Evidence of torture 'buried by ministers'

[cal04]

Source: The Guardian

Judges condemn secrecy over files detailing treatment of suspect by CIA
The government was accused last night of hiding behind claims of a threat to national security to suppress evidence of torture by the CIA on a prisoner still held in Guantánamo Bay.

An unprecedented high court ruling yesterday blamed the US, with British connivance, for keeping the "powerful evidence" secret, sparking criticism from lawyers, campaigners and MPs, who claimed the government had capitulated to American bullying.

Two senior judges said they were powerless to reveal the information about the torture of Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian-born British resident, because David Miliband, the foreign secretary, had warned the court the US was threatening to stop sharing intelligence about terrorism with the UK.

In a scathing judgment, Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones said the evidence, and what MI5 knew about it, must remain secret because according to Miliband, the American threats meant "the public of the United Kingdom would be put at risk".

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/04/guantanamo-bay-torture

---

Washington Post
U.K. Court Rules to Keep Detainee Documents Secret
Citing U.S. Threats on Intelligence Sharing, Judges Will Not Release Information on Guantanamo Inmate
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/04/AR2009020402999.html?hpid=topnews

[gratuitous]

1. That's not all they buried

Anyone, anywhere, who respects the rule of law should be outraged by this nonsense.

[defendandprotect]

2. With so much info out there on the evils of CIA ....

how do they remain in business ....?

These embedded "intelligence" agencies --- including FBI -- are the fear-mongers

destroying our Constitution and democracy everywhere ---

[IndianaGreen]

3. We have to dismantle the national security apparatus begun under Truman

before it destroys the lot of us.

[bottomtheweaver]

4. Wholeheartedly agree.

They scared the shit out of Eisenhower and that was 49 freaking years ago. They haven't exactly gotten smaller in the meantime.

[defendandprotect]

5. Highly agree ... but it came up with

Cold War which may have been a controlled farce for sake of continuing

arms production ...???

NASA also needed a "race" to the moon ... an enemy competitor.

Like "Star Wars" these are huge money projects -- all tied up with fear-mongering.

JFK pretty much lsughed at and ended Cold War --

Poppy/Cheney/Rumsfeld spent decades resurrecting it --


Allen Dulles with Project Paperclip founded CIA with Nazis --

also put them in FBI ---

NASA -- Werner von Braun --

JFK was catching on ---!!

[iconicgnom]

18. "JFK pretty much lsughed at and ended Cold War --" what you smokin'?

Cuban missile crisis
Bay of Pigs
Escalating Vietnam
for three.

[defendandprotect]

25. JFK was assassinated for his anti-war positions . . .

"Cuban missile crisis --
Bay of Pigs" --

First, VP Nixon worked on this originally - "Project 40" -- while Ike was in

hospital with heart attack. He may have even been involved later with the

Gulf of Tonkin farce.

Second, JFK inherited this crap and rightly was suspicious of it.

Afterwards he FIRED CIA Director Allen Dulles -- Bissel and a number of others at

CIA and was rightly planning to "Rip the CIA up into tiny pieces and toss it to the

wind."

Third, JFK further resisted the Joint Chiefs efforts to get him to attack Cuba

over the missiles. Back channels were used and Cuba was never attacked.



"Escalating Vietnam
for three."

Fourth, JFK also inherited Vietnam situation but began to realize the high interest

in Vietnam was more based on its being "a nice piece of real estate."

JFK had issued NSAM to begin to bring troops home from Vietnam.

On the very day of his assassination, LBJ reversed those orders.

Also keep in mind that Howard Hunt - as a White House "plumber" spent much of his

time trying to falsify cables in an effort to suggest that JFK had something to

do with authorizing the coup on the Diem Brothers. Those assassinations occurred

just two weeks or so before the coup on JFK.

[iconicgnom]

27. OK, perhaps I'm misinformed on this.

[defendandprotect]

28. If you're interested . . .

Fletcher Prouty is an excellent source on JFK and coup/VN/Pentagon/Intelligence --

Your library will have his books, I'm sure. And I think you'll find some of his

writings on internet. Next to that on the coup, I think Jim Marrs continues to be

the one -- his book is "Crossfire." "High Treason I" and "High Treason II" by Livingstone

are excellent and both out in paperback so if you're in a large bookstore you can browse them.

My library also has all of them. These books have held up well.

[iconicgnom]

29. thanks!

[defendandprotect]

6. K&R

[commanche]

7. UK judges accuse Obama Administration of suppressing torture claim

This is the frank headline of the story cicrulating the news. The US administration says the torture stories of a british citizen must remain secret, or else they would stop sharing inteligence. Where is the change Obama? Why are we supressing democracy and championing fascism? what ever happeneed to freedom and democracy? This is seriously backwards and denies natural justice, democrat or no democrat, its plain wrong.

