With New Detainee Bill Signed, White House Fires Out RFP’s For Secret Prison Franchises
Program, Once Stalled, Primed To Flourish Legally; Renditions Downgraded From “Extraordinary” To “Standard”
The White House, sources tell The Garlic, has wasted little time to ramp up it’s Secret Prison Program, busily, since mid-afternoon yesterday, after President Bush signed into law the Military Commissions Act of 2006, firing by fax and email, Request For Proposals to dozen of countries - including some on the Terror Watch and Axis of Evil Lists - to buy into franchises for the President’s most valuable tool in fighting terror.
The Military Commissions Act of 2006 allows a high level of torture practices and all but ignores the Geneva Convention provisions. The government can also use classified information against suspected terrorists, without having to share that information, and Habaes Corpus has been eliminated, leaving someone designated by the President as a terrorist or enemy combatant without the recourse of a hearing to find out about, or refute, the charges against them.
The title of the RFP is reported to be “Defeat The Threat”, culled from comments the President made during the signing of the bill, when he said “With the distance of history, the questions will be narrowed and few: Did this generation of Americans take the threat seriously, and did we do what it takes to defeat that threat?”
The White House, and the Central Intelligence Agency, according to the RFP, will oversee all franchises, with the CIA taking the responsibility for “advising” the employees of the Secret Prison Franchise. There are provisions for countries with the experience of running Secret Prisons, or with a history of advanced Torture Programs, to seek a waiver from certain trainings by the CIA, as mandated by the Franchise agreement.
RFP Downgrades Renditions, Saving U.S. Millions In Fuel, Transportation Costs
The ‘Defeat The Threat’ RFP is being hailed as one of the more progressive programs the Bush Team has put out to-date.
“They’re not staying the course with this one,”, offered Harold "Ace" Larson, an analyst for the counterintelligence think tank, 'Book'em and Beat'em'
Since the program was first exposed, by The Washington Post’s Dana Priest, back last November, and cooling off that followed, the White House, according to Larson, was recalculating and retooling the program all along, right up to the time, last month, when the President admitted knowledge of the Secret Prison Program.
“With having it all under the cover of the law, being legal, they’ve really put together a good, tight package,” said Larson.
Gone are the “extraordinary renditions”, where a terrorist, or someone deemed an enemy combatant, was swooped off the streets and flown, by private jet, to an undisclosed Secret Prison.
All the extraordinary renditions have been downgraded to “standard”, says Larsen, and the RFP stipulates, in most cases, the Secret Prison Franchisee will pick up the costs of transporting the enemy combatant, or whoever President Bush has placed into the ‘Defeat The Threat’ program.
“With this all legal now,” added Larsen, “Heck, they can fly these guys in coach. The U.S. is going to save millions ... They can funnel that money into anything they want ... Develop new torture practices ... Buy better music systems to blare in their cells ... Whatever they want ...”
Strict Controls, With President Signaling Daily Torture Levels
The “Defeat The Threat” RFP gives absolute and strict control of the program to the White House, and CIA. Secret Prison franchise owners will not be allowed to improvise or freelance any torture practices.
A new ‘Torture Level’, color-coded chart will be implemented, with the determination of what color-level Secret Prison Franchisees can engage in the torture practices of that day, directly from the President. The ‘Torture Level Chart’ will be comparable to the Terror Alert Chart, and the Pandemic Alert Chart.
The colors used with the Torture Level Chart are classified and will be known only between the White House, CIA and Secret Prison Franchisee owners. It may also be that certain franchises will have different levels on different days, according to the laws of their countries they are located in.
“Who’s Who” Of Torturers In Line For Franchises
The White House would not release what countries the “Defeat The Threat” RFP, however sources close to the program say that it’s a “Who’s Who” of infamous torturers.
“A lot of the guys that were involved in the Secret Prison program when it was illegal have first dibs,” offered one source, who is close to the CIA.
“Now that it is legal,” said the source, “some of the all-star torturers will be coming back ... Guys that, maybe, retired due to all the laws piled up against them ... Guys that were on the wrong side of coup attempts ... It will be a pretty unsavory crowd, but then again, they’ve all been in bed with the CIA before ... it will end up being like a class reunion ...”
The Garlic is still attempting to confirm rumors that the Halliburton Corporation may end up as the largest holder of Secret Prison franchises, under their “No Bid Contract” arrangement with the Bush Administration.
More as this story develops
Within minutes, sources say, of President Bush signing the Military Commissions Act of 2006, the White House begain firing out Request For Proposals, for their now-legal Secret Prison Program
