Why the CIA Detainee Issue Dogged Condi in Europe
Condoleezza Rice’s visit to Europe this week was overshadowed by criticism of the CIA’s alleged use of clandestine flights and bases in Europe to transport and imprison terror suspects. But there was one welcome respite: When the Secretary of State touched down in the small former communist state of Romania to announce that the U.S. would be opening four new military bases there, she was greeted with open arms. “The acceptance by the Romanian people of the American military presence is the most precious thing to have happened in the relations between our two states,” the pugnacious Prime Minister, Traian Basescu, said during the visit, before promising that Romania’s tiny contingent in Iraq would stand by the U.S. as “long as it takes.” One newspaper called the base announcement the most positive development in Romania since World War II. Another editorialized that that it was a “gift” that Romanians had “awaited with more anxiety than the arrival of Saint Nicholas.”
The gushing reviews come after several years of negotiations in which the Pentagon has sought to pare down its larger presence on bases in Western Europe in exchange for smaller outposts, or a “lighter footprint” as one Pentagon official said, in the new democracies of Eastern Europe. The new bases have the virtue, in Washington’s view, of being both more flexible and closer to current hot spots in the Middle East and Central Asia. Romanians are also, for the most part, happy to see more U.S. boots on the ground, which would not be true of U.S. allies in Western Europe. With a watchful eye on Russia and Vladimir Putin’s increasingly authoritarian regime, Romanians are both grateful to the U.S. for its support during the Cold War and anxious for the additional security that could come with enhanced military ties.
More: time.com
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DW-WORLD readers have their say about allegations that the US runs secret jails for suspected terrorists in Europe and Asia.
The following comments reflect the views of our readers. Not all reader comments have been published. DW-WORLD reserves the right to edit for length and appropriateness of content.
I strongly believe that the rumors are correct about secret prisons run by the CIA. The Americans have demonstrated in the past time and time again that while preaching "democracy" they violate the principles whenever it suits them. And all in the name of democracy. -- haymohenry
I don't have hard evidence, but everything suggests
