The Nether-World

The Truth About the 'Special Relationship' With The Empire

2007-12-03T05:28:00.000Z

Image courtesy of Beau Bo D'Or

A couple of years ago when I was new to blogging I wrote a post entitled "At what point does America become an empire?" Although the post raised some good points about the United States having troops in 70 percent of the world’s countries and about the subservience of so many states including Britain to the whims of US presidents, the title was naive. It's pretty obvious to anyone now that the United States is indeed an empire and has been for over a century. The Sunday Times provides us with the latest confirmation about the true status of the "Special Relationship".

US says it has right to kidnap British citizens
AMERICA has told Britain that it can “kidnap” British citizens if they are wanted for crimes in the United States.
A senior lawyer for the American government has told the Court of Appeal in London that kidnapping foreign citizens is permissible under American law because the US Supreme Court has sanctioned it.
The admission will alarm the British business community after the case of the so-called NatWest Three, bankers who were extradited to America on fraud charges. More than a dozen other British executives, including senior managers at British Airways and BAE Systems, are under investigation by the US authorities and could face criminal charges in America.
Until now it was commonly assumed that US law permitted kidnapping only in the “extraordinary rendition” of terrorist suspects.
The American government has for the first time made it clear in a British court that the law applies to anyone, British or otherwise, suspected of a crime by Washington. [My emphasis]
Legal experts confirmed this weekend that America viewed extradition as just one way of getting foreign suspects back to face trial. Rendition, or kidnapping, dates back to 19th-century bounty hunting and Washington believes it is still legitimate.

What is surprising about this isn't so much the arrogant assumption by America that it can do whatever the fuck it likes to anyone anywhere, it's the casual announcement that this is indeed the case after years of pretending that rules applied to everyone and sovereignty was, well, sovereignty. And not so much as a whimper from our oh so compliant government, a government, we may as well remind ourselves, that allows America to sack British ministers or rewrite the speeches for visiting Prime Ministers, command our armed forces, and use the country as convenient location to extend its power in Europe and beyond. In a way I'm grateful for the belated honesty. Now we know that Britain isn't even regarded any longer by the American regime as a client state - we have now graduated from what historians refer to as 'informal empire' when discussing the British Empire (the sphere of influence beyond the frontiers of the formal empire) to part of America's formal empire.

Another thing I find interesting is that there is a (very small) political party in Britain called UKIP which stands for UK Independence Party that bangs on and on ad nauseam about how Europe robs this country of its sovereignty (with some justification at times) and never has anything to say about the far more serious erosion of British sovereignty by the United States. After all, France, for example, doesn't have 10,000 troops stationed here and doesn't dictate who can or cannot be a minister. As part of the EU, Britain does at least have some sort of input on EU policy. This isn't the case with America where we just do as we are told and make no contribution to US policy. Our extradition treaties within the EU are reciprocal, unlike the one-sided arrangement we have with the USA. If UKIP really believes in UK independence and wishes to be taken seriously, it should look beyond the EU as well.

American power comes largely from our obedience to it. Without that the USA would have a much more difficult task in ruling us. I suggest that it's time we started disentangling ourselves from the USA, both militarily and economically (especially seeing as our economy suffers every time America mismanages its economy and its currency is going down the pan). It is after all a foreign country even if it does use the same language. We could start by asking the USA what right it has to kidnap British citizens because the last time I looked, the US supreme court had no jurisdiction here in the UK. We might then ask the USA if they would remove their troops and bases from Britain. Why are they here? Nazi Germany was defeated in 1945 and the Cold War ended nearly 20 years ago. Finally we should tell the USA that we are quite able to formulate our own economic and foreign policy and strike alliances with whoever we wish. And if America does insist on kidnapping British citizens, then the next time an American citizen is wanted for a crime over here we could consider kidnapping that person and just announce that we've decided it's legal to do so. Somehow I don't think the USA would regard that as legitimate or fair.

Tags: American Empire, US Politics, Extraordinary Rendition

Light Posting

2007-03-11T10:35:00.000Z

Apologies for the scarcity of posts here of late. I've been a little busy with a few things, but hopefully 'normal' service will be resumed sometime soon. In the meantime, here are a couple of things I've been writing over at Blairwatch to keep you occupied.

Firstly, it seems that Tony Blair's statement about him knowing nothing about Extraordinary Rendition and CIA black sites is a load of bollocks (yes, I thought that would surprise you). What seems to be emerging is that he is not only complicit in this programme but actively participating in it. We now learn that that America and Britain asked Poland to host a secret CIA gulag and Blair requested that the Polish Prime Minister to keep this secret from his government. Nice eh?

Secondly, tonight (March 11) the first part of Adam Curtis' new three-part documentary, "The Trap – What Happened To Our Dream Of Freedom?" is being shown on BBC 2 at 21:00. This will be well worth watching. It is about freedom and how the concept of freedom seems to have changed since the Cold War and how that change came about. As Britain and America go around the world 'liberating' oppressed people, and as they try to 'liberate' us from the old bureaucracies of the past, they replace what was there before with a strange kind of freedom which bears little resemblance to the freedom we knew before. This series examines how this came to happen and looks at the mechanisms behind this paradox which is, in effect, the losing of our freedom in the name of freedom, replacing it with a new form of social control which entraps us all.

Adam Curtis has generously agreed to do an interview with Blairwatch next week and in order to prepare for it, I managed to get the first two installments of this three part series and I was blown away by what I saw. So I posted a synopsis of the first episode here for those who will be unable to catch the program. I'll post a synopsis of the second episode once the first has been screened.

Lenin's Tomb and Ten Percent have also posted stuff about it and from those sites I've found reviews of the documentary in The Guardian and Socialist Worker.

Back soon hopefully.

