Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 11:51 am Post subject: Former SAS soldier blows apart Miliband denial of UK torture
Quote:
Former SAS soldier blows apart Miliband denial of UK torture involvement.
This statement was prepared and read by Ben Griffin, ex-SAS soldier, at a press conference on Monday 25 February 2008.
Our government would have us believe that our involvement in the process known as Extraordinary Rendition is limited to two occasions on which planes carrying detainees landed to refuel on the British Indian Ocean Territory, Diego Garcia. David Miliband has stated that the British Government expects the Government of the United States to “seek permission to render detainees via UK territory and airspace, including Overseas Territories; that we will grant that permission only if we are satisfied that the rendition would accord with UK law and our international obligations; and how we understand our obligations under the UN Convention Against Torture¹.” ( Taken from a statement given to the House of Commons by the Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Thursday 21 February 2008 )
The use of British Territory and airspace pales into insignificance in light of the fact that it has been British soldiers detaining the victims of Extraordinary Rendition in the first place. Since the invasion of Afghanistan in the autumn of 2001 UKSF has operated within a joint US/UK Task Force. This Task Force has been responsible for the detention of hundreds if not thousands of individuals in Afghanistan and Iraq. Individuals detained by British soldiers within this Task force have ended up in Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp, Bagram Theatre Internment Facility, Balad Special Forces Base, Camp Nama BIAP and Abu Ghraib Prison.
Whilst the government has stated its desire that the Guantanamo Bay detention camp be closed, it has remained silent over these other secretive prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan. These secretive prisons are part of a global network in which individuals face torture and are held indefinately without charge. All of this is in direct contravention of the Geneva Conventions, International Law and the UN Convention Against Torture.
Early involvement of UKSF in the process of Extraordinary Rendition centres around operations carried out in Afghanistan in late 2001. Of note is an incident at the Qalai Janghi fortress, near Mazar-i-Sharif. UKSF fought alongside their US counterparts to put down a bloody revolt by captured Taliban fighters. The surviving Taliban fighters were then rendered to Guantanamo Bay.
After the invasion of Iraq in 2003 this joint US/UK task force appeared. Its primary mission was to kill or capture high value targets. Individuals detained by this Task Force often included non-combatants caught up in the search for high value targets. The use of secret detention centres within Iraq has negated the need to use Guantanamo Bay whilst allowing similar practice to go unnoticed.
I have here an account taken from an interpreter interviewed by the organisation Human Rights Watch ( http://hrw.org/reports/2006/us0706/2.htm ). He was based at the detention and interrogation facility within Camp Nama at Baghdad International Airport during 2004. This facility was used to interrogate individuals captured by the joint US/UK Task Force. In it are the details of numerous breaches of the Geneva Convention and accounts of torture. These breaches were not the actions of rogue elements the abuse was systematic and sanctioned through the chain of command. This account is corroborated by an investigation carried out by NYT reporters into Camp Nama and the US/UK Task Force, which appeared in the New York Times on March 19 2006. Throughout my time in Iraq I was in no doubt that individuals detained by UKSF and handed over to our American colleagues would be tortured. During my time as member of the US/UK Task Force, three soldiers recounted to me an incident in which they had witnessed the brutal interrogation of two detainees. Partial drowning and an electric cattle prod were used during this interrogation and this amounted to torture. It was the widely held assumption that this would be the fate of any individuals handed over to our America colleagues. My commanding officer at the time expressed his concern to the whole squadron that we were becoming “the secret police of Baghdad”.
As UK soldiers within this Task Force a policy that we would detain individuals but not arrest them was continually enforced. Since it was commonly assumed by my colleagues that anyone we detained would subsequently be tortured this policy of detention and not arrest was regarded as a clumsy legal tool used to distance British soldiers from the whole process.
During the many operations conducted to apprehend high value targets numerous non-combatants were detained and interrogated in direct contravention of the Geneva Convention regarding the treatment of civilians in occupied territories. I have no doubt in my mind that non-combatants I personally detained were handed over to the Americans and subsequently tortured.
The joint US/UK Task Force has broken International Law, contravened The Geneva Conventions and disregarded the UN Convention Against Torture. British soldiers are intimately involved in the actions of this Task Force. Jack Straw, Margaret Beckett David Miliband, Geoff Hoon, Des Browne, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown. In their respective positions over the last five years they must know that British soldiers have been operating within this joint US/UK task force. They must have been briefed on the actions of this unit.
As the occupiers of Iraq we have a duty to uphold the law, to abide by the Geneva Conventions and the UN Convention Against Torture. We are also responsible for securing the borders of Iraq on all counts we have failed. The British Army once had a reputation for playing by the rules. That reputation has been tarnished over the last seven years. We have accepted illegality as the norm. I have no doubt that over the coming months and years increasing amounts of information concerning the actions of British soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan will be become public.
Whilst the majority of British Forces have been withdrawn from Iraq, UKSF remain within the US/UK Task Force.
¹Torture, according to the United Nations Convention Against Torture, is "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession.”
anyone seen any mention anywhere in the more mainstream media? i've not seen or heard anything ... although apparently it made front page of the morning star yesterday
Doing a googleNEWS SEARCH finds a few mentions (e.g. Guardian), but none by The Independent or BBC.
The BBC's lack of coverage is expected, but I now really fear The Independent has been taken over (check out the editorial, including the recent controversy on their anti-GG article) .
i doubt you'll find anymore ... the government are trying to shut him up
Quote:
Press Release
Stop the War Coalition
www.stopwar.org.uk
Thursday 28 February 2008
4.15 pm
Immediate
Government threat to gag Ex-SAS soldier speaking out on rendition and torture
Ex-SAS trooper Ben Griffin will join Ibrahim Moussawi, Hassan Juma’a and
others at the World Against War rally this evening at Friend’s Meeting House,
Euston Road, NW1 at 6.30 pm.
The government is seeking an injunction against Ben tomorrow morning (Friday)
to prevent him speaking out about British collaboration with US rendition and
torture. He will be speaking about these issues tonight.
mike todd was the police guy that died on some mountain yeah? why do you think there would be a connection between that and griffin and britains role in rendition and torture? ( i don't really know much about the mike todd case )
now you say that i remember reading something the other day about some police guy leading an investigation into the cia. i saw the news last night where they was chatting about his death, but they didn't mention anything about the cia investigation!
griffin best watch out i reckon ... although he's ex sas so should be able to look after himself
i always thought robin cooks death was suspect as well, the way it happened just after that great speech in parliament about the bogus war on terror, that al qaeda just means the database etc
Exactly Mandy, Todd effectively cleared the Government of any wrong doing over rendition, as his investigation concluded last June that there was no evidence to back the claim. Then a little while later the Government itself admitted the Diego Garcia flights (probably forced, maybe by Griffin's activity ?), and then a little while after that we had Griffin stating that this Government admission ""pales into insignificance in light of the fact that it has been British soldiers detaining the victims of extraordinary rendition in the first place", and straight after that statement Griffin was served with a Court gagging order. Ben Griffin had also stated that he had evidence to backup all his claims, so obviously contradicting Todd's "no evidence" whitewash. There are rumours that journalists were/are researching both Griffin's evidence & the Todd investigation itself, so lots of media scrutiny might have been coming Todd's way, a bit like all the media attention that David Kelly had to face; co-incidence or planned co-incidence ? The fact reminds that with Todd's demise, it's certainly very handy for some people that there will be no cross-examining as to how he reached the conclusion that the Government had no case to answer.
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