Administration makes damage-control effort

The State Department sent its top lawyer to London to try to defuse anger.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration is bracing for a diplomatic backlash after conceding it used British territory to transport suspected terrorists on secret rendition flights despite repeated earlier assurances the U.S. had not.

U.S. officials have sought to quell the fallout by apologizing to Britain for what they said was an “administrative error.” The admission, however, may reopen a bitter debate between the United States and its allies over how the fight against terrorism should be conducted and compromise future cooperation.

“Mistakes were made in the reporting of the information,” said Gordon Johndroe, National Security Council spokesman for President Bush. Johndroe insisted that cooperation between the U.S. and Britain would not be affected.

But as a sign of its concern, the State Department sent its top lawyer, John Bellinger, to London on Thursday on a two-day mission. Bellinger will try to defuse what many expect will be widespread anger that the U.S., when asked in 2004, incorrectly assured its closest ally that neither British soil nor airspace had been used in moving suspected terrorists, officials said.

The CIA used a U.S. military airstrip on the British territory of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to refuel planes carrying two suspects in 2002. That fact was not uncovered until a “self-generated” review by the CIA in late 2007 after persistent media reports, the department said.

“We regret that there was an error in initially providing inaccurate information to a good friend and ally,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. “Unfortunately, even with the best intentions, unfortunately, even with the most rigorous searches and unfortunately with good technology, sometimes administrative errors occur and this was the case.”

He took pains to note that the United States had not violated any obligation it had toward Britain in using Diego Garcia for the flights at the time they occurred. Not until 2003 did the two countries start to work out a “final mutual understanding” that now requires the U.S. to seek and get British permission to use the base for renditions, he said.

Still, the disclosure risks replaying the debate over tactics that came to light in 2005 with the revelation that the CIA had operated secret prisons to interrogate prisoners. Until Thursday, the administration had managed to diminish down the furor through intensive diplomacy.

The British government appears to have accepted the “administrative error” explanation. But London has made it clear that it wanted to review logs related to U.S. operations at Diego Garcia.