Rice, in Bucharest Today

The controversy regarding the CIA planes and the visit of Condoleeza Rice in more European capitals makes the headline of the international press. Nadia Comaneci will welcome Rice in Bucharest.

Transporting and constraining Islamist suspects in secret prisons around Europe won’t be taboo subjects in the European tour of State Secretary Condoleeza Rice. This is what the national security secretary general, Stephen Hadley, says. Rice "will take on these issues globally", Hadley said, adding that the Head of the American Diplomacy would emphasize the fact that the terrorism threat regards everyone.

SILENCE. New York Times notes that Rice, who will be greeted in Bucharest even by great champion Nadia Comaneci herself, wants to set things right, but won’t admit the existence of the prisons. Right before her departure, the Head of the USA Diplomacy stated that everyone has to consider the difficult choices that the democratic Governments have to make, before considering the terrorist attacks to come. "These Governments and their citizens decide whether they want to cooperate with us to team up against the terrorism attacks on their own countries and the ones that decide about the significant information that goes public", Rice said.

ALLIES. The United States try to convince, during the European tour, that the use of a rather rough treatment on certain suspects is justified by the war against terrorism. In the same time, the USA authorities want to remind the entire world that they have allies in this war. "We cooperate with many countries. However, this cooperation is characterized by three elements. The first is that we abide by the American Constitution, laws and the treaties we had signed. Second, we always take into account the sovereignty of the countries we cooperate with. Third of all, we don’t take anyone in distant parts of the world in order to torture him", the National Security Secretary General of President George W. Bush repeated. The statement in Washington is not to calm things. It is parallel to the new disclosures of the European press, which confirms the existence of suspect flights and treks of American planes. The most recent example is an article from Italy’s Corriere della Serra, according to which the screening-planes that the CIA used for the "special airlifts" with prisoners to the headquarters outside the USA were involved in at least 17 secret missions in Italy after September 2011.

CRITICS. The debate continues in Great Britain as well. Here, a group of experts says London is guilty for breaking the international laws if they had allowed the CIA planes with prisoners to land on the British airports, even if it was only for fuel.