Blair used ‘war on terror’ to okay torture: Amnesty

The Independent ^ | 26 November 2005 | Ben Russell and Colin Brown

[jmc1969]

LONDON — Tony Blair was accused yesterday of undermining decades of British campaigning for international human rights by using the war on terror to give a “green light” to torture.

Amnesty International will today launch an unprecedented global campaign against the British government after ministers admitted that they would use information gained by torture to prevent attacks on the United Kingdom.

Mike Gapes, Labour chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, reacted with anger after Ian Pearson, the Foreign Office minister responsible for human rights, said the government could not ignore evidence obtained under torture if it could prevent a terror attack.

Gapes warned: “The fact that the government now seems prepared to use evidence obtained under torture sends a worrying signal and may mean that while we say we condemn the use of torture, other countries might feel they have a green light to use torture to get evidence on terrorism.”

Amnesty will turn the tactics it used against torture by dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s on the Labour government as it puts the campaign against British anti-terror laws at the forefront of the organisation’s global fight for human rights.

Kate Allen, director of Amnesty in the UK, warned that Britain’s actions posed one of the greatest threats to human rights in the western world.

[jmc1969]

Amnesty just called Britian one of the greatest threats to human rights. I can't even say what I am thinking about these people.

[sinkspur]

Amnesty International will today launch an unprecedented global campaign against the British government after ministers admitted that they would use information gained by torture to prevent attacks on the United Kingdom.

Well, hot damn! Sounds like the "torture" worked.

A perfect reason to put some screws in some thumbs is to prevent attacks on your own citizens.

Good for Blair.

Amnesty is the best friend a terrorist ever had.

[Right Wing Assault]

Amnesty, just stick to helping innocent people, not the Mulsim thugs. Remember, being nice to them will just guarantee they kill you last. They'll keep you around to sing their praises for a while.

[Restorer]

This is an extremely misleading article.

All it says is that the British government will not ignore intelligence information it receives about attacks on British citizens if it comes from governments that may use torture.

Any reasonable person would not expect any government to refuse to use good information that would protect its citizens, regardless of the source of the information.