The US Ambassador to Poland has commented on the recent Senate report on the CIA by saying that America had a “wrong approach” following the 9/11 attacks, although highlighting that the CIA should not need to reform following the report’s release.
“It turned out that we had the wrong approach,” said US Ambassador to Poland Stephen Mull when commenting on the interrogation techniques used by the CIA following the September 11 attacks.
In an interview with Polish Radio on Monday, Mull added that such mistakes were understandable in light of “the social sentiment which prevailed” during those years.
The Ambassador was pressed by reporter Beata Michniewicz on what exactly was the mistake: whether Poland’s allies did not know that people were being tortured on Polish ground, or whether the CIA were given too much leeway on their methods?
Replying in Polish, Mull said “I cannot [say] whether more than ten years ago, the Polish authorities knew too much or too little.”
Mull, who has headed the Polish embassy since 2012, highlighted that the Senate report was not meant to show how foreign countries had acted, but rather “it is about us, as Americans,” and was meant to shed light on “what mistakes” the US had committed. (rg/jb)
Ewa Malcher
