knocking the halo off Europeans
Europeans accused of obstructing CIA prison probe By Darren Ennis
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European countries knew about U.S. secret jails
for terrorism suspects and have obstructed an investigation into the
transport and illegal detention of prisoners, a draft European
Parliament report said on Tuesday.
The report by a European Parliament committee criticized a string of
top EU officials including foreign policy chief Javier Solana and
counter-terrorism coordinator Gijs de Vries, and complained of lack
of cooperation from nearly all member states.
It accused the former head of Italy’s SISMI intelligence service of
“concealing the truth” when he told the committee that Italian agents
played no part in the CIA kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric in 2003.
On the contrary, SISMI officials played an active role in the
abduction of Abu Omar, and the CIA kept Italian authorities informed
on his later detention in Egypt, the report said.
It said Abu Omar had been “held incommunicado and tortured ever since.”
The document, obtained by Reuters, echoed charges from the Council of
Europe human rights body that European states were complicit in U.S.
abuses during the war on terrorism.
It said records, from a confidential source, of a European Union and
NATO meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last
December confirmed that “member states had knowledge of the (U.S.)
program of extraordinary renditions and secret prisons.”
The United States has acknowledged using renditions, or secret
transfers of suspects between countries, and President George W. Bush
confirmed in September that the CIA had held high-level terrorism
suspects at secret overseas locations.
The EU and Council of Europe inquiries were launched partly in
response to press reports that the United States ran such prisons in
Poland and Romania.
Both countries strongly deny that. But Tuesday’s report complained of
lack of cooperation from the Polish government and regretted
Romania’s “lack of willingness to investigate in depth.”
Among other criticisms in the draft report:
– It was “totally unacceptable” that the EU Council first hid, then
provided only partial information on regular discussions with senior
U.S. administration officials.
– Solana’s evidence to the committee contained “omissions and
denials” which prompted deep concern.
– De Vries’s evidence lacked credibility and the committee
questioned the point of his counter-terrorism coordinator role.
– The committee was frustrated that neither Europol criminal
intelligence boss Max-Peter Ratzel nor NATO chief Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer had agreed to speak to it.
– It “deplored” poor cooperation from Britain, as represented before
the committee by Europe Minister Geoff Hoon.
The draft report expressed deep concern that temporary secret
detention facilities in European countries might have been located in
U.S. military bases, and said states hosting such bases needed to
exercise greater control.