United States: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Blackburn yesterday and said that America had no desire to be "the world's jailer".
On the opening day of her controversial visit to the north-west as guest of British foreign secretary Jack Straw, she insisted that the US remained committed to justice and the rule of law.
But in a keynote speech, delivered at Ewood Park, home of Mr Straw's beloved Blackburn Rovers, she warned that the Bush administration would be judged "harshly" at home if it released detainees who went on to commit terrorist atrocities.
A relaxed-looking Ms Rice shrugged of the attentions of anti-war demonstrators who dogged her visit with a series of noisy but generally well-ordered protests.
However, while she acknowledged that the US might have made "thousands" of "tactical errors" in Iraq, she also mounted a tough defence of Washington's war on terrorism.
In an apparent reference to the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, she insisted that the US remained committed to the rule of law. "We do not tolerate either at home or abroad engagement in acts of torture.
"We also have no desire to be the world's jailer. We want the terrorists that have been captured to stand trial for their crimes," she said.
"But we also recognise that we are fighting a cunning enemy and our citizens will judge us harshly if we release a captured terrorist before we are absolutely certain that he does not possess information that could prevent a further attack or, even worse, commits terrorism again."
And she signalled that the US would not pull out its troops from Iraq in the face of continuing attacks by insurgents opposed to the American-led coalition.
"I think it would be wrong somehow to leave Iraq to the mercy of the Zarqawis of the world or former Baathists who really do want to unravel the political process," she said.
Mr Straw also strongly defended the invasion of Iraq, but at the same time emphasised the importance of respecting human rights in the fight against terrorism. "If we are to persuade others to subscribe to these values then our own commitment to them must be consistent," he said.
- (Reuters)