I wrote a post on torture a little while ago, and have been following the announced investigation into Britain's role. The more they investigate the more shameful and worrying it gets. I want to be clear about this, as there are straw men arguments that surround these cases.This is not about Binyam Mohammed, his nationality, guilt, innocence or even if he has legal right to remain in the UK. It's about whether our government has encouraged, participated or been complicit in torture.
Why is that important? The rule of law in this country is like the bottom row of a house of cards, everything else depends upon it. If we start moving these cards it's all going to come crashing down, and it's swaying enough already. Unless we can trust our government to be objective, honest and competent. This law should be set in stone, not left to our governments discretion.
I don't want to end up living in a country that is a bomb damaged waste land, any more than I want to live in a country that is the ideological equivalent of that. Yet how many of our values do we sacrifice out of a fear driven response, where do we draw the line and if we don't draw one, what are we going to be left with?
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