Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets

Offshore Assets

And now comes news that the Americans have done one better even than the Butcher of Baghdad himself. The “CIA holds terror suspects in secret prisons,” writes Dana Priest in the Washington Post.⁷

The article talks about some 30 of the highest‐value suspects being held in “black sites” dotting nameless Eastern European democracies. “The Eastern European countries that the CIA has persuaded to hide Al Qaeda captives are democracies that have embraced the rule of law and individual rights after decades of Soviet domination.”

Oh, good. It's always reassuring to know that hired torturers believe in the Bill of Rights.

Remember those?

Citizens are guaranteed inviolability of the person. No one may be arrested except by a court decision or on the warrant of a procurator.

Citizens are guaranteed inviolability of the home. No one may, without lawful grounds, enter a home against the will of those residing in it.

But did we imply the U.S. Constitution? We correct ourselves— we meant the Soviet Constitution. Those seem to be Articles 54 and 55 of the Constitution of the old Soviet Union, which was in full force all through show trials, Siberian gulags, and the disappearing of inconvenient dissidents in the bad old days of the Evil Empire. Readers will know which one, we are sure.

Senior officials (here we mean the U.S., not the Soviet) are coy about outing their new buddies. Still, we can always take an educated guess. Poland, maybe? Readers may remember news reports detailing ...