What happens if agents of the US national government want you to become a snitch and you refuse?
Off to Guantanamo with you!! The Washington Post tells the story of two men who were kidnapped on suggestion from the British MI-5 in the African state of Gambia simply for refusing to be their tools:
When they arrived on Nov. 8, they were detained by Gambian and U.S. intelligence operatives, who interrogated them again, this time for a month, British and U.S. documents show. Then two of the men, Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil el-Banna, disappeared into the netherworld of the U.S. government’s battle against terrorism, taken first to a prison in Afghanistan, then to the Naval detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.The primary purpose of this elaborate operation, documents and interviews suggest, was not to neutralize a pair of potential terrorists — authorities have offered no evidence that they were planning attacks — but to turn them into informers. …
The two men, acquaintances of the radical cleric Abu Qatada, were singled out by MI5 for threats, cajoling and offers of cash and protection if they would channel information. Although one of them offered some assistance, MI5 wanted more.
So, you’re not a terrorist, you are not under arrest, you are not even suspected of being involved in a terrorist plot, but you know a guy that we are interested in. Become an informant or else we will kidnap you off to the torture camp indefinitely, and “find” that you are an “enemy combatant” with no rights we’re bound to respect.
How can we be letting the Land of the Free turn into Russia like this? Oh, yeah – Fear.
Read the whole thing here.