Tags: Torture, Extraordinary Rendition, Black Sites, Media, Democracy, Freedom, Adam Curtis, The Trap

The Fallout Over Rendition Grows

2007-02-16T19:29:00.000Z

Following the vote in the the EU Parliament which saw the approval of the MEPs report into CIA abductions and renditions, Italy, which came in for heavy criticism (as did Britain), is taking some action.

An Italian judge has ordered 26 US citizens - most of them CIA agents - to stand trial over the kidnap of an Egyptian cleric in Milan in 2003.

Osama Mustafa Hassan was allegedly seized by the CIA and flown to Egypt, where he says he was tortured.

Seven Italians were also indicted, including Italy's ex-military intelligence chief, Nicolo Pollari.

The case would be the first criminal trial over the secret US practice known as "extraordinary rendition".

Not only will this be the first trial over rendition, it will also be the biggest ever trial of US intelligence agents in an allied country. The trial is due to begin on June 8 and the American suspects are likely to be tried in absentia as they are believed to have fled the country including Robert Seldon Lady, the former station chief of CIA operations in Milan, who has abandoned his Italian villa and says he was over-ruled in his opposition to the Kidnap. He also says (through his lawyer) that he does not recognise the court.

One Italian policeman has already been jailed for 21 months for stopping the cleric in order for the CIA to abduct him. His reduced sentence was part of a plea-bargain. According to him, the CIA said that they were trying to recruit Omar and that the operation had the approval of the US and Italian governments. Nicolo Pollari is trying to hide behind the Italian state secrets act and so is not co-operating with the court apart from insisting that Italian military intelligence did nothing wrong. The Italian government has yet to seek the extradition of the US citizens and it will be interesting to see if it does and what reaction it will get from the US authorities who, as we know, are always keen to uphold the rule of law. Somehow I doubt it will happen. Osama Mustafa Hassan however, despite risking prosecution for terrorism charges, wants to return to Italy as a refugee and testify against Berlusconi and his administration. He was released from Egyptian custody when the authorities there decided they had no reason to hold him.

What is interesting about this case is that it looks like being the first of many prosecutions around Europe. Germany, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland and Romania are all conducting investigations. Unsurprisingly, the UK is not conducting any investigation, but then Tony Blair has yet to acknowledge that there is any such thing as extraordinary rendition.

Tags: Extraordinary Rendition, Terrorism, Torture, Italian Politics, EU

Britain Accused Of Collusion With CIA In Draft European Parliament Report On Torture Flights

2006-11-29T04:52:00.000Z

If Tony Blair thought the issue of Extraordinary Rendition was going away, he must be pretty disappointed. The draft report on extraordinary rendition following the investigation by MEPs has shown that Britain has allowed 170 secret CIA torture flights, second only to Germany's whopping 336 flights out of at least 1,245 flights in European territory. Ten countries are accused of allowing stopovers. They are:

Germany 336
Britain 170
Ireland 147
Portugal 91
Spain 68
Greece 64
Cyprus 57
Italy 46
Romania 21
Poland 11

The report condemns many EU nations saying that they were aware renditions were taking place and failed to co-operate with the investigation. I reported earlier on Geoff Hoon's unhelpful and evasive behaviour during the investigation.

Giovanni Claudio Fava’s draft report “deplores” the level of co-operation Geoff Hoon, the Europe Minister, gave the MEPs, and condemns the rendition of one British citizen and three British residents, two of whom were said to have been seized on the basis of “partly erroneous information supplied by the UK security service MI5”.
Source

There are now likely to be more demands for a full parliamentary inquiry into the practice of extraordinary rendition by MPs following this draft report which shows that there were far more rendition flights than have previously been admitted by the Government.

Poland has come in for particular criticism because there is good circumstantial evidence that one of the 'Black sites' that President Bush has acknowledged exist is located in the Polish intelligence training centre at Stare Kiejkuty. Romania too has been similarly accused. Both countries have declined to make any further statements after their denials last Summer. The Bush administration, despite admitting the existence of 'black sites' and the reality of extraordinary rendition, continues to deny that it authorises and participates in torture. The evidence supplied by Khaled el-Masri and others makes a mockery of those denials. Blair's government too has now been shown to have at least been complicit in torture.

Tags: Rendition, Torture, Blair, CIA, Black Sites, Europe

CIA Silencing the EU on 'Torture Flights'

2006-10-27T06:47:00.000+01:00

If the CIA does not render suspected terrorists to countries where they are possibly tortured, then why would they want to silence the EU on torture flights?

The CIA tried to persuade Germany to silence EU protests about the human rights record of one of America's key allies in its clandestine torture flights programme, the Guardian can reveal.
According to a secret intelligence report, the CIA offered to let Germany have access to one of its citizens, an al-Qaida suspect being held in a Moroccan cell. But the US secret agents demanded that in return, Berlin should cooperate and "avert pressure from EU" over human rights abuses in the north African country. The report describes Morocco as a "valuable partner in the fight against terrorism".
Source

The British Government has continuously refused to discuss the issue of 'extraordinary rendition' with both the Council of Europe investigation and the more recent inquiry by MEPs in which Geoff Hoon was particularly evasive when questioned. Some MEPs have even received death threats. Clearly there is something that the American and British governments do not want to be made public.

In other news Vice President Dick Cheney has confirmed that detainees are subjected to the form of torture known as 'water-boarding' although the Bush administration denies that causing the sensation of drowning counts as torture. Cheney seems to think it's a good idea.

Tags: Torture, Extraordinary Rendition

Murder in Samarkand - Documents:

2006-07-08T07:25:00.000+01:00

The former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, has finally managed to publish his book Murder in Samarkand in which he describes the appalling human rights abuses by the US-funded regime of President Islam Karimov, and what happened when Craig tried to expose those abuses and the British and US complicity with the Karimov regime over torture.

The UK Government has tried to prevent the book being published and in order to get around the censorship Craig has put the supporting documents on his website.

