Why bring me into this Simon? I've been peacefully making my way through Christopher Hitchens' collection of essays entitled Love, Poverty, and War, Journeys and Essays, trying to mind my own business, and showing my appreciation for a certain sort of Brit in the process. I don't know anything about your subject. I don't know if there are any secret prisons or not, but if any did exist and if someone decided to keep them secret, I can think of an excellent reason for why he might decided to do so: to avoid having to listen to all the whining from bleeding heart liberals. Lawrence, still in Hitchens "Route 66" -----Original Message----- From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Simon Ward Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2006 1:59 PM To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: CIA Secret Prisons "That Clinton and Bush both sought this strategy indicates there is probably a strong pragmatic reason for it." The reason - pragmatic or not - was to remove from US soil human rights violations. Clinton chose to contract out to foreign governments. Bush decided merely to export the prisons but keep them under US control. Both, to my mind, are deplorable. Both stoop to the level of the 'terrorist'. But, as Lawrence might say, you have to be tough with these guys. Possibly you do, but then why keep it secret? Simon ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html