The Associated Press reports the European Union's antiterrorism coordinator says investigations into reports that US agents shipped prisoners through European airports to secret detention centers have produced no evidence of illegal CIA activities:
''We've heard all kinds of allegations, impressions; we've heard also refutations. It's up to your committee to weigh if they are true. It does not appear to be proven beyond reasonable doubt," he said. ''There has not been, to my knowledge, evidence that these illegal renditions have taken place."[. . .]
De Vries told the committee no EU-US agreement authorized secret renditions of terror suspects, that hundreds of CIA flights did not occur over Europe as reported by various media organizations, and that he has no news of European countries using intelligence obtained under torture.
The New York Times reminds us that "many European nations were outraged after an article in The Washington Post in November cited unidentified intelligence officials as saying that the C.I.A. had maintained detention centers for terrorism suspects in eight countries, including some in Eastern Europe.
The story earned the Washington Post's Dana Priest a Pulitzer Prize.
In addition to the international uproar caused by Priest's article, government officials have said it did significant damage to relationships between the U.S. and allied intelligence agencies. You likely recall that because of Priest's article, in December Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had to remind our European allies that the United State does not violate allies' sovereignty or break international law, and that Europeans that their governments are also fighting against terrorists who have bombed commuters in Madrid and London.
It is ironic that the European Union official announces there is no evidence to support the allegations of illegal CIA activities just as the a CIA officer is fired for leaking information NBC News reported pertained to stories on the CIA’s rumored secret prisons in Eastern Europe and was allegedly provided to Dana Priest.
Some bloggers, such as Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters and Rick Moran at Right Wing Nuthouse, are wondering whether the CIA European detention center story may have been a sting designed to identify the leaker.
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