Rice defends US detainee tactics on European trip

BERLIN - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today defended US treatment of detainees in the war on terrorism against European criticism, arguing that allies cooperate in lawful operations that prevent attacks.

However, at the start of a five-day trip to the region, Rice did not directly address the allegation that the CIA had run secret prisons in Eastern Europe in her first extended remarks on the controversy.

The accusation, which has sparked an EU inquiry, has been a lightning rod for anti-American outrage across the continent and reignited concern over the covert US transportation of detainees in Europe, in a practice known as "rendition".

The war on terrorism "is frankly challenging our norms and our practices, but what I would hope that our allies would acknowledge is that we are all in this together; that when we discover or uncover intelligence, it is very often intelligence that saves European lives," she told reporters aboard her plane en route to Berlin.

"Very often these are not plots that are heading for the United States, they are headed for places in Europe," she said.

Human rights groups say holding detainees incommunicado is illegal and often leads to torture.

However, Rice said the United States respected the sovereignty of allies, abided by the law and did not allow torture. She also said European intelligence agencies had worked with Washington to extract information from detainees.

For a month, the United States has been on the defensive, refusing to deny or confirm media reports of the CIA prisons but Rice's counter-offensive appeared designed to make European governments ease off.

Her hosts have little appetite for new quarrels with Washington and no desire to reopen the rift caused by the Iraq war. However, opposition politicians and the European public want information to hold their leaders accountable, including Germany's new Chancellor Angela Merkel.

It is unclear how much Rice's effort to reframe the debate will dampen concern among Europeans already critical of US detainee abuse scandals in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"DANGEROUS DETAINEES"

Rice said intelligence concerns prevented the confirmation or denial of possible secret prisons.

Without saying they were held in such prisons, Rice did note the CIA had "a very small number of extremely dangerous detainees" that had given up intelligence with other countries' cooperation.

The top US diplomat said an aim of her visit to Germany, Romania, Ukraine and the European Union headquarters Brussels was to shift the debate away from allegations of illegal activities on to the goals of intelligence-gathering.

"I do hope this trip will give us a chance to refocus on what it is that we are trying to do," she said.

"I think the real question that our populations are going to be asking us is: 'Are you doing everything you can - lawfully - to prevent the next terrorist attack'." she added.

In Germany, Merkel is facing intense pressure to get answers from Rice about unexplained US flights.

Rice answered reporters seeking clarification by using a technical formula that the United States abided by US law and did not violate its international obligations - in what could be perceived as US exploitation of a legal loophole.

The international torture convention demands nations prevent such treatment but US officials have interpreted that as only obliging the United States to do so on American soil.

In contrast to her silence on prisons, she gave a robust defence of the detainee transfer policy.

"Renditions take terrorists out of action, and save lives," she said.

- REUTERS