You wouldn’t think it from the banks of empty green benches in the House of Commons late this afternoon but with or without a twist of lemon and cucumber slice, TPIMs are yet another variation on executive preventative punishment built on secret intelligence that neither suspects nor their lawyers can ever challenge in a criminal court. Ten years after the Twin Towers’ atrocity and the declaration of the misjudged “War on Terror", have we yet to learn the counter-productivity of internment and torture? Is it not time to revert to challenging lawlessness within the Rule of Law?
As for the wicked trade in contracting out torture, only a full independent public inquiry under the Inquiries Act will satisfy international law and domestic concern. Indeed why should the embryonic democracies of the Arab Spring with whom Britain will no doubt seek alliance and influence be satisfied with anything less?
