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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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July 18th,
2009 - Home Secretary: MI5 Torture Inquiry Could Damage UK Security |
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Home Secretary: MI5 Torture
Inquiry Could Damage UK Security By Jenny Percival The Guardian July 18, 2009 Alan Johnson, the home
secretary, has said Britain's security could be put at risk by a police investigation
into allegations that MI5 agents colluded in torture. Johnson said he had
"nothing but admiration" for the work of the security service and
believed it operated "to the highest ethical and professional
standards". He suggested that Britain's interests would be at risk if
the service's counter-terrorism capabilities were "diminished and
diluted". Scotland Yard said last week
it was launching an investigation, at the request of Lady Scotland, the
attorney general, into claims of torture made by former Guantánamo Bay
detainee Binyam Mohamed. Mohamed, 30, a former UK
resident who was arrested in Pakistan in 2002, alleges that during three
months of detention he was tortured by Pakistani agents. He says he was then
taken to Morocco via an "extraordinary rendition" by the CIA with
the explicit knowledge of the British security service. During further
torture in Morocco, he says, he became aware that his torturers were being
fed questions and material from British intelligence agents. The government
denies the claims. Johnson, who took on
responsibility for MI5 when he became home secretary last month, told the
Daily Telegraph: "I haven't sat around the last six weeks not looking
into these things. I have looked very closely at them and I just say this: we
have one of the best counter-terrorism capabilities in the world and we
diminish and dilute it at our peril." He added: "In my six
weeks in this job I am so reassured and so amazed at the work that is going
on, on our behalf, by people who do not have a voice, who are not able to
express their views, who work in the most difficult and dangerous
circumstances. "I have nothing but
admiration for them. As I am in effect their voice I will defend them and
defend what they do, and it does worry me." His comments will be
welcomed by the intelligence agencies, amid concerns that public confidence
in them has been shaken. But a spokesman for the home
secretary made clear to the Telegraph that he had no power to intervene in
the case. "There cannot be exceptions for these intelligence officers.
He does not have the power to intervene. But he wants the public to know that
they operate to the highest standards. If charges are brought we will deal
with them as they come up." External link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/18/johnson-torture-allegations-security |