POLAND CIA-prison remark causes stir

Several groups are investigating the existence of secret CIA prisons in Europe.
BERLIN (AP) -- A Human Rights Watch investigator said in remarks published Friday that Poland was the CIA's main center for secretly detaining terror suspects in Europe. But the group later cautioned that it was too soon for any final conclusions because their investigation is still at an early stage.
Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper caused a stir when it published an interview with Marc Garlasco, a senior military analyst with the rights organization, saying his group had documents corroborating that Poland was the chief CIA detention site in Europe in a system of clandestine prisons for interrogating Al-Qaida suspects.
"Poland was the main base of interrogating prisoners, and Romania was more of a hub," Garlasco was quoted as telling the newspaper. "This is what our sources from the CIA tell us and what is shown from the documents we gathered."
'Misleading impression'
But Human Rights Watch quickly distanced itself from those remarks, with one of their researchers, John Sifton, saying they "had left a misleading impression with some people" that the group has more evidence than it in fact does.
"The truth does not lie with the Human Rights Watch," Sifton told The Associated Press. "It lies with Poland, Romania and all the governments in Europe which might have information about these activities."
"This investigation is in its preliminary stages and journalists and others who want information should really be asking the CIA, and should be asking civilian flight authorities what they know," Sifton said.
Several investigations
More than a half-dozen investigations are under way into whether European countries may have hosted secret U.S.-run prisons, and whether European airports and airspace were used for CIA flights in which prisoners were tortured or transported to countries where torture is practiced.
The Washington Post first reported the alleged existence of secret prisons in eastern Europe and other countries last month.
ABC News reported that the detainees held in Poland were secretly spirited to the African desert ahead of this week's visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Europe.