Skeletons in the closet?

[IndianaGreen]

After 9/11, liberal democracies colluded in the illegal imprisonment of thousands of people

Skeletons in the closet?

By Andrew Wander

There is little doubt that when history comes to consider the first decade of the 21st century, it will not be forgotten that some Western governments were complicit in the use of torture techniques more at home in the 17th.

Nor will it be forgotten that in the course of fighting the wars that followed the shocking attacks of September 11, 2001, liberal democracies colluded in the illegal imprisonment of thousands of people, many of them entirely innocent.

But what might be forgotten, according to veteran human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, is the expansion of government secrecy powers that helped these abuses occur.

This, he argues, is a far greater threat to human rights than any single abuse, because it allows governments to systematically conceal information from the courts, undermining an individual's right to legal protection.

"This is the really insidious aspect," Stafford Smith says. "Governments are gradually using privacy rules, data protection act rules and freedom of information law to deny access to materials that show them committing crimes."

http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/01/201012124635925886.html

[jotsy]

1. Whoa.

No species but man has such a gap between what they could be and what they are. Governments seemed to be filled with those that take pride in their own ability to bridge it. How can I not fear for the fate of man if the fight is all he finds tasty?