Ah... Dicky, Dicky

The super sleuth for the Council of Europe, Dick Marty, came out snarling. First he accused the Europeans of having to know that the CIA was "renditioning" at will on their soil. Then he accused the US of soiling human rights with its CIA detention camps in Europe, which know one admits exists, although reports suggest they do. It was a teaser ahead of the Swiss lawmaker's first report for the Council of Europe, billed as Europe's most-storied defender of democracy. Well, on January 24, Marty came out with his initial report. It's most damning charge is that the US put more than 100 terror suspects through its "rendition" program in Europe. But he repeated his earlier charges, and Marty himself, poor guy, admitted he had no evidence. Well back in Washington, the US State Department had a field day with Marty's charges. Spokesman Sean McCormack branded Marty's allegations "bumper-sticker rhetoric." Obviously not meant ironically, McCormack also said the US does not torture. Remember Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo? Well obviously the White House and the Busheviks don't. This is interesting; from the AFP report on Marty's report, McCormack was asked whether European governments were informed of the CIA's activities in their territory. He refused to answer that one. Also on the CIA probe front, A special inquiry committee of the European Parliament says it'll press US and European foreign and defense ministers to testify on alleged CIA flights of terror suspects and secret prisons in Europe. Committee members, at their first session in Brussels, acknowledged they had no authority to summon ministers, but said they would use political pressure to uncover the truth. The 46 members picked the Portuguese conservative Carlos Miguel Coelho as their chairman. Most hearings would be open to the public, he said. In Berlin, the German parliament has called for basic human rights to be upheld in dealing with terror suspects. Indirectly, it also urge the United States to close its prison camp at Guantanomo on Cuba.