US tells lies about torture, say MPs (Guardian)

[struggle4progress]

Denials of waterboarding 'cannot be believed'

Tracy McVeigh, chief reporter
The Observer,
Sunday July 20, 2008

... n a damning criticism of US integrity, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said ministers should no longer take at face value statements from senior politicians, including George Bush, that America does not resort to torture in the light of the CIA admitting it used 'waterboarding'. The interrogation technique was unreservedly condemned by Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who said it amounted to torture.

A change in approach would have implications for extradition of prisoners to the US, especially in terror or security cases, as the UK has signed the UN convention which bars sending individuals to nations where they are at risk of being tortured. During waterboarding, a person is tied to a board with their feet raised and cellophane wrapped around the head. Water is then poured on to the face, causing the victim to start to drown.

Today's committee report said there were 'serious implications' of the striking inconsistencies between British ministers continuing to believe the Bush administration when it denies using torture. 'The UK can no longer rely on US assurances that it does not use torture, and we recommend that the government does not rely on such assurances in the future,' said the committee. 'We also recommend that the government should immediately carry out an exhaustive analysis of current US interrogation techniques on the basis of such information as is publicly available or which can be supplied by the US.'

It also urges the government to press the US authorities for information on whether any American military flights landing in the UK were part of the 'rendition circuit', even if they did not have detainees on board at the time ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/20/humanrights.uksecurity

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Well.

We're losing our closest ally, now. Dear Leader certainly does have a way about him.

[seemslikeadream]

2. Maybe it will be David Manning

testifying at the hearing on Friday


Kucinich Says Unidentified Foreign Official Wants to Speak at Impeachment Talks

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=3625998

[bluesmail]

6. Who ever it is they ~better~ stay safe> OMG. The walls

are crumbling. And I'm still alive to witness this history.

[Bozita]

3. Just finished watching Jane Mayer ("The Dark Side") on 'Democracy Now!'

My guess is that Ms. Mayer's book is available across the pond.

Looks like the Brits are about to further distance themselves from us.


http://www.democracynow.org/

The Dark Side: Jane Mayer on the Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals
We spend the hour with New Yorker magazine investigative journalist Jane Mayer about her new book, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals. In the book, Mayer reveals a secret report by the International Red Cross warned the Bush administration last year that the CIA’s treatment of prisoners categorically constituted torture and could make Bush administration officials who approved the torture methods guilty of war crimes. Mayer also reveals that the Bush administration ignored warnings from the CIA six years ago that up to a third of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay may have been imprisoned by mistake.

[krispos42]

4. Fuckin' duh

I guess now we know where those Nigerian emailers get most of their victims from... Parliment!

[bluesmail]

5. Shortly after the Florida Fiasco/Junta (I know the military wasn't

involved), The **** Administration declined from the Geneva Convention's laws. Ho-Hum.