Wednesday 16 November 2011

Torture - 'Drawing A Line' Under It

Foreign Secretary William Hague has stressed the Government's commitment to "drawing a line" under allegations that the intelligence services were complicit in torture overseas.
In a speech, Mr Hague acknowledged the UKs reputation has been harmed by claims made by a number of Brtions who say MI6 knew of their abuse while in custody in Pakistan.
"The very making of these allegations undermined Britain's standing in the world as
a country that upholds international law and abhors torture," he said.
Someone should tell him neither us nor America now have any standing in the world. Most of the world hates America. An exception is the part of the world who don't know about America. But that part of the world have heard of Britain and they hate us instead of America.
Mr Hague pointed to the inquiry as well as recent green paper proposals to enable the greater use of secret intelligence material in court cases as evidence of the Government's commitment to tackle the issue.
However, human rights groups and the lawyers of some former Guantanamo detainees said they will not take part after it was announced the Government would decide what evidence is made public.
 The Government also plans to convert a committee of MPs which monitors MI5 and MI6 into a statutory committee that reports to parliament and has stronger powers to obtain information.
 "We are confident that, taken together, these changes represent the most comprehensive effort yet to address the complex issues thrown up by the need to protect our security in the 21st century, and to do so in a way that upholds our values and begins to restore public confidence," Mr Hague said.
 Mr Hague, who is responsible for the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6 and GCHQ, said that each year he sees hundreds of operational proposals, not all of which are approved.
 He acknowledged that the operation of the agencies throws up difficult ethical dilemmas - but that properly used, they are a "vital asset" in protecting the economy, preventing crime and protecting lives.

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