Salt Pit" can be found in Ms. Priest's articles. Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Blogathon 2006, Human Rights, Dana Priest, The Salt Pit, Torture, Extraordinary rendition, Black sites