Do we really need secret prisons overseas?

I really mean the question that I used to "title" this posting. Why in goodness (I try not to use the name of Our Lord in vain) do we need secret prisons in places like Romania, Poland (the picture in the upper right) or countries whose names are Top Secret (of course)? Are we possibly using these countries so as to use torture beyond that allowed by the Geneva Conventions?

Most countries around the world are taking Bush's announcement yesterday as meaning just that -- together with his refusal to describe the kinds of "tough interrogation methods" used in these places, as his tacit admission that we (the United States of America!) are using torture despite his denial of doing so in the very same speech. The White House calls it -- the overall program -- a "new tribunal plan."

We are being dissed by countries from Australia to France and from China (yes, even China!) to Japan ... more than fifty in a single day at latest count ... for not naming to which countries we are transferring prisoners so as to conduct the "interrogations" and they further ask why we couldn't at least keep our dirty laundry within our own borders. And, for that matter, exactly what are we doing to the detainees in/at Guantanamo -- which is only "within our own borders" in a rather technical way of speaking?

Obviously, I am asking the same questions.

I haven't discussed this matter with my brother, Richard in Connecticut, so haven't included his wisdom in this posting. Also, I have no idea what Jesus would do under the circumstances described by Mr. Bush yesterday, but then I know of no incident in the Bible where Jesus applied torture (extreme or otherwise) to extract information from anyone. Personally, I think I would probably tell my captors anything (i.e., I would lie through my teeth!) under torture, and I sure don't want any enemy using our (now admitted) torture program as an excuse to torture the young men and women serving their country.

Please do or say something, Senator John McCain -- I knew your father and I know that he (Admiral McCain -- "the old man") would have said something; he was a tough guy who didn't care where the pieces fell in the face of truth.