‘No desire to be world’s jailer’
On the opening day of her visit to the north-west of England as guest of Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, she insisted that the US remained committed to the rule of law.
But in a keynote speech, delivered at the 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.
“No one should ever doubt the United States’ commitment to justice and the rule of law,” she said.
“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.
“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 certain that he does not possess information that could prevent a further attack or, even worse, commit terrorism again.”
On the issue of Iraq, Ms Rice acknowledged during a question and answer session with the audience at Ewood Park that the US had made mistakes.
“I know we have made tactical errors, thousands of them I am sure,” she said.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
