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Rice’s European troubleshooting fails threefold

Daniel Dombey in Brussels
Published: December 6 2005 20:10 | Last updated: December 6 2005 20:10


The continuing controversy over US “secret prisons” and abductions in
Europe - coupled with Condoleezza Rice’s failure to clear the air - has
made life difficult for European governments, but created even more
perils for the US’s attempt to put transatlantic relations on an even
keel.

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Find this article at:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/f66c23a2-66...cl=,s01=1.html

This one, also from Daniel Dombey and written today also, does not
editorialize but reports the facts:

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http://tinyurl.com/daubl


Rice warns on EU effort to probe secret CIA jails claim
By Guy Dinmore in Washington and Daniel Dombey in Brussels
Published: December 6 2005 02:00 | Last updated: December 6 2005 02:00

Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, yesterday launched a tour of Europe
with a forceful warning that allies could not expect to share American
intelligence and at the same time demand disclosure of details of the
anti-terror operations.

Diplomats said Ms Rice's statement, made before leaving Washington for
Berlin, was an attempt to put a cap on a growing controversy over alleged
secret Central Intelligence Agency-run prisons in eastern Europe and the
rendition of terrorist suspects to regimes where they may be tortured.

The statement amounted to the Bush administration's rejection of a European
Union request for clarification of the CIA's activities in Europe. The
allegations of secret prisons were made in a Washington Post report last
month.

Ms Rice made clear the US had no intention of discussing information that
would compromise its operations. She made no reference to secret detention
facilities.

"The United States does not use the airspace or the airports of any country
for the purpose of transporting a detainee to a country where he or she will
be tortured," Ms Rice said.

The statement, which officials said was carefully crafted by legal experts,
denied categorically that the US used or condoned torture.

The Bush administration turned the tables on the EU, in effect stating that
EU member states that shared intelligence with the US chose to do so and
knew what was happening. "That co-operation is a two-way street," Ms Rice
said, arguing European lives had been saved as a result. "It is up to those
governments and their citizens to decide if they wish to work with us to
prevent terrorist attacks against their own country or other countries, and
decide how much sensitive information they can make public," she added.

The US was not the only government to transport suspects "to their home
country or to other countries where they can be questioned, held, or brought
to justice", she said.

Jack Straw, British foreign secretary, welcomed Ms Rice's comments on behalf
of the EU.

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Good job Condi!