LONDON, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended the U.S. policy of rendition Tuesday, further details emerged of over 200 CIA flights through Britain.
The Guardian newspaper published full details of the flights, in aircraft owned or controlled by the CIA, through almost 20 British airports including Royal Air Force bases. Over 210 such flights have entered or left Britain since 9- 11, the newspaper alleged.
Human rights groups claim many of the flights are carrying terror suspects to countries where they are interrogated and often tortured on behalf of the United States. The Washington Post reported last month that the CIA is also operating a global network of secret prisons where they detain and interrogate suspects.
Rice, in response to inquiries from the European Union, acknowledged the practice of rendition but insisted the United States was operating within U.S. and international law and did not practice or condone torture.
However, British parliamentarians questioned the United States' definition of torture, and called on the government to come clean about the extent of its cooperation with the U.S. operations.
The all-party parliamentary group on extraordinary renditions was presented Monday night with a report by American legal academics which suggested that Britain may be breaking international law by "acquiescing" in torture.
Conservative parliamentarian Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the parliamentary committee, said the group would ask Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to give evidence, adding that it was "not prepared to put up with vacuous replies."
Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said Rice's admission was disingenuous. "What possible purpose is served by rendition other than to subject individuals to harsher treatment than would otherwise be the case?" he asked.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights group Liberty, described Rice's comments on torture as "ambiguous."
"There is no compromise between fighting terrorism and condemning torture, because torture will never make us safer," she said.
Liberty last week demanded that the British police and the foreign secretary investigate the alleged flights, and is planning to take legal action to force them to do so if they do not respond within 14 days.
