UK apology over rendition flights
The foreign secretary said in both cases US planes refuelled on the UK dependent territory of Diego Garcia.
He said he was “very sorry” to have to say that previous denials made in “good faith” were now having to be corrected.
The renditions – the transport of terror suspects around the world for interrogation – only came to light after a US records search, he said.
BBC world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds said the revelations were “a serious embarrassment for the British government”.
Edward Davey said extraordinary rendition was “state-sponsored abduction” and the government must ensure that Britain was not used to “facilitate” it.
Foreign Secretary David Milbrand
I am going to bet the british were never told that those planes held terrorist taken they way they were.
Remember, Diego Garcia is a pimple on the backside of the pacific, and not much goes on there. So a random american flight asking for permission to refuel wouldn’t be anything extraordinary.
Therefore this shouldn’t be an embarrassment for the british government. An embarrassment for the american government, yes!
Note, it was the BBC that said it was an embarrassment for the british government. Since when does the BBC speak for the british government?
>>> # 2 Magnus Patris said, “Secret prisons, torture, disappearing people, summary executions, looting, rapes:” Gee sounds more like Saddam Hussein or Vladimir Putin to me.
Ain’t that the sad truth… but every one of those things has been done by Americans in the name of “war on terror.”
We have met the enemy and we’re becoming like him.
Did they get frequent flyer mileage?
#21: “Since when does the BBC speak for the british government?”
Um, since 1927?
Terrorists are not humans.
JPV – I hope you blow up on an IED you coward and lose all four limbs.
Then you can try and comment again typing with your nose.
Amen
#21, Oh Yea,
Once again your ignorance is let out for all to see. Uncle Dave already pointed out that the BBC is indeed the official broadcast arm of Great Britain.
Diego Garcia might be a pimple, but you have no idea where it is. Try the middle of the INDIAN OCEAN. About halfway between Madagascar and Sri Lanka.
There is a military base operated jointly by the US and UK. The atoll however is British and thus under ultimate British jurisdiction. The American forces there must obey British laws.
#25 I agree with you but just because some random guy in a government agency decides someone MIGHT be guilty does not make them a terrorist.
PC whinning, I say
Actually, the BBC is not the official broadcast arm of the British government. It is a publicly funded broadcaster who gets their money through TV licensing (if you use a TV in the uk you have to pay around US$400 a year license which all goes to the BBC).
#29, Mister Uncle Ben,
The Beeb is indeed the official broadcast arm of Great Britain.
1922 as the British Broadcasting Company Ltd, it was subsequently granted a Royal Charter and made a state-owned corporation in 1927. … The stated mission of the BBC is “to inform, educate and entertain”;[3] its motto is “Nation Shall Speak Peace Unto Nation”.
So this is an admission of USA incompetence, where their record keeping of top secret rendition flights is so bad that they “forgot” that they stopped in the UK for fuel?
I don’t know what scares me more, the USA breaking just about every international law in the book, or shoddy paper trails.
As we all know it was a shoddy paper trail that kept us from stopping 9/11!