U.S. Warns Against EU's CIA Flight Probe (Jan Sliva)

  A senior U.S. administration official on Wednesday warned that ongoing inquiries into secret CIA activities in the European Union may undermine intelligence cooperation between the United States and European nations.

  By JAN SLIVA

  Feb. 28, 2007 -- BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- A senior U.S. administration official on Wednesday warned that ongoing inquiries into secret CIA activities in the European Union may undermine intelligence cooperation between the United States and European nations.

  The European Parliament accused Britain, Poland, Italy and other nations in mid-February of colluding with the CIA to transport terror suspects to clandestine prisons in third countries.

  In a report that concluded a yearlong investigation, the parliament identified 1,254 secret CIA flights that entered the European airspace since the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States.

  It said that these flights were against international air traffic rules and suggested some of them may have carried terror suspects on board in violation of human rights principles.

  John Bellinger, legal adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, called the European Parliament report ``unbalanced, inaccurate and unfair'' and called on the EU governments to challenge the suggestion that Europeans need to be concerned about secret CIA flights.

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