US slams 'frenzy of paranoia' over prisoner flights

Key points

• US Scottish consul says allegations on extraordinary rendition are baseless

• Cecile Shea says accusers wish to tarnish America’s reputation

• Ms Shea says detractors always ignore US philanthropy toward other nations

Key quote

"The fact is that the Secretary of State [Condoleezza Rice] has said that we do not move terrorist suspects to third countries in order for them to be tortured, and I take her word for it. I have no reason not to believe it" - Cecile Shea

Story in full THE United States has accused its critics of indulging in a "frenzy of paranoia" over the movement of prisoners around Europe.

Cecile Shea, the US consul in Scotland, said a small group of people in Europe were determined to use "baseless allegations" to tarnish her country's reputation.

The US has been accused of using European airports as stopping-off points during the movement of prisoners to third countries, a process known as extraordinary rendition. There have been claims that those third countries practise torture to extract information, and last Thursday, the European Parliament announced an investigation.

The US has refused to confirm or deny the allegations, but, in an exclusive interview with The Scotsman, Ms Shea said the furore over the alleged use of British airports - including Glasgow and Prestwick - by aircraft operated by, or on behalf of, the CIA was misplaced.

"There is this almost frenzy of paranoia that every plane that is passing through Prestwick must have something illegitimate going on, and the fact is that we don't think that any of those planes have anything illegitimate going on and, indeed, most of them have absolutely nothing to do with intelligence," she said. "I will say that there seems to be a very small group of people in Europe who will criticise us no matter what we do and who are not afraid to use baseless allegations against us.

Ms Shea went on: "I think that the underlying thing that has been lost in this controversy is what we are trying to do. We are trying to prevent another 9/11 or 7/7 and we believe that we have already prevented terrorist attacks against our citizens and against your citizens."

She said unwarranted assumptions were being made about every US government flight into Scotland. However, she said she could not confirm or deny the claims that some were involved in extraordinary renditions.

"The fact is that our co-operation with the various European and Middle Eastern and with all the intelligence agencies around the world is saving people's lives, which is what our goal is against a very dangerous enemy," she said, adding: "We haven't engaged in any behaviour that is illegal. Everything we have done has been consistent with international law."

But Ms Shea ruled out allowing British officials on to American flights to check them, arguing that the US did not carry out such checks on the aircraft of other countries using its airbases to refuel.

The US has come under sustained pressure from around the world over the allegations surrounding its handling of terrorism suspects, but Ms Shea said she believed the level of public antipathy towards her country had been overstated.

"I think that there are a small number of people who make a lot of noise about not trusting the US and not liking the US right now, but I do not think that represents the majority, certainly in Scotland; that is not my experience," she said. "People have a right to complain; people have a right to ask questions. What I think we need to ask ourselves is, 'Do people have any factual basis for these allegations?' and the answer is 'no'."

She said the reality was that most people understood that the US was involved in an unconventional war with a very dangerous group of people.

"I don't think we are rewriting the rules, but I do think that some traditional concepts do not apply when dealing with non-state combatants," Ms Shea said.

It was not possible, she went on, to deal with the terrorists in a conventional way. "Who do we negotiate a peace treaty with right now? What country are we actually trying to defeat? There is no country - there is a loosely knit group of individuals who basically hate everything that we stand for and have stated that they want to destroy our way of life," she said.

Ms Shea said it would be a mistake to worry about how to make the more vocal critics of the US love the country. Instead, her nation's first priority was to protect its citizens and those of its allies, adding that the UK still ranked as the US's "most important ally". She said: "I think in the long term people will respect that and will appreciate it, and whether or not people respect or appreciate it today or yesterday or right at this very second, we really can't waste too much energy being concerned about that."

However, she did express some irritation at the way the US is perceived by the rest of the world, citing its humanitarian work in Africa as an example of positive action going unrecognised.

"We don't get credit for the enormous amount of money that we are investing in Africa right now, in terms of fighting AIDS, in terms of treating AIDS patients, in terms of building schools, in terms of educating, particularly women and children," she said.

"It is an enormous amount of money and, yes, we have an enormous economy and we should be investing that sort of money in the health of the world's poorest countries, but when you read what some people said in the press, a person would think that we are not spending a dime."

Instead, she said, critics preferred to misrepresent the US response to climate change talks.

"I think part of the reaction to the US on climate change is sometimes a little bit self-serving and naive," she said.

Ms Shea defended her government's approach, arguing that if, through a commitment to fighting global warming, the US wrecked its economy, that would have a knock-on effect around the world which would cause even greater suffering.

"In the end, by protecting our economy, we also are helping the world. But no-one looks at it that way," she said.

"What happens if there were to be a major global economic downturn? What do you think the mood of all the populations in the world would suddenly be to conservation and working on climate change? I think there would be a really negative reaction to the decisions that have been made and we want to avoid that."