"NATO Allies Welcome Rice's Explanation"

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - European foreign ministers said Thursday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had "cleared the air" by assuring NATO allies that the U.S. does not allow torture of terrorist suspects and respects principles of the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war.

Shifting away from a confrontation with Washington, some NATO allies welcomed Rice's explanation of U.S. views on secret prisons and treatment of terrorist suspects at a private dinner Wednesday with her NATO and European Union counterparts.

"It is my impression that Secretary Rice ... cleared the air. You will not see this discussion continuing" at the NATO headquarters, NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer told a news conference.

Rice "addressed the principles that guide United States policy with regards to respect for international law," Belgian Foreign Minister Karel de Gucht said.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20051208/D8EC6FB01.html

Meanwhile, the REST of Europe knows Sleaza's full of shit.

German and Dutch foreign ministers as well.

Do I believe them wholeheartedly? No.

then they're stupid. Our Attorney General has called them "quaint."

Trust me--they will torture again, and when they are caught they will blame it on "a few bad apples."

I'd like to hear what the citizens of those countries have to say about it.

I can only assume that blackmail was involved. Not blackmail in the sense that money changed hands, but more in the sense that she told them, that if they don't play along, the US will make life hard for these countries individually. Trade obstacles, permits for companies in the US etc.

I truly believe that the US is treathening these countries to act in a certain matter.

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Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

...on the treatment of prisoners of war."

Hasn't the Bush administration been pushing the line all along that terror suspects aren't prisoners of war because members of the Taliban and al Qaeda don't belong to an organized government? So now when it happens again all they have to say is, "Hey, we said we don't torture prisoners of war, and we don't consider the people we've captured prisoners of war!"

Rice's reassurances are meaningless, imo.