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• Tuesday, May 22, 2007 02:44 PM

  More on secret prisons with a glance at the Republican id

  Glenn:

  Thanks for the link on the 35,000 estimate -- we lowballed an estimate of 8,500 back in 2005. For those interested, here are some other posts on secret prisons from Corrente:

  But we really have been all over this one since at least 2005, so may I suggest in addition to the Wilkerson link one or more of the following:

  Two short summary (the best, I think -- this is the story some journalist should pursue. They start out the same -- repeat, repeat -- but end up differently.

  http://www.correntewire.com/the_bush_gulag_where_are_the_bodies

  http://www.correntewire.com/the_bush_gulag_where_are_the_bodies_press_wont_ask

  Long summary (I wrote the short when this got no hits):

  http://www.correntewire.com/the_arithmetic_were_thousands_from_bushs_gulags_disappeared

  And the arithmetic posts:

  http://www.correntewire.com/14_000_in_bush_gulags_not_just_100s_at_gitmo

  http://www.correntewire.com/how_many_prisoners_are_in_bushs_european_gulag

  http://www.correntewire.com/how_many_inmates_are_being_held_in_the_bush_gulag_at_stare_kiejkuty_poland

  Here is the nut graf from the "Where are the bodies" post. It would be really nice if a journalist could follow up and get some answers:

  Let's do some arithmetic on how many prisoners Bush is holding in his gulags.

  1. We know that there are thousands of prisoners (estimates range from 7,000 to 35,000).

  2. Gitmo holds only 500.

  3. So, where are the missing thousands? The only alternatives I can think of:

  1. They've been released

  2. They're still in jail

  3. They've been disappeared.

  Barring divine intervention, the bodies of the missing thousands occupy time and space in this world. Where are they?

  Which door would you choose? (a), released? (b), still in jail? Or (c), disappeared?

  Then, of course, there's a the longstanding authoritarian confusion between imprisonment, torture, and sex (cf The Passion), but investigation of the dank recesses of the conservative psyche is a topic for another day. But for anyone who wants to get started:

  http://www.correntewire.com/shays_r_pro_torture_says_abu_ghraib_just_a_sex_ring

  —lambert Read lambert's other letters
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