Recent reports by the Washington Post have alleged a disturbing tactic in the war on terror by the White House: the use of secret prisons known as “black sites.” Currently, there are eight known prison facilities that serve as interrogation points, the popular Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib among them. Coming to the surface are previously unknown sites in Eastern Europe.

With the Bush administration’s history of documented accounts of torture, abductions, lack of proper political process for many, the allegations made by the Washington Post reports are not hard to believe. A news release by Amnesty International on the three Yemeni nationals who were detained and isolated by the CIA also supports the existence of the black sites.

Given the intense abuse and corruption that has taken place in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, one can only imagine the type of undocumented activity that takes place in these black sites. If proved to exist, the black sites are a subversion of our democratic ideals and laws. How far in the name of protecting freedom will the Bush administration suppress freedom? How many detainees must be tortured to satisfy the Bush administration’s lust for immorality?

We are still waiting for accounts of what goes down at the black sites, but it will not look very good.

Right now in the American atmosphere there is a passive response to these injustices. It has become generally accepted that torture and the taking away of freedom is OK as long as it is not taking place within the borders of the United States. This country believes itself to be a model for democracy to the world. Americans take pride in that this place supposedly is free from and above any cruel and unusual punishment from the state. How much is enough?