UK 'must check' US torture denial
[finally they are waking up!]
The British government should not rely on US assurances that it does not use torture, a report by MPs says.
The foreign affairs select committee said the UK and US differ on their definitions of what constitutes torture and it urged the UK to check US claims.
It recommended the government carry out an "exhaustive analysis of current US interrogation techniques."
The MPs also said the government should check claims that Britain is not used by the US for "rendition" flights.
The committee highlighted the technique of "water-boarding" - a practice which simulates drowning. The US describes it as "a legal technique used in a specific set of circumstances" and President Bush has refused to ban it.
However, the UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said it is torture and "the UK unreservedly condemns the use of torture."
...the UK can no longer rely on US assurances that it does not use torture, and we recommend that the government does not rely on such assurances in the future." [Canada should do the same!]
Foreign Office minister Lord Malloch-Brown told the committee: "We absolutely deny the charge that we have in any way outsourced torture to Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) as a way of extracting information, either for court use or for use in counter-terrorism." [I hope you aren't lying!]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7515517.stm
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/jan/02/usa.guantanamo
[finally they are waking up!]
The British government should not rely on US assurances that it does not use torture, a report by MPs says.
The foreign affairs select committee said the UK and US differ on their definitions of what constitutes torture and it urged the UK to check US claims.
It recommended the government carry out an "exhaustive analysis of current US interrogation techniques."
The MPs also said the government should check claims that Britain is not used by the US for "rendition" flights.
The committee highlighted the technique of "water-boarding" - a practice which simulates drowning. The US describes it as "a legal technique used in a specific set of circumstances" and President Bush has refused to ban it.
However, the UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said it is torture and "the UK unreservedly condemns the use of torture."
...the UK can no longer rely on US assurances that it does not use torture, and we recommend that the government does not rely on such assurances in the future." [Canada should do the same!]
Foreign Office minister Lord Malloch-Brown told the committee: "We absolutely deny the charge that we have in any way outsourced torture to Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) as a way of extracting information, either for court use or for use in counter-terrorism." [I hope you aren't lying!]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7515517.stm
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I guess Briton didn't know what went on in Guantanamo!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/jan/02/usa.guantanamo