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CIA Flights - EU governments complicit?
December 15, 2005 3:37 PM
By Sarah Ludford, on behalf of the ALDE Group in The European Parliament
By Sarah Ludford, on behalf of the ALDE Group in The European Parliament
Sarah Ludford, on behalf of the ALDE Group. - Mr President, the investigator for the Council of Europe, Dick Marty, has called allegations of illegal extraordinary renditions credible. If he concludes that they are true, the question for us is what is the degree of complicity of EU governments? They are all rattling off the denials, but this has not satisfied those who have expressed concern or deterred calls for parliamentary or judicial inquiries in a string of European countries. No wonder the US is irritated by European governments' attempts to evade responsibility and I am glad that the President-in-Office talked about taking that responsibility. Secretary of State Rice pointedly said last week that the US has respected the sovereignty of other countries. That means: 'don't rock the boat, guys - we are all in this together'.
A feasible scenario is that, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, understandably keen to offer help to the US in tracking down the perpetrators of that abominable crime, European governments offered intelligence help and facilities to their US ally. However, as the years have gone by, they have got deeper into the mire of illegality. Only by cleaning house and starting afresh on the basis of real respect for the rule of law can we convince our citizens that we are not sacrificing our principles.
The problem is that we are living in an Alice in Wonderland world. The President-in-Office said that Secretary of State Rice's statements last week should be taken at face value. However, if the US does not tolerate torture inside or outside the United States, why is it resisting the McCain amendment? Why have we had so many twists and turns by the Bush administration, redefining torture so that it does not cover waterboarding, prolonged shackling or induced hypothermia? Secretary of State Rice's statement begged more questions than it answered.
I welcome Mr Frattini's statement that we have a duty to investigate. I also welcome his offer of assistance to the Council of Europe. This Parliament must avoid duplicating Dick Marty's investigation. However, we need a mechanism to draw all the threads together and that means a temporary committee. Then we can assess, in the light of Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union, what evidence is produced.
I also welcome Mr Frattini's statement that finding out the truth will strengthen our fight against terrorism by upholding our values. I agree with Mr Poettering - that does not happen often - that this is not an anti-American project. Helping save America and Europe from the disastrous policies of the Bush administration is a pro-American exercise.
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