MI5 knew about torture of Binyam Mohamed and terror suspects

The U.S. has warned its relationship with Britain has been harmed by the court ruling that revealed Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed was tortured at the behest of American authorities.

The White House expressed dismay after the Government lost its bid to suppress the documents which showed MI5 knew about the treatment of Mohamed.

It declared that it was 'deeply disappointed' by the ruling and warned it would make intelligence sharing with Britain more difficult.

Spokesman Ben LaBolt said: 'We shared this information in confidence and with certain expectations. As we warned, the court's judgment will complicate the confidentiality of our intelligence-sharing relationship with the UK, and it will have to factor into our decision-making going forward.'

In Washington, a statement by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, said the ruling was 'not helpful'.


It said: 'The protection of confidential information is essential to strong, effective security and intelligence cooperation among allies.


'The decision by a United Kingdom court to release classified information provided by the US is not helpful, and we deeply regret it.'

On a day of high drama yesterday, it emerged the Government had tried to suppress a senior judge's verdict that Britain colluded in torture.

The Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger, effectively accused MI5 of complicity in torture and having a culture of disregarding human rights.


The explosive disclosure was a serious blow to Foreign Secretary David Miliband on a day of high drama.

It began when the Foreign Office was yesterday forced to publish evidence which he had battled to suppress through the courts, showing that MI5 knew the British Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed had been tortured at the behest of the U.S. authorities. ...

'They cut all over my private parts,' he wrote in his diary. 'One of them said it would be better just to cut it off, as I would only breed terrorists.'

Ethiopian-born Mohamed, now 31, arrived in London in 1994 as a schoolboy seeking asylum. He was refused refugee status but granted exceptional leave to remain in 2000.

He studied electrical and electronic engineering and got a job as a caretaker. He also converted to Islam and attended a mosque frequented by radical Muslims.

In 2001 he went to Afghanistan. He said he had experimented with drugs, heroin and crack cocaine, and went there to get away from a 'bad crowd', kick the habit and see if the Taliban had produced a good Muslim country.

The U.S. alleged that he received paramilitary training at an Al Qaeda training camp, fought for the Taliban and plotted to detonate a radioactive 'dirty bomb' in America.

It claimed he was cherry-picked by Al Qaeda because of his UK residency, and received firearms and explosives training alongside British shoe bomber Richard Reid.

Mohamed denies all the allegations and says that he confessed to anything his torturers wanted him to say. ... Mohamed says that under torture he told his interrogators that 9/11 planner Khalid Shaikh Mohammed had given him the false British passport and that he had met Osama Bin Laden 30 times. 'None of it was true.' ...


via MI5 knew about torture of Binyam Mohamed and terror suspects | Mail Online.

Our good friends the British have just confirmed what destroyed torture videos would have confirmed, that George Bush lied when he said we do not torture. The US response? We are upset that they told the truth.

People lie to stop torture. We've known that for ages.

Now we know something new. We know now that President's and the military lie about the fact that they torture people.

This should be reason enough to close all military run prisons.  They have failed the public trust. Furthermore, they have failed to identify those who did the torture, and they have failed to removed the people responsible for the lies after they were made public. Therefore, they should lose all responsibility in this area. Were any of the children prisoners at Gitmo tortured? We have no way to know because of lies.  Your tax-dollars are used for this. You should not look the other way. Close all military prisons and hold public hearings. Reorganize and provide checks and balances. Give nice big incentives to whistle-blowers, for one.

Next, trust but verify that the people in our government who wish Osama Bin Laden would kill Americans are not plotting to kill Americans and then blame it on Osama or other extremists. (See anthrax conspiracy. )