Bush geeft het eindelijk toe

[Henk Elegeert]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Henk Elegeert wrote:

> REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl
>
> Kaj wrote:
>
>> REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl
>>
>> Rice heeft nooit gezegd dat die gevangenissen niet bestaan, maar heeft
>> altijd gezegd dat 'ze bij *mijn* weten niet bestaan' of ze heeft er
>> simpelweg nooit wat over gezegd.

Nog even gekeken:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1659149,00.html

"
Detainee flights have saved European lives, says Rice

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington and Luke Harding in
Berlin

Tuesday December 6, 2005
The Guardian

Condoleezza Rice yesterday reacted to public anger
over secret CIA prisons by saying that US
intelligence operations had saved European lives and
had been conducted in cooperation with European
governments. In the Bush administration's first
comprehensive defence of its policy of rendition,
the secretary of state admitted that the US had
flown terror suspects abroad for interrogation.
However, she refused to address reports that the US
was holding terror suspects in secret prisons
without recourse to the law.

Ms Rice delivered her prepared statement shortly
before her departure for Germany and the start of a
five-day European tour overshadowed by reports that
the CIA had secretly flown al-Qaida suspects through
European airports for interrogation at former Soviet
compounds. She took pains yesterday to address
concerns about the treatment of detainees, saying
repeatedly that the US would not countenance
torture. However, she was adamant that rendition was
lawful, and was a powerful tool in the war on terror
for the US and for its allies. "Renditions take
terrorists out of action, and save lives," she said.
"Such renditions are permissible under international
law."

Ms Rice also moved to deflect some of the anger that
has been directed against the Bush administration,
suggesting that European governments had greater
knowledge than they were willing to publicly
acknowledge of the controversial practice, noting
that US intelligence operations had respected the
"sovereignty of other countries".

"Some governments choose to cooperate with the
United States in intelligence, law enforcement, or
military matters. The co-operation is a two-way
street. We share intelligence that has helped
protect European countries from attack, helping save
European lives," Ms Rice said. The broad thrust of
her argument yesterday was that the practice of
rendition was a vital tool in the war on terror, and
was in line with US and international law. She did
not directly address the question of secret prisons,
saying that it would compromise intelligence and
military operations.

However, she insisted that the US did not transport
al-Qaida suspects "for the purpose of interrogation
using torture", and "will not transport anyone to a
country when we believe he will be tortured".

The Bush administration has faced increasing
criticism since reports first surfaced of a secret
network of prisons in Europe, and Jack Straw, the
foreign secretary, wrote to Ms Rice last week
demanding an explanation. She flew into Berlin last
night amid a growing storm within Germany about how
much the government knew of CIA activities. In
particular, opposition parties demanded that
Germany's former interior minister Otto Schily
explain reports that the US had privately informed
him that it had wrongly kidnapped a German national.
There seems compelling evidence that Germany's
former government, led by Gerhard Schröder,
cooperated with the CIA's murkier operations.
Although several European countries and the EU have
launched investigations into the CIA's renditions
programme, it increasingly appears that the CIA may
have kept European intelligence agencies in the loop.

Ms Rice is likely to reinforce her unapologetic
message when she meets Germany's chancellor, Angela
Merkel, this morning. The government's spokesman,
Ulrich Wilhelm, said: "We are hoping that all of the
facts will be discussed [by Rice and Merkel]." Ms
Rice's itinerary includes a stop in Romania, a
country identified as a likely site of a secret,
US-run detention site. Romania denies it.
"

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