Thursday, September 07, 2006

U.S. Allies Question Locations of Secret Prisons

In an earlier post I pondered our allies’ reaction to President Bush’s revelations of CIA secret prisons. It didn’t take long for some to weigh in, wanting more information. CNN reported:

Lawmakers at the European Parliament on Thursday demanded the United States name the locations of secret CIA prisons after U.S. President George W. Bush disclosed that terror suspects have been held at overseas facilities.
"The location of these prison camps must be made public," said German Socialist Wolfgang Kreissl-Doerfler, who sits on a special EU assembly committee investigating the CIA's alleged operation of secret prisons in Europe. "We need to know if there has been any complicity in illegal acts by governments of EU countries or states seeking EU membership."

The EU parliament's investigation's deputy leader, British Liberal Democrat Sarah Ludford, said Bush's admission "exposes not only his own previous lies. He also exposes to ridicule those arrogant government leaders in Europe who dismissed as unfounded our fears about extraordinary rendition."
It appears President Bush and Secretary Rice didn’t come clean last fall when the news first came public. Who else knew? It turns out Bliar and Blair could be one dynamic duo.

"Kidnapping people and torturing them in secret, however tempting the short-term gain may appear to be, is what criminals do, not democratic governments," said Rene van der Linden, president of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, which conducted the investigation.

At least one European leader understands the difference between the Saddams and real democratic leaders.

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