-----Original Message----- From: Brian Randell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2006 5:44 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Torture flights: what No 10 knew and tried to cover up
Hi Dave: The main front page story in today's (UK) Guardian, and one of the top stories on BBC Radio news today, is that of yet another leaked Government memo. >Torture flights: what No 10 knew and tried to cover up > >Leaked memo reveals strategy to deny knowledge of detention centres > >Richard Norton-Taylor >Thursday January 19, 2006 >The Guardian > >The government is secretly trying to stifle attempts by MPs to find >out what it knows about CIA "torture flights" and privately admits >that people captured by British forces could have been sent >illegally to interrogation centres, the Guardian can reveal. A >hidden strategy aimed at suppressing a debate about rendition - the >US practice of transporting detainees to secret centres where they >are at risk of being tortured - is revealed in a briefing paper sent >by the Foreign Office to No 10. > > The document shows that the government has been aware of secret >interrogation centres, despite ministers' denials. It admits that >the government has no idea whether individuals seized by British >troops in Iraq or Afghanistan have been sent to the secret centres. > >Dated December 7 last year, the document is a note from Irfan >Siddiq, of the foreign secretary's private office, to Grace Cassy in >Tony Blair's office. It was obtained by the New Statesman magazine, >whose latest issue is published today. > >It was drawn up in response to a Downing Street request for advice >"on substance and handling" of the controversy over CIA rendition >flights and allegations of Britain's connivance in the practice. > >"We should try to avoid getting drawn on detail", Mr Siddiq writes, >"and to try to move the debate on, in as front foot a way we can, >underlining all the time the strong anti-terrorist rationale for >close cooperation with the US, within our legal obligations." > >The document advises the government to rely on a statement by >Condoleezza Rice last month when the US secretary of state said >America did not transport anyone to a country where it believed they >would be tortured and that, "where appropriate", Washington would >seek assurances. > >The document notes: "We would not want to cast doubt on the >principle of such government-to-government assurances, not least >given our own attempts to secure these from countries to which we >wish to deport their nationals suspected of involvement in >terrorism: Algeria etc." > >The document says that in the most common use of the term - namely, >involving real risk of torture - rendition could never be legal. It >also says that the US emphasised torture but not "cruel, inhuman and >degrading treatment", which binds Britain under the European >convention on human rights. British courts have adopted a lower >threshold of what constitutes torture than the US has. > >The note includes questions and answers on a number of issues. >"Would cooperating with a US rendition operation be illegal?", it >asks, and gives the response: "Where we have no knowledge of >illegality, but allegations are brought to our attention, we ought >to make reasonable enquiries". It asks: "How do we know whether >those our armed forces have helped to capture in Iraq or Afghanistan >have subsequently been sent to interrogation centres?" The reply >given is: "Cabinet Office is researching this with MoD [Ministry of >Defence]. But we understand the basic answer is that we have no >mechanism for establishing this, though we would not ourselves >question such detainees while they were in such facilities". > >Ministers have persistently taken the line, in answers to MPs' >questions, that they were unaware of CIA rendition flights passing >through Britain or of secret interrogation centres. > >On December 7 - the date of the leaked document - Charles Kennedy, >then Liberal Democrat leader, asked Mr Blair when he was first made >aware of the American rendition flights, and when he approved them. >Mr Blair replied: "In respect of airports, I do not know what the >right hon gentleman is referring to." . . . Full text of the above article at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1689852,00.html Follow-up analysis on an inside page: http://www.guardian.co.uk/humanrights/story/0,,1689854,00.html cheers Brian Randell -- School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK EMAIL = [EMAIL PROTECTED] PHONE = +44 191 222 7923 FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/ ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as [email protected] To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
