Underground Knowledge — A discussion group discussion

Seventeen knew why Naylor wanted Isabelle at this particular black site. Hidden amongst snow-covered mountains, the modern, nondescript Mountain Retreat facility was regarded as the most secure and secretive CIA prison on earth. As the van arrived at the detention center, Seventeen went through a strict security check to confirm she was a CIA employee. Once screened, she was cleared to drive Isabelle inside. –The Ninth Orphan


Excerpt from The Orphan Conspiracies: 29 Conspiracy Theories from The Orphan Trilogy:


Much changed after 9/11. Some said the world would never be the same again – and for many that was true…

Wars broke out, international travel became problematic, civil liberties were reined in, and words and phrases like rendition, extraordinary rendition, black sites, WMD, weapons of mass destruction, ghost detainees, unlawful enemy combatants, Guantanamo Bay and the War on Terror came into common usage.

The term black sites intrigued us. So we looked into these and were alarmed by what we discovered.

In military jargon, a black site is where a classified and unacknowledged defence project, or black project, is conducted. Such sites have earned notoriety following revelations that the CIA operates black sites for the purpose of detaining (illegally in the opinion of many) so-called unlawful enemy combatants – ostensibly to aid its War on Terror.

Mounting mainstream media speculation on the existence of such sites back in the mid-2000’s undoubtedly forced the hand of President George W. Bush who announced in September 2006 that secret CIA prisons did exist. He also confirmed that many of the detainees held in those prisons were to be transferred to GuantanamoBay.

In The Ninth Orphan, our heroine Isabelle is transferred to a black site that may or may not exist in the tiny European principality of Andorra, high in the Pyrenees Mountains between Spain and France.

While the Andorra site was a figment of our collective imagination, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility it could have existed for similar black sites are believed by many to have sprung up post 9/11 throughout Europe and on other continents.

A report by The Washington Post dated January 23, 2014 caught our eye. Here’s an excerpt from that report:

“The CIA prison in Poland was arguably the most important of all the black sites created by the agency after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It was the first of a trio in Europe that housed the initial wave of accused Sept. 11 conspirators, and it was where Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-declared mastermind of the attacks, was waterboarded 183 times after his capture.

“Much about the creation and operation of the CIA’s prison at a base in one of the young democracies of Central Europe remains cloaked in mystery, matters that the U.S. government has classified as state secrets”.

As long ago as 2005, The Washington Post reported that “The hidden global internment network is a central element in the CIA’s unconventional war on terrorism. It depends on the cooperation of foreign intelligence services, and on keeping even basic information about the system secret from the public, foreign officials and nearly all members of Congress charged with overseeing the CIA’s covert actions”.

Poland, the UK and Romania are just three of the European countries black site watchers have named among the 30 countries rumored to hold (between them) scores of detainees on behalf of the US. Those same sources claim American ships have also been used as floating prisons, boosting the likely number of black sites to more than 90 worldwide.

Add to that an EU report stating the CIA operated over 1200 flights ferrying alleged terrorist suspects to and from “detention centers” in Europe, and it’s a no-brainer that EU countries have played their part in this game.

Here's an article on this subject headed 'Was there a covert CIA prison system?': http://science.howstuffworks.com/cove...

Would a more appropriate title be: IS there a covert CIA prison system?

I think there must definitely be a prison on the islands of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. It's a British military base rented out to the Americans. The original inhabitants were expelled and live in poverty in places like Mauritius...

Tim wrote: "I think there must definitely be a prison on the islands of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. It's a British military base rented out to the Americans. The original inhabitants were expelled and li..."

What makes you say that Tim?
What is it you know of?

I don't know anything really, just that it's a military base far from any prying eyes. I don't think anybody knows what goes on there? Just my conspiracy mind at work :)

Interesting article on news.asiaone.com. MH370 speculation puts Diego Garcia in Spotlight.

Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA's Rendition Flights



Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Rendition and Torture Program



Globalizing Torture: CIA Secret Detention and Extraordinary Rendition

CIA would face hurdles to reopen 'black site' prisons, regardless of president's orders https://www.stripes.com/news/us/cia-w...

P.S. But is it realistic to believe, as that article implies, that the CIA ever ceased running secret prisons around the world?

Reports of secret CIA camps http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/20...

The White House has neither confirmed nor denied a report of secret CIA-run prisons for Al-Qaeda suspects in Thailand, Afghanistan and several eastern European nations.

Inside the CIA's black site torture room | US news | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/n...