This, from Raw Story, reveals that some of Egypt's secret police, notorious for their brutality, were trained by the FBI at its base in Quantico, Virginia. The source is a State Department cable released by WikiLeaks. And who was in on the action? Why, our very own John Pistole:
One cable, dated November 2007 and published by the Telegraph, describes a meeting between the head of the SSIS, Egypt's secret police, and FBI deputy director John Pistole, in which the secret police chief praises Pistole for the "excellent and strong" cooperation between the two agencies. (Pistole has since been appointed head of the TSA.)
SSIS chief Abdul Rahman said the FBI's training sessions at Quantico were of "great benefit" to his agency. The cables did not address what sort of training Egyptian secret police received at Quantico, or how many officers were trained there.
In another cable, dated October 2009, a US diplomat reported on allegations from "credible human rights lawyers" that the SSIS was behind the torture of terrorism suspects held in Egyptian jails.
The U.S., in its so-called extraordinary rendition program, sent at least 60 detainees to Egypt to be tortured.
As for Egyptian protesters in the recent uprising, hundreds of them are still missing.
Lisa,
Here's a great place to follow the Egypt and Libya stories, in real time:
http://nyti.ms/i4g2qc
Posted by: Paula B | February 24, 2011 at 12:36 PM