18-04-2009, 04:08 PM
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed – I was held in Poland
Created: 09.04.2009 12:27
A leaked report by the Red Cross, written in 2007, has renewed calls for an independent investigation into CIA renditions centers, including one allegedly in Poland.
The New York Review of Books has released the full 40-page report drawn up by the International Committee of the Red Cross in 2007 entitled ‘ICRC Report on the Treatment of Fourteen ‘High Value Detainees’ in CIA Custody’ in which one of the prisoners claims that he was held in a ‘CIA prison’ in Poland.
The detainee, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, claims that he was held in Pakistan and Afghanistan and then transported to Guantanamo Bay via Poland.
Mohammed, who pleaded guilty to a US military commission on 11 February 2008 when charged with war crimes and murder, is, according to the 9/11 Commission Report, the “principle architect of the 9/11 attacks.”
Captured in Rawalpindi, Pakistan on 1 March 2003, Mohammed was held in CIA custody in secret prisons before the US government announced in September 2006 that he had been moved to Guantanamo Bay.
Snow on the ground
Mohammed claims in the report that, after leaving Afghanistan, he arrived in a country with snow on the ground.
“I think the country was Poland. I think this because on one occasion a water bottle was brought to me without the label removed. It had an e-mail address ending in ‘.pl.’ The central-heating system was an old style one that I would only expect to see in countries of the former communist system,” reads Mohammed’s full testimony.
Mohammed also says in the report that, under torture, he gave a lot of false information during the harshest period of his interrogation.
"I’m sure that the false information I was forced to invent in order to make the ill-treatment stop wasted a lot of their time and led to several false red-alerts being placed in the US," he said.
The facility where Mohammed was allegedly held in Poland was reportedly near the Szczytno-Szymany Airport in northern Poland, though successive governments and officials have denied the center ever existed.
The European Parliament released a report in November 2006 based on an investigation committee, led by Claudio Fava, which claimed that CIA planes landed and took off from the northern Polish airport. The report also claims that an area near the airport was a site involved in the CIA’s network of secret prisons.
In June 2007, Aleksander Kwasniewski, president from 1995-2005, stated that, “There were no secret prisons in Poland.”
‘Poland provided all CIA needed’
But a Council of Europe report headed by Dick Marty alleged that the CIA prison was known about by Kwasniewski, and was operated in collaboration with agents from the now disbanded Military Intelligence Agency (WSI). One anonymous source told the 9,000 page report: “Listen, Poland agreed top down [to the prisons] …from the president, yes….to provide the CIA all it needed.”
One source within the CIA told Marty that Poland was chosen, alongside Romania, as a site for the detention center as Warsaw is always eager to help out the US.
“We have an extraordinary relationship with Poland. My experience is that if Poles can help us, they will,” said another unnamed source.
Poland negotiated its agreement with the CIA, says the report, in late 2002, early 2003.
“We have established that the first [prisoners] were transferred to Poland in the first half of 2003,” says Marty.
In September 2008, the private Radio Zet claimed that members of the Law and Justice led government were shown a report when they took power detailing the existence of the CIA prison.
The author was the then education minister and vice-prime minister Roman Giertych, who was heading a committee on the activities of Poland’s secret services at the time.
His report, written sometime in 2006, confirmed allegations made by Human Rights Watch back in late 2005 and was seen by the then justiv=ce minister Zbigniew Ziobro, state prosecutor Janusz Kaczmarek and special services coordinator Zbigniew Wasserman. (pg/mmj)
Created: 09.04.2009 12:27
A leaked report by the Red Cross, written in 2007, has renewed calls for an independent investigation into CIA renditions centers, including one allegedly in Poland.
The New York Review of Books has released the full 40-page report drawn up by the International Committee of the Red Cross in 2007 entitled ‘ICRC Report on the Treatment of Fourteen ‘High Value Detainees’ in CIA Custody’ in which one of the prisoners claims that he was held in a ‘CIA prison’ in Poland.
The detainee, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, claims that he was held in Pakistan and Afghanistan and then transported to Guantanamo Bay via Poland.
Mohammed, who pleaded guilty to a US military commission on 11 February 2008 when charged with war crimes and murder, is, according to the 9/11 Commission Report, the “principle architect of the 9/11 attacks.”
Captured in Rawalpindi, Pakistan on 1 March 2003, Mohammed was held in CIA custody in secret prisons before the US government announced in September 2006 that he had been moved to Guantanamo Bay.
Snow on the ground
Mohammed claims in the report that, after leaving Afghanistan, he arrived in a country with snow on the ground.
“I think the country was Poland. I think this because on one occasion a water bottle was brought to me without the label removed. It had an e-mail address ending in ‘.pl.’ The central-heating system was an old style one that I would only expect to see in countries of the former communist system,” reads Mohammed’s full testimony.
Mohammed also says in the report that, under torture, he gave a lot of false information during the harshest period of his interrogation.
"I’m sure that the false information I was forced to invent in order to make the ill-treatment stop wasted a lot of their time and led to several false red-alerts being placed in the US," he said.
The facility where Mohammed was allegedly held in Poland was reportedly near the Szczytno-Szymany Airport in northern Poland, though successive governments and officials have denied the center ever existed.
The European Parliament released a report in November 2006 based on an investigation committee, led by Claudio Fava, which claimed that CIA planes landed and took off from the northern Polish airport. The report also claims that an area near the airport was a site involved in the CIA’s network of secret prisons.
In June 2007, Aleksander Kwasniewski, president from 1995-2005, stated that, “There were no secret prisons in Poland.”
‘Poland provided all CIA needed’
But a Council of Europe report headed by Dick Marty alleged that the CIA prison was known about by Kwasniewski, and was operated in collaboration with agents from the now disbanded Military Intelligence Agency (WSI). One anonymous source told the 9,000 page report: “Listen, Poland agreed top down [to the prisons] …from the president, yes….to provide the CIA all it needed.”
One source within the CIA told Marty that Poland was chosen, alongside Romania, as a site for the detention center as Warsaw is always eager to help out the US.
“We have an extraordinary relationship with Poland. My experience is that if Poles can help us, they will,” said another unnamed source.
Poland negotiated its agreement with the CIA, says the report, in late 2002, early 2003.
“We have established that the first [prisoners] were transferred to Poland in the first half of 2003,” says Marty.
In September 2008, the private Radio Zet claimed that members of the Law and Justice led government were shown a report when they took power detailing the existence of the CIA prison.
The author was the then education minister and vice-prime minister Roman Giertych, who was heading a committee on the activities of Poland’s secret services at the time.
His report, written sometime in 2006, confirmed allegations made by Human Rights Watch back in late 2005 and was seen by the then justiv=ce minister Zbigniew Ziobro, state prosecutor Janusz Kaczmarek and special services coordinator Zbigniew Wasserman. (pg/mmj)
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.