If President Bush thought that he could simply announce that he'd closed the "CIA secret prisons", dust his hands, and forget about the whole matter - well, Europe has just a bit of a problem with that.
A little problem of international law.
CNN:Reveal secret prisons, EU tells U.S.
. . .The location of these prison camps must be made public," said German Socialist Wolfgang Kreissl-Doerfler, who sits on a special EU assembly committee investigating the CIA's alleged operation of secret prisons in Europe.
"We need to know if there has been any complicity in illegal acts by governments of EU countries or states seeking EU membership."
The Europeans have a vested interest in finding out which countries have flouted international law, since some of the suspects are among countries attempting to gain EU membership. And since Europe rather depends on its members adhering to the law, a serious violation like this could derail a membership application.
A few more choice bits:
The EU parliament's investigation's deputy leader, British Liberal Democrat Sarah Ludford, said Bush's admission "exposes not only his own previous lies. He also exposes to ridicule those arrogant government leaders in Europe who dismissed as unfounded our fears about extraordinary rendition."
"Kidnapping people and torturing them in secret, however tempting the short-term gain may appear to be, is what criminals do, not democratic governments," said Rene van der Linden, president of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, which conducted the investigation.