Probe looking for CIA planes | IndyStar.com

Probe looking for CIA planes | IndyStar.com
By Jan Sliva
Associated Press
PARIS -- The head of an investigation into alleged secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe said Tuesday he was checking 31 suspect planes that landed in Europe in recent years and was trying to acquire past satellite images of sites in Romania and Poland.
If the European probe uncovers evidence of covert facilities, the potential impact ranges from major embarrassment for the United States to political turmoil in countries that might have participated, even unwittingly.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Swiss senator Dick Marty said the Council of Europe, on whose behalf he was investigating, had a "moral obligation" to look into claims the CIA set up secret prisons in Europe to interrogate al-Qaida suspects.
But given the limited powers of the Strasbourg-based council, Marty's chances of uncovering explosive state secrets was uncertain. The U.S. government has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of such facilities.
Allegations that the CIA hid and interrogated key al-Qaida suspects at Soviet-era compounds in Eastern Europe were first reported in The Washington Post on Nov. 2.
Marty's report -- a copy of which was obtained by the AP -- contends the aircraft are "alleged to belong to entities with direct or indirect links to the CIA. It is claimed these were used by the CIA to transport prisoners."
Marty said he asked the Brussels, Belgium-based Eurocontrol air safety organization to provide details of 31 suspect planes that flew through Europe.