Asked about the fate of Khaled Masri, the Lebanese-born German citizen allegedly held by the CIA for five months, Merkel said in Berlin: "We talked about that one particular case, a case where the U.S. government has admitted that it made a mistake."

Masri has become the poster boy of the so-called rendition program the U.S. intelligence agency allegedly uses to move terror suspects around the world for interrogation.

The man was abducted near the Macedonian border and moved to a prison in Afghanistan. After he was held there for five months and -- according to his statements -- tortured, he was released because the CIA noticed it had the wrong man.

Rice refused to talk specifics regarding the case of Masri, but said the United States may make mistakes in its war on terrorism.

"We recognize any policy will sometimes result in errors, and when that happens, we will do everything we can to rectify them," Rice said in Berlin at the start of her tour through Europe, which remains clouded by allegations of secret CIA prisons and rendition flights in several European countries.

Rice told reporters Washington did not condone torture and acted in accordance with its international obligations, but added her administration would stay firm in the fight against terror.

"We face an enemy that operates from within our society and that is intent -- not by collateral damage -- intent to kill innocent people," she said. "We have an obligation to defend our people and we will use every lawful means to do so."

Masri's case has caused uproar in Germany, especially after the Washington Post Sunday reported that then U.S. ambassador to Berlin, Daniel Coats, told former German Interior Minister Otto Schily about Masri's wrongful abduction by the United States and asked him to keep quiet about it.

German politicians have speculated that high-ranking members of the last government, including former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the current foreign minister who then headed the chancellery, were also informed.

Merkel said close intelligence cooperation was necessary and a "good way to fight a new enemy," but said that had to be done in accordance with German laws.

Rice said intelligence had saved many lives in the United States and in Europe, adding that such intelligence had to be kept secret to remain effective.

"We can't go public about all the details, but we need a certain level of transparency," Merkel said, adding that she had asked Steinmeier to deliver a full report on his knowledge of the Masri case to a parliamentary control body overseeing the German intelligence services.

Its findings will stay classified, Gero Neugebauer, political expert at Berlin's Free University, Tuesday told United Press International in a telephone interview.

"The members of the body have obligations to keep all information top secret," he said. "It's the minimal way Merkel can take to keep the parliament informed."

That could be seen as a friendly gesture to the U.S. government, which had hoped for better ties with Berlin's new left-right coalition government after a rift over the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

Merkel, who last month was elected Germany's first female chancellor, is currently trying to manage foreign policy as Germany experiences its first potentially terrorism-related abduction in Iraq.

Rice gave Merkel the guarantee of assistance to find and free Susanne Osthoff, who was kidnapped 12 days ago, using U.S. intelligence on the ground in Iraq. So far, Berlin hasn't succeeded in tracing her.

The news conference was delayed for nearly 30 minutes for more private discussion between the two. It did not reveal whether Merkel and Rice talked about the 437 CIA flights that have reportedly used German airspace or landed on German airbases.

Merkel and Rice said they touched on several issues, including the importance of NATO, the conflict over Iran's nuclear program and democratic development around the world, especially in Europe.

Rice said she hoped for favorable development in Belarus, "where the last dictator of Europe resides."

During her tour, Rice is set to face difficult questions regarding whether the CIA runs secret prisons in Eastern Europe. On Wednesday, she will be in Bucharest, Romania, a country which reportedly hosted such a prison. Both the United States and the alleged host countries have denied that secret prisons exist on their territory.

Amid the allegations, Merkel vowed to improve relations with Washington in the future, calling for a different tone in the trans-Atlantic partnership.

"If questions and problems occur, we want to face these in an open, honest, but friendly way."

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