Rice Clarifies Interrogation Rules

Sec. Of State: Same Standards For U.S. Personnel At Home And Abroad

(CBS/AP)  The secretary of state spoke during a press conference Wednesday with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko in his nation's capital, Kiev. Rice's visit was intended, in part, to bolster Yushchenko a year after he came to power in a popular revolution.

Yushchenko said that they discussed energy projects that U.S. companies might participate in, as well as joint efforts to combat bird flu. Ukraine recorded its first case of bird flu on Saturday.

He said that Ukraine is looking forward to the visit next year of the head of NASA, saying it should lead to the signing of an agreement on air and space cooperation.

Yushchenko said he and Rice also discussed "common views on what Ukraine has managed to do on speeding up its" admission to the World Trade Organization. He said the two discussed technical issues pertaining to Ukraine's WTO ambitions and "we hope that the American side will take a positive view."

CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips reports the U.S. has been accused by human rights groups of transporting detainees to secret prison camps, including one at a remote Soviet-era airbase in Romania. Rice, while denying the torture, effectively confirmed that the camps do exist, and that foreign governments know about and benefit from them

"That cooperation is a two-way street. We share intelligence that has helped protect European countries from attack, helping save European lives," Rice said Tuesday.

The accusers have been gathering evidence from eyewitness sightings and air-traffic logs. They say hundreds of planes, said to be operated by CIA cover companies, have been transporting suspected terrorists around Europe in so-called rendition flights, so the detainees could be interrogated and perhaps tortured for information.

Rice's torture denial has not satisfied the critics.

"The administration's definition of torture is extremely fleeting," John Sifton of Human Rights Watch said.

The U.S. may have hoped to diffuse a hot political issue, but Rice can expect to hear about torture and prison camp allegations on her trip all week. The administration says its treatment of detainees may be distasteful to some, but it's not illegal, and they say, it's necessary.