[Amonester]

8. maybe Obama does not know...

and maybe his "bubble makers" will keep him out of the loop on this one...

(like they try to do on many other issues, ... maybe ...)

[moggie]

9. Since it was published in the Washington Post, he knows

This is not some buried story: it's getting press coverage. He's fully aware of it.

[earcandle]

10. how could we know and he NOT know? I don't get it?

[No Elephants]

13. Whether Obama knows or

not

[Lasher]

14. Obama's nominee for CIA Director has not been confirmed yet

Leon Panetta is still going through the confirmation process. And Obama has been on the job for only 3 weeks now. My point is, the threat to withold information is a vestige of the GWB administration, and might have been actually made prior to January 20.

I agree with Truman about accountability but let's give Obama a fair chance to react to this before we haul out the torches and pitchforks.

[Hubert Flottz]

17. Either the CIA or Bush and Cheney were wrong about several

pieces of intelligence about the danger that Iraq posed to the US and the UK. So wrong that we invaded Iraq for no real reason other than the oil companies wanted to exploit Iraq's natural recourses and W was pissed at Saddam because Saddam wouldn't bow down and kiss Poppy's royal ass.

What good is a CIA that lies us into a trillion dollar war? The CIA leadership either knowingly lied about Iraq being a "Great" Imminent" threat to the continental US, OR, they were so inept that they didn't know any better. Either way the CIA is as useless as a screen door on a submarine. What I'd call a "worthless government program"...

[Zhade]

26. They weren't wrong. THEY DELIBERATELY LIED AND MANUFACTURED EVIDENCE.

Google "Office of Special Plans" - they systematically lied and manipulated intelligence to make it support their case against Iraq.

It was NOT a mistake.

[No Elephants]

19. You must be joking. Stating the truth that Obama has ultimate responsiblity is hauling out a

torch and pitchfork? Seriously?

[Lasher]

21. No, I am Lasher.

But that's just my screen name.

[iconicgnom]

20. "He's a brain dead moron" worked for Bush Jr. and Reagan, but won't work for Obama.

The plain fact is, Obama will never have the excuse that he's just the creature of his handlers. Nor should he want to.

Notice the curious fact that Bush Jr. is said to've lived in some "bubble of ignorance", that being the excuse MSM made for him, but that was never said of Cheney. It was never said of Condi. It was said of Powell, but few believe it. That excuse only works when there's up front empirical evidence of stupidity, as in the case of Bush Jr., or advancing age/tiredness, as in the case of Reagan (and McCain).

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. US govt thanks UK govt for withholding the information:

On Wednesday night, Mr Miliband insisted there had been no direct threat from the US to future intelligence-sharing, although there would have been implications for future exchanges of information if the material had been made public.

"There has been no threat from the United States to 'break off' intelligence co-operation," he told Channel 4 News. "Intelligence co-operation depends on confidentiality. We share our secrets with other countries and they share their secrets with us. The founding principle for us and for them is that we can trust the confidentiality of that relationship.

"In this case, the United States made it clear, in documents that have been published, that there would inevitably be serious and lasting harm if that fundamental principle was breached."

A spokesman for the US Department of State said: "The US thanks the UK government for its continued commitment to protect sensitive national security information and preserve the long standing intelligence-sharing relationship that enables both countries to protect their citizens. The US investigates allegations and claims of torture and cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment such as those raised by Binyam Mohamed."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5j5vvQ9lAQxRRiT_C2yhpjgqL4lUA

So it seems the Obama administration is aware of the situation, and wants the information to continue to be hidden from the public.

[Solly Mack]

11. K&R

[No Elephants]

12. A British court of law ruled that a THREAT to withhold info trumps everything? How very shameful.

[Finite]

15. This is VERY worrying to hear

Basically Obama has stated publically that the torture will stop, but appears to be trying to sweep previous crimes under the carpet.

Good to see that people in the US are paying attention to this, anyway :)

[iconicgnom]

22. This shows that these war crimes are too large in scope and too well known of to hide,

and that continuing attempts to hide the truth will only cause more extensive damage, this time to the rep. of the US under the Obama admin.

That would be devastating for the US. Remember how 200000 cheered for Obama at Berlin’s Victory Column? That kind of worldwide support isn't for the US status quo. It's for an "american dream", but not for entrenching an american nightmare.

[pleah]

23. K&R

[Downwinder]

24. Sounds like an admission to me. nt