UK Territory Used for CIA Interrogation, Torture

Local Editor

According to a senior Bush administration official, the CIA carried out interrogations on British territory. The information contradicted the official line of the British government that it was not complicit in torture in the years after 9/11.

Colin Powell's former chief of staff, Lawrence Wilkerson stated that the British territory of Diego Garcia, located in the Indian Ocean, was used as a "transit location" for the CIA to carry out interrogations and other "nefarious activities" when other bases were unavailable.

Lawrence Wilkerson declared, "What I heard was more along the lines of using it as a transit location when perhaps other places were full or other places were deemed too dangerous or insecure, or unavailable at the moment".

He added, "So you might have a case where you simply go in and use a facility at Diego Garcia for a month or two weeks or whatever and you do your nefarious activities there".

Wilkerson was in the US State Department between 2002 and 2005, but was not witness to the CIA's activities until he left the administration.

Diego Garcia had been an important British military outpost since 1966. The previous Labor government admitted the location was used to facilitate rendition flights by the US, but did not comment on torture or interrogation techniques on the island.

Wilkerson commented, "No one has indicated there was a detention site there, not in so many words... What they indicated is that interrogations took place there".

It was the first time a US official spoke on record about the British territory and its role in CIA rendition programs, which remain shrouded in secrecy.
On whether the British government was aware of illegal activities on the island, Wilkerson said it would be "difficult" to imagine that long-term actions would have occurred "without the British knowing".

The British government did not comment on Wilkerson's statements.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said the UK was investigating allegations that MI6 intelligence officers were involved in the torture of foreign detainees. Amnesty International and others have criticized the investigation, arguing that the government retained a right to withhold information it deemed detrimental to national security.

The US Senate Committee published the CIA "torture report" which revealed that US intelligence officers had engaged in acts of torture on foreign detainees after 9/11; including "enhanced interrogation techniques" such as sleep deprivation and threatening family members.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team