In publishing "Murder in Samarkand" I had wanted to publish the supporting documentation in the book to cooroborate my story, especially as the FCO is claiming that the story is essentially untrue. In that sense, perhaps the most interesting link in the documents below is the very first document, which is a table of detailed amendments the FCO insisted be made to the text. This is fascinating if you consider just how much it confirms was true, particularly in the conversations it refers to between officials. - More and suppporting documents

The Government is now trying to silence Craig using the Crown Copyright Laws because he is not contravening the Official Secret's Act by publishing the documents on-line. They are threatening legal action and it is uncertain how much longer the documents will be available on his site.

Click on image for larger version or download pdf here

Blairwatch is mirroring the site here in the UK and several sites in the USA are also mirroring the documents and they should be unreachable by the UK Government. However the more bloggers who publish these documents, the less likely it is that the Government can succeed in stopping them spreading, so I am publishing them here. If this site does get shut down, then Dahr Jamail in the USA has a torrent file to share, and a zip to download of all the documents directly. You can also download a zip file from Polizeros.

An introduction to the documents, by Craig Murray:
In publishing "Murder in Samarkand" I had wanted to publish the supporting Documentation in the book to cooroborate my story, especially as the FCO is claiming that the story is essentially untrue. In that sense, perhaps the most interesting link in the Documents below is the very first Document, which is a table of detailed amendments the FCO insisted be made to the text. This is fascinating if you consider just how much it confirms was true, particularly in the conversations it refers to between officials.

Many of the other Documents I managed to have released under the Freedom of Information Act or Data Protection Act. I was astonished when the FCO announced that they would still take legal action against me if I published them. They argue that, and this astonished me, even if a Document is released under the DPA or FoIA, it is still copyright of the Crown and so cannot be published. I was even more amazed when the lawyers of the publisher said that this was probably true, and certainly could not be fought without potentially a million pound legal case.

It appears that, among so many attacks on civil liberties in recent years, the Blair government has managed to administratively negate its own Freedom of Information Act. Robin Cook must be spinning in his grave.

So we have made Murder in Samarkand an interactive bookthe Documents are published here, and referenced by URL in the text. Net posting is not breaching copyright because there is no charge to access the Documents. This site may, of course, be subject to technical attack, so I would be grateful if those who can mirror these documents on their own sites, do so.

These are contemporary Documents from my time as Ambassador in Uzbekistan. They do I believe include the real smoking gun on Britain's, and the CIA's, use of intelligence obtained by torture abroad. They also show the FCO getting increasingly angry with me over my being "over-focussed on human rights", rahter than building good relationships with Karimov, our ally in the War on Terror.

They do not give a smoking gun that proves that the allegations brought against me, of which I was eventually cleared, were trumped-up and motivated by a desire to get rid of me for policy reasons. Being internal FCO Documents, they are written to maintain the facade of a proper disciplinary investigation. You need to be prepared to read between the lines - and read the book!

Craig

Here are the Documents:

FCO Comment

IMF Telegram

Declaration

Speech

Hill Negotiation

Michael Wood memo of 13 March

Telegram of 18 March ‘2003 US Foreign Policy’

Letter from Simon Butt dated 16 April 2003

Exchange of emails with Linda Duffield

Colin Reynolds Report of 26 June 2003

Minute of my meeting with Howard Drake

Letter from British Businessmen in Tashkent

Email to Kate Smith

Minute of 26 September 2003

Tags: Torture, Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, Nu Labour

EU Justice Commissioner urges action on torture flights

2006-06-28T00:52:00.000+01:00

This is a slightly edited version of a piece I originally posted on Blairwatch earlier. I’m reproducing it here so I don’t have to write the same story twice.

Following the damning Council of Europe (CoE) report published earlier this month which revealed a global ‘spider’s web’ of routes used by CIA aircraft, and which accused 14 European countries including Britain of colluding with the CIA, the EU justice commissioner, Franco Frattini has called on national prosecutors and judges to investigate their governments' alleged involvement in secret CIA prisons and rendition flights at a Council of Europe debate to which he was invited and which passed a resolution calling for.

In-depth inquiries at a national level

A review of the legal framework regulating the intelligence services

A review of agreements with the US on the use of military infrastructure to ensure they comply with human rights norms

Efforts to develop "a truly global strategy" against terrorism, with the US

Tuesday’s resolution, which member states are obliged to respond to, was passed by the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe and approves the findings of the inquiry launched last November led by Swiss senator Dick Marty.

Mr Frattini urged EU members to take action "whatever the truth that emerges."He added "It is essential that the states concerned clarify the situation in their own countries in the light of the initial findings of the investigations carried out at European level." He indicated that while Mr Marty's report "stated facts," it is "not possible now to draw legal judgements."

However, if a court in any of the EU member states involved made a ruling proving a grave violation of the European Convention on Human Rights by its authorities, it could lead to "negative, and even dramatic consequences" for the country at EU level, Mr Frattini noted.He was referring to Article 7 of the EU treaty which states that the bloc can trigger a set of legal consequences for a state which is deemed to be in a "serious and persistent breach" of human rights, as stated by the convention.Under the worst-case scenario, the EU can suspend some of the culprit member state's rights, including voting rights.
Source

So far, most of the countries accused (including Britain) have denied any wrongdoing. Tony Blair, apparently following the advice given to him in a leaked memo written last December by the Foreign Office, has continuously refused to talk about Britain’s collusion with the CIA. According to the memo:

"The British government should avoid getting drawn on detail," the memo says. "We now cannot say that we have received no such request for the use of UK territory or airspace for the purpose of extraordinary rendition.

"It does remain true that we are not aware of the use of UK territory or airspace for the purposes of extraordinary rendition.

"But we think we should now try to move the debate on from the specifics of rendition -- extraordinary or otherwise -- and focus people instead on (U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza) Rice's clear assurance that U.S. activities are consistent with their domestic and international obligations and never include the use of torture."
Source

This might explain Blair’s response to questions asked of him in Parliament after the release of the CoE report.

