[NYTr] Brits Helped Ship People to Be Tortured, But It's Not Really Their Fault

[nytr at olm.blythe-systems.com]

sent by MichaelP 

AFP via Yahoo - Jul 26, 2007
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20070726/twl-us-cia-prisoners-britain-0ccf4b6.html

We Helped CIA with "Rendition" But it Was "Inadvertent," Claim Brits

Agence France Presse

LONDON  (AFP)  -  -  No British agency was directly involved in the US 
policy  of  "rendition" for suspected Islamist militants, parliament's 
intelligence  and  security  committee  said  in  a  report  published 
Wednesday.

But  the  cross-party  body said the security services "inadvertently" 
helped  in  the  transfer  of  two Arab Muslim residents of Britain to 
Guantanamo   Bay   after  US  authorities  ignored  riders  placed  on 
information supplied to them.

Washington's  "lack  of  regard"  for  London's  concerns has "serious 
implications"  for  relations  between the two countries' intelligence 
agencies,  the  committee added, without commenting on the legality of
the practice.

The  two  men -- Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil el-Banna -- were detained in 
Gambia  in 2002 following evidence supplied to the United States. They 
were taken first to Afghanistan, then to the US-run camp in Cuba where 
el-Banna is still held.

"We  are  satisfied that the (domestic) Security Service (MI5) did not 
intend  for  the  men to be arrested or for a 'rendition to detention' 
(extra-judicial  transfer  for  detention  outside  the  normal  legal 
system) operation to take place," the committee said.

"Indeed  when  sharing the intelligence they used caveats specifically 
prohibiting any action being taken.

"The  Security  Service  did not foresee that the US authorities would 
disregard  the caveats, given that they had honoured the caveat system
for the past 20 years.

"This  case  shows  a  lack  of  regard  on  the part of the US for UK 
concerns   --   despite  strong  protests  --  and  that  has  serious 
implications for the intelligence relationship...

"In  international  law,  it  is  clear that the US will take whatever 
action  it  deems  necessary,  within  US law, to protect its national 
security,"  it  said,  noting that British concerns "do not materially 
affect" their strategy.

Human  rights  groups  have  criticised  rendition  and  extraordinary 
rendition,  which  involves  transferring  suspects,  often to a third 
country, for questioning and detention outside the rule of law because
of the risk of torture.

Pan-European rights body the Council of Europe published a report last 
June  concluding  that  14 European countries colluded in or tolerated
the transfer of prisoners for the US Central Intelligence Agency.

The  intelligence  and  security  committee  said  Britain's  overseas 
intelligence  service  MI6  and  MI5  had  been slow to appreciate the 
change in US policy and should have exercised greater caution earlier.

Its  investigation,  results  of  which  came as Prime Minister Gordon 
Brown  outlined his counter-terrorism strategy, had also been hampered
by difficulties in establishing facts about so-called "ghost flights"
through British airspace.

It  recommended  that  senior ministerial approval should be sought in 
future  in  such  cases  and  a  complete  ban placed on approvals for 
renditions which could lead to suspects being held in secret prisons.

"Proper,  searchable"  records  about  flights passing through or over 
Britain also needed to be held in future, it added. The Foreign Office 
said later it had rectified those problems.

At  the  same  time  the  committee said a strong intelligence-sharing 
relationship  with  the  United  States was still vital to counter the 
threats posed by global extremism.

In  response  to  the  report, London-based human rights group Amnesty 
International's  British  campaigns  director  Tim  Hancock  said they 
welcomed   the  acknowledgement  that  secret  detention  amounted  to 
"mistreatment."

But  he said it was "alarming" that British intelligence had been used
to render British residents to Guantanamo Bay.

"Rendition  is  a  fast-track  to  Guantanamo  and  we need to see the 
government   unequivocally   condemning   all  renditions  and  secret 
detentions," he added, calling for a independent probe and the release
of all British residents there.