Oops! We Forgot - Rendition Continues
Oh dear. After Jack Straw gave us all the details about rendition, it seems Condi has dropeed him and Milliband in it again.
A British overseas base was used for American "torture" flights the Government has been forced to admit, despite categorical denials of British involvement from both Tony Blair and Jack Straw.
More worryingly, the story continues:
Mr Miliband made clear that the Government expected the US to seek permission if it wanted to render terrorist suspects through UK territory and airspace.
He said that permission would only be granted if the Government was satisfied that it was in accord with British law and the UK's international obligations, including those under the United Nations Convention Against Torture.
Translation: Rendition will continue.
It's known as praising by
It's known as praising by faint criticism. The issue is not that the Americans practiced rendition through UK territory, it's that they did not ask permission first.
I'd imaging that they were told not to ask permission because that would put the UK in a difficult position of allowing something they knew was wrong rather than pretending they didn't know about it.
But isn't the territory in question used by US long-range bombers to commit far worse acts of killing than a small handful of torture cases, or am I being confounded by all this attention being focussed on the lesser deed?