We have said absolutely all we have to say on this. There is nothing more to add to it, and I have to say, the Council of Europe report, adds absolutely nothing new whatever to the information we have.
Source

It will be interesting to see if Blair maintains this position if the EU does carry out its threat to suspend the voting rights of member states that refuse to co-operate with the on-going investigation. The issue is due to be debated next month in the EU Parliament and the majority of MEPs have already expressed support for the CoE report. The CoE cannot by itself launch legal proceedings, all it can do is ‘name and shame’ certain states, which is why the support of the EU justice commissioner is an important development. Terry Davis, the CoE Secretary General said:

"People should not be allowed to disappear into thin air, regardless of the crimes of which they accused… If we want to be safe we must be fair. The only effective measures against terrorism are those which stop more terrorists than they help to recruit."
Source

Washington has dismissed the report as hearsay and denied any involvement with torture, but human rights groups have welcomed the CoE resolution and reiterated the illegality of extraordinary rendition.

In a joint statement, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists and the Association for the Prevention of Torture said it was "unacceptable and unlawful" for European states to participate in what often amounted to international crimes.

European states had to ensure that counter-terrorism measures did not lead to further human rights violations on their territory and that no one was handed over to face violations of their rights elsewhere, the groups said.

"Many of these cases amount to enforced disappearance, a crime under international law," they said.
Source

The issue of European collusion with extraordinary rendition and secret CIA prisons is not going away no matter how much Blair wishes it would.

Lady Ludford, a Liberal Democrat MEP, said Mr Marty had "uncovered evidence going way beyond speculation of a pattern of human rights abuses through kidnappings, unlawful imprisonment, disappearances, maltreatment and torture".

She said: "European governments can no longer get away with scoffing at the allegations or fobbing us off ... The UK government must accept that, with their denials of complicity in extraordinary rendition wearing ever thinner, the case is pressing for a formal inquiry into whether MI5 tipoffs led to British citizens being incarcerated in Guantánamo and whether CIA planes have rendered people to torture through British airports."
Source

I expect there will soon be a few more awkward questions asked in Parliament that Blair will have to evade.

*UPDATE*
The Devil's Kitchen has pointed out to me in the comments that the EU knew about and approved these flights, something I was unaware of although, unfortunately, I can't say I'm that surprised.

The European Union secretly allowed the United States to use transit facilities on European soil to transport "criminals" in 2003, according to a previously unpublished document. The revelation contradicts repeated EU denials that it knew of "rendition" flights by the CIA.
Source

For me, this highlights more than ever the need for a thorough investigation to dig out the hypocrisy both here in Britain, in other EU member states and also in the EU itself. It should be pointed out that the Council of Europe is a seperate entity to the EU and its main task is to act as a human rights watchdog. Hopefully the investigation being continued by Dick Marty and followed up be other EU member states will expose any lies and cover-ups in the EU and hold the organisation to the values it continuously espouses.

Tags: Torture, Extraordinary Rendition

Emergency Demonstration at American Embassy

2006-06-25T07:11:00.000+01:00

Click on image for larger version

Sorry about the short notice but I just found this on the Liberty website. Today, Sunday 25 June, there will be an emergency demonstration outside the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London, W1 from 12-2 pm, demanding an end to CIA torture flights. If you are able to, please go down there and give them some support.

Tags: Torture, Extraordinary Rendition

Its 'generally accepted' that the UK is complicit with 'extraordinary rendition'

2006-06-20T10:24:00.000+01:00

Nigel Wylde, a former senior military intelligence officer, told MPs at a House of commons hearing that Britain's involvement in the war on terror was causing "a great deal of unease" in the intelligence community and that it was "generally accepted" that the UK has been complicit with the practice of American 'extraordinary rendition'.

While care was taken to ensure there was no direct British involvement in such activities, information was passed on to the Americans on the assumption they would use it "as they see fit", he told the cross-party parliamentary group on extraordinary rendition.
Source

Except that there has been direct British involvement in rendition flights. Its not just information that has been passed on to the Americans by the British, its prisoners too.

Bisher al-Rawi, 38, and Jamil el-Banna, 44, were arrested after flying to Gambia in November 2002.
After questioning, they were handed over to American security officers and transferred to Guantanamo Bay via a US airbase in Afghanistan.
Source

Amnesty International has already accused Britain of breaking international and domestic law regarding the torture flights. The numerous reports that have come to light so far and the upcoming debate in the European Parliament next month, may (hopefully) force Blair to change his current position of having nothing to say about his complicity with 'extraordinary rendition'.

Tags: Torture, Extraordinary Rendition

Ireland threatens to get tough on 'rendition flights'

2006-06-16T01:49:00.000+01:00

The Irish Government has threatened to carry out random inspections on US aircraft after a prisoner was discovered hancuffed and manacled on board an Omni Air International plane, a military charter flight, which was also transporting 180 military personnel en route from Kuwait to the US city of Royston, Georgia. The prisoner, a US Marine convicted of theft was being transported back to America to complete his sentence. He was discovered on the plane by a cleaner at Shannon airport which has been described by the Council of Europe report as part of the 'spider's web' of rendition routes used by the CIA.

Because advance permission had not been sought from Ireland's justice department, the prisoner transport is illegal, a point noted by the US ambassador.

The US ambassador, James Kenny, was summoned to the Irish foreign affairs department to explain the failure to comply with regulations required under international law. He has been asked to produce a report on the incident.

[...]

"We will look at all options, including if necessary, random inspections," Dermot Ahern, the republic's foreign affairs minister, said. "Given the fact that an incident like this has happened we would put the [police] on notice that perhaps they should start inspecting on a case-by-case basis."

[...]

