Before flying off to Berlin to meet with Angela Merkel, Condoleezza Rice spoke about the US policy of "extraordinary rendition." The Washington Post has the report:
Rice also asserted that the United States does not transport terrorism suspects "for the purpose of interrogation using torture" and "will not transport anyone to a country when we believe he will be tortured." She added that "where appropriate, the United States seeks assurances that transferred persons will not be tortured."
"The United States government does not authorize or condone torture of detainees," she said.
Don’t forget, as National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice repeatedly lied about the weapons capabilities of Iraq in the runup to the 2003 invasion. But while Rice could easily utter the words "mushroom cloud" back then with a straight face , yesterday she seemed uncomfortable – as pointed out by Soj – as she repeated the Bush administration’s dishonest talking points.
Immediately after her speech, Amnesty International set the record straight with a press release:
“These flight records provide irrefutable proof that the United States is ‘disappearing’ people into secret facilities where they are held incommunicado without charge, trial or access to the outside world and/or rendering them to countries with a history of barbaric torture practices,” said Amnesty International USA Executive Director Dr. William F. Schulz. “Secretary Rice is either misinformed or is part of an ongoing orchestrated effort by the Administration to mislead the American people and the world community. The evidence is glaring – the United States is outsourcing torture and using legal jargon to justify its actions.”
Der Spiegel also has a detailed country-by-country analysis of the CIA rendition flights. Amazingly, even as she refused to admit any wrongdoing by the US government, she tried to deflect criticism back to Europe, implying that governments there were complicit in any human rights abuses. Her comments only increased the pressure in Germany on Otto Schily to divulge what he knew about the illegal abduction and rendition of the German citizen Khaled Masri. Today’s taz is full of questions:
Die Öffentlichkeit interessiert zunächst viel naheliegendere Fragen: War die Bundesregierung über völkerrechtswidrige Praktiken der CIA informiert? Oder hat sie, was nicht viel besser wäre, schweigend darüber hinweggesehen, nach dem Motto: Wir fragen nicht nach Geheimoperationen, über die die Amis uns sowieso nicht informieren? Wusste Otto Schily tatsächlich von der Entführung eines deutschen Staatsbürgers? Hat er dagegen protestiert? Ist es glaubhaft, dass Schily weder seinen Kanzler Gerhard Schröder noch Kanzleramtsminister und Geheimdienstkoordinator Steinmeier oder Außenminister Joschka Fischer über den Fall informiert hat?
Until the German goverment in Berlin comes clean about its knowledge and cooperation in the transport and torture enhanced interrogation of terror suspects, the new governing coalition cannot move forward with any of its programs. And until the Bush administration reveals the truth about secret "black sites" in Europe and the CIA’s activities with rendition flights, there cannot be any constructive alliance between the United States and its European allies.
Tags: Rice Torture Rendition CIA
