Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Ambassador Tuttle Lies about Syrian Rendition

GuardianUK: Robert Tuttle, a Beverly Hills car dealer and major donor to George Bush's re-election campaign, has been ambassador in London only since the summer, but he is proving to be accident-prone. Last month he vigorously denied Brit media reports that US forces used white phosphorus as a weapon in Iraq, only to be undercut by an admission from the Pentagon the next day. Now, Tuttle has more explaining to do: The US embassy in London was forced to issue a correction Monday to an interview given by the ambassador Tuttle, in which he claimed US would not fly suspected terrorists to Syria, which has 1 of the worst torture records in the Middle East. A statement acknowledged media reports of a suspect taken from the US to Syria. Asked by the BBC if the US dumped suspects in Syria, Tuttle said: "I don't think there is any evidence that there have been any renditions carried out in the country of Syria. There is no evidence of that. And I think we have to take what Sec Rice says at face value. It is something very important, it is done very carefully and she has said we do not authorize, condone torture in any way, shape or form." A US embassy spokeswoman contacted the BBC on Friday to say the ambassador "recognized that there had been a media report of a rendition to Syria but reiterated that the US is not in a position to comment on specific allegations of intelligence activities that appear in the press".
Posted by Tina :: 12:26 AM :: 0 Comments:

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