Dutch reject Rice’s answers on CIA flights

6 December 2005

AMSTERDAM — Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot predicted US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will face heated debate on her European tour this week.

Bot told the Dutch parliament on Tuesday that her comments about secret CIA flights and detention centres for terrorist suspects outside America were “unsatisfactory”. Rice is due to meet with foreign ministers of Nato states in Brussels on Thursday.

Rice will have to give more clarity about the controversy during the meeting, Bot said.

The US Secretary of State repeated her assertions while in Germany on Tuesday that the US does not torture suspects under any circumstances. Speaking on Monday, prior to her departure for Europe, Rice said that secret movement of terrorists suspects had been conducted by the US and other countries for many year, and these activities helped save the lives of many Europeans.

Bot told MPs on Tuesday that ‘rendition’ was not kidnapping as some critics claimed. He said it was a speedy process of extraditing suspects to the US. Normal extraditions through the courts can last for years, he said.

The Dutch foreign minister was unable to give any information on the CIA flights that made stop-overs in the Netherlands.

NOS, the national news service in the Netherlands, reported that the CIA regularly made use of Dutch airports for secret flights. The claim was based on an investigation by broadcaster VPRO. It is unknown if prisoners were aboard these flights.

[Copyright Expatica News + ANP 2005]

Subject: Dutch news