Lithuania's Prime Minister accuses New York Times of mis-translation
Tadas Blinda
Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius claims he never accused the U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of using "Soviet methods". He said
in using these words he was talking about the actions of Lithuania's
State Security Department (SSD) in the CIA prison affair.
The Prime minister said that the claims by the New York Times saying
that he accused the CIA of using "Soviet methods" do not reflect the
reality. It is true that he said this about the SSD in the context of
establishing CIA detention centres and that such activities possibly
violated the laws regulating intelligence and financial accounting
methods.
The Prime Minister regretted the New York Times' translation error.
As ELTA announced earlier, Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said the
conclusions of the parliamentary investigation pose serious concern
and reflect the need to reform the State Security Department. The head
of the Government also stressed that friendship with the United States
was not a reason to breach the law.
Although there is no strong evidence whether the prison was eventually
used for the purpose it was intended to be used or not, the Prime
Minister believed that the very existence of its infrastructure posed
serious concern.
"The very fact that the infrastructure was established proves that a
small group of SSD officials could have taken the decision to
establish the detention centre behind the back of the public, and
maybe, the Heads of State. What causes even more concern, is the fact
that the decision was taken by several officials and was being
implemented in violation of the law and ignoring the negative
consequences to the international reputation of Lithuania," said
Kubilius.
According to Kubilius, the culture of avoiding control and violating
the laws prevailed in the SSD; it almost became a "state within a
state", that engaged in power games and distanced from the true
interests of the state.
The Prime Minister regretted that the SSD did not implement the first
parliamentary investigation and expressed hope that the second
investigation on the CIA prison would help to reform the SSD and
restore public trust in this important institution.
Andrius Kubilius is convinced that it is the executive power that
should formulate tasks for the special services, and the Parliament
should effectively monitor the implementation of those tasks.
Vidas
December 30th ?
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