Polish ex-president admits to secret CIA prison after U.S. torture report released
POLAND: FIRST ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SITE’S EXISTENCE
Kwasniewski was in power from 1995-2005 but like other left-wing government leaders of the time, he denied the site’s existence until now.
Kwasniewski, who gave no dates for the prison’s operation, said Wednesday that the CIA prison was halted under pressure from Poland’s leaders. “Poland took steps to end the activity at this site and the activity was stopped at some point,” Kwasniewski said on Radio TOK FM in Warsaw.
Despite the repeated Polish denials, Associated Press had published stories on the prison, citing former CIA officials who told the AP it operated from December, 2002, until the autumn of 2003. Human rights groups believe about eight terror suspects were held in Poland, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.
In 2008, Poland’s centre-right government ordered a probe into the reports. Government officials say the U.S. report could provide new evidence for the probe, which is still ongoing.
An article in "Der Spiegel" talking about the same issue has been pulled off their online site for now. In the article it was said that Poland demands the release of the full Torture report now again.
I think it's worth realizing Poland's role in the current Ukraine conflict.
CIA Torture Report: Global Reactions
With regards to Poland:
Poland
Poland’s former president confirmed that his country hosted one of the CIA’s “black sites” for the first time following the release of the report.
Aleksander Kwasniewski said that during his term Poland offered the CIA a site for a secret prison but did not authorise the harsh treatment of inmates.
His comments were the first time that a Polish leader has admitted the country hosted a secret CIA site. Reports say it operated from December 2002 until the fall of 2003. Kwasniewski was in power from 1995-2005.
Kwasniewski said the activity in Poland was terminated under pressure from Poland’s leaders. He gave no dates for the site’s operation. Until now, Polish leaders at the time have denied the site’s existence, but their successors in 2008 ordered a probe.
Before the release of the report, current president Ewa Kopacz said:
"It will not harm US-Polish relations."
It's well worth to read how other countries reacted so far.
CIA torture report: Europe must come clean about its own complicity
yes, of course, now there is the uttering of "mea culpa" etc. etc.
To this day the exact scale of European complicity remains unknown. This is because of the secrecy maintained for years by the US and its partner governments. Washington has never confirmed the location of secret CIA prisons, nor named the governments that cooperated, and nor indeed does the material just published. A decade on, there is still no public comprehensive account.
..
It is striking that all those who have attempted to shed light on the subject have said that governments actively obstructed their efforts, for instance by classifying the issue as “state secrets”.
...
According to information compiled by Open Society Foundations, at least 54 governments cooperated with these CIA activities. Twenty-one of those are European, of which 17 were at the time members – or soon to become members – of the European Union.
In addition to the countries above, the list of European states that were complicit in CIA rendition flights and other unlawful activities includes Lithuania (there are strong indications that this country also had a “black site”), the UK, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Cyprus, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania.
With regards to Poland:
According to the 2007 Council of Europe report, Poland’s CIA “black site” was located at the Stare Kiejkury military training facility, and used by the CIA to torture “high-value detainees” – some of them Saudi, Yemeni and Algerian nationals. One was subjected by American interrogators to mock executions with a power drill as he stood naked and hooded. Poland’s judicial system and government officials have failed to shed light on any of this.
...
and some more general "coming clean" blah blah:
The UK cooperated closely with the CIA on detention and rendition – as documents found in Libya after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 showed. But there have been few judicial cases or investigations.
European states that took part in the CIA operation were complicit in violating fundamental human rights, the Geneva conventions and the UN convention against torture. None, with the exception of Sweden perhaps, has admitted to any wrongdoing. Yet the strength of democracies resides precisely in their ability to recognise and debate their mistakes. In authoritarian countries where torture abounds, there is no such thing as public accountability.
As the US embarks on a renewed effort to get to the truth, this could be a good time for Europe to come clean.
Here is the way ABC reported on this:
Ex-Leader: Poland Agreed to CIA Site, Not Torture
It's based on the AP report, but one sentence is added, I believe.
Several politicians in Poland criticized the publication of the report as a mistake that harms U.S. allies.
Riight.
Here is a report from RT.com with regards to Poland:
Hush money: CIA paid Poland to host its secret prisons and detainees
According to the report, the agreement to host a CIA detention facility in the Country “created multiple, ongoing difficulties between [the] Country and the CIA.”
...
Poland then proposed a "Memorandum of Understanding" covering the relative roles and responsibilities of the CIA, but the agency refused to sign the document.
“Four months after the site began hosting CIA detainees, [the] Country rejected the transfer,” says the document. ...
...
However Poland’s decision was “reversed” only after the US ambassador “intervened” with Warsaw.
“The following month the CIA provided $ X million to [the]Country's [officials]” and the “political leadership, indicated that [the] Country was now flexible with regard to the number of CIA detainees at the facility,” says the report. The sum was redacted in the report.
The document states the detention facility was closed, as had been previously agreed, in 2003.
Years later, Polish officials were "extremely upset" at the CIA's “inability to keep secrets.” Polish authorities were also "deeply disappointed" that they hadn’t been warned before President George W. Bush publicly acknowledged the program’s existence in 2006, says the document.
The US acknowledged the presence of facilities outside US jurisdiction, but didn’t identify the exact locations of them.
On Wednesday, the country’s ex-President Aleksander Kwasniewski (in power 1995 –2005), confirmed that Poland agreed to CIA “black sites”, but didn’t authorize the torture of prisoners. This is the first time a Polish leader has admitted that the country had secret CIA detention centers.
Reuters tried to reach a Polish government spokeswoman by phone and email, but she didn’t respond.
The document doesn’t name the “US ambassador” to Poland who was mentioned in the report. But at the time Christopher Hill (2000–2004) was in the post. Mr Hill hasn’t yet commented on the report.
Nice...
Agence France Press's headline reads even more funny ...
Poland 'pressured' US into ending CIA torture: former president
Yeah, mighty Poland can pressure the United States ... What else is new.
That's enough for now. Move on. "All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)"
PS: Pressekompass: Darf man foltern? - Das sagen die Medien
There is a nice graphic in it for what the media say about the question: Is torture allowed".
PS 1:
Could Poland to have done more to protect the CIA's prisoners?