The US ambassador insisted that there had been no intention to break the law. "Unfortunately permission from the Irish government was not sought for the transit of this person," he told Irish papers. "We regret this incident and are reviewing procedures to ensure that this does not happen again.
Source

The incident has increased tensions between Europe and the USA over CIA rendition flights which are receiving more attention after four different reports in the last two weeks highlighted the issue. This incident, though not related to torture, makes a mockery of claims by both the American and British governments that permission is always sought in the transportation of prisoners through European airspace. If Ireland can decide to carry out random searches of American aircraft, then there is no reason why other European countries cannot do the same.

In other news, Postman Patel has an interesting post about the Swiss having details of US rendition flights and secret prisons in Romania, Bulgaria Poland, Ukraine, Kosovo and Macedonia. Check it out.

Tags: Rendition, Torture

Amnesty International attacks UK over torture flights

2006-06-14T05:46:00.000+01:00

Amnesty International has entered into the fray of the UK’s role in CIA torture flights. In a 46 page report the Human Rights organisation called Britain “a partner in crime” with the USA, and accused it of adopting a "see no evil, hear no evil" policy.

A report by Amnesty International claimed the government had broken international and domestic law. It called for an independent inquiry into rendition flights and for all European governments publicly to reject the practice.
Source

This report comes a week after The Council of Europe published a damning report on European countries colluding with the United States in ‘extraordinary rendition ’ and secret prisons known as ‘black sites’ The Council of Europe report was recently backed up by MEPs in a report of their own which reached the same conclusions and will be debated in the European Parliament next month. Amnesty’s attack also comes two weeks after the Government had been heavily criticised for its failure to investigate CIA torture flights by Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR).
Last week Tony Blair dismissed the Council of Europe report at Prime Minister’s Questions saying:

We have said absolutely all that we have to say on this. There is nothing more to add to it. The Council of Europe report adds nothing new whatever to the information that we have.
Source

It will be interesting to see if Tony Blair can maintain this position after four damning reports in two weeks and the story showing no signs of going away as Blair, no doubt, wishes.

Tags: Blair, Torture, Rendition

European collusion with CIA ‘extraordinary rendition’ and ‘black sites’

2006-06-07T04:59:00.000+01:00

Click on image for larger view

The Council of Europe’s (CEO) legal affairs and human rights committee has produced a report on Europe’s involvement in ‘extraordinary rendition’ and ‘black sites’ following an investigation launched last November by its chairman, Dick Marty. The report is damning and shows that 14 European countries including the UK have been colluding with the CIA, from abducting people to providing logistics or just turning a blind eye. He describes the rendition circuit as a "spider's web spun across the globe".

The UK stands accused of not only allowing the use of British airspace and airports, but of providing information that was used during the torture of one suspect. The report adds that there is strong evidence to suspect two European states, Poland and Romania, of permitting the CIA to operate secret prisons on their soil, despite official denials.
Source

This is a breakdown of the collusion of the European countries:

Countries which provided staging posts for rendition operations:
Spain
Turkey
Germany
Cyprus

Countries which allowed the rendition of their residents from their soil:
Italy
Sweden
Bosnia
Macedonia

Countries which provided stopovers for CIA planes:
Britain
Ireland
Portugal
Greece

Countries suspected of having allowed the operation of secret CIA detention centres:
Romania
Poland

Speaking of America’s “new legal concepts” which have left terrorist suspects without their fundamental legal rights, Mr Marty said:

"This legal approach is utterly alien to the European tradition and sensibility, and is clearly contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

This is a damning indictment of both Europe and the USA and directly contradicts the numerous protestations by members of the British Government including Tony Blair that they knew nothing about these CIA activities. Blairwatch has much more on these false denials of any knowledge of British collusion.

*UPDATE*

The full report can be seen here (via the Curious Hamster who has a very good post on this issue). You can also see Tony Blair do his best to evade questions on rendition at PMQs here.
Also, via the comments, Reykjavik Transit has more. It's well worth reading the whole site. Thanks Gary.

Tags: Extraordinary Rendition, Torture, Blair

Torture Flights - Evidence

2006-06-01T04:38:00.000+01:00

The British Government continues to insist that there is no evidence for Torture Flights using UK airspace and airports. This is largely because the UK does not wish to find any evidence.

Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram said it would be a diplomatic error for UK officials to board jets to investigate.

That would involve an "assumption" the US was not "being honest with us".

Speaking to the joint parliamentary committee on human rights, he said: "Why should we operate on that basis to undermine our allies?"
Source

It is interesting that the Government does not explicitly deny that the CIA does indeed fly prisoners around the world to countries where they may be tortured. And yet it does not even bother to investigate the flights that do fly over or land in the UK. The Government has been heavily criticised for this failure to investigate by Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR).

Evidence can, however, be found to support the accusations of British complicity in these ‘extraordinary renditions’ both in UK territory and elsewhere.

What happens on some of the flights has been graphically described by a senior British intelligence officer who spoke under a guarantee of anonymity.

"I have personal knowledge of two flights on which the prisoners were shackled in their seats and drugged for the flight. CIA officers were on board to conduct preliminary interrogations. The heavy duty stuff is left until after landing".

[…]

The first flight began in May 2002. A Gulfstream V executive jet, registration N379P, landed at Northolt airport near London. It had a long history of being a staging post for CIA and MI6 officers en route to secret missions in Europe during the Cold War. Under what the Ministry of Defence later called "standing regulations", the only details listed of the Gulfstream flight were the names of the pilot and the aircraft owner. No record was made of any passengers on board.

