Is the UK more concerned about terrorist rights than fighting terrorism?

Independent:

The British Government admitted for the first time yesterday that it had been involved in "extraordinary rendition". The Defence Secretary John Hutton disclosed that terror suspects handed over to the US in Iraq were flown out of the country for interrogation.

Contradicting previous insistences by the Government that it had no played no part in the controversial practice, John Hutton revealed that details of the cases were known by officials and detailed in documents sent to two cabinet members at the time – Home Secretary Charles Clarke and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

The prisoners, two men of Pakistani origin who were members of the Lashkar-e-Toiba group, which is said to be affiliated to al-Qa'ida, were captured by SAS troops serving alongside the Americans near Baghdad in February 2004. They were handed over to US custody and flown to Afghanistan within the next few months. Among other inmates who passed through the prison was Binyam Mohammed, the UK citizen recently freed from Guantanamo Bay.

Mr Hutton apologised to the Commons "unreservedly" for misleading statements made by the Government in the past, adding "in retrospect, it is clear to me that the transfer to Afghanistan of these two individuals should have been questioned at the time".

...

It is a disclosure that makes one want to say "so what." The two that were captured in Iraq were part of an international effort of Islamic religious bigots trying to defeat our war efforts in Iraq and elsewhere. Turing them over for questioning seems the most rational thing to do. Not doing so would be inexplicable. Those in the UK who have this perverse belief that questioning the enemy about his operations and plans is something wrong are just weird and dangerous to themselves and others. These people need to get a grip and get serious about fighting this war against a wicked enemy.

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