US brushes off secret CIA prisons report

[apothecary]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1496629.htm

The White House refused to confirm or deny a report that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operates secret prisons, known as "black sites," for Al Qaeda suspects in eastern Europe and elsewhere around the world.

President George W Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, says the United States will do what is necessary to fight and win the war on terrorism.

"The President has been very clear we're doing that in a way that is consistent with our values and that is why he's been very clear that the United States will not torture," Mr Hadley said.

"The United States will conduct its activities in compliance with law, (and) international obligations," he said.

The Washington Post reported the prisons are, or have been, located in eight countries including Thailand, Afghanistan and "several democracies in Eastern Europe" since the system was set up after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The names of the eastern European countries were withheld by the newspaper "at the request of senior US officials," who argued that the disclosure might disrupt counter-terrorism efforts.

Thailand denies there is a prison there.

Mr Hadley and White House spokesman Scott McClellan refused to confirm or deny the Post report.

"I would say that the President's most important responsibility is to protect the American people," Mr McClellan said.

The refusal to discuss the matter was echoed by US Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales and the CIA.

Former president Jimmy Carter has denounced what he says is "a profound and radical change in the basic policies or moral values of our country" in reaction to the report.

"This is just one indication of what has been done under this administration to change the policies that have persisted all the way through our history," Mr Carter said, who championed human rights during his 1977-1981 presidency.

The existence of secret CIA detention centres has long been claimed.

Amnesty International denounced an "archipelago" of prisons in June as a "gulag of our times".

But the report that eastern European countries were among the locations is new.

Czech Interior Minister Frantisek Bublan was quoted by the online news outlet Aktualne.cz as saying the Czech Republic recently turned down a US request to set up a detention centre on its territory.

"The negotiations took place around a month ago," he was quoted as saying.

"The Americans 'made an effort to install something of the sort here, but they did not succeed'."

Separately, Hungary's intelligence chief, Andras Toth, said Budapest had not been approached, telling AFP, "the mere suggestion of this is absurd".