On a sunny Spring day the Gulfstream V and its unrecorded passengers flew from Northolt to the Szczytno-Szymany base in northern Poland still blanketed by winter snow. After refuelling, the aircraft flew on to Uzbekistan. Soon the executive jet was on a regular run, picking up detainees in Jakarta in Indonesia, Pakistan and Bagram. One was the Yemeni microbiologist Jamil Qasim Seed Mohammed, wanted by CTIC "in connection with the bombing of the USS Cole while the warship was at anchor off Aden". He was flown to Uzbekistan and his fate remains unknown. Another passenger was Muhammed Saad Madni, an Egyptian suspect who had worked with the British "shoe bomber" Richard Reid. He was "rendered" from Jakarta to Egypt. His fate also remains unknown.
Source

The Council of Europe, a human rights watchdog, has already found in a report that European governments are almost certainly aware of the CIA's secret prisoner flights via European airspace or airports.

The report said his case was just one part of "a great deal of coherent, convergent evidence pointing to the existence of a system of 'relocation' or 'outsourcing' of torture".
Source

This report came out in January, shortly after then Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, said:

"Careful research has been unable to identify any occasion... when we have received a request for permission by the United States for a rendition through the United Kingdom territory or airspace.

"Nor are we aware by other means of any such case. Our people have checked through all the detail of the Liberty suggestions.

"They have found no records which corroborate either the details of what Liberty say and no papers relating to any policy considerations of what Liberty say."
Source

It would be interesting to know just what exactly Jack Straw meant by “careful research”. Was it just asking Condoleezza? The fact that there were no records or requests for permission does not mean anything. America sees Britain as merely a province in its empire and therefore sees no reason to ask our permission for anything. Our imperial masters can write Tony Blair’s foreign policy speeches, tell us when war is and is not legal, and sack ministers like Jack Straw.

Tags: Torture, Extraordinary Rendition, UK Politics

Britain criticised for failing to investigate torture flights

2006-05-26T11:44:00.000+01:00

Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) which consists of ministers and peers, has condemned the Government’s lack of effort in investigating CIA flights which use UK airspace and airports. The flights are suspected of transporting terror suspects to countries where they may be tortured. Ministers have a legal duty to investigate these secret flights and are failing to do so leaving them in potential breach of human rights law.

Andrew Tyrie, the Conservative MP for Chichester and chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on extraordinary rendition, said: "The government appears to have done everything it can to prevent the public finding out the truth about rendition. Torture cannot be condoned."
Guardian article

The Government should be taking "active steps" to find out who was on the flights, their precise itinerary and the purpose of their journey. Aircraft suspected of being used for extraordinary renditions should be required to land if they return to UK airspace and be searched by police who should, verify the identity of all those on board, and launch criminal investigations wherever appropriate. Staff and passenger lists should also be provided by chartered civil aircraft when they use UK airports or fly through British airspace. UK law permits these actions and they are required in order to ensure that the Government meets its obligations under the convention on torture.

A JCHR spokesman concluded that the "government has not adequately demonstrated that it has satisfied the obligation under domestic and international human rights law to investigate credible allegations of renditions". A continuing poor response to these allegations could prompt recommendations for a public inquiry.

The report says the government's response to the calls will determine whether a public inquiry into the controversy is needed. In January, then Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw told Parliament that there was no evidence to show that extraordinary renditions have been taking place. That’s understandable because officials obviously haven’t been looking for any evidence. More conscientious observers have unearthed plenty.

The JCHR report also accuses the UK of trying to undermine the absolute ban on torture by challenging the 1990s European court ruling which prohibits deporting people to countries where they may face torture. Along with Slovakia, Lithuania and Portugal, the UK is supporting the Netherlands attempts to deport people to Algeria despite that country’s well-documented use of torture.

The report voices concern the case "may send a signal that the absolute prohibition of torture may in some circumstances be overruled by national security considerations". It says there can be no "balancing exercise" between security and risk of torture.

The committee also attacks the government's attempts to reach diplomatic agreements with some countries so they can deport terror suspects without fear they will be tortured. It says it has "grave concerns" after examining the agreements already signed with Libya, Lebanon and Jordan.

"The government's policy of reliance on diplomatic assurances against torture could well undermine well-established international obligations not to deport anybody if there is a serious risk of torture or ill-treatment in the receiving country," it says. Relying on the agreements could create "a substantial risk of individuals actually being tortured", which would mean the UK had broken its human rights treaty obligations.
BBC article

Meanwhile, the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) will investigate the CIA's use of British airports in a case where two British residents were abducted and taken to Guantánamo Bay. The ISC will try to establish whether Britain shared any information with America.

Tags: Torture, Extraordinary Rendition, UK Politics

Thousands of Tactical Errors

2006-04-01T04:17:00.000+01:00

“No one should ever doubt the United States’ commitment to justice and the rule of law” - Condoleezza Rice

US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, admitted that the Bush administration had made thousands of tactical errors in Iraq. "I know we've made tactical errors - thousands of them, I'm sure". She made this admission on her visit to Northern England’s Blackburn and Liverpool, hosted by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. It was probably the most honest statement she has made in recent times as Iraq collapses into chaos.

Condoleezza Rice also told the audience gathered by the British foreign policy think tank Chatham House:

“We do not tolerate, either at home or abroad, engagement in acts of torture. We also have no desire to be the world’s jailer. We want the terrorists that have been captured to stand trial for their crimes,”

Source

She made this statement despite the fact that the USA has been holding hundreds of people without charge or access to proper legal processes since 2001 and against strong evidence to support cases of torture and rendition.

Condoleezza’s visit has been dogged by thousands of protesters who have been objecting to her presence in the country. With no apparent sense of irony she made light of the protests saying "I've seen it in every city I've visited in the United States".

Hmm, and the penny still hasn’t dropped.

On Iran, Ms Rice was as hawkish as ever saying that President Bush "never takes any option off the table", apparently planning to make thousands more tactical errors. In September 2002, Condoleezza Rice, speaking about Iraq’s non-existent WMD said "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." Well it looks as if the only mushroom cloud the USA will be experiencing will be one of its own design.

