54 Countries Aided CIA in Post-9/11 Interrogations

The US was far from alone in its controversial counterterror practices after 9/11: More than a quarter of the world's countries helped the agency, a new report says. Some partners hosted secret interrogation prisons; some arrested suspects; others let the CIA refuel its planes at their airports, the New York Times reports. "The moral cost of these programs was borne not just by the US but by the 54 other countries it recruited to help," says Amrit Singh, who wrote the Open Society Justice Initiative report. The document contains the longest list yet of those detained or transferred by the CIA: some 136 people.

The report describes extraordinary rendition, in which prisoners are denied legal procedures as they're moved between countries. Some were shipped to countries that regularly torture prisoners, the Times notes. Countries involved ranged from Pakistan and Afghanistan to the UK and Spain, the Guardian notes; even Iran and Syria lent a hand, with Syria one of the "most common destinations for rendered suspects." But former CIA boss Michael Hayden recently pointed to double standards: "We are often put in a situation where we are bitterly accused of not doing enough to defend America when people feel endangered," he said. "And then as soon as we’ve made people feel safe again, we’re accused of doing too much." (More CIA stories.)