Did the UK know about the U.S. Terror Flights?

Back on the 12th I wrote about an article that reported proof of CIA terror flights in Europe. I stated that I believed it to be false because of the way it was written and they didn't release the document. Well here we have a leaked UK document that states not only did Great Briton know about it, they lied about it and even tried to shove some of the blame to Clinton.

Hannah K. Strange of Monsters and Critics writes:

The British government knew the United States may have used its territory for secret flights carrying prisoners abroad for interrogation and deliberately impeded investigations into the allegations, a leaked memo published Thursday indicates.

Responding to claims that more than 200 CIA flights passed through Britain since September 2001, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in evidence to Parliament Dec. 12 and 13 that only two rendition flights had taken place, both under the Clinton administration. However the memo -- sent from the Foreign Office to Downing Street five days earlier -- suggests ministers knew this to be untrue.

The government memo warns: 'The papers we have unearthed so far suggest there could be more such cases... We cannot say that we have received no such request for the use of U.K. territory.'

The document -- obtained by the New Statesman magazine -- was written on Dec. 7 by Irfan Siddiq, an official in the foreign secretary`s private office, and was apparently designed to prepare Prime Minister Tony Blair for parliamentary questions on the allegations.

It advises: 'We think we should now try to move the debate on and focus people instead on (U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza) Rice`s clear assurance that U.S. activities are consistent with their domestic and international obligations and never include the use of torture.'

Siddiq recommends the government 'should try to avoid getting drawn on detail' and instead underline 'the strong anti-terrorist rationale for close co-operation with the US, within our legal obligations.'

How do you like that? They know it's illegal so they have to write a memo talking about the best way to lie about it.

However the document also suggests the government was aware the transfer of prisoners to secret interrogation centers abroad -- a practice known as 'extraordinary rendition' -- was rarely legal.

Foreign Office lawyers had advised the practice 'is almost certainly illegal' and any British co-operation 'would also be illegal,' it says. It goes on to question whether the U.S. definition of torture is consistent with international law.

This was just 15 days before Blair rejected calls for an investigation, telling a news conference: 'I have absolutely no evidence to suggest that anything illegal has been happening here at all.'

An investigation by the Guardian newspaper in December, based on CIA flight logs, found that some 210 flights operated by the intelligence agency passed through Britain since September 2001. Human rights and legal groups claim to have evidence many of these flights were carrying terror suspects to secret prisons abroad for interrogation using torture.

The memo also exposes government uncertainty about whether suspects captured by British forces in Iraq or Afghanistan had been subject to rendition.

'How do we know whether those our armed forces have helped to capture in Iraq or Afghanistan have subsequently been sent to interrogation centers?

I am on a much better mind to believe this article. Especially since they have the memo in question here. Does it prove without a doubt that the U.S. is doing it? No, but it tells us much more of the story.

You can read the entire article here:
U.K.: Memo fuels CIA `torture flights` row

Technorati tags: CIA, Europe, Torture