|
Rice says CIA thwarted attacks in Europe
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-05 21:22
Reports of the existence of the secret prisons has caused a trans-Atlantic
uproar. The European Union has asked the Bush administration about these
reports.
Britain, which holds the revolving presidency of the EU, sent a two-paragraph
letter to Washington late last month embodying the request. That came after
weeks of increasing concern in Europe over reports that the CIA has detained and
interrogated terrorism prisoners in Soviet-era compounds in Eastern Europe.
Rice said the United States does not permit or tolerate torture under any
circumstances. "The United States does not use the air space or airport of any
country for the purpose of transporting a detainee when we believe he or she
will be tortured," she said. "With respect to detainees, the United States
government complies with its laws, its Constitution and its treaty obligations,"
she added. "It is the policy of the United States that this questioning is to be
conducted ... without torture," Rice said.
"The United States has fully respected the sovereignty of other countries
that have cooperated in these matters," the secretary said. "The United States
is a country of laws. My colleagues and I have been sworn to protect and defend
the Constitution of the United States. ... The United States must protect its
citizens."
"So now before the next attack," Rice said, "we should all face the hard
choices that democratic governments face."
"The United States does not transport, and has not transported detainees from
one country to another for the purpose of interrogation using torture," the
secretary stressed.
Human rights organizations and legal groups, both in the U.S. and abroad,
have accused the United States of allowing a practice known as "rendition to
torture," in which suspects are taken to countries such as Egypt and Saudi
Arabia where harsh interrogation methods are used.
Rice did say the United States has long participated in the movement of
terror suspects between countries.
The reference to sovereignty implies that any European
democracies that may have provided secret prisons did so willingly.
|
