Condi to Europe, "Trust us"

Apparently Condi Rice is going to stiff-arm the Europeans on the question of whether we are sending prisoners to secret gulags in Eastern Europe to be tortured. She says they'll just have to "trust us" when we say we do not violate international law.

I guess that's just like when we asked them to trust us because we knew Iraq had WMD. I guess that's just like when we asked them to trust us that Saddam was buying uranium in Niger. I guess that's just like when we asked them to trust us that winning the war would be a cake walk. I guess that's just like when we asked them to trust us that we didn't torture detainees. So, I guess they should definitely trust us this time around.

Antony Barnett and Jamie Doward
Sunday December 4, 2005
The Observer

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will inflame the transatlantic row over America's alleged torture of terror suspects in secret jails by telling Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and other European officials to 'back off'.

Rice, who arrives in Brussels tomorrow for a meeting with Nato foreign ministers, has been under pressure to respond to claims the US has been using covert prisons in Eastern Europe to interrogate Islamic militants. Human rights groups have alleged the CIA is flying terror suspects to secret jails in planes that have used airports throughout Europe, including Britain.

Rice's refusal to answer detailed questions on what has become known as 'extraordinary rendition' will anger many in Europe. Last week Straw wrote to Rice asking for clarification about some 80 flights by CIA planes that have passed through the UK. European politicians and human rights groups claim the flights and use of a network of secret jails breach international law.State Department officials have hinted that Rice's response to Straw and other European ministers will remind them of their 'co-operation' in the war on terror. She is expected to make a public statement today stressing that the US does not violate allies' sovereignty or break international law.

She will also remind people their governments are co-operating in a fight against militants who have bombed commuters in London and Madrid. She will drive home her message in private meetings with officials in Germany and at the EU headquarters in Brussels.Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern said Rice told him in Washington she expected allies to trust that America does not allow rights abuses.