EU-DIGEST

War crimes/Bosnia - "CIA protected Karadžić"

A former Hague Tribunal insider has added her comments to claims that Radovan Karadžić enjoyed support from the United States. Former Hague spokeswoman Florence Hartmann told the Belgrade daily Blic that the UN war crimes court's prosecution on several occasions gave the U.S. exact locations where the former leader of the Bosnian Serbs was hiding. But, Hartmann says, "they did nothing".

"Information about the fugitives' whereabouts was abundant, however, it would always turn out that one of the three countries – the U.S., Britain or France – would block arrests."

Labels: Bosnia and Herzegovina, CIA, EU, Karadžić, Serbia

CIA set up 12 bogus companies mostly in Europe after 9/11: report

Following the September 11, 2001, attacks, the US Central Intelligence Agency set up 12 bogus companies in Europe and other parts of the world in the hope of penetrating Islamic organizations, The Los Angeles Times reported on its website late Saturday. But citing current and former CIA officials, the newspaper said the agency had now shut down all but two of them after concluding they were ill-conceived. The firms were part of an ambitious plan to increase the number of CIA case officers sent overseas under what is known as "nonofficial cover" in order to increase the agency's potential for penetrating Islamic networks, the report said. According to the paper, the agents posed as employees of investment banks, consulting firms or other fictitious enterprises with no apparent ties to the US government.

Labels: CIA, EU, Europe

Poland: EU urges Poland respond CIA camp charges

The European Commission has urged the Warsaw government to respond to the Council of Europe's charges on reported secret CIA prisons in Poland. This was the EC's second appeal to Warsaw as Poland failed to produce an answer in July, Polish Radio said Friday. The EC is awaiting Poland's explanation about charges alleging the United States placed its secret detention camps for terrorist suspects in a number of European countries, including Poland.

EC spokesman Frisco Roscam Abbing said the commission needs Poland's response as early as possible, the report said.

Labels: CIA, Poland

Secret CIA Arrests Began in Croatia - by Karmen Horvat

American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) began its operations of arresting terrorists and transferring them across Europe in the mid 1990`s when US agents allegedly arrested Egyptian terrorist Abu Talal in Croatia and transferred him to Egypt, where he was executed, Danish Politiken daily writes Sunday, AP agency reports.

Labels: CIA, Croatia, EU

Intelligence knew of terrorist transports

Comments from former high-ranking CIA members to Politiken newspaper suggest that Denmark’s intelligence service was aware of private planes seizing suspected terrorists in Europe and taking them to countries where torture and execution were sanctioned. Denmark’s governments and its intelligence agency, PET, have continually denied any knowledge of the CIA program. A Council of Europe report indicated earlier this year that Denmark was one of several countries that had covertly approved the program.

The new information has got several parties - the Social Democrats, New Alliance, the Social Liberals and the Red-Green Alliance - to again demand an official investigation into the allegations. Prior requests for a full-scale investigation into whether Denmark was aware of the CIA’s secret programme have been continually refused by the government, which considers the case closed. Abu Talal, a suspected terrorist thought to be the first captured through the CIA programme, had asylum in Denmark in 1995 when he disappeared on a flight from Copenhagen to Croatia - probably arrested by Croatian police and handed over to US authorities.

Labels: CIA, Denmark, EU

Council of Europe: Romania Saw No Evil - by Spencer Ackerman

According to the Council of Europe's report into the secret CIA prisons, Romania jumped at the chance to host U.S. detention facilities. A week after 9/11, the Romanian parliament approved a measure granting "basing and overflight permissions for all U.S. and coalition partners," which investigator Dick Marty, citing a Romanian source, describes as "deliberately designed to cover aircraft operated by or on behalf of the CIA." Within a month, it expanded its troop garrisoning accord with the U.S. -- known as a Status of Forces Agreement, or SOFA -- to include "anyone declared by the American authorities to be part of the U.S. armed forces, and can present a travel order signed by the U.S. military." In 2005, Romania went even further in accommodating U.S. military and intelligence personnel, signing yet another agreement. Note EU-Digest: this is another example of how little the EU citizens know about the secretive actions of the US government and the collaboration of their own governments in these devious acts with complete freedom from scrutiny or interference. It is time to wake up.

Labels: CIA, EU, Romania

Labels: CIA, EU

Europe Risks Going Soft on Torture, Human Rights Institute Says

The German Institute for Human Rights called for the member states of the Council of Europe, the continent's top human rights watchdog, to better control the actions of foreign intelligence services on their territories.

The study also recommended the German government and parliament establish an independent body to improve control of the country's secret services as well as their cooperation with foreign services. It would be tasked both with investigating human rights abuses as well as preventing them in the future.

Labels: CIA, Germany, Human Rights, Torture