These 50 Countries Helped the CIA Torture People

The CIA established a global network of secret 'Black Sites' after 9/11 with the assistance of at least 54 countries to conduct enhanced interrogations and torture, often bypassing U.S. and international laws.

• The CIA operated a secret global network of 'Black Sites' to conduct torture, bypassing U.S. and international laws after 9/11.

• At least 54 countries collaborated with the U.S. in the 'Extraordinary Rendition' program, hosting or facilitating these covert prisons.

• Doctors, lawyers, and psychologists were integral to the torture program, assessing detainees, legalizing methods, and designing 'enhanced interrogation' techniques.

Following the 9/11 attacks, the CIA created secret overseas prisons, known as Black Sites, with the cooperation of foreign governments to circumvent legal restrictions on prisoner treatment. These sites, part of an 'Extraordinary Rendition' program, detained 119-136 individuals, with at least 39 subjected to 'enhanced interrogation techniques,' and 26 held on faulty information. The operations were kept highly secret, even from some high-ranking U.S. officials, revealing a deliberate effort to conceal widespread torture and abuse.

CIA Black Sites Network

• 00:00:44 To bypass U.S. laws and international treaties after 9/11, the CIA established secret overseas prisons called Black Sites, where American laws did not apply. This program, known as 'Extraordinary Rendition,' involved kidnapping suspects from their own countries and transferring them to these facilities, with collaboration from at least 54 nations. Between 119 and 136 people were imprisoned, with many subjected to 'enhanced interrogation techniques' or detained on faulty information, and the existence of these sites was even concealed from high-profile U.S. government officials like Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Global Locations and Examples

• 00:01:45 The first foreign CIA Black Site, 'Detention Site Green' or 'Cat's Eye,' was an experimental center in Thailand, where the first war-on-terror detainee, Abuza Beda, was tortured. Other prominent sites were suspected in Afghanistan (Jalalabad, Asadabad), Iraq (Abu Ghraib, Camp Bucca, Camp Cropper), and Diego Garcia, a remote island where both U.S. and U.K. governments initially denied involvement. European countries, particularly former Soviet satellite states like Poland, Lithuania, and Romania, also hosted facilities, often in exchange for significant funding, with some detaining and torturing prisoners.

Architects of Torture

• 00:08:54 The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee's 2014 report, though heavily redacted, confirmed the extensive operation of Black Sites and revealed that doctors and lawyers played disturbing roles. Doctors assessed detainees' fitness for torture and even helped devise new methods, while lawyers from the Justice Department and CIA approved each 'enhanced interrogation' technique and ensured legal immunity for all involved. This infrastructure allowed for brutal practices, including waterboarding, sleep deprivation for up to 180 hours, forced stress positions, and humiliating procedures like 'rectal infusion' and threats against detainees' families.

The Dark Prison (Salt Pit)

• 00:11:22 The 'Salt Pit,' also known as 'Cobalt' or the 'Dark Prison,' near Kabul, Afghanistan, stands out as one of the most disturbing Black Sites. This isolated facility was designed for maximum discomfort, with narrow concrete cells, no beds, and some cells featuring metal rings for chaining prisoners or overhead bars for sleep deprivation. Detainees were often kept naked in total darkness, subjected to freezing conditions, and blasted with loud music continuously, leading to at least one prisoner, Gulraman, freezing to death due to negligence and the deliberate denial of care, as his deteriorating health was misconstrued as 'resistance'.