The UK & torture: Oh no we don't! Bull****

[davidbfpo]

The UK government has conceded:

Kenyans tortured by British colonial forces during the Mau Mau uprising will receive payouts totalling £20m, Foreign Secretary William Hague has announced. He said the UK government recognised Kenyans were tortured and it "sincerely regrets" the abuses that took place.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22790037

Masses of documents, a few of which were cited in coverage today, were "discovered" in a GCHQ archive store and released to the plaintiffs. Interestingly a number of those serving the Crown then were prepared to come forward as witnesses; the decision-makers clearly all having passed away by now.

One military historian, Max Hastings, was very critical; asking why the proceedings relied on eyewitness testimony sixty years after the event. I didn't hear him asked about the archives found!

This article makes several good points and reminds the reader of the reaction in the UK when the inhuman, murderous treatment at one detention camp was exposed:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...au-revolt.html

[davidbfpo]

An official investigation into the extent of the UK's involvement in rendition and torture after 9/11 is reported to have concluded that British intelligence officers were aware that detainees were being mistreated in prisons across the globe.

The Gibson inquiry report recommends that further inquiries now be made to establish how far ministers were responsible, according to the Times (behind a pay-wall).

The inquiry headed by Sir Peter Gibson, a former appeal court judge, was shelved before any witnesses gave evidence, amid a behind-the-scenes dispute over the control of information that was to be made public, and after police launched their own investigations.

However, Gibson completed an interim report based on an examination of documentary evidence, and a version is to be published next week, almost 18 months after it was sent to the prime minister.

Link:http://www.theguardian.com/law/2013/...ees?CMP=twt_gu

[davidbfpo]

An academic article (17 pgs plus 6 pgs on sources)currently on open access via the author, Dr Sam Newbery of Salford University:http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/1...8.2016.1189519

Small detail:

The JFIT’s first Officer Commanding (OC) wrote that some of the team met for the first time only the day before their deployment and that the JFIT was ‘untrained and un-exercised in its war role.’......when the JFIT first deployed to Iraq all its members were reservists except for the OC and the Second in Command....

[davidbfpo]

Jut where the UK government stands on this issue for a moment became clearer last week; when I say issue that is torture and rendition in this instance:

The attorney general, watched by Boudchar and her son from the Houses of Commons public gallery, read out a letter from UK Prime Minister Theresa May in which she apologised unreservedly for the “harrowing experiences” suffered.
The prime minister’s statement read: It is clear that you were both subjected to appalling treatment and that you suffered greatly … The UK government believes your accounts. Neither of you should have been treated in this way.
(The author ends with) In the UK, letters of apology are welcome but where is the official inquiry into claims of ill-treatment and rendition by Britain’s spies?

Link:https://theconversation.com/britain-mi6-and-the-belhaj-case-the-outstanding-questions-96438?

Methinks there is an assumption this will simply "go away". It might, but I expect it will not.

[davidbfpo]

A polemical article that traces the roots of 'Bloody Sunday' back to the British colonial experience, notably citing Malaysia and Kenya. In particular the ex-British Army General Frank Kitson. It is interesting, especially as links are there, but completely ignores the actions of the insurgents.
Link:https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/ope...itish-empire/?

The article's comments include three by another author, David Elstein, about the exaggeration of the use of torture plus killings in Kenya.
Link:https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dan...cling-fantasy/

[davidbfpo]

Dr. Sam Newbery is a British academic, in this article on an Italian website (in English) who has specialised in:

Yes, I mean the blurred limit between interrogation and torture. In particular, torture is conceived as part of interrogation. Interrogation does not imply torture, theoretically and practically; however, torture is sometimes used as a tool for interrogators within intelligence contexts.

Link: https://www.scuolafilosofica.com/9640/samantha-newbery