The illegal prison program ‘allowed the CIA…to move around Europe unobstructed, without undergoing any control.’CIA Ran Illegal Jails In Europe, Says Swiss InvestigatorBy Cliff Montgomery – June 9th, 2007The CIA used illegal jails in Romania and Poland to employ brutal interrogative techniques on major terror suspects, which included shackling the accused, keeping suspects naked for weeks and allowing masked and silent guards to be their only contact with the outside world, a Swiss investigator said Friday.The CIA denied the report’s findings as “distorted,” but stopped short of denying the existence of secret prisons in the two countries–via the weak claim that the agency does not discuss the location of even illegal overseas facilities. Romania and Poland also denied the findings.”High value detainees” like self-proclaimed Sept. 11th mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and suspected top al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah were sent to secret Polish prisons, according to the report, which cited CIA sources. It added that lesser detainees were shipped to Romania.Leading officials in both nations knew of the detention centers, according to the report by Swiss Senator Dick Marty. A former prosecutor, Sen. Marty was asked by the Council of Europe, a human rights non-governmental organization, to investigate CIA activities after news reports of illegal prisons appeared in 2005.Marty did not deny the possibility that the Agency may have more secret prisons in Europe; but due to insufficient sources he did not include the consideration in his report, he told reporters.The Swiss investigator also accused both Italy and Germany of obstructing secret detention investigations.The report’s conclusions rested on “multiple sources which validate and corroborate one another.” The investigative team spoke with “over 30 one-time members of intelligence services in the United States and Europe” as well as former or current detainees and human rights activists, Marty told reporters.Marty also said at a news conference that these sources were “well placed,” and included some who “were implicated” in the illegal activities.Such prisons were at the hub of a “spider’s web” of apparent human rights abuses, according to Marty’s initial investigation last year. That report keyed on flights to shuttle detainees to secret CIA locations via landing points in at least 14 countries.Secret prisons and cloak-and-dagger CIA flights involving European nations would openly violate the continent’s human rights treaties. The Council of Europe was established four years after World War II to promote human rights, democracy and civilized rule on the continent. It has no authority to punish countries for human rights abuses, however.EU officials have previously stated that they believe the denials of Romania and Poland about hosting illegal CIA prisons.Agency spokesman Paul Gimigliano perhaps tellingly did not address whether there were secret detention centers, but instead denied the report’s characterization of CIA activities.”When you see words like apartheid and torture in the document, that tells you it’s biased and distorted,” he lied.Such a false argument hinges on the idea that torture and apartheid are matters of empty debate. But torture and apartheid can indeed exist. Hence if evidence of their occurrence exists, they really happened. Admitting they happened is then not bias–denying they could ever occur when history and direct evidence teaches us otherwise is bias, Mr. Gimigliano.Polish President Lech Kaczynski claimed to reporters after a meeting with President Bush in Gdansk that: “I know nothing about any CIA prisons in Poland.”Kaczynski’s predecessor, Aleksander Kwasniewski, Polish president in 2001-05, told reporters: “I deny it. I’ve said as much several times.”Former Romanian President Ion Iliescu, one of a list of ranking officials whom Marty declares knew of the illegal CIA prisons, dismissed the report as “stupid”–a clear rant of empty prejudice if ever there was one.Marty’s analysis did not give exact locations for the alleged prisons–but the report did give graphic descriptions of jail conditions.Prisoners were kept naked for weeks–sometimes while attached, Bastille-like, to a “shackling ring” in cells. Buckets were the only toilets. Silent, masked guards were the only human contact for those given four-month stays in isolation, says the report.Cells were cramped and kept extremely hot or cold; some were equipped with video cameras for constant surveillance. Prisoners were forced to listen to an onslaught of disturbing noises, which included “torture music” and “distorted” verses of the Koran, it added.The Swiss inspector’s analysis declared that Romania and Poland hosted these illegal secret prisons after agreeing to a post-9/11 Agency program to “kill, capture and detain” major terrorist suspects.The illegal prison program spawned from a secret pact with NATO allies shortly after Sept.11th.This agreement “allowed the CIA…to move around Europe unobstructed, without undergoing any control,” said Marty’s report.If true, the report stands as a further proof of why no one should place absolute trust in any government.Like what you’re reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of thee-newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!
How Necessary Laws Are Killed These Days
Lawmakers generally only fight to protect the things they care about – and all too often, that just doesn’t include the lives of most of their constituents.
