David Miliband's 'deceit' over Guantanamo Bay torture claims

Note: To those familiar with Jewish Talmudic beliefs and doctrine, lies and deception against gentiles are not considered to be crimes and are encouraged in the Talmud, in fact David Miliband is actually being a good Jew by observing his religious beliefs and putting them to good practice.

Jewish Talmud, Baba Kamma 113a.
"Jews may use lies (subterfuges) to circumvent a gentile"

Daily Mail 16th February 2009

David Miliband was yesterday accused of an 'outrageous deception' after it emerged that his department engineered a threat from the U.S. which helped suppress torture allegations that might embarrass the British government.

The Foreign Office asked the U.S. State Department to write a letter which claimed that Britain's national security would be at risk if details about the alleged torture of a British resident at Guantanamo Bay became public.

The letter played a key role in the High Court's decision to prevent the publication of documents about Binyam Mohamed's alleged ordeal.

Torture claims: Detainees at Guantananmo Bay where Binyan Mohamed was sent in 2004

Last night the Tories demanded an explanation from the Foreign Secretary, while the Liberal Democrats said the revelation 'could represent one of the most outrageous deceptions of Parliament, the judiciary and the British people'.

The judges in the High Court case said Mr Miliband had argued that releasing the documents could lead to the U.S. ' revaluating' its intelligence sharing with the 'real risk that it would reduce the intelligence provided'.

The judges described the letter on which the Government based its claim as a clear threat from the U.S. to Britain.

Egyptian-born Mohamed claims he was flown to secret torture centres in Pakistan, Morocco and Afghanistan before being taken to Guantanamo Bay in 2004, that interrogators cut him with a scalpel and that British agents were involved to some degree.

David Miliband is accused of suppressing torture allegations that might embarrass the British government

Mohamed, who has been on hunger strike since January, could be flown back to Britain  -  where he has refugee status  -  within days after doctors yesterday said he was fit enough to fly.

He was accused by the U.S. of planning a 'dirty bomb' attack, but all charges against him have been dropped. Two High Court judges wanted to release potentially explosive CIA files, which are reported to detail Mohamed's experience at the hands of U.S. and British interrogators.

But in their judgment, the judges said they were reluctantly blocking the disclosure because the U.S. government had warned it might end co-operation on intelligence matters.

The court had received from John Bellinger, the State Department's chief legal adviser, a letter saying: 'We want to affirm the public disclosure of these documents is likely to result in serious damage to U.S. national security and could harm existing intelligence informationsharing arrangements between our two governments.'

But a source close to Mr Bellinger has revealed his letter was sent only after a specific request from the Foreign Office.

He said the State Department had earlier been asked by Mr Miliband's officials for its position on releasing the intelligence material and replied that it did not want the evidence published.

The source said: 'Mr Miliband then found himself in a fight he did not want. He has political aspirations and he was in a position he did not want to be in, of being forced to personally defend the U.S. position. So what they said is please give us your position in writing so that we can produce it in court.

Hunger strike: Binyam Mohamed was alleged to have been tortured at Guantananmo Bay

'The letter, allegedly bullying and threatening, was really just a formal statement of the U.S. government's position solicited by the Foreign Office.

'The letter was solicited so that the Foreign Office and Mr Miliband didn't have to be in the middle of this.'

Mr Miliband is reported to have blocked the publication of the documents as they reveal how British agents colluded with the U.S. over the alleged torture of Mohamed.

This would be deeply damaging because the UK condemns the use of torture.

Mohamed's lawyers have accused the Government of using national security as an excuse to cover up a 'national embarrassment'.

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Edward Davey said: 'This could represent one of the most outrageous deceptions of Parliament, the judiciary and the British people.

'There must be an immediate investigation, with all related correspondence made public.'

For the Tories, William Hague said he was writing to Mr Miliband for an explanation.

He said: 'If this is true, it is the exact opposite of what should have been done, which was for the Government to ask the U.S. administration to change its approach on the release of these controversial paragraphs.'

And former Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: 'The Foreign Office have colluded with the Americans to produce a document to protect David Miliband.'

A Foreign Office spokesman said: 'We did ask the Americans to make their position clear in writing to inform both us and the court. This was both perfectly sensible and the correct thing to do.'