This entry was posted on
Saturday, December 10th, 2005 at
9:18 am and is filed
under Tony ‘King Blair.

BlairWatch – Why the UK Government Can’t Hold the Line: On assurances that we don’t use intelligence extracted by torture

Independent – Blair’s Britain 2005 – where peaceful protest can be costly

UPDATE (12 Dec) – Did anyone else catch Jack Straw on Radio 4 this morning? As far as he’s concerned, no rendition flights have passed through the UK because:

1) None have shown up in his records.
2) Condi Rice says so.
3) The Clinton administration asked permission twice since Labour came to power, therefore he has every reason to believe that the Bush administration would do the same thing (in this brave new world where ‘the rules of the game have changed’). And the Bush administration hasn’t asked for permission. At all. Therefore, it hasn’t happened. At all.

UPDATE – See also…

UPDATE (13 Dec) Weasel words from Jack Straw dated 30 November 2005. Note how he fails to answer the question. Has an assessment has been made of the effect on our international standing following our use of intelligence (see: ‘evidence’) gained by torture? The answer Jack Straw fails to give is ‘no’… all he says is that he is unaware of any adverse effect resulting from the government’s stated policy. Probably because an assessment hasn’t been made. Instead he waffles on with a rather selective denial. We never torture people and we never instigate torture. Sure, we create the conditions in which torture thrives, tolerate the hell out of it and then seek to use the intelligence that results, but this should not be mistaken for any kind of approval or encouragement. Interesting that he mentions training, though.

UPDATE – In Europe, 2 views of Rice’s mission

UPDATE – OMG! We forgot Poland!

UPDATE – BlairWatch – Jack Straw Re-Defines ‘Aware’