Downing Street Says » Guantanamo Inquiry

» Monday, February 13, 2006

Guantanamo Inquiry

Asked what the Prime Ministers thoughts were on the UN inquiry on Guantanamo, the PMOS said that our view had been clearly expressed by the Prime Minister on many occasions, including on the floor of the House. That position remained.

Put that was it not a "bit embarrassing" to have the UN, which we supported, saying such things, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister’s view had always been that Guantanamo was an anomaly, and it had to be dealt with. Those remarks were on the record, and on the floor of the House.

1 Comment »

There are many ways of describing Guantanamo, but an anomaly isn’t one of them. Anomalies are discontinuities, deviations from the established norm. The clear fact is that the USA has a well-established record of ignoring world opinion, trashing international agreements and undermining international law. It ignores the Geneva Conventions, it ignores international law on torture and terroristic abductions, it ignored the judgement of the International Court over Nicaragua, it supports Israel in flouting UN resolutions over Palestine, and it ignored world opinion and international law by invading Iraq.

What would truly be anomalous (but very welcome) would be for the US government to close down Guantanamo, Bagram and the other camps where suspects are interrogated under torture, rather than following due process of law and treating all suspects as innocent until proven guilty. It would also be a great and very welcome anomaly for Blair, Brown and their spokespersons to start publicly to condemn Guantanamo as unreservedly as the appalling treatment of captives illegally held there requires.
Comment by Michael McCarthy — 14 Feb 2006 on 1:13 pm | Link

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