Europe colluded in CIA prisoner moves

Fourtteen European countries colluded in or tolerated the secret transfer of terrorist suspects by the US.

And two of them -- Poland and Romania -- may have harboured CIA detention centres, according to a report from the Council of Europe.

``It is now clear -- although we are still far from establishing the whole truth -- that authorities in several European countries actively participated with the CIA in these unlawful activities, the report says. ``Other countries ignored them knowingly, or did not want to know.''

The report lists Britain, Sweden, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Italy, Macedonia, Germany and Turkey as countries ``responsible, at varying degrees

Seven other countries ``could be held responsible for collusion -- active or passive'': Poland, Romania, Spain, Cyprus, Ireland, Portugal and Greece.

Drawn up by Swiss parliamentarian Dick Marty, the report identifies a ``spider's web'' of landing points around the world used by US authorities for ``extraordinary rendition'' -- the undercover transfer of security suspects to third countries or US-run detention centres.

``The US ... actually created this reprehensible network. But we also believe ... it is only through the intentional or grossly negligent collusion of the European partners that this web was able to spread also over Europe,'' the report says.

Source: Australian, The, JUN 08, 2006