Monday, December 19 2005 10:11 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday (Dec 18,2005) said that European leaders should not be shocked by reports that the American Government moves terror suspects from one country to another.

Powell, in an interview to Sir David Frost for the BBC World TV channel also described his disappointment with the failings of US intelligence on Iraq and his arguments with Defense Secretary Donad Rumsfeld over the campaign.

"The practice, known as rendition, is neither new nor unknown in Europe," Powell said of the recently highlighted practice of moving people to places where they are not covered by US law.

Recently his successor, Condoleezza Rice, was forced to defend the practice during a trip to Europe.

Rice had said rendition was a decades-old instrument used by the United States when local Governments could not detain or prosecute a suspect, and traditional extradition was not an option.

"In such cases, that Government could make a sovereign choice to cooperate in a rendition, "she said.

A number of countries where flights allegedly stopped have said they were unaware of their land being used.

Powell said, "Most of our European friends cannot be shocked that this kind of thing takes place. The fact that we have, over the years, had procedures in place that would deal with people who are responsible for terrorist activities, or suspected of terrorist activities, and so the thing that is called rendition is not something that is new or unknown to my European friends."