Rice Defends U.S. Terrorism Policy

Fighting terrorism is "a two-way street" and Europeans are safer for tough but legal U.S. tactics, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday in response to an outcry among allies about reports of secret CIA prisons and detainee mistreatment.

The top U.S. diplomat went further than others in the Bush administration to insist that Americans do not practice torture or lesser forms of cruel treatment.

"Our people, wherever they are, are operating under U.S. law and U.S. international obligations," Rice said. She said that includes the U.N. Convention Against Torture, a document the administration has previously said does not fully apply to Americans overseas.

Rice delivered the Bush administration's most forceful response to a month of growing trans-Atlantic acrimony as she prepared to spend the week among critics in European capitals.

"Some governments choose to cooperate with the United States" in intelligence and other arenas, Rice said before she left for Europe. "That cooperation is a two-way street. We share intelligence that has helped protect European countries from attack, saving European lives."

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