Independent UK: A stain that will not be wiped away so easily (UK citizens held at Gitmo)

Leading article: A stain that will not be wiped away so easily
Published: 08 August 2007


The written request by the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, to his American counterpart, Condoleezza Rice, for the release of five UK residents being held in Guantanamo Bay constitutes a reversal of one of the more cowardly and dishonourable stances of Tony Blair's government. While Mr Blair criticised what was being done by the United States in Guantanamo, he consistently refused to press for the return of these five men.

The Government secured the release of nine British citizens, but ministers left these five British residents - who have legally lived in the UK and have families here - to languish in detention, on the grounds that Britain was not bound to intercede on behalf of non-British citizens. There have been rumours that the United States was ready to repatriate the men, but that the Government refused because it did not regard them as a sufficient security risk to justify the strict security conditions demanded by the US. Either way, the Government's behaviour has been a reprehensible dereliction of duty.

The scandal took a truly Kafkaesque twist in June when the Government announced that the right to residency of one of those detained, Jamil el-Banna, had elapsed during the years in which he had been locked up in Guantanamo. As a result, it was asserted that he had no entitlement to return to the UK even if he was released. Thankfully, that callous legal manoeuvring seems to have ended and the Government seems to be prepared to allow these men to return to the families in the UK.

It is a pity that the Foreign Office felt the need to come up with the bogus explanation for this policy reversal, claiming that that the US is looking to close down the camp and as a result is now more receptive to representations from third countries. Mr Miliband would do better to come out and say that the previous stance of the Government was morally wrong and needed to be overturned.

But while it is good news that these men - against whom no evidence has been presented - look like they are to be released, we should not forget the injustice that has occurred here. Guantanamo, in common with secret rendition and the sanctioning of torture, will be a lasting stain on the reputation of the United States. It made a mockery of the values that America claimed to be fighting for in the so-called "war on terror". Indeed, it has acted as a powerful propaganda tool in the hands of the United States' enemies. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://comment.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/article2843933.ece