Fritz
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Szymany was used by the CIA as both a staging post and a holding
« on: 2010-09-14 01:34:12 » |
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So does this mean KGB=CIA ?
Cheers
Fritz
CIA used Poland for torture camp
Source: The New Poland Express Author: n/a Date: 11th September 2010
Kwasniewski claims that activities took place “fully under US responsibility” The mystery surrounding the use by the CIA of a Polish airfield has thickened with allegations that American interrogators at the base used electric drills and handguns to torture a prisoner.
A report by the Associated Press cited former US intelligence agents who claimed that torture was used at Szymany Airport in north-east Poland.
The report said that in 2002 Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi national currently held at the Guantanamo prison, was threatened with pistols while on another occasion an interrogator switched on an electric drill as a means of putting pressure on the prisoner.
Strong evidence suggests that Szymany was used by the CIA as both a staging post and a holding pen for prisoners it believed had links with extremist groups. The US suspect Mr al-Nashiri of involvement in the bombing of the USS Cole in Aden harbour in 2000.
The accusations have put Polish politicians who were in power at the time of the alleged offences at Szymany on the defensive.
“I am not able to say whether such things took place or could have taken place - it all still needs to be checked,” said president at the time, Aleksander Kwasniewski.
“I can repeat that there has been intelligence co-operation between Poland the US. There were no prisons,” he added. “US planes landed in Poland and many activities took place in connection to that, but it was fully under US responsibility.
Marek Biernacki, interior minister between 1999 and 2001, went a step further by refuting any claims of torture.
“As a former member of the parliamentary commission, I can assure that there were no secret CIA prisons in Poland and terrorist suspects were not tortured here,” Mr Biernacki said on Polish radio. Janusz Zemke, a former defence minister, said that while the allegations were disturbing they lacked hard evidence.
The possibility that torture was used in Poland came just weeks after news surfaced that prosecutors have considered levelling war crimes charges at Mr Kwasniewski and Leszek Miller, then prime minister, for their role in the Szymany scandal.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk refused to comment other than to say he awaited the results of a report he commissioned on the use of Szymany and what went on there.
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