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January 11, 2005
The War on Terror
After being detained without trial at Guantanamo for more than 2 years, 4 Britons could be returned to the UK within days. After 2 years of detention and interrogation, the 4 can expect further grilling by British Police, which implies that either HM Constabulary don't trust the American intelligence services ability to obtain meaningful information, or else the US doesn't trust us enough to let us have any intelligence material gained.Expect to see this one spun as a victory for British diplomatic efforts, especially in light of the Foreign Office statement:
We have been in regular contact with the US over the four British detainees.
We have made clear that either the detainees should be tried in accordance with international standards or returned home.
We have been seeking to address the security concerns of the US over the possible return of the four detainees.
However, it can hardly be considered a great success for diplomacy when it has taken 2 years to get the men involved to possibly be returned. After all, last July Tony Blair was quoted as saying:
I do not think the US is being unreasonable in saying we need to make sure there is security in place for these people," he said.
There is an issue about these particular people in respect of the United States that is not just about their status as detainees and we need to be very clear - I actually need to be very clear in respect of our own country - that we are not putting anyone at risk.
We all know that we are faced with a significant terrorism threat. These people were picked up in circumstances where we believe at the very least there are issues that need to be resolved, let us say, in respect of those individuals.
So once again the terrorist threat was used as justification. Anything rather than be seen to be discagreeing with US policy.
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Posted by Clive on January 11, 2005 9:19 AM in the category Old Stuff