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   Author  Topic: Former MI5 head: Torture is wrong and never justified.  (Read 2134 times)
Blunderov
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Former MI5 head: Torture is wrong and never justified.
« on: 2011-09-08 13:01:28 »
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[Blunderov] The Reith Lectures are a significant cultural event. Eliza Manningham-Buller's opinion is not to be taken lightly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Reith_Lectures

The Reith Lectures is a series of annual radio lectures given by leading figures of the day, commissioned by the BBC and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service.

The Reith Lectures were inaugurated in 1948 by the BBC to mark the historic contribution made to public service broadcasting by Sir John Reith, the corporation's first director-general.

Lord Reith maintained that broadcasting should be a public service which enriches the intellectual and cultural life of the nation. It is in this spirit that the BBC each year invites a leading figure to deliver a series of lectures on radio. The aim is to advance public understanding and debate about significant issues of contemporary interest[1].

The very first Reith lecturer was the philosopher and Nobel laureate, Bertrand Russell. The first female lecturer was Dame Margery Perham in 1961, who spoke on the impact of colonialism in her series of talks entitled The Colonial Reckoning. The youngest Reith Lecturer was Colin Blakemore, who was 30 years old in 1976 when he broadcast six lectures on the brain and consciousness, titled Mechanics of the Mind.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14750998

Former MI5 head: Torture is 'wrong and never justified'

The use of torture is "wrong and never justified", the former head of the security service MI5 has insisted.

Eliza Manningham-Buller said it should be "utterly rejected even when it may offer the prospect of saving lives".

Giving the second of her BBC Radio Reith lectures, she acknowledged recent disclosures about alleged British intelligence operations in Libya would "raise widespread concerns".

"No-one could justify what went on under Gaddafi's regime," she added.

Baroness Manningham-Buller's