'Almost No Governments Are Telling The Truth' About CIA Affair

Swiss Senator Dick Marty, who is investigating the CIA affair for the European Council, believes recent evidence intercepted by Swiss intelligence is an 'additional indicator of the existence of secret prisons.' However, he's also wondering why this evidence came to light in Switzerland. [READ ALSO: U.S. Torture Prisons The Proof! ]

By HENRY HABEGGER

Translated By Hartmut Lau

January 9, 2005

Original Article (German)    

SONNTAGS BLICK: What's your evaluation of the Egyptian fax?

[Editor's Note: Swiss Intelligence is said to have intercepted a fax sent by Egypt's foreign secretary confirming the existence of secret CIA prisons around Europe ]

DICK MARTY: "I cannot judge whether or not the document is authentic. If it is, than it is an additional indicator of the existence of secret CIA prisons in Europe."

SONNTAGS BLICK: Do you doubt the document's authenticity?

DICK MARTY: "I don't have any basis on which to judge it. But a number of questions come up. Why did the Swiss intelligence service intercept correspondence between London and Cairo? Was the document intentionally directed to the Swiss service? Was it in someone's interest that the thing be made public in Switzerland?"

SONNTAGS BLICK: What do you think?

DICK MARTY: "I don't know. The world of the intelligence services is a pretty complicated world."

SONNTAGS BLICK: What do you think of the document's content?

DICK MARTY: "The allegation that 23 prisoners were interrogated on the base in Romania is new to me. This is the first time I have seen that number. The places where the alleged secret prisons are have been discussed for quite some time."

SONNTAGS BLICK: How important must the intelligence service have considered this intercepted communication to be?

DICK MARTY: "If it's authentic, it must have been considered very important. The report is dated November 10, 2005. Since the beginning of November the world's press has reported on the secret prisons. On November 7 the European Council initiated an investigation led by a Swiss. All of this must have led to the fact that the intelligence service informed the political level, that is to say the [Swiss] parliament."

SONNTAGS BLICK: Did [Swiss] Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey have to be informed?

DICK MARTY: "Yes. There was also a foreign policy dimension to the information. And Calmy-Rey had already asked U.S. Secretary of State Rice for information on the CIA affair in June 2005."

SONNTAGS BLICK: How far along is your own investigation on the CIA prisons in Europe?

DICK MARTY: "There is still a long and complicated road to go, but I am confident that we'll get to our goal. There is movement in more and more countries, including in the U.S.A., as we can see from the public criticism of the Bush Administration's domestic spying activities. And it has been proven in Italy that the kidnapping of Abu Omar was a CIA operation. The Milan prosecutors have done outstanding work."

SONNTAGS BLICK: "But Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi claims that there's nothing to the allegations.

DICK MARTY: "That means nothing. Almost no governments are telling the truth about this affair."

SONNTAGS BLICK: Have you received flight data about CIA jet aircraft that you requested from Eurocontrol and the satellite pictures of possible prison camps?

DICK MARTY: "No, not yet. But if we don't get the data, that's an answer too."