Gibson Enquiry asks 27 questions on UK torture complicity

Just as The Haze and others forecast, the government is to renege on its promise of an independent judge-led enquiry into British complicity in the rendition and torture of detainees during the “war on terror” so beloved of George Bush and Tony Blair.

In his interim report, Sir Peter Gibson raised 27 questions the mistreatment of detainees including “two Libyan nationals” (Abdel al-Hakim Belhaj and his family)

These vital questions will now be dumped on the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC),  the Guardian is reporting that the ISC initially refused the task on the basis that it would be overwhelmed adding:

The committee is already undertaking wide-ranging inquiries into mass surveillance, as well as its annual reports into the UK’s intelligence community.

The Gibson report was unable to take oral evidence and was unable to draw any conclusions or name any names because of a concurrent investigation by Scotland Yard.

Having managed at least to frame this chilling sentence:

Other questions that Gibson said demanded answers included “whether there was an apparent willingness, at least at some levels within the agencies, to condone, encourage or take advantage of a rendition operation”.

we can now safely assume that any hope of properly answering these questions will now be buried forever under the less than piercing scrutiny of the ISC.

The Haze suspects a deliberate and calculated plan is followed to slow down the investigation, obscure the truth and hide the culprits responsible for this shameful chapter in British history.

You can set your watch on Whitehall by the collusion of the civil service with the incumbent government to ensure that the protocol that protects politicians from scrutiny is always applied.