Responding to claims that more than 200 CIA flights passed through Britain since September 2001, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in evidence to Parliament Dec. 12 and 13 that only two rendition flights had taken place, both under the Clinton administration. However the memo -- sent from the Foreign Office to Downing Street five days earlier -- suggests ministers knew this to be untrue.

The government memo warns: "The papers we have unearthed so far suggest there could be more such cases... We cannot say that we have received no such request for the use of U.K. territory."

The document -- obtained by the New Statesman magazine -- was written on Dec. 7 by Irfan Siddiq, an official in the foreign secretary's private office, and was apparently designed to prepare Prime Minister Tony Blair for parliamentary questions on the allegations.

It advises: "We think we should now try to move the debate on and focus people instead on (U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza) Rice's clear assurance that U.S. activities are consistent with their domestic and international obligations and never include the use of torture."

Siddiq recommends the government "should try to avoid getting drawn on detail" and instead underline "the strong anti-terrorist rationale for close co-operation with the US, within our legal obligations."

However the document also suggests the government was aware the transfer of prisoners to secret interrogation centers abroad -- a practice known as "extraordinary rendition" -- was rarely legal.

Foreign Office lawyers had advised the practice "is almost certainly illegal" and any British co-operation "would also be illegal," it says. It goes on to question whether the U.S. definition of torture is consistent with international law.

This was just 15 days before Blair rejected calls for an investigation, telling a news conference: "I have absolutely no evidence to suggest that anything illegal has been happening here at all."

An investigation by the Guardian newspaper in December, based on CIA flight logs, found that some 210 flights operated by the intelligence agency passed through Britain since September 2001. Human rights and legal groups claim to have evidence many of these flights were carrying terror suspects to secret prisons abroad for interrogation using torture.

The memo also exposes government uncertainty about whether suspects captured by British forces in Iraq or Afghanistan had been subject to rendition.

"How do we know whether those our armed forces have helped to capture in Iraq or Afghanistan have subsequently been sent to interrogation centers?

"We have no mechanism for establishing this, though we would not ourselves question such detainees while they were in such facilities."

The prime minister's official spokesman played down the memo's importance, saying it was simply part of the preparation for Straw's statement to Parliament and evidence to parliamentarians on Dec. 12 and 13. The government's position had not changed, he added.

However a well-placed diplomatic source told United Press International in December the Foreign Office privately "totally accepts" the United States used British airfields to transfer prisoners abroad for interrogation, and is "extremely worried" about the political consequences.

The source said though the Foreign Office had not known of the CIA rendition flights at the time, it was now aware that it should have known. Ministers were "extremely worried" about the issue, the source said. Both Downing Street and the Foreign Office were simply "hoping it is going to go away."

A second diplomatic source later backed that claim, adding that it was believed the flights were still operating.

The memo also exposes government uncertainty about whether suspects captured by British forces in Iraq or Afghanistan had been subject to rendition.

"How do we know whether those our armed forces have helped to capture in Iraq or Afghanistan have subsequently been sent to interrogation centers? We have no mechanism for establishing this, though we would not ourselves question such detainees while they were in such facilities."

Opposition parties demanded ministers make an emergency statement to Parliament.

Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesman Nick Clegg said the document explained "months of government obfuscation and inconsistency on extraordinary rendition," and "wholly undermined" the prime minister's public assurances.

"It is grossly irresponsible, that on a matter of the alleged violation of international human rights, the government's deliberate strategy has been to ... spin the issue away," he said.

"The prime minister 'fully endorsed' Secretary Rice's statement; yet he had clear advice that it may have been deliberately worded to allow for cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment," he added.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights group Liberty, which has threatened to sue the government if it does not investigate, said: "The U.K. government is not a PR agency for President Bush. The government may want us to go away but nothing, not even the 'special relationship' should compromise our stance against torture."

In a letter to the foreign secretary Wednesday -- passed by Liberty to UPI -- Chakrabarti called for a "robust investigation," adding it was "essential that a U.K. government taking torture seriously, rigorously investigate rather than simply repeat bland and broad assurances from the United States."

Her call was echoed by Conservative parliamentarian Andrew Tyrie, a member of the all-party parliamentary group on extraordinary renditions.

He told UPI the government's attitude to the allegations had been "unacceptable from the start."

Rendition was an "appalling practice," yet the memo confirmed "that the government is walking on the other side of the street and hoping it is going to go away," he said.

"What we need is a thorough proper investigation, and I suspect that that is something the government will do a great deal to avoid."

An investigation would likely unearth information that was not only embarrassing to ministers but also "highly embarrassing" to the U.S. administration, he added.

However the government will be unable to avoid two separate investigations by the European Union.

The European Parliament announced Wednesday it was establishing a committee to investigate claims of CIA flights passing through European territory and of secret prisons operated by the agency in Eastern Europe.

A parallel investigation is being conducted by the Council of Europe, the head of which, Swiss senator Dick Marty, told Swiss media last week the CIA had been operating in Europe "without a doubt" and that European governments had been "complicit."

Related Links