Reaction to Council of Europe CIA report

Reactions to Dick Marty’s report to the Council of Europe have been varied. A former British minister for Europe dismissed it as “having more holes than a Swiss cheese”. Others said it had added nothing new to the debate. Green member of the European Parliament, Kathalijne Buitenweg, who has taken part in that institution’s own inquiry into rendition and torture said:

“There seems also to be a problem that the USA has a different definition of torture than we have. They believe that torture is OK as long as you don’t cut off somebody’s leg. I think that our definition is a bit more limited”.

One of the first to blow the whistle on the secret flights and prisons was the NGO Human Rights Watch. Spokesman John Sifton said:

“So far there has been very little accountability for the abuses in Iraq, in Afghanistan, as far as abuses involving CIA renditions and secret prisons”.

Swiss senator Marty is due to present his final report to the Council of Europe in March, by which time he hopes to have gathered more evidence from all the countries concerned.

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