By Paul Taylor
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Officially it was all smiles when U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met the 25 foreign ministers of the European Union on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly last week.
But a pointed exchange behind closed doors on methods of fighting terrorism between Rice and Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, highlighted transatlantic tensions lurking below the surface.
It began near the end of the meeting, according to one participant, when Tuomioja said ministers were bound to be asked if they had discussed the issue of secret Central Intelligence Agency prisons for suspected terrorists and "rendition flights" to transfer prisoners to states where they may face torture.
Since the matter was not on the official agenda, he suggested they should all agree to say it had not been discussed and that they had agreed on all the points on the agenda.
According to the participant, Rice responded by saying all countries must keep up the fight against terrorism, noting that the discovery of an alleged plot in Britain last month to blow up transatlantic aircraft showed the persistent danger.
Tuomioja replied:
"We all agree on the need to fight terrorism but we should do so in a way that does not create more terrorism in the future."Rice shot back:
"Let's deal with those who are trying to kill us now and leave the future for some other time."Unwilling to leave her the last word as the meeting broke up, Tuomioja added:
"The future is with us today."http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-09-25T171437Z_01_L25863099_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-EU-USA.xml&src=rssSo little vision, I am tried of her absolutes also