Don't Forget Poland
Keep It Secret, Keep It Safe

The Mother Jones MoJo blog has a link to a Financial Times article confirming the Human Rights Watch assertion that Poland and Romania are the locales for the secret prisons.

A leading human rights group on Wednesday identified Poland and Romania as the likely locations in eastern Europe of secret prisons where al-Qaeda suspects are interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency.

The existence of the prisons in eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several eastern European democracies was reported in Wednesday's Washington Post.

Poland's role, if confirmed, would be especially controversial, given that it has recently joined the European Union.

Human Rights Watch, a US lobby group, on Wednesday said there was strong evidence - including the flight records of CIA aircraft transporting prisoners out of Afghanistan - that Poland and Romania were among countries allowing the agency to operate secret detention centres on their soil.

“We have a high degree of confidence that such facilities exist in at least Poland and Romania,” said Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director.

If the allegations were confirmed, they would be likely to provoke serious concern in the European Union.

And MoJo comments thusly:

Yeah, breaking the law never goes over well. Meanwhile, here's a thornier legal question: did the president break the law by authorizing these secret prisons? It's not clear. It is illegal for the government to hold prisoners in secret facilities within the United States. That's why they hold the detainees abroad. But at least in Poland, which is part of the European Union, it's illegal to deny prisoners the right to a lawyer and defense against allegations of law-doing. Says the Post:

Under U.S. law, only the president can authorize a covert action, by signing a document called a presidential finding. Findings must not break U.S. law and are reviewed and approved by CIA, Justice Department and White House legal advisers.

Looks dodgy, but maybe just barely within the law. This from the president who said in his first inaugural: "We must always ask ourselves not only what is legal, but what is right."