Condi, credibility and the secret prisons

Re “Rice Warns Europe on Questioning U.S. Tactics,” Dec. 6

Anyone who believes Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s denial about secret CIA prisons probably believes that the United States invaded Iraq to spread democracy and destroy weapons of mass destruction. The credibility of this administration fades daily.

KIM RIGHETTI

Upland

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How can Rice tell us that the United States does not condone torture and does not practice “rendition” of prisoners to other countries? This assertion flies in the face of ongoing reports from victims and observers, as reported by media in the U.S. and worldwide.

To paraphrase TV newsman Ted Koppel, who asked Michael Brown [then director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency] when Brown claimed he had just learned about the disastrous effects of Hurricane Katrina: Don’t you read the papers or watch television?

LENORE NAVARRO DOWLING

Los Angeles

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I’m very concerned that the media are intent on trying to expose secret interrogation locations operated by the CIA all over the world, down to the flights and movements of individual suspects.

This appears to be a case of freedom of the press colliding with national security interests, and I would prefer that national security be the winner here, if you don’t mind.

The terrorists don’t play by the rules, so we need to minimize the handicap we give ourselves in order to effectively fight them.

FRANK SHOFNER

Mission Viejo