Tags: Britain Iraq

US State Department Hypocrisy

2006-03-09T05:02:00.000Z

In a mind-boggling piece of hypocrisy Condoleezza Rice just announced the release of the 2005 State Department Human Rights Report. The annual report singles out China, North Korea, Burma, Iran, Zimbabwe, Cuba and Belarus as well as criticising Iraqi government for torture and abuse. This is all very good and indeed necessary, but there was very little mention of that other serial abuser of human rights, the United States.

To be fair the report did say that the US's "own journey toward liberty and justice for all has been long and difficult, and it is far from complete". Talk about understatement! No mention of Guantanamo Bay or other “black prisons” or abuse of prisoners by the US in Iraq, no mention of “extraordinary rendition” where kidnapped people are secretly flown by the C.I.A. to be tortured in some of the very countries America is criticising. On Israel “The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens; however, there were problems in some areas…” . The report then goes on to list some of those “problems” which completely contradict that statement.

Condoleezza’s speech is a hypocritical tour de force:

“Our promotion of human rights and democracy is in keeping with America's most cherished principles and it helps to lay the foundation for lasting peace in the world. How a country treats its own people is a strong indication of how it will behave toward its neighbors. The growing demand for democratic governance reflects a recognition that the best guarantor of human rights is a thriving democracy with transparent, accountable institutions of government, equal rights under the rule of law, a robust civil society, political pluralism and independent media.”

That really sounds like 21st Century America doesn’t it?

“The duty to defend human rights and to help spread democracies' blessings is especially great for the United States and other free nations. That is why we are working with other democracies to develop the institutions that will ensure human rights are respected over the long term. We must help struggling democracies deliver on the high hopes of their citizens for a better life. We must call countries to account when they retreat from their human rights commitments and we must always stand in solidarity with the courageous men and women across the globe who live in fear, yet dream of freedom... We hope that the reports will encourage governments, organizations, the media and publics to address human rights problems.”

The trouble is when the media and the public address America’s human rights problems, they are often ignored, ridiculed, arrested or otherwise silenced.

U.K. minister 'lied over CIA flights'

2005-12-20T06:29:00.000Z

I have just come across this story via the Blairwatch site. This is a significant development in the on-going story of extraordinary renditions, the killing of journalists in the Iraq war and the mysterious case of the alledged plan of Bush to bomb the Al jazeera offices in Qatar and Blair's reaction to it (sorry, still no memo yet). Click here for the full UPI story.

LONDON, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- The British Foreign Office privately accepts that CIA rendition flights did pass through its territory, a diplomatic source told United Press International.

The well-placed source said the Foreign Office "totally accepts" that the United States used British airfields to transfer prisoners abroad for interrogation, and is "extremely worried" about the political consequences.

The revelation comes amid growing signs of divergence between London and Washington over the way in which the war on terror should be conducted.

When British Prime Minister Tony Blair learnt in April 2003 that the United States had bombed a Baghdad hotel in which several media organizations were housed, killing three journalists, he "literally jumped out of his chair," the source told UPI. The Foreign Office was "horrified," considering the attack to be "obscene," the source said.

London took the same attitude towards a U.S. suggestion that it would attack the Qatar headquarters of the Arabic language television al-Jazeera, the source said.

Foreign Office officials threatened to resign if the Americans went ahead with the attacks, revealed in a Downing Street memo leaked to the British media earlier this year.

Blair reportedly talked U.S. President George W. Bush out of the attacks, warning it could fuel a worldwide backlash. The Mirror newspaper quoted a source as saying: "There's no doubt what Bush wanted, and no doubt Blair didn't want him to do it."

The government has threatened newspaper editors with prosecution under the Official Secrets Act if they publish further details of the memo.

Ministers appear desperate to dispel any signs of a rift between London and Washington over methods used in the "war on terror."

The revelation that the Foreign Office accepts that CIA rendition flights passed through Britain comes in direct contrast to official denials by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who last week "categorically" denied that any such flights had taken place.

He told the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee Tuesday: "Unless we all start to believe in conspiracy theories, that officials are lying, that I'm lying ... that Secretary Rice (U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice) is lying, there is simply no truth in the claims that the United Kingdom has been involved in rendition."

Hopefully this story will now get the full coverage it deserves in the mainstream media at last, but if it does not then we can be sure that it will not go away as the government wishes.

At what point does America become an empire?

2005-12-07T04:01:00.000Z

"Beware the leader who bangs the drum of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor. For patriotism is indeed a double- edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and patriotism, will offer up all of their rights to the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Julius Caesar." (Julius Caesar)

Condolezza Rice’s visit to Europe has gotten off to a reasonably good start. Her first stop in Germany saw the US Secretary of state apparently reassuring the German chancellor Angela Merkel (if no one else) that the CIA flights to and from her country do not have anything to do with torture. From Germany she flew on to Romania where one of the alleged “black” prisons is. Far from getting a grilling there, the USA was given even more territory for military bases in the Black sea area, putting their forces within striking distance of Iran, as well as the potential for even more secret detention camps.

This disturbing news raises some important issues. Firstly, how is this going to effect European relations with Romania? Donald Rumsfeld has famously spoken of “old” and “new” Europe in the context of compliance with American requests. There is now a danger of a widening gap in an already split Europe, reminding us of the old maxim “divide and rule”. Which brings me to my next question; at what point does America become an empire?

The discussion of an American empire has been going on for years and it is something American leaders vociferously deny. But sooner or later we are going to have to face this reality. Of the 192 recognised countries in the world, 135 have American troops in them. The United States military divides the world into separate commands so that each region of the planet is covered by its own commander. Europe has nearly 100,000 US troops in its territory, the US 6th fleet patrols the Mediterranean Sea with another 2,000 marines. We have to ask why. Nazi Germany collapsed 60 years ago; the Soviet Union has also collapsed. Far from being a deterrent to terrorism this military presence is an incitement for terrorists. It has even been argued that Europe needs the US military bases because it stimulates the European economies. Whilst being grateful for American assistance during the Second World War, surly it is legitimate to ask why the troops are still in Europe.

