Ireland not secret transfer site - Rice
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-12-02 13:50

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Ireland on Thursday the United States had not used its territory to secretly transfer terrorism suspects to foreign states as she tried to defuse concerns over the handling of U.S. detainees.

With European allies and publics worried over reports the United States has been using the practice known as rendition in the region, the Bush administration has been under increasing pressure to explain its tactics against detainees.

Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern met Rice, who will visit Europe next week, and said she had repeated assurances by U.S. diplomats that Ireland's airport hub at Shannon had not been used for renditions.

"She confirmed that they were correct and that was their position in relation to the use, or non-use, of Shannon," Ahern told reporters after the meeting.

"It is fair to say that she very clearly said that the U.S. has not infringed international law in relation to human rights," he added.

But in a sign the United States will go increasingly on the offensive to combat European pressure over detainee scandals that have strained transatlantic ties, Rice made clear she wanted allies to back off and trust the United States.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (R) meets Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern at the State Department in Washington December 1, 2005. [Reuters]

A senior State Department official, who requested anonymity because he was relating a private conversation, said Rice pointedly did not make the assurance personal to Ahern because her message was: "You've gotten those assurances from the (U.S.) ambassador (to Ireland). You should have confidence in that."

Ahern also said Rice expected "others to believe that they would not ask American citizens to abuse human rights."

He said he accepted the U.S. assurances but offered to investigate any evidence of renditions and warned his government would "take action" if there were any.

Rice often transits on her own foreign trips through Shannon. Hundreds of planes carrying U.S. troops to and from Iraq have also refueled there stirring controversy in traditionally neutral Ireland.

Media reports say dozens of other U.S.-run flights have used the airport for unexplained reasons, raising speculation they could be transporting militant suspects.

The United States, whose security forces have abused detainees in Iraq, says renditions are legal.

Human rights groups question that interpretation of international law and say incommunicado detention can lead to torture.

Allegations of renditions and a newspaper report the CIA has run secret prisons in Europe have fueled widespread concern in the region over U.S. abuses in its war on terrorism.

The scandals have jeopardized some of the progress the Bush administration -- led by Rice -- has made in repairing ties with its traditional allies after disputes over the Iraq war.