White House warns UK ruling could 'complicate' intelligence-sharing

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: The Independent

The White House said it was "deeply disappointed" at a UK Appeal Court ruling that revealed intelligence relating to torture allegations in the case of a former Guantanamo detainee.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband yesterday lost a bid to block public disclosure of information that revealed the "cruel, inhuman and degrading" treatment of Binyam Mohamed.

The White House said the ruling would make intelligence sharing with Britain more difficult in the future.

Binyam Mohamed, 31, an Ethiopian granted refugee status in Britain in 1994, claimed he was tortured while being held on suspicion of involvement in terrorism.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/white-house-warns-uk-ruling-could-complicate-intelligencesharing-1896189.html

[DJ13]

1. "Stop looking backwards!"

"....its embarrassing......."

[Grinchie]

2. Are your sure you didn't pull this Headline out of the Dubya Era Archives?

I love it when the "Change We Can Believe" slogan is dragged through the Hog slop without a care in the world..

This Obama/Clinton/DLC Administration keeps on trucking down the road to Damnation.

[Randall Flagg]

3. Miliband was one of Blair's lackeys.

The cookies continue to crumble.

[vegiegals]

4. A larger point is the we have to learn of US crap via the UK and not the US...

.........Lord Judge said there was no secret about the treatment to which Mr Mohamed was subjected while in the control of the US authorities.

"We are no longer dealing with the allegations of torture and ill-treatment; they have been established in the judgment of the court, publicly revealed by the judicial processes within the USA itself," he said.

"If they contained genuinely secret material, the disclosure of which would of itself damage the national interest, my conclusion might be different."

[tomm2thumbs]

5. oh lookie how successful torture is - it makes everything so easy - thanks Cheney!!

you is so smart, I can't believe you thought of this torture thing. It makes all our troubles just disappear, don't it?!

:sarcasm:
as if it was necessary

[Jefferson23]

6. "Intelligence sharing with Britain more difficult in the future"...some threat..sheesh

Many Americans are disappointed that the US is disappointed with the UK on this.

[movonne]

15. Me for one...

[LiberalLovinLug]

7. Obama has to walk a fine line

He wants and needs the praises of the military brass. America downright worships their "troops". They also spend more than every other country combined on weapons and personnel. The purveyors of weapons manufacturing have purposely spread out contracts to nearly every State in the Union. So politically Obama is impelled to be on good terms with the military industrial complex. Sad but true.

So he cannot afford to say "Let's open this whole can up and see how many worms we can flush out" If FAUX News and the GOP even gets a sniff that the military is uneasy and upset about the POTUS digging around their back yard, he'll get it with both barrels, with outraged Bush era Generals and CIA execs on 24/7 with Hannity, O'Reilly screaming about how the Democrats hate our troops, and Glenn Beck will be downright sobbing so uncontrollably he won't even be able to hold his chalk.

[williesgirl]

8. They want him to be afraid of them. Like all bullies, they'll shut up when faced with the ire of

normal Americans, not Faux viewers, with the truth. GO FOR IT. thank God for British courts.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

12. whose country is this? Why should we be wasting money on outdated weapons?

I'm sick and tired of the old guard. COngress and the WH need to flush it out so at least we have a modern military. I think it is good to say to the people look we are psending far too much money on outdated weapons and the personnel needs some rearrangment. It's simply not good for the taxpayer to build fight jets for the sake of building them. The workers can be moved on to something more modern and inexpensive to make.

[No Elephants]

32. The military brass and defense contractors want and need the praises of the CIC.

Not the other way around. And, if it is the other way around (which I don't believe, then who's failing would that be?

As far as Faux News, give me a break. They give it to Obama and every other Democrat with both barrels, no matter what. And good grief--who gives a rat's tail if Glenn Beck sobs? He does that all the time anyway. It would be beyond dumb--insane--to let Faux News influence how any Democrat {or Republican} runs this country, let alone determine it. That would be beyond lame. I don't think Obama is lame.

[winyanstaz]

9. Sounds like more of the Bush policies.....

What happened to "transparancy"...and how can revealing the truth make it more difficult to share information? The only possible way that torturing some refugee can be a danger to America is that our policy of torturing puts our own troops in danger of being tortured in turn.
And if that happens..it is our own damned fault for opening the door to torture.

[w4rma]

34. Sounds like some of Rahm's BS. (nt)

[winyanstaz]

35. yup..that too...

[Solly Mack]

10. I'd imagine Binyam Mohamed is a lot more than "deeply disappointed" that he was tortured.

[alfredo]

11. Andrew Sullivan wrote extensively about torture today

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/

[skyounkin]

13. My message to the white house

fuck you.

You're just as guilty for the crimes by not prosecuting.

[EFerrari]

14. More difficult? Good. If that slows down human rights abuses,

where is the downside, exactly?

[ohiodemocratic]

16. U.S. warns there will be a price for Britain to pay after judges reveal abuse of terror suspect

Source: Daily Mail (UK)

The U.S. has warned its relationship with Britain has been harmed by the court ruling that revealed Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed was tortured at the behest of American authorities.

The White House expressed dismay after the Government lost its bid to suppress the documents which showed MI5 knew about the treatment of Mohamed.

It declared that it was 'deeply disappointed' by the ruling and warned it would make intelligence sharing with Britain more difficult.

Spokesman Ben LaBolt said: 'We shared this information in confidence and with certain expectations. As we warned, the court's judgment will complicate the confidentiality of our intelligence-sharing relationship with the UK, and it will have to factor into our decision-making going forward.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1249881/MI5-knew-torture-Binyam-Mohamed-terror-suspects.html

---

Remember the threat our country made to the US last year? Now there's no doubt our government was being serious. We threatened to withhold terrorism-related information from UK in case of an imminent attack against them. Excerpt from UK court proceedings back then:



This was covered by Glenn Greenwald. Refer to his analysis here: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/05/12/obama/

[bemildred]

17. Empty threats and disrespect for the rule of law. nt

[w4rma]

18. Idle threat. This isn't going to do anything to harm our relations with Britain. (nt)

[DJ13]

19. Reminds me of that old saying

If you cant do the time, dont do the crime.

[EFerrari]

20. Heaven forbid the UK prioritize the rule of law over the confidence of torturers!

[mbperrin]

27. God yes, what are they thinking? People matter?

Laughable

[bvar22]

21. The Truth will set you free?

"Not anymore!", says a spokesman for the White House.

[Webster Green]

22. The White House expressed dismay?

This is getting absurd. Are we stuck with Bush III or what? Obama supports torture and protects war criminals.

I'm just about over it. The President and the Democrats are fucking wimps. The U.S. is a fucking shit-hole.

These assholes have just about lost my vote. The repukes run everything anyway, so what's the point in even voting? :banghead:

[yava]

31. Just lazy to check: was this guy taken in terrorist or at least violent action?

Or was he another mistake?
I am not saying its justified to torture terrorists or criminals but its so much worse to do it to innocent persons!

[Canuckistanian]

23. I don't think the US-UK relationship is in any danger

Certain White House workers will be if they keep up this attitude.

[bkozumplik]

24. dear intelligence community: shut up

Enough already with the immoral BS.

[SlingBlade]

25. Change You Can Believe In :)

[EFerrari]

28. This is very interesting because in the past, this threat came

before the UK did anything, not AFTER.

It is a change and one we should keep track of. :)

[boppers]

26. Well, there goes Pakistan's support.

Pakistan arrests and tortures (genital wounds are pretty much torture by everybody's agreement) a guy, turns him over to the US, we keep him awake for too long (which people argue is, and isn't, torture), eventually release him, and once it all comes out, everything gets all confused, with sensationalists implying that the US and UK were responsible for Pakistan's actions, their own actions, etc.

Nice red meat for those into such things.

[PaulaFarrell]

29. would be nice if they expressed dismay about the torture instead n/t

[bkohatlanta]

30. There are the people who commit war crimes and the people who try to stop them.

George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Barack commit War Crimes and I will try to stop them. It is a battle of good versus evil.

[No Elephants]

33. So, what are we doing or planning to do that we won't be telling the UK in tthe future?

[buckrogers1965]

36. Absolutely shameful that we tortured.

Anyone that ordered torture, carried the order to torture, or tortured should be prosecuted and if found guilty, hung from the neck until they are dead.

Anyone that fails to prosecute when there is so much evidence of wrongdoing is also guilty of a slightly lesser crime.

[IndianaGreen]

37. The Obama White House is enabling crimes against humanity

and we find ourselves in Bush's third term.