I was thinking back over some of the previous posts on this blog, and i would like to unconditionally apologise for what i wrote about torture and suspected terrorists. I’ve been reflecting, and I think I must have been going through a patch of mild insanity-cum-idiocy when I wrote that stuff. Here’s a rebuttal of the nonsense I wrote.
Firstly, torture is despicable, inhumane and indefensible. I cannot coherently support any government that licenses it or acquiesces in it. When I said that it raised ‘interesting questions regarding acts and omissions doctrines’ I was talking crap. If the end result is that people get tortured, our government is as responsible whether it carries out the torture itself or merely allows it to happen. It’s a cliche for sure, but if we license torture, no matter how indirectly, we’re as bad as the people we’re supposed to be against, and we compromise the values we claim we stand for.
Secondly, suspects who we consider so dangerous that they must be removed from our shores must surely have an overwhelming amount of evidence against them. If so, then we should be able to imprison them, by due process and rule of law, in this country. If there isn’t enough evidence to secure a conviction here, then there aren’t good grounds to send them to be tortured.
Thirdly, regimes that carry out torture cannot be trusted. Just because they say a suspect is a ‘terrorist’ doesn’t mean it’s true. There is much evidence that regimes such as those in Morocco, Algeria and Libya cite legitimate political activists as ‘terrorists’ so as to have them returned in order to murder them (after torture). Even if we had no qualms about sending people we knew to be terrorists to be tortured themselves - which I now think is an unsustainable position – the risk of sending innocents is too great. The Foreign Office is far from perfect, and has quite a history of getting things wrong.
Now, if men like Abu Qatada just happened to be tortured, then I wouldn’t shed a tear for him personally (though i would despair that there are regimes that still carry out torture). But I feel bound to oppose any government or regime that licenses, facilitates, condones or acquiesces in torture, no matter how despicable the victim.
Finally, I would like to apologise again for having previously voiced opinions that might have led you to believe you had stumbled across a rogue manifestation of the Daily Mail.
