I understand that the CIA have now issued unredacted documents relating to enhanced interrogation techniques used on 'detained' individuals. What is interesting is who actually detained these individuals after the war but during the occupation.
I think that the British are not innocent in all this and a previous Defence Secretary, John Hutton explained in February how previous holders of his post had misled parliament in resepect of detainees. I think that we, and the Australians, have detained individuals, not the Americans, and that we have then handed these people over to the Americans where detainees have been 'tortured'. The war was over and therefore, there was no Geneva Convention to protect people because the Geneva Convention only applied during 'war'.
The government has ordered an inquiry into Iraq, which I think will be a travesty, I am not confident that the truth will come out. I think that we in Briatian are guilty of being complicit in the 'torture' of detainees by detaining them and handing them over to the Americans. We cannot allow the military to hide behind 'get over it' the senior officers must be questioned over giving orders to our men to detain certain people, and they must confirm that they detained individuals on the orders of the Americans anbd that the detainees were then handed over to the Americans for interrogation. The Americans could then plead that they did not detain anybody, they did not arrest anybody, they received and processed people who were detained by 'a third party'. The same applies to the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior, I think that we also handed individuals over to them for 'questioning'.
It really is no good for us to wring our hands and ignore our own involvement in wht has been allowed to happen in our name. Most soldiers followed orders, they did what they were told without question, that is no excuse, yes they are brave, and heroic, but that does not mean that they did not carry out illegal acts. It is time for justice, with compassion and mercy yes, but the truth must be revealed, because otherwise the stain on our character will never be erased. Accept that times were different, but we must learn the lessons, because otherwise we are all guilty because nobody really cares about the Iraqis and Afghans who have suffered at the hands of the coalition.