Allegations that CIA flights through Europe carried people for torture are damaging transatlantic intelligence cooperation, a lawyer acting for the US State Department said today.
Speaking before heading the defence of US practices at the UN Committee against Torture in Geneva, John Bellinger reiterated Washington's position that it does not "outsource" torture nor transfer people to locations where they may be tortured.
Mr Bellinger was responding to a European Parliament inquiry which, while producing no firm evidence, concluded last month that more than 1,000 CIA flights passed through the EU and that the CIA had been responsible for several kidnappings on EU soil.
"The suggestion that intelligence flights are somehow engaged in illegal activity really undermines the co-operation between the United States and Europe," he told a news briefing.
A delegation of MEPs is due in Washington next week for a four-day visit as part of the European Parliament's investigation of allegations - which include claims that secret detention centres were operated by or on behalf of the US.
Mr Bellinger is among those they will meet. He said he did not know how many flights there had been, but the suggestion or implication that a large number had detainees aboard was "absurd".
"Someone needs to challenge that," he said. "It's not possible for the United States to prove a negative, but responsible European governments or responsible European officials simply need to say this has gotten out of hand.
"There is no evidence for the suggestion or implication that however many flights there have been, that they have all got detainees on them or that an intelligence flight is engaged in some sort of improper activity."
He said there had been "very few" cases of renditions but declined to provide details.