Bush's Prison Revelations Irks Europe

GENEVA -- President Bush's confirmation of secret CIA prisons re-ignited controversy Thursday _ with European lawmakers demanding the exact locations and other critics saying the system tacitly approves torture.

A top European investigator accused the White House of hiding the truth, though Bush found some support in Australia.

The international Red Cross welcomed the transfer of high-level terror suspects to the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying Thursday it planned to check on them "very soon" but reiterating its desire to visit all detainees in the U.S. war on terror wherever they may be held.

"We will very soon _ in the coming days _ carry out a visit and verify ourselves who was there, how many were there and who they are," said chief spokeswoman Antonella Notari.

"We do remain concerned and attentive about any persons still detained at the present time in secret locations or who might be detained incommunicado in the future," she said.

European lawmakers condemned the existence of secret prisons and demanded to know their locations.

"We cannot condone the existence of secret prisons," said Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who pulled his country's troops out of Iraq in 2004, said: "The fight against terrorism can only be done through democracy and respect for the law. It is not compatible with the existence of secret prisons."

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, visiting Zapatero in Madrid on Thursday, agreed.

"I cannot believe that there can be a trade between the effective fight against terrorism and protection of civil liberties," he said. "If as individuals we are asked to give up our freedom, our liberties, our human rights, as protection against terrorism, do we in the end have protection?"

Dick Marty, the Swiss senator who heads the Council of Europe's investigation into whether European governments collaborated in the secret prison program, said: "There is more, much more to be revealed."

"I have always been certain that these prisons existed, so I am not surprised," he told The Associated Press.