Rice defends US terrorism policy
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice turned the tables on European critics of tough US tactics in the war on terror today, maintaining that intelligence gathered by the CIA has saved European lives.
Responding for the first time in detail to the outcry over reports of secret CIA-run prisons in European democracies, Rice said the United States “will use every lawful weapon to defeat these terrorists”.
But in remarks as she prepared to leave on a trip to Europe, she steadfastly refused to answer the underlying question of whether the United States had CIA-operated secret prisons there.
President Bush has denied that the US engages in torture in the war against terrorists, but Rice’s statements today represented the most detailed public comment the administration has yet offered on this vexing issue.
By suggesting whatever the US did had the co-operation of European nations, Rice may have imposed pressure on their governments to explain to their people whether they violated national or international laws.
And that could make Rice’s stops in Europe even more difficult.
“It is up to those governments and their citizens to decide if they wish to work with us,” she said, “and decide how much sensitive information they can make public. They have a sovereign right to make that choice."
