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"2 Detained Reporters Saw Secret Police?s Methods Firsthand."

Could you please read this NYT article very carefully and explain to me how we know it was the Egyptian government's secret police as opposed to an exercise by opponents of the government, done to induce reporters to write stories antagonistic to the government?

The reporters were kept in "a plain room," where they were not beaten but they could hear what sounded like beating. What did they actually see?

We saw a journalist with his head bandaged and others brought in with jackets thrown over their heads as they were led by armed men....

A plainclothes officer who said his name was Marwan gestured to us. ?Come to the door,? he said, ?and look out.?

We saw more than 20 people, Westerners and Egyptians, blindfolded and handcuffed. The room had been empty when we arrived the evening before.

?We could be treating you a lot worse,? he said in a flat tone, the facts speaking for themselves. Marwan said Egyptians were being held in the thousands. During the night we heard them being beaten, screaming after every blow.

Isn't that odd? Lots of blindfolded people, and then alarming sounds coming from elsewhere? They were kept for a day and then released.

They put us in our car with orders to put our heads down. ?Look down, and don?t talk. If you look up you will see something you don?t ever want to see.?

They left us that way for 10 minutes. The only sounds were of guns being loaded and checked and duct-tape ripping.

Again, the hearing without seeing. Isn't this a strange article? Seriously, I am not trying to make trouble. I just read this article and felt like the reporters could have been duped by people manufacturing disinformation.

Full post as published by Althouse on February 05, 2011 (boomark / email).