Mike Booth: The Gringo Chronicles

All the British papers are up in arms because they’ve just found out that the United States’ “extraordinary renditioning” aircraft did touch down on British soil. Reporters from The Times, Francis Elliott and Frances Gibb, affirm:

British facilities were used by the US to transport terrorist suspects at least twice, despite repeated government denials – including by Tony Blair – that the UK had any involvement in extraordinary rendition flights.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, admitted that two US flights carrying terrorist suspects refuelled at the airbase on the British Indian Ocean territory of Diego Garcia in 2002.

In a statement to the Commons he apologised to MPs for having to correct previous denials, blaming a US “administrative error” that had only just come to light. Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, had expressed her “deep regret” at the error and had phoned him to apologise on Wednesday.

Mark Pallis of The Guardian, details how the Brits were, er, finessed back in 2005 when foreign secretary Jack Straw affirmed before the British foreign affairs select committee in December of that year:

Unless we all start to believe in conspiracy theories, and that the officials are lying, I’m lying and that behind and that behind this there is some kind of secret state in league with some dark forces in the US, and we believe Secretary [of State Condoleezza] Rice is lying, there is simply no truth in claims that the UK has been involved in rendition.

Funny that Mr. Straw should have expressed it so eloquently and so explicitly, as that is exactly what we believed, though we have not been able to confirm it until now.

These layovers on the British island of Diego Garcia are hardly earth-moving news today, after so many other European countries have already fessed up to collaborating in seedy U.S. extraordinary renditioning black ops. “Extraordinary renditioning,” indeed. Let me translate that gentle euphemism for you: “Illegal kidnapping, torture and the suspension of human rights of detainees.”

What I find fascinating is the source of this compromising information: our old friend, Condi Rice, President George W. Bush’s unconditional confidante. What’s Condi doing telling tales out of school? I admit I have a dirty mind, but doesn’t it smell to you as if Condi may be beginning to establish her credentials as a friendly witness in the face of possible future indictments for, say, war crimes and crimes against humanity?

I could be mistaken, mind you, but it will be interesting to see if this trend catches on–key players in positions of power in the U.S. government trying to distance themselves from the luctuous events of the past decade and a half. Haven’t neocons Richard Perle, Robert Kaplan and Francis Fukuyama already recanted their participation in the runup to the Iraq war? It will be fascinating to see, in time, how many more of the United States leading lights in the crusade against “terism” are planning to jump ship.