Former Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski said Wednesday that the CIA ran “black sites” against al Qaeda suspects on its soil — the first time he publicly acknowledged Poland’s role in providing the U.S. with secret prisons from which to conduct interrogations.
Mr. Kwasniewski said that he personally brought up his concerns with former U.S. President George W. Bush in 2003 about the kinds of interrogation techniques used by the CIA.
“I told Bush that this cooperation must end and it did end,” Kwasniewski told local press, Agence France Presse reported. “The Americans conducted their activities in such secrecy, that it raised our concern. Polish authorities acted to end these activities and they were stopped under pressure from Poland.”
The disclosure comes just one day after Democrats on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee released a 480-page executive summary of a larger report on the kinds of harsh interrogation techniques, e.g., waterboarding, that took place after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Former CIA leaders, including Directors George J. Tenet and Porter J. Goss, dispute the findings of the report and say that the techniques they used saved American lives. The also argue that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would not have talked had it not been for the interrogation techniques employed on him after he was capture in 2002.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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