Apology that flies in face of integrity (Ian Bell on extraordinary rendition)

[struggle4progress]

... So how do those on the ground react when a strange aircraft turns up unexpectedly and an American pops his head from the cockpit to ask that they fill her up and fetch him a couple of burgers? Most people would have at least wanted a chit for the gas, just for the files. Not the US or HMG, it appears. Diego Garcia may be our "territory", but we run it with a very light touch. By some accounts there are no Britons even around to witness what might be going on there. You may wish to believe it. Don't ask, as they say, and don't tell ...

Said the last prime minister, once again pained and hurt by distrust: "I have absolutely no evidence to suggest anything illegal has been happening here at all, and I am not going to start ordering inquiries into this, that and the next thing, when I have got no evidence to show whether this is right or not I have never heard of such a thing. I can't tell you whether such a thing exists."

Lawyers, human rights campaigners and, finally, the Council of Europe were required to fill in the gaps in his carefully assembled knowledge. Early last year, a report for the council concluded that more than 1000 covert CIA flights had crossed European airspace or stopped at European airports in the four years after the 9/11 attacks. Yet somehow, officially, each flight managed to avoid Britain en route to helpful jurisdictions in the near and Far East.

After some evasiveness, the US has admitted to the existence of the secret prison network. It claims, however, that after "tough" but "lawful and necessary interrogations" (George W Bush) of 14 individuals, the facilities are no longer in use. Campaigners and parliamentary committees alike have had to point out that secret detention, far less the sport of waterboarding, is illegal, not least in the US system. Campaigners would also like to know the whereabouts of 39 named individuals known to have fallen into American hands, who seem to have vanished from the face of the earth ...

http://www.sundayherald.com/oped/opinion/display.var.2068654.0.0.php

[Demeter]

1. American Shame, It Never Ends

Not as long as there are GOPpers in the country...

[Briar]

2. Not just American

Plenty of other governments collaborated.

[Demeter]

3. Not Willingly, I'll Wager

And not always intentionally or knowingly, either, Bush thuggery being what it is. Except for that True Believer, Tony Blair. Now there's a piece of work, a chip off the original Blockhead!