Touchdown to Torture - Article by Sir Menzies Campbell MP

6.15.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 8th Dec 2005

Sir Menzies Campbell MP

Below is an article by the Rt. Hon. Sir Menzies Campbell MP on 'US Torture Flights'. Sir Menzies is Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats and Shadow Foreign Affairs Secretary

On the eve of the Iraq war, in February 2003, President Bush denounced the "torture chambers of Iraq", claiming that "if this is not evil, then evil has no meaning". America, he said, was committed to the "cause of human dignity, the rights of every person, and possibilities of every life".

But in April last year the Americans were forced to explain the disgrace of Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, where Iraqis were shamefully and illegally humiliated. As the veteran Senator Teddy Kennedy remarked, "Saddam's torture chambers opened under new management."

Twelve months later, Human Rights Watch, the independent watchdog, concluded that there was "overwhelming evidence" that U.S. mistreatment and torture of prisoners took place not merely at Abu Ghraib but throughout Afghanistan and Iraq, at Guantánamo and at 'secret locations' around the world.

Rumours have spread of what is known by the sinister euphemism of 'extraordinary rendition' - the forced transfer of individuals to countries, particularly in the Middle East or Asia, where they can be tortured into providing information.

On the 2 of November 2005, there was a political bombshell: the prestigious Washington Post reported that the CIA, America's primary intelligence agency, was operating an international network of secret prisons, known as 'black sites'. Some of these, it was claimed, were even on our own doorstep, in Europe. Significantly, American Secretary of State, Condolezza Rice, refused to deny their existence.

We now know that planes suspected of belonging to the CIA have passed through Britain more than two hundred times, landing, among other places, at Glasgow, Prestwick and Edinburgh.

The US Vice-President Dick Cheney has been trying to excuse the CIA from a ban on torture, and Condolezza Rice claims the US is fighting a "different kind of war."

We are facing a new threat to our safety from terrorism, but torture can never give us victory. The prohibition of torture is a foundation stone of civilization; it is a benchmark of humanity. Respect for human dignity sets us apart from the terrorist.

History shows that torture, once accepted as an exception, spreads like cancer. This happened with French security forces in Algeria in the 1950s, and with the Israelis, who banned the practice in 1999.

The physical and psychological effects of torture are devastating and irreparable. Jean Amery, a holocaust survivor and torture victim, said "whoever has succumbed to torture can no longer feel at home in the world".

Torture incites hatred and hostility, and fuels extremism. Success in the campaign against terrorism depends on the battle for hearts and minds. Torture will prevent us winning that battle. It undermines any moral authority we can claim in the defence of human rights.

We are entitled to ask questions about our own government's knowledge of these matters. What did Ministers know and when did they know it? Were we really kept in the dark by our closest ally?

The current government approach of 'hear no evil, see no evil' will not do. Public and Parliament are entitled to know. For this reason politicians of all parties will tomorrow establish a Westminster Committee on Extraordinary Rendition.

Torture or complicity in torture are offences under UK and international law. The evidence is now sufficient to justify a full investigation.

Torture is the crime of dictators, not democrats. If we are truly committed to human rights and the rule of law we must ensure that our airports are never used as staging posts for those on their way to being tortured.