WASHINGTON, D.C. May 24, 2007 — Since September 11, 2001, U.S. counterterrorism and military assistance — including what critics argue are "extralegal" policies and practices that include "extraordinary renditions" — has strained transatlantic relations, according to a series of investigations by the Center for Public Integrity's International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

Both Poland and Romania have sent troops to Iraq, assisted U.S. anti-terrorism policies by detaining terrorism suspects and faced criticism by European Union government investigators for their involvement in a CIA program of secret prisons and extraordinary renditions — the CIA’s controversial program of transferring suspected terrorists to foreign countries known to use torture for interrogation, without any legal due process.

The Center’s ongoing series, “Collateral Damage,” found that, post-9/11 countries, such as Poland and Romania, have made concerted efforts to curry favor with the U.S. by supporting the Bush administration’s anti-terrorism policies. In the three years before 9/11, Poland received just over $33 million in U.S. military training and assistance. Three years after, the amount was nearly tenfold, more than $300 million in mostly Coalition Support Funds to reimburse expenses incurred by Polish forces in Iraq, according to ICIJ’s database of military training and assistance. Since 1998, Romania has received more than $100 million in U.S. military aid, primarily from the Foreign Military Financing program, which provides grants to buy U.S. military equipment and services.

ICIJ investigations revealed that some countries receiving record amounts of U.S. military aid after the 9/11 attacks also have been associated with extraordinary renditions, which human rights advocates and legal scholars have argued violate international law. U.S. allies implicated in the program include Italy, Poland and Romania, with indictments against or arrest warrants issued for U.S. officials in Italy and Germany.

The fallout from these practices has damaged transatlantic relations, even among the most reliable of U.S. allies. “Renditions may become the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Julianne Smith, director of the Europe program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). “It makes it extremely difficult [for European governments] to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the U.S.”

On May 30 and 31, the Center will release its investigation into cases of foreign lobbying, extraordinary renditions and the human rights impact of U.S. post-9/11 military aid in the Middle East and Asia.

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