Rendition:On Planet Jack and Planet Tony...
Both Tony Blair and Jack Straw have had more to say [but little to add] on the unfolding story of Extraordinary Rendition.
On Planet Jack, concerns about Rendition Torture and 'Black Sites' are onthing more than paranoid fantasy:
JACK STRAW : ...Unless we all start to believe in conspiracy theories and that the officials are lying, that I am lying, that behind this there is some kind of secret state which is in league with some dark forces in the United States, and also let me say, we believe that Secretary Rice is lying, there simply is no truth in the claims that the United Kingdom has been involved in rendition full stop, because we have not been, and so what on earth a judicial inquiry would start to do I have no idea. I do not think it would be justified. While we are on this point, Chairman, can I say this? Some of the reports which are given credibility, including one this morning on the Today programme, are in the realms of the fantastic.
The above is taken from the uncorrected transcript of his oral evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee 13 December 2005.
To save you wading through the whole lot, I've archived Jack's evidence on Extraordinary Rendition and related matters here.
It is worth reading, for the FAC's obvious disbelief and scepticism, Jack Straw's 'imaginative' use of English, his blind faith in his own carefuly constructed ignorance, the fact he has changed his position from his previous evidence, the fact he repeats his previous exclusion of certain records from the answers he has given, and his refusal to allow his officials to give evidence in private to the committee.
Also, for people following the Diego Garcia story, he admits he hasn't checked the records for overseas territories.
On Planet Tony, concerns about the story that is unfolding are regected as 'absurd':
Last week, the Prime Minister acknowledged that he had been aware of the United States' policy of rendition for quite some time. If terrorist suspects are not being transported to a third country for the purposes of torture or mistreatment, will he explain to the House for what purpose they are being transported?
Tony Blair
First, let me again make it clear to the right hon. Gentleman that this Government are completely and totally opposed to torture or ill-treatment in any set of circumstances. Our country is a signatory to the United Nations convention against the use of torture, and we will continue to uphold its provisions absolutely. Rendition does not simply apply in those circumstances; it can apply in other circumstances, as the United States Secretary of State has made clear. To be fair, they have also said that they are totally opposed to the use of torture or ill-treatment in any circumstances.
Charles Kennedy
In welcoming precisely what the Prime Minister has just said, does he not therefore acknowledge that our country is surely under a legal and moral obligation to investigate why flights are being allowed to pass through our country for rendition purposes? Full inquiries are now taking place in Italy, Spain, Germany and Canada? Why are they not taking place in the United Kingdom?
Tony Blair
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has just passed me a copy of his parliamentary answer from, I think, a few days ago, which states:
"Careful research by officials has been unable to identify any occasions since 11 September 2001, or earlier in the Bush Administration, when we received a request for permission by the United States for a rendition through UK territory or airspace, nor are we otherwise aware of such a case."
On United States Government flights coming in and out, those take place for a whole series of reasons. We receive visits from people from the United States Government the entire time.—[Interruption.] I have to say that the Liberal Democrats are quite extraordinary sometimes. The idea that we should investigate every time that a United States Government plane flies into this country is completely absurd.
Indeed Tony, the Liberal Democrats are sometimes absurd, but not for the reasons you suggest!
Tony is claiming he is almost as ignorant as Jack, and quoting Jack's Ignorance to support his own. In short, their answer appears to be that because we don't know who flies in to the UK and where they have come from, or who flies out and where they are going, then we can say rendition hasn't passed through here.
They would also have us believe that extraordinary rendition, is really not that bad, and the fact that detainees are rendered to countries they have never had anything to do with that coincidentally have appalling records on torture, is all OK. Because we have Condi's assurances that Extraordinary Rendition is nothing for us to worry about.
Meanwhile, back in the real world...
EU investigator Dick Marty reported earlier this week, that the sugggestions that the CIA had been moving prisoners around europe and the stories of secret prisons are credible.
On the back of this, the European Parliament have initiated an inquiry, and if this story about the Germans warning Washington to take their enquiries seriously is to be believed, then it maybe they mean it!?
Against this backdrop, the government 'See no evil, Hear no evil' line is looking more and more precarious,
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