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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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June 12th, 2006 - EU Lawmakers
Back Report on CIA Terror Kidnappings |
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EU Lawmakers Back Report on
CIA Terror Kidnappings By Jeremy Smith Reuters June 12, 2006 Strasbourg, France - EU
lawmakers backed accusations on Monday that the U.S. Central Intelligence
Agency had kidnapped and illegally held terrorism suspects on EU territory
and flown them to countries that used torture. Their report draws largely
the same conclusions as that issued by the Council of Europe last week,
adding to the embarrassment faced by European governments over their possible
cooperation with U.S. policies unpopular with domestic opinion. " ... in a number of
cases, the CIA or other U.S. services have been directly responsible for the
illegal seizure, removal, abduction and detention of terrorist suspects on
the territory of member states," read the text of the report approved
late on Monday by a special committee of the European Parliament. The committee has heard
testimony from several alleged victims and rights groups. While it has no
legal powers, it can recommend political actions against any countries found
to have been involved, including the United States. Its report, compiled by
Italian lawmaker Claudio Fava, faced nearly 200 last-minute amendments that
had to be debated before the committee approved the final text with 25 votes
in favour, 14 against and seven abstentions. Most of the amendments were
technical, although one called for further investigations into the alleged
existence of a secret detention facility in Kosovo and the possible
involvement of KFOR forces in the illegal detention of terrorist suspects. Another called on EU
governments to "take a stronger stance on the closing of the detention
centre in Guantanamo Bay and to take a pro-active role in finding a solution
for detainees against whom no legal proceedings will be brought". The report, as amended, will
now be submitted to a full session of the European Parliament in early July. Fava has said there had been
thousands of CIA flights transiting through the EU, and the CIA had on
several occasions kidnapped alleged terrorists in the EU and sent them to
countries where they could be tortured. It is unlikely that several
European governments were unaware of the CIA activities, he said in April,
pointing to Italy, Sweden and Bosnia. Spain was the only EU country to ask
questions about these flights, he said at the time. The Council of Europe report
said more than 20 mostly European countries colluded in a "global
spider's web" of secret CIA jails and flight transfers of terrorist
suspects that stretched from Asia to Guantanamo Bay. "The Fava report makes clear
that illegal activities, including rendition of prisoners in the war on
terror, took place inside the EU," Socialist MEP Jan Marinus Wiersma
said. "But it also makes
clear that further investigation is needed," he said in a statement.
"It is now up to the member states to respond to the issues raised by
the (Council investigator Dick) Marty and Fava reports," he said. © Reuters 2006. External link: Romanian Politicians “Aware
of CIA Secret Flights” Sofia News Agency Tue 12 June 2006 Several Romanian politicians
are aware of the secret CIA flights, according to Graham Watson, leader of the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the European Parliament. I suspect that
representatives of the Romanian intelligence services as well as politicians
from the current government are aware of the secret CIA flights but have
given no explanations so far, Watson said in an interview for Deutsche Welle. In his words both Romania
and Poland's governments should push the former cabinets to give clear answer
to that question, Romanian Adevarul newspaper reports. Watson has also
demanded the specially established Romanian commission dealing with that
issue to do its job properly. Graham Watson commented that
the report for the secret CIA flights would not harm Romania's EU future as
the report also includes information about many other European countries,
including the UK. Last week a senior German
MEP, Elmar Brok, suggested that Romania's entry to the EU should be delayed
if the existence of a CIA jail on its territory prior to November 2005 is
confirmed. Bucharest, along with Sofia,
is struggling to win a confirmation of their target accession date - 1
January 2007. The observation of human rights and the respect for the rule of
law used to be among key critiques to both governments, but under the latest
progress Brussels has praised their achievements in this field. Romania and Poland along
with 14 European countries have been included in the report of PACE
rapporteur Dick Marti, who claims that these states have actively
participated with the CIA "at varying degrees, which are not always
settled definitively" for violating the rights of named
"rendered" individual. External link:
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=64854 |