White House mum on secret jails

2005-11-02 22:23

Washington - The White House refused to comment on Wednesday on a report saying the central intelligence agency had been hiding and interrogating alleged al-Qaeda captives at secret prisons in Europe and elsewhere.

White House spokesperson Scott McClellan said: "I am not going into discussing any specific intelligence activities.

"I would say that the president's most-important responsibility is to protect the American people.

It's a responsibility he takes very seriously."

He was responding to a question about the Washington Post report.

"We're engaged in a global war on terrorism against Islamic militants who are determined to attack America and kill innocent men, women and children.

"And, we are going to continue to go after terrorist leaders who seek to do us harm and do all in our power to prevent attacks from happening in the first place," said McClellan.

Known to only a few

Citing United States and foreign officials familiar with the system, the Post reported on Wednesday that the secret CIA prisons, known as "black sites", were - or had been - located in eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and "several democracies in Eastern Europe".

For security reasons, the covert prison system was "known only to a handful of officials in the United States and, usually, only to the president and a few top intelligence officers in each host country", said the newspaper.

- AFP