Britain Admits Awareness of CIA Prisons

[cal04]

The British foreign secretary admitted Friday that her government was aware of a secret CIA prison network before President Bush acknowledged its existence in September.

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett made the admission in a written response to a parliamentary question.

A a recent speech, Bush included a reference to the ``existence of a detention program operated by the CIA.'' Bush said 14 high-value detainees - including the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Sheik Mohammed - had been transferred from clandestine centers to the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

``Prior to this speech, we were aware of the existence of a secret U.S. detention program only in general terms,'' Beckett said in response to a lawmaker's question.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6358269,00.html

[LynnTheDem]

1. Then

SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!

[Eugene]

2. They only knew the "general terms" because they did not choose look more closely.

They knew that something was going on under the cloak
but they did not ask questions in their interest.
Some of the obvious quesions would be whether these
secret facilities were on EU soil and whether British
or other EU nationals were involved.

Ignorance due to willful blindness is not an excuse.