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Ireland not secret transfer site - Rice
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-12-02 13:50
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Ireland on Thursday the United
States had not used its territory to secretly transfer terrorism suspects to
foreign states as she tried to defuse concerns over the handling of U.S.
detainees.
With European allies and publics worried over reports the United States has
been using the practice known as rendition in the region, the Bush
administration has been under increasing pressure to explain its tactics against
detainees.
Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern met Rice, who will visit Europe next
week, and said she had repeated assurances by U.S. diplomats that Ireland's
airport hub at Shannon had not been used for renditions.
"She confirmed that they were correct and that was their position in relation
to the use, or non-use, of Shannon," Ahern told reporters after the meeting.
"It is fair to say that she very clearly said that the U.S. has not infringed
international law in relation to human rights," he added.
But in a sign the United States will go increasingly on the offensive to
combat European pressure over detainee scandals that have strained transatlantic
ties, Rice made clear she wanted allies to back off and trust the United States.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (R)
meets Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern at the State Department in
Washington December 1, 2005. [Reuters] | A senior State Department official, who requested anonymity because he was
relating a private conversation, said Rice pointedly did not make the assurance
personal to Ahern because her message was: "You've gotten those assurances from
the (U.S.) ambassador (to Ireland). You should have confidence in that."
Ahern also said Rice expected "others to believe that they would not ask
American citizens to abuse human rights."
He said he accepted the U.S. assurances but offered to investigate any
evidence of renditions and warned his government would "take action" if there
were any.
Rice often transits on her own foreign trips through Shannon. Hundreds of
planes carrying U.S. troops to and from Iraq have also refueled there stirring
controversy in traditionally neutral Ireland.
Media reports say dozens of other U.S.-run flights have used the airport for
unexplained reasons, raising speculation they could be transporting militant
suspects.
The United States, whose security forces have abused detainees in Iraq, says
renditions are legal.
Human rights groups question that interpretation of international law and say
incommunicado detention can lead to torture.
Allegations of renditions and a newspaper report the CIA has run secret
prisons in Europe have fueled widespread concern in the region over U.S. abuses
in its war on terrorism.
The scandals have jeopardized some of the progress the Bush administration --
led by Rice -- has made in repairing ties with its traditional allies after
disputes over the Iraq war.
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