www.BPODigest.com i-Vortal

Saddam now part of US secret universe

Saddam now part of US secret universe

Saddam Hussein is now prisoner No. 1 in what has developed into a global detention system run by the Pentagon and the CIA, according to government officials.

It is a secretive universe, they said, made up of large and small facilities scattered throughout the world that has sprouted up to handle the thousands of suspected Qaeda terrorists, Taliban warlords and former officials of the Iraqi regime arrested by the US and its allies since the September 11 attacks and the war in Iraq.

Officials said the prison system keeps its most important captives at the greatest distance from the prying eyes of the public and the media. Saddam’s new address is still a closely guarded secret, although he is still inside Iraq, US officials said on Wednesday. It seems likely that he is at a highly-secure facility established at Baghdad International Airport, where other Iraqi leaders have been housed. But US officials declined to confirm.

While the most senior Baath officials captured are being held at Baghdad airport, lower-level Iraqis are in the Abu Gharib prison. Many of those caught in Afghanistan were airlifted to Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba, which has become the best known prison in the war on terror. Guantanamo holds about 660 prisoners right now.