Analysis: Rice Words Hit Home From Europe

By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer
Thu Dec 8, 4:45 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Bush administration attempts to clarify the government's torture policy are getting a bit tortured themselves. When Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said this week in Europe that a U.N. anti-torture treaty applied equally to Americans overseas and at home, it triggered a dispute over whether she meant to signal a policy shift.

Efforts by the White House and others to parse her words may be sowing more confusion — and possibly fueling a growing uproar in Europe.

Rice's assurances seemed to move away from earlier administration statements that legal protections did not apply to detainees held abroad. Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record) of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, called her words "a very welcome change from their previous position, which I believe has cost us dearly in the world."

But White House spokesman Scott McClellan was quick to insist Rice's statements did not represent any change.