Doc. 11302 Report elsewhere – is accorded the same fundamental human rights we would expect to be accorded ourselves and which, moreover, we uphold for even the worst criminals. Not even war authorises conduct of any sort; for example, the Geneva Conventions, the cornerstone of international humanitarian law laying down the limits to the barbarity of war, also prohibit secret detention centres. 36. From the outset of my mandate as rapporteur on this issue, I have argued that transparency and accountability would in fact prove to be healthy for all the member states of the Council of Europe, not least for the countries which have hosted CIA “black sites”. 37. The perpetual cycle of allegations and unsubstantiated rumours since November 2005 has merely served to fuel mutual suspicion and distrust between our governments and peoples. The uncertainty has disrupted open political debate and provided an unwelcome distraction from the most urgent task of developing more viable democratic strategies to combat the growing terrorist threat in accordance with the rule of law. 38. Thus my decision to name the countries concerned should not be construed as an attempt to single out scapegoats or to drive a wedge between members of the European family. On the contrary, my investigations demonstrate clearly that responsibility is broadly shared on both sides of the Atlantic and on our continent. 39. From the very beginnings of the “war on terror” advocated by the United States, European governments could not ignore its true nature; all the members and partners of NATO signed up to the same “permissive” – not to say illegal – terms that allowed CIA operations to permeate throughout the European continent and beyond; all knew that CIA practices for the detention, transfer and treatment of terrorist suspects left open considerable scope for abuses and unlawful measures; yet all remained silent and kept the operations, the practices, their agreements and their participation secret. 40. Now it is time for the member states of the Council of Europe to muster a similar collective spirit in acknowledging the truth about the past and regrouping to face the considerable challenges to be faced in the future. The methods used not only proved to be of questionable usefulness, but above all they also gave a semblance of legitimacy to terrorist movements and even gave rise to some feeling of sympathy for them. 41. As Council of Europe rapporteur, I have talked persistently about my belief in the “dynamics of truth” – that each drop of truth will lead forward to another drop of truth, and that a steady trickle will ultimately develop into an irreversible flow. Seen in this regard, my report of June 2006, which mapped out the “global spider’s web” and exposed CIA “rendition circuits” for the first time, was but a small contribution to a pool of outstanding investigative work by journalists11and non-governmental organisations12that continues to grow to the present day. 11. In particular, I wish to recognise the following journalistic contributions, which depended on original investigative work to bring to light original facts and new dimensions to the global system of secret detentions and detainee transfers: Stephen Grey on extraordinary renditions and outsourcing of torture (see “America’s Gulag”, in The New Statesman, 17 May 2004; “United States Accused of Torture Flights”, in The Sunday Times, 14 November 2004; and “Les Etats-Unis inventent la delocalisation de la torture”, in Le Monde Diplomatique, April 2005); Dana Priest on CIA programmes, including secret detentions in Europe (“CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons – Debate is Growing within Agency about Legality and Morality of Overseas System set up after 9/11”, in The Washington Post, 2 November 2005; and “Foreign Network at Front of CIA’s Terror Fight – Joint Facilities in Two Dozen Countries account for bulk of Agency’s post-9/11 successes”, in The Washington Post, 18 November 2005); Jane Mayer on rendition policies, interrogation techniques and torture memos (“Outsourcing Torture: The secret history of America’s ‘extraordinary rendition’ programme”, in The New Yorker, 14 and 21 February 2005; “A Deadly Interrogation – Can the CIA legally kill a prisoner?” in The New Yorker, 14 November 2005; and “The Memo – How an internal effort to ban the abuse and torture of detainees was thwarted”, in The New Yorker, 27 February 2006); Brian Ross and Richard Esposito on enhanced interrogations and the clear-out of European sites (“CIA’s Harsh Interrogation Techniques Described – Sources Say Agency’s Tactics lead to Questionable Confessions, Sometimes to Death”, ABC News, 18 November 2005; and “Sources Tell ABC News Top AlQaeda Figures held in Secret CIA Prisons: 10 out of 11 Terror Leaders subjected to ‘Enhanced Interrogation Techniques’”, ABC News, 5 December 2005); Don Van Natta Jr. and Souad Mekhennet on the El-Masri case (“German’s Claim of Kidnapping brings Investigation of United States link”, in The New York Times, 9 January 2005); Nick Hawton on the cover-up regarding secret flights into Poland (“Chasing Shadows”, BBC Radio 4, 2 January 2007); and The Chicago Tribune on undeclared flights in both Poland and Romania (John Crewdson, “Elusive jet may hold clue to secret prisons – Mystery Gulfstream landed in Romania”, in The Chicago Tribune, 13 September 2006; and Tom Hundley, “Remote Polish airstrip holds clues to secret CIA flights”, 6 February 2007). 12. I am deeply grateful to all our allies in the non-governmental field, whose dedication to the cause and tireless support for my inquiry – much of it behind the scenes – has proven invaluable. For their professional approach throughout the last two years and for their reporting, research and representations too extensive to enumerate individually here, I wish to thank in particular: the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law, the Center for Constitutional 11