[JURIST] The European Parliament [official website], which has launched an investigation [press release; JURIST report] into allegations [JURIST report] that the CIA illegally operated secret jails in Romania and Poland and covertly flew detainees through Italy, Germany and Poland, said on Thursday that it may request US Vice President Dick Cheney [official profile] and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld [official profile] to testify before the committee. MEP Sarah Ludford [official profile], vice-president of the committee, confirmed that the parliament has no legal authority to subpoena the US officials, but she also posited that refusal to testify would allow the 46-member committee, which appointed officers [EP press release] on Thursday, to "draw conclusions" about the alleged US human rights violations. The US government has defended its actions as proper [JURIST report] despite accusations from Human Rights Watch and other organizations that the US operated the prisons and ordered extraordinary renditions [JURIST news archive]. AP has more.