PAKISTANIS DISCLOSE BRITAIN COMPLICIT IN TORTURE OF SUSPECTS

Common expectations would say that civilized countries like the United States and United Kingdom don't torture suspects. We all know about George W. Bush's sordid policy of waterboarding and other forms of torture for people suspected of terrorism. Now Ian Cobain reports for The Guardian that Britain outsourced its torture to the Pakistanis.

Writes Cobain:

"Researchers from the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) say several Pakistani officials have corroborated accounts of torture given by several victims. The officials not only made clear that their counterparts in British intelligence were fully aware of the methods they were employing during interrogations but claim the British agents were "grateful" it was happening."

Of course, just as George Bush, Dick Cheney and the others always denied that the U.S. government used "torture," and that the "U.S. does not torture," so did officials of the British government, including Tony Blair and Jack Straw, insist over and over that the U.K. did not engage in torture.

Corbain reports:

"HRW said there was now a compelling case for a judicial inquiry into Britain's role in torture in Pakistan. Brad Adams, HRW's Asia director, said: "The prime minister, the foreign secretary, former prime minister Tony Blair and others have repeatedly said that the UK opposes torture. They repeatedly deny allegations that the UK has encouraged torture by Pakistan's intelligence agencies. But saying this over and over again doesn't make it true. There is now sufficient evidence in the public domain to warrant a judicial inquiry.""