U.S. confirms Red Cross can't see some detainees

U.S. confirms Red Cross can't see some detainees
By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS

Friday, December 9, 2005 Posted at 1:06 PM EST

Associated Press

Geneva — The international Red Cross renewed on Friday its demand that it be allowed to visit all detainees in “undisclosed locations” after a senior State Department official confirmed the United States has yet to grant the agency access to all its terror suspects.

ICRC president Jakob Kellenberger was commenting on a remark Thursday by State Department legal adviser John Bellinger, who was asked by reporters during a visit to Geneva whether the ICRC has access to all other similar prisoners held by the United States elsewhere in the world.

"No," Mr. Bellinger replied, refusing to say any more.

Mr. Kellenberger noted that he has been urging top U.S. officials for at least two years to make sure the ICRC, which is assigned under the Geneva Conventions on warfare to check on conditions of detainees, gains access to all detainees held by the United States.
(snip)

He said the ICRC is already visiting “very many detainees” being held by the United States “in Guantanamo, in Afghanistan, in Iraq” but would not say where else the ICRC believes the United States is holding detainees.
(snip/...)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051209.wuspris1209/BNStory/International/

Yeah, I'm saying it...

Didn't Rice say that the US complies with all International Laws?

And am I wrong, but isn't part of International Law to allow access for the Red Cross to Prisoners of War, and prisoners in general?

Red Cross in intense talks with US over secret jails
Fri Dec 9, 2005 2:02 PM ET

By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) - The Red Cross is pushing the United States to give it access to prisoners held in secret jails as part of the U.S. war on terror, it said on Friday.

"We have said that undisclosed detention is a major concern for us," Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), told a news conference.

"We are already visiting very many detainees under U.S. authorities in Guantanamo, Iraq and Afghanistan ... We continue to be in an intense dialogue with them with the aim of getting access to all people detained in the framework of the so-called war on terror," he said.

Human rights groups accuse the CIA of running secret prisons in eastern Europe and covertly transporting detainees. They say incommunicado detention often leads to torture.

John Bellinger, the U.S. State Department's legal adviser, acknowledged to reporters in Geneva on Thursday that the ICRC does not have access to all detainees held by U.S. forces, but refused to discuss alleged secret detention centers.
(snip/...)

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-12-09T190209Z_01_DIT958880_RTRUKOC_0_US-AID-CROSS.xml&archived=False

our WWII enemies.