HERE
...surely not more dissembling by our glorious leaders ...
Government admits rendition flights
pa.press.net - 21.02.2008 15:08
Gordon Brown has expressed "disappointment" after the Government was forced to admit that US special rendition flights had twice landed on British soil - despite repeated assurances to the contrary.
The Prime Minister said he was determined to put safeguards in place so that similar incidents could not happen in future.
Speaking in Brussels, Mr Brown said: "The US has expressed regret that it did not admit at the time to these renditions through Diego Garcia. We have got to assure ourselves that these procedures will never happen again."
Mr Brown told reporters that it was "obviously a very serious issue", saying: "We share the disappointment that everybody has about what's actually happened."
The Premier's comments came after Foreign Secretary David Miliband apologised to Parliament on behalf of the Government for providing inaccurate information.
Mr Miliband said in a Commons statement that on two occasions in 2002 US flights carrying terrorist suspects stopped to refuel at the airbase on the British Indian Ocean territory of Diego Garcia.
He told MPs that US officials informed the UK last week of the flights, which took place contrary to earlier assurances given by the Americans. Mr Miliband said his concern about the case was shared by US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice.
"We both agree that the mistakes made in these two cases are not acceptable and she shares my deep regret that this information has only just come to light," he said.
Mr Miliband told the Commons he was "very sorry indeed" to have to correct previous statements made by then prime minister Tony Blair and foreign secretary Jack Straw that rendition flights had not used British bases.
He said the cases involving Diego Garcia had not come to light before because of an "error" in an earlier US records search. Mr Miliband said that in each of the two cases, the aircraft involved had been carrying a single detainee - neither of them British - who did not leave the plane while it was on the ground at Diego Garcia.
pa.press.net - 21.02.2008 15:08
Gordon Brown has expressed "disappointment" after the Government was forced to admit that US special rendition flights had twice landed on British soil - despite repeated assurances to the contrary.
The Prime Minister said he was determined to put safeguards in place so that similar incidents could not happen in future.
Speaking in Brussels, Mr Brown said: "The US has expressed regret that it did not admit at the time to these renditions through Diego Garcia. We have got to assure ourselves that these procedures will never happen again."
Mr Brown told reporters that it was "obviously a very serious issue", saying: "We share the disappointment that everybody has about what's actually happened."
The Premier's comments came after Foreign Secretary David Miliband apologised to Parliament on behalf of the Government for providing inaccurate information.
Mr Miliband said in a Commons statement that on two occasions in 2002 US flights carrying terrorist suspects stopped to refuel at the airbase on the British Indian Ocean territory of Diego Garcia.
He told MPs that US officials informed the UK last week of the flights, which took place contrary to earlier assurances given by the Americans. Mr Miliband said his concern about the case was shared by US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice.
"We both agree that the mistakes made in these two cases are not acceptable and she shares my deep regret that this information has only just come to light," he said.
Mr Miliband told the Commons he was "very sorry indeed" to have to correct previous statements made by then prime minister Tony Blair and foreign secretary Jack Straw that rendition flights had not used British bases.
He said the cases involving Diego Garcia had not come to light before because of an "error" in an earlier US records search. Mr Miliband said that in each of the two cases, the aircraft involved had been carrying a single detainee - neither of them British - who did not leave the plane while it was on the ground at Diego Garcia.