America loves to tell the world that it is a democracy and therefore could not possibly be an empire. However, ancient Rome had an empire long before it had emperors and ancient Athens was a democracy throughout its period of empire. Another argument used against the accusation of being an empire is that USA does not annex territory and promotes democracies. This is only partly true. While America has not annexed any territory in over a century, it has overthrown democracies and supported dictatorships when it suited it. For example, in 1953 the prime minister of Iran, Muhammad Mussadegh was overthrown by the Eisenhower administration when he tried to nationalize his nation’s oil industry. In 1973 the Nixon administration helped stage the coup which deposed the elected president Salvador Allende and put the dictator Augusto Pinochet in his place. Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, president of Guatamala suffered the same fate in 1954.

America does not actually need to annex territory which is expensive in terms of troops and money. All it needs to do is control or influence those countries it needs, and then it can use the armies of those countries as the occupation force, as it is trying to do now in Iraq. Another tactic is to use international organisations like NATO or the UN to bend countries to America’s will. When that fails, as it did with Iraq, then “coalitions of the willing” can be used to create an illusion of legitimacy. Again this is not without precedent in history. Athens in the 5th Century BC did exactly the same thing during and after the Persian wars. Between 478 and 404 B.C the Athenians set up the Delian League, originally an alliance to protect the Greek states from invasion by Persia. Member states contributed money, troops or ships to the league (it had its treasury at the Temple of Apollo on neutral Delos, hence the name) which was controlled by Athens. After the Persian wars Athens continued to profit from the league growing in power and influence and exerting ever more control on the member states. In 454 BC Athens moved the treasury from Delos to the Athenian acropolis and in effect became an empire. No one was allowed to leave the league and this eventually led to the Peloponnesian wars which resulted in defeat for Athens. When the European Union made plans for a European Defence Force, America was initially very encouraging, but as soon as it became clear that this force would be independent of US dominated NATO, America became concerned and tried to lock European defence into NATO.

So the argument for the existence of an American empire seems fairly sound. If this is the case then we must ask ourselves whether a unipolar word is an acceptable state of affairs. Some would clearly think so; Tony Blair frequently argues for American hegemony and seems content to give way to every demand. Others resent the erosion of their cultures. Western culture now looks very American, from films to food or music. Western cities (and many outside the west) are dominated by American fast food “restaurants” and coffee shops which use their financial might to drive the indigenous equivalents out of business. American music dominates the airwaves; American films are pretty much the only ones to get screened and American TV shows are seen everywhere. Of course, there is nothing wrong with some cultural exchange, indeed, cultures need a certain amount of fusion in order to remain vibrant otherwise they stagnate and become museums to themselves. However, I would argue that rather than being a fusion of cultures, this phenomenon has become a dominating influence which is destroying everything in its path and removing the variety that used to exist beforehand.

During the Cold War, we had a frightening face-off between two superpowers. Terrifying though this was there was a balance of power; no side was able to go too far. In fact, America, in order to win the propaganda war had to portray itself as fair and law-abiding (or at least create that illusion). With the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was nothing left to restrain the remaining superpower, and so now we are seeing America extend its influence in the Middle East and beyond; we are seeing America declare itself above international law, ignoring the very institutions it helped to create. It is no surprise then to see the self-appointed guardians of freedom; democracy and the rule of law abuse their position, and the resulting invasions, use of torture, secret prisons, draconian laws curtailing of long-held civil liberties and the restriction (and occasional bombing) of the mass media. We allowed this to happen by falling for the illusion of the American dream. It is now up to us to do something about it.

Extraordinary Denial

2005-12-06T07:27:00.000Z

Condolezza Rice has now arrived in Europe to try and convince every one of America’s moral superiority and its right to abuse European sovereignty (as well as terrorism suspects) under the auspices of the War on Terror, now that it is confirmed that secret American prisons do exist in Europe. At the same time she is denying that America tortures anyone or moves prisoners to countries where they can be tortured despite a lot of evidence to the contrary (this despite Bush resisting Senator John McCain’s proposed ban on torture). We also learn that since the mainstream media belatedly got hold of this story, the CIA has been removing prisoners from these secret prisons and transporting them to locations in North Africa where presumably less awkward questions will be asked.

What will be interesting is how the different European governments deal with this issue. Italy still has arrest warrants out for CIA agents who kidnapped a suspect from its territory. Germany’s new chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed a desire to have better relations with the United States but needs answers to pacify a hostile public. On the other hand, Britain’s government does not want to deal with this problem at all and has done as little as possible to investigate the matter despite holding the presidency of the European Union. A very reluctant Jack Straw was coerced into writing a letter to Condi asking for clarification on “Extraordinary Rendition”. What he produced was the most lame and timid request imaginable which was hardly what other European leaders had in mind.

Another obvious problem for European governments is whether or not they knew about these renditions. If they knew nothing, then they are going to be left looking a bit stupid being unaware of all these flights in and out of their territories. If they did know what was going on then that is going to contradict the feigned ignorance they have displayed up until now.

The questions that need to be answered are:

If the USA is so against torture then why the reluctance to ban it completely?

If the USA is acting “within international laws” why the need to secretly fly prisoners anywhere?

What did European governments know and when did they know it?

Which countries hosted these prisons and what were they promised?

If these prisoners are not being tortured and are being held legally, when can the Red Cross visit them?

What access to lawyers and legal process have the prisoners had?

How does America explain the cases where people have been kidnapped, taken to countries known for their use of torture, been detained, tortured and then released without charge?

What verifiable assurance can we have that this practice will cease?

No doubt there are other questions which need to be asked, but I doubt that we will get satisfactory answers to these ones. What Europe needs to ascertain above all is the extent of the sovereignty of its member states. For Condolezza Rice to just lecture Europeans on their need to do more to combat terrorism is not enough.