David Miliband "Duped on a Colossal Scale" over U.S. Terror Prison

by Christina 123 | August 1, 2008 at 12:20 pm | 113 views | add comment | 0 recommendations

America has admitted for the first time that a U.S. base in the Indian Ocean on the island Diego Garcia did host a secret prison, it has been revealed today.

At the time of the diplomatic question raised by Mr.Miliband, the White House reassured the British that the British-dependent territory was politically neutral and not used for the highly-sensitive issue of holding terror suspects.

Clive Stafford-Smith, a leading human rights lawyer, said David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, had allowed himself to be "duped on a colossal scale" by America, which earlier this year conceded it had misled London on access to the island for rendition flights - aircraft involved in extra-judicial extradition of terrorist suspects.

A Foreign Office spokesman said Britain was powerless to accept American reassurances at anything other than face value. The priority placed on preserving access to US intelligence constrained the government's ability to question US statements.