MADRID, 20 November 2005 — Reports that US intelligence officials have been using European airports secretly to transfer suspected extremists around the globe have unleashed a storm of opprobrium across Europe.
The Socialist government of Spain, one of the countries whose airports were allegedly used for the transit of suspects, said Friday it was promising “maximum transparency” on the affair, having already twice asked the US government for clarification with its own domestic credibility at stake.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has, since coming to power last year, positioned himself as a champion of international legality and was quick to pull Spanish troops out of Iraq sent in by his conservative predecessor, despite the move souring relations with Washington. The Spanish leader will face questioning in parliament over the flights issue on Wednesday.
Spanish judicial authorities are investigating reports that up to 10 flights operated by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) landed in the Balearic Islands between January 2004 and 2005 while media reports say a similar number landed between January and October of this year in the Canary Islands.
Amnesty International said Friday that, “we are obviously going to be very interested in the outcome of the official investigations underway in Spain. Other countries are also raising the pressure on Washington. On Thursday, Iceland’s Foreign Minister Geir Haarde said the US response to the allegations was “unsatisfactory”. “In my judgment, the responses we’ve received from US authorities regarding whether or not prisoners have been on board these planes have been unsatisfactory and have left many questions unanswered,” Haarde said in an address to parliament.
Some governments have denied involvement in the whole affair. Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern responded to allegations of CIA flights touching down on its territory by saying Friday that “at this moment in time there is no evidence of that.” He added: “We have been given absolute guarantees that they are not using Shannon (airport) in this respect ... we are getting absolute categoric assurances from the US government, a friendly government.” Greece also insisted Friday it was not involved.
A number of other countries have nevertheless opened inquiries into whether the planes have been used for the transit, or rendition, of terror suspects allegedly subjected to extra-judicial detention and torture.
A Portuguese news magazine has published pictures to back an account that at least three CIA planes landed in Portugal in January 2003, although Foreign Minister Diogo Freitas do Amaral said Thursday that no CIA planes had made stopovers at Portuguese airports since the current government took office earlier this year. He dated the pictures in the report to January 2003 while denying there were any CIA detention centers in Portugal.
The Swedish government says it has requested verification from the country’s civil aviation authorities on the nature of the missions by suspect planes between January 2002 and this month after the TT news agency said several presumed CIA planes had secretly touched down. According to the news agency, one of at least two suspected CIA planes to land at Swedish airports was used at the US base at Guantanamo Bay on Cuba, probably for transporting prisoners. “If we think (the concerns) are valid we will then address the question to the Americans ... about what they have transported in these planes,” Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson said Wednesday.
Norway and Denmark are also investigating similar reports, although Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds downplayed the affair on Friday on a visit to Norway, opining that “this affair has fallen like a soufflé,” according to a TT report.
The US State Department has reacted by stressing the existence of good relations with the countries concerned.
However, according to the Washington Post, the CIA has placed more than 100 illegally held suspects in a secret prison network in Afghanistan, Thailand and Eastern Europe since the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.
A series of denials on the existence of the prisons for top Al-Qaeda suspects has come from Thailand and eastern European US allies, including Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Romania.
