Former Polish president confirms existence of secret CIA torture prison - World Socialist Web Site
The Polish government has denied for years the existence of a secret CIA prison on its territory between 2001 and 2003 in the face of previous revelations.
The publication of the US Senate report on CIA torture, however, has not only proven the existence of the “black site” but also the close collaboration between the Polish and American governments in barbaric and illegal practices.
American president Barack Obama called Polish president Ewa Kopacz the night before the report’s release “in order to forewarn the US ally of the publication,” according to Polish sources.
The following day, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Poland’s president between 1995 and 2005, gave a joint press conference in the country’s parliament, the Sejm, with Leszek Miller, prime minister between 2001 and 2004. For the first time, the two social democrats from the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) admitted that the CIA had operated a secret prison in Poland.
The approval of the clandestine facility, which reportedly operated between 2001 and 2003, was part of strengthening Poland’s ties to the US as part of the so-called war on terror, Kwaśniewski said. He claimed the government asked the US to treat prisoners in accordance with Polish law. A memorandum drafted for this purpose was “informally” recognised by the US representatives but not signed due to time, he claimed.
The former president said the cooperation with the US accelerated after September 2001 as Poland responded under NATO rules to an attack on a fellow member nation.
