Chimp's Shoe Lady Tells EU "GFYS"

By Number Six

Sunday, December 04, 2005 at 04:36 PM

My, my, my. And we thought UN ambassador Bolton had all the charm of a Klingon?....

Yep. The Prez's SOS, The Shoe Lady seems to be attempting to tell members of the European Union to...ahem... "back off". Back off on what? Oh, gee, stuff like.....using someone else's airspace for........???

Our friends at The Guardian explain and well:

(All bold face is my doing...)

"US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will inflame the transatlantic row over America's alleged torture of terror suspects in secret jails by telling Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and other European officials to 'back off'."

-Oh, those Brits, being so polite, of course...

"Rice, who arrives in Brussels tomorrow for a meeting with Nato foreign ministers, has been under pressure to respond to claims the US has been using covert prisons in Eastern Europe to interrogate Islamic militants. Human rights groups have alleged the CIA is flying terror suspects to secret jails in planes that have used airports throughout Europe, including Britain."

-Do what?? We're using our buddies to scoot terror suspects around? Using their airspace? Without permission? What were we thinking?? Secret prisons? What is this???

"Rice's refusal to answer detailed questions on what has become known as 'extraordinary rendition' will anger many in Europe. Last week Straw wrote to Rice asking for clarification about some 80 flights by CIA planes that have passed through the UK. European politicians and human rights groups claim the flights and use of a network of secret jails breach international law."

-Uh-oh! BUSTED!!!!!!!!!

"State Department officials have hinted that Rice's response to Straw and other European ministers will remind them of their 'co-operation' in the war on terror."

-Read: Mafia-style arm-twisting...

"She is expected to make a public statement today stressing that the US does not violate allies' sovereignty or break international law."

-And if my grandmother had wings, she'd be a 747....

"She will also remind people their governments are co-operating in a fight against militants who have bombed commuters in London and Madrid."

-Oh, yes, let's not stop using this for the zillionth time to create fear, guilt and...hmm...pity?

"Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern said Rice told him in Washington she expected allies to trust that America does not allow rights abuses."

-True! No rights,no abuses!

"An unnamed European diplomat who had contact with US officials over the handling of the scandals told Reuters yesterday: 'It's very clear they want European governments to stop pushing on this... They were stuck on the defensive for weeks, but suddenly the line has toughened up incredibly.'"

-Unfortunately, the EU seems to have a better grasp of the definition of the word "civility"....

"Andrew Tyrie, the Conservative MP who will be chairing a Commons committee of MPs along with Menzies Campbell, Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, has said Rice needs to make a clear statement. She 'does not seem to realise that for a large section of Washington and European opinion, the Bush administration is in a shrinking minority of people that has not grasped that lowering our standards [on human rights] makes us less, not more, secure'."

-Unless you're one of the 30 percent of those who think Fox is news, right? A Sean Hannity fan? Or Anne Coulter?

"The row is set to escalate in Washington itself, as a US civil rights group says it is taking the CIA to court to stop the transportation of terror suspects to countries outside US legal authority.

The American Civil Liberties Union says the intelligence agency has broken both US and international law. It is acting for a man allegedly flown to a secret CIA prison in Afghanistan."

-At least the ACLU has it right: It is not okay if WE do it, even for reasons of national security.

"In Britain, human rights group Liberty is to table an amendment to the Civil Aviation Bill that would oblige the Home Secretary to force any aircraft travelling through UK airspace suspected of extraordinary rendition to land and be searched by police and customs."

-Or make them change course and go bother someone else's airspace...

"Straw is also facing calls to allow MPs and human rights groups access to Diego Garcia, the British island in the Indian Ocean being used as a US military base. It has long been suspected that the island has been used to hold or transfer terror suspects to secret US jails."

-So, what does all this mean?

Simple: We're not the best at lying, and too, hard to say if we're any good at breaking arms to get our way. Obviously, the EU, and other British politicos, aside from Blair, are taking the high road: The end result doesn't always justify such means.

And yes, we have real idiots in charge, and what's so bad? They believe their own hype.

Yeah, it's hard to say which is worse, eh?

-#6