Congratulations to the British
According to Newsweek, Britain’s Court of Appeals has ordered the release of information on the torture of a British resident while in U. S. custody (HT: Dispatches). Both the Bush and then the Obama administrations have argued against releasing this information and threatened the British with refusing to share intelligence if it was released.
I think a good friend lets you know when you’re wrong and a good ally holds you accountable, even and especially when you fail to do it yourself. We are very, very wrong on the issue of torture in this country. In a small but important way we’re being held accountable.
Kudos to the folks who did it!
Odd. Over here part of the reason given for the decision to release the summary is that the details were already in the public domain in the States. We’re told your courts had got there first.
Actually it turns out you’re mostly right. A court here had quietly ordered the release of most information. There was little new. For some reason, this wasn’t big news.
So now congratulations to the U. S. court that did (part of) the deed first.