Abusive Relationship

The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, lavishly praised the “special relationship” between the US and Britain after discussions in Washington yesterday with David Miliband, the first foreign minister to meet her in the new job.

How nice…

Evidence of how a British resident held in the Guantánamo Bay detention camp was tortured, and what MI5 knew about it, must remain secret because of serious threats the US has made against the UK, the high court ruled today. The judges made clear they were deeply unhappy with their decision, but said they had no alternative as a result of a statement by David Miliband, the foreign secretary, that if the evidence was disclosed the US would stop sharing intelligence with Britain. That would directly threaten the UK’s national security, Miliband had told the court.

[Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones]– “Indeed we did not consider that a democracy governed by the rule of law would expect a court in another democracy to suppress a summary of the evidence contained in reports by its own officials … relevant to allegations of torture and cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment, politically embarrassing though it might be.

“We had no reason … to anticipate there would be made a threat of the gravity of the kind made by the United States Government that it would reconsider its intelligence sharing relationship, when all the considerations in relation to open justice pointed to us providing a limited but important summary of the reports.”

Seems a tad fraught this ‘relationship’. But again like the Saudi BAE pulaver it’s not really smart to take the nationalist bait here, rather recognise ruling classes colluding. Both the US and the UK are guilty of using torture, so such threats help both sets of elites and their agencies (to such an extent that I am sure they concocted them in concert). After all this investigation Jacqui Smith ordered did sound too good to be true. I think I now recognise Miliband, someone who thinks they are a good person but never has the courage to actually do the right thing against prevailing pressure to conform, the sacrifice is always just that bit too much for him to bear. So he builds a bit more denial into his ego and wonders when he’ll get the PM gig. When you’re not willing to end your ascent on principle the only route left is careerism, to believe in the establishment that now holds you ever tighter in its poisonous embrace. A common trait in the technocrats & Atlanticists who dominate the UK establishment.

-Ok, you make a really scary sounding threat and I’ll be all like ‘Oh noes!!!! We must do what they say!!!’ Kewl.

-And we’ll both do our utmost to make sure no one from current or former administrations ever see the inside of a jail cell yeah?

-Yeah.

-Awesome.

-Fancy another scone?

Previously on what was done to Binyam Mohamed-

The former Kensington caretaker alleges he was repeatedly slashed in the genitals with a razor blade while being held in Morocco. Finally, he was rendered to Guantánamo, where he has spent the past four years.

The lawyer told the judges the US authorities denied that Mohamed had been subjected to extraordinary rendition or torture. But there were strong grounds for believing that MI6 and MI5 held independent evidence supporting his story of torture.

Dr Daniel Creson, a respected psychiatrist from Texas who has extensive experience in the treatment of the victims of torture, warns that the deterioration in Mr Mohamed’s health suggests that he “is reaching the end of his psychological tether”.

Ironically this government recently outlawed ‘extreme pornography’ whereby images of people engaged in [eg.] consensual blood play (among other consensual kinks) are now illegal, yet the government, involved in non-consensual genital torture, is reluctant to let justice be done here. Even though there is clear evidence of extremely violent sexual abuse. Which perhaps explains the ‘special relationship’, one where consent plays no part, just a competition of rapists and torturers all of which naturally is entirely proper and moral when the magic safe word ‘terrorist’ is played.