US acknowledges Europe concern on 'secret
prisons'
Reuters
Saul Hudson
November 29, 2005
WASHINGTON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Under German pressure, the United States
acknowledged for the first time on Tuesday that allegations of secret CIA
prisons in Europe have raised widespread concern in the region.
On the first visit by a German official from a coalition that took power
last week, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier also won a personal pledge
from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Washington would respond to
the accusations.
"The United States realizes that these are topics that are generating
interest among European publics as well as parliaments and that these questions
need to be responded to," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told
reporters after the diplomats' meeting.
Rice maintained the U.S. position of avoiding denying or confirming a
newspaper report that secret centers to interrogate terrorism suspects were
located in Eastern Europe, but Steinmeier said he was reassured Washington
would be more forthcoming.
Steinmeier said that Rice, who will visit Germany on a trip to Europe next
week, pledged to "provide a prompt and detailed response" to an EU request for
clarification of the report.
The U.S. acknowledgment of European concerns was a departure from the Bush
administration's response to the nearly four-weeks-old scandal, in which it
downplayed the controversy by saying it was not a major issue with
governments.
Until the eve of the meeting, U.S. officials had also given little sign they
would answer growing calls in Europe for an explanation. On Monday, however,
McCormack said the United States would try to respond to an EU inquiry into the
charges.
The controversy has fueled public and government concern in Europe about
America's tactics in its war on terrorism and U.S. handling of detainees in
general.
Governments, including Germany as a vocal critic, have already complained of
U.S. detainee abuse in Iraq and the detention of prisoners for years in
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Human rights groups, who say the United States has used legal technicalities
to justify abusive policies in its war on terrorism, say incommunicado
detention is illegal and often leads to torture.
Rice sought to allay such fears in her meeting with Steinmeier. McCormack
said she told him U.S. actions complied with the laws and Constitution of the
United States and with international obligations.
U.S. President George W. Bush brushed off reporters' questions on whether
the allegations would be investigated. "The United States of America does not
torture. And that's important for people around the world to understand," Bush
said in Texas.
QUIET DIPLOMACY
Under domestic pressure to make the United States give more information
about the secret-prison allegations reported by the Washington Post, Steinmeier
told reporters he raised the issue.
But he also sought to stop the controversy from clouding an expected new
drive to improve ties after the Bush administration clashed with its key ally
over the Iraq war.
Steinmeier agreed to the unusual move of not holding a joint news conference
with Rice, where questions on the scandal could have eclipsed a sense of
cooperation the governments want to show on such issues as Iran and
Afghanistan.
Choosing to pressure in a private meeting was in keeping with what political
analysts have predicted will be a change in style from the previous German
government's practice of airing its differences in public.
McCormack said the meeting was not dominated by "secret prisons" and
lamented that the report had distracted from the countries' diplomacy, which
will intensify with Rice's trip, as well as visit this week to Germany by her
deputy, Robert Zoellick.
"Certainly I think that in the public discourse it is a topic that is taking
up quite a bit of time," McCormack said.
(Additional reporting by Markus Krah in Washington and Patsy Wilson in El
Paso, Texas)
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