Europe Lauds Obama Shutdown of Secret CIA Prisons

Europe Lauds Obama Shutdown of Secret CIA Prisons
AP
Obama’s decision Thursday to shut secret CIA-run prisons abroad brought renewed calls for their locations to be disclosed as well a fresh denial from Poland, one of two eastern European countries most closely linked to the practice.
Across Europe, governments uneasy that CIA flights had been carrying terrorism suspects through their airports and air space for years said they were relieved to be heading into a new rendition-free era.
Dick Marty, the Swiss lawmaker who spearheaded the Council of Europe investigations that sought to expose the existence of clandestine interrogation centers in Eastern Europe and Africa, said he expected the truth would come trickling out once the centers were closed.

“For some countries, things are going to become very embarrassing. I think European countries would do well now to tell the truth,” Marty said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Marty said he “would be very surprised” if any CIA-run facilities were still operating in Europe, but added “in East Africa, or Morocco, I might assume there is something.” He said Obama’s order granting Red Cross officials access to all secret facilities might prove critical in revealing their locations, both past and present.

“There are no American prisons in Poland,” said Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Piotr Paszkowski. “We’ve said that many times in recent years and our position and statements haven’t changed, and we have nothing new to say.”

But Zbigniew Siemiatkowski, who directed Poland’s foreign intelligence agency until 2004, expressed doubts that Obama’s moves would make the West more secure from terror.

“It won’t make things easier … one will have to devise new methods, different methods,” Siemiatkowski said, declining to elaborate.

In Ireland, government and opposition leaders united in praise for Obama’s move.
The officially neutral nation had spent years uneasily permitting CIA flights to refuel at Ireland’s strategically placed Shannon Airport. On every occasion, the Bush administration insisted, no rendition suspects were on board. U.S. officials also said that Irish authorities never search the planes.

“Certainly, CIA planes involved in rendition refueled at Shannon and were going to and from Guantanamo Bay from Shannon.

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Wild Thing’s comment……….
Hey Eurotrash! This time “The Yankees Aren’t Coming”!!!!

Check this out! ………….
Spiegel Online
Bruce Riedel, 55, is an expert at the Brookings Institution, a longtime CIA veteran and an advisor since April 2007 to US President- elect Barack Obama on South Asia and terrorism. In a SPIEGEL interview, al-Qaida expert and Obama adviser Bruce Riedel discusses the fate of the remaining Guantanamo prisoners, how dangerous they really are, what Europe could do to help.
Riedel: Even if European nations, such as Portugal or Germany, would only take a small number — maybe half a dozen — it would still be an important support. The United States needs all the help it can get to clean up the mess left by President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for the rest of the world.
SPIEGEL: What would countries willing to accept former prisoners have to deal with?
Riedel: They would have to keep a very close eye on the former prisoners for some time; they have to be under surveillance. It would be a financial burden, and the former inmates may file lawsuits in Germany seeking some kind of redress for perceived injustices, which German courts would probably hear. Also, (the former inmates would) need financial support, and it’s hard to imagine their finding employment.