The extraordinary renditions are "probably indispensable", said the State Department Legal Advisor John Bellinger when he met a delegation of members of the European Parliament in Washington, DC.
Claudio Flava, the rapporteur, announced that "senior sources from the US intelligence community confirmed that between 30 to 50 extraordinary rendition operations have been undertaken since 2001".
The delegation also obtained confirmation of "the existence of seven black sites operated in countries of Asia, Europe and Africa". One is said to be operational still, in a North African country.
That is more detailed confirmation than the US Senate ever published. And yet another interesting topic for the upcoming hearings for the confirmation of Michael Hayden as CIA director.