Old Europe Doesn't Like It

Earlier today I blogged on Dana Priest's extraordinary article in the Washington Post detailing the current CIA use of 'renditions'. Since a lot of the rendition activity takes place on European soil, even if only tangentially, I was pretty sure some of the EU countries would have opinions on the practice. I was right. Here is an opinion piece from NRC Handelsblad.

The imbroglio over alleged CIA prisons in Europe and secret air transports of suspected terrorists is starting to take on alarming new forms. Alarming in the sense that even today, there is still no clarity regarding the facts. The Americans are to blame for this in the first place. Washington's stalling about offering a clarification raises a fundamentally simple question: are the rumors about transports and secret detention centers true?

This secret hullabaloo, the lack of clarity, announced investigations and the threat of sanctions – all this is again putting enormous pressure on diplomatic ties between Europe and the United States. This is undesirable. It threatens to derail our common goal: effective and, wherever possible, collective eradication of terrorism. It may very well be that due to differences in vision and approach, a "collective approach" is not feasible. But that must be clearly stated.

Friendly nations must have the maneuvering space to settle confidential issues within their relationship. That type of maneuvering space has always been present in the American-European relationship. It is possible, however, that under the guise of the "war on terrorism," values are being "stretched" and mutual trust is being abused. That would be counterproductive and would be a reason to ring the largest possible diplomatic alarm bell. Right now, the ball is in Washington’s court. [Emphasis added]

The rather polite language in this editorial still conveys the message that at least The Netherlands expects some answers from Secretary of State Rice when she visits Europe this week. Early indications are that Ms. Rice will not be so forthcoming.

Unfortunately, the current regime does not have the same working relationship with those nations Defense Secretary Rumsfield derided as "Old Europe," a relationship that has been crucial since World War II. Perhaps someone should remind the current American government where The Hague is located.