Polemics between Pentagon and the Red Cross strengthens

The Pentagon denies that it hides any terrorism suspects from the International Committee of the Red Cross. Defense Department spokesman could not comment whether other U.S. agencies might be doing so.

"I can say that ICRC has access to all detainee operations under our control," said Larry Di Rita, chief spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. "And beyond that, I'm just not prepared to discuss it," Seattle Post Intelligencer reports.

Earlier this week, the Red Cross oficials claimed, that U.S. officials are detaining terror suspect at undisclosed locations around the world, avoiding access to the International Committee of the Red Cross, a spokeswoman for the Geneva-based aid organization said.

According to Bloomberg, the Red Cross hasn't had access to a "certain number" of detainees identified as arrested on the Web site of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or in media reports, said Antonella Notari, a Red Cross spokeswoman, declining to provide an estimate.

"We can't say if these undisclosed detentions constitute a breach of the Geneva Convention, since we don't know if they were arrested as part of an international armed conflict," Notari said. "Some may, some may not." The Geneva Convention only provides the Red Cross with automatic access to prisoners of wars.