Rice to address rumors about torture of terrorists

WASHINGTON (AP) -- During her trip to Europe this week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will tell allies the United States does not transport suspected terrorists around the globe to be tortured, the president's national security adviser said Sunday.
European governments have expressed outrage over reports of secret CIA prisons where terrorism detainees may have been mistreated. The Bush administration has refused to address the question of whether it operated secret sites that may be illegal under European law.
Stephen Hadley said that Rice, who has pledged a response to the European Union on the issue, will address the matter "in a comprehensive way" while in Europe.
"One of the things she will be saying is, 'Look, we are all threatened by terror. We need to cooperate in its solution,'" Hadley said on "Fox News Sunday."
Hadley's comments
"As part of that cooperation for our part, we comply with U.S. law. We respect the sovereignty of the countries with which we deal. And we do not move people around the world so that they can be tortured," the White House adviser said.
Asked whether the U.S. operates secret prisons in Europe, Hadley said on CNN's "Late Edition" that "there is a lot of cooperation at a variety of levels on the war on terror."
He added, "There are things that are obviously going to be said and cannot be said publicly. There are things that are going to be said and can be said privately in communications with governments."
The Washington Post reported Sunday that the United States acknowledged last year that the CIA had wrongfully imprisoned a German man for five months.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.