'Black Sites' Showcases Espionage World

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ABC7News
Posted : 2007-09-06 01:18:18

SAN FRANCISCO, Sep. 5, 2007 (KGO) - An exhibit at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco will give you a glimpse into the world of espionage, featuring code words, secret prisons, and the like.

To say that Berkeley's Trevor Paglen is obsessed with what others have called "the Dark Side of the War on Terror." is an understatement.

Last year, he coauthored the book "Torture Taxi," a look at the CIA's "Extraordinary Rendition Program."

"These are people whose job it is to fly around the world, kidnap people and bring them to either to what are called CIA black sites, secret prisons or to third countries," said Trevor Paglen, artist.

As part of an exhibit called "Dark Matters," Paglen has turned his attention and camera lens on some of those black sites. He traveled to Afghanistan to take a photo of what looks to be a deserted factory, but he says it's much more.

"The salt pit was the first CIA black site. The first secret prison, as far as we know, was built in late 2001. This is outside of Kabul, Afghanistan. And as far as we know, its original use was to bring, what they called, high value detainees captured on the battlefield," said Paglen.

He also took a photograph near Kabul. Paglen says the local police chief told him it was an American site, and even he doesn't know what goes on inside.

"What we have here is a guy who uses the name James Thomas Harbison," said Paglen.

At least that's the name a man was using in Italy. Paglen says he and a CIA team snatched a terror suspect named Abu Omar off the Milan streets in 2003, and delivered him to Egypt, where he claims he was tortured.

Americans weren't present for the interrogations, but Paglen says even knowing about them damages America's moral authority.

"If the State Department goes after Egypt and says 'You guys have to stop torturing people.' Now they just turn around and say 'What are you talking about? 'You guys torture people,'" said Paglen.

Paglen's show even displays photocopies of what he says are the fake passports used by the CIA team that snatched Omar.

Doesn't Paglen worry that these pictures may ruin their careers or even put them in danger?

"These are people wanted by Interpol. There's international arrest warrants out for these guys. Don't tell me I'm doing anything to their career," said Paglen.

The Yerba Buena Center welcomes the controversy the exhibit generates.

"Art is about our experience of the world, and what could be more appropriate than talking about these media, the war on terror, as key aspects of what we're living through right now," said a representative of the Yerba Buena Center.

Paglen says most of the exhibit is no longer classified secret. Even if it were, what would it tell you?

"You look at a passport, somebody's fake name; a picture that's so distorted you'd never recognize them in public. The picture seems to promise to tell you something. It seems to tell you something. But if you think about it, it doesn't really tell you anything at all," said Paglen.

Maybe that's why they call the espionage business "a wilderness of mirrors."

The show is part of an exhibit called "Dark Matters" that runs through November 11th at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco.