No one can miss the irony, said the Berlin Tagesspiegel in an editorial. The CIA, the world learned last week, is operating secret prisons for al Qaida suspects around the globe—some in former Soviet bloc nations in Eastern Europe. These KGB-style interrogation centers are an embarrassment to the Bush administration, which set them up as part of its ostensible campaign to make the world freer and more democratic. But the question that Europe is now asking is, 'œWhat could drive young democracies, whose new elites suffered under the communists, to join in such a project?' It's understandable that these East Europeans, recently liberated from decades of Soviet totalitarianism, would idolize America. But the E.U. 'œmust not allow its new members' to participate in American crimes.
Back up a minute, said Bartosz Weglarczyk and Pawel Wronski in Warsaw's Gazeta Wyborcza. These are just allegations. Human Rights Watch named Poland and Romania as the Eastern European countries allegedly cooperating with the CIA, yet the group presented no evidence that such prisons exist here. We have heard many rumors of secret prisons 'œbeing set up in places where journalists don't have access,' such as on board aircraft carriers, or in countries that have no free press, like Thailand. But it 'œwouldn't make sense' to put such a site in Poland, where investigative reporters would sniff it out in no time. It is not fair that Poland is being portrayed as 'œa country that performs illegal and amoral deeds at the bidding of the U.S.'
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
No equipment for Afghanistanfeature The U.S. has reportedly decided to hand over to Pakistan some $7 billion worth of American military hardware currently in Afghanistan.
-
How they see us: Crudely insulting our allies
feature Well, at least we know now what the Americans really think of us.
-
Spied-upon Germans are not mollified
feature In the wake of revelations last year about the NSA's spying activities, relations between Germany and the U.S. have been at an all-time low.
-
Is a deal with the U.S. in Iran’s interest?
feature The “unprecedented enthusiasm” of Western diplomats after the talks in Geneva suggests they received unexpected concessions from the Iranians.
-
How they see us: Sowing chaos in Libya
feature The kidnapping of Abu Anas al-Libi is an outrage committed against Libyan sovereignty—and it will have repercussions.
-
Europe is complicit in spying
feature It’s not just the Americans who have developed a gigantic spying apparatus.
-
Protecting Snowden
feature American whistle-blower Edward Snowden has proved a master spy with his “meticulously timed operation.”
-
Listening in on Europeans
feature Europeans are apoplectic over the U.S. National Security Agency's massive PRISM surveillance program.