More than 80,000 held by US since 9/11 attacks

The US has detained more than 80,000 people in facilities from Afghanistan to Cuba since the attacks on the World Trade Center four years ago, the Pentagon said Nov. 17. The disclosure comes at a time of growing unease about Washington's treatment of prisoners in its "war on terror" and Europe's unknowing help in the CIA's practice of rendition. The Bush administration has defended the detentions from criticism by human rights organizations, saying the interrogation of suspected militants has been crucial in its attempt to dismantle terror networks. At least 14,500 people are in US custody in connection with the "war on terror," Pentagon officials in Washington and Baghdad said Nov. 17. Some 13,814 people are being held in Iraq and there are approximately 500 at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. But it was an even less visible aspect of the US's detention policy that was causing a furor in European capitals: the CIA practice of rendering terror suspects for interrogation to secret prisons in third countries. Washington faced mounting pressure to respond to reports of secret landings by private jets used by the CIA to transport terror suspects in at least six countries. "If these allegations turn out to be true, the crucial thing is whether these flights landed in the member states with or without the knowledge and approval of the authorities," Terry Davis, the Council of Europe's secretary general, said. The CIA has repeatedly declined to comment on reports that it has transported terror suspects through European countries. The practice has been widely condemned by human rights organizations for operating outside the scrutiny of the courts and for transporting prisoners to countries known to use torture. Spain, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland are all reported to have served as stop-overs for such flights. The revelations have deepened disquiet about European collaboration with the more disturbing aspects of the US "war on terror." This month it was reported that the CIA had situated two of its secret prisons in Romania and Poland. The council, which has named a Swiss senator, Dick Marty, to investigate the allegations, called for US cooperation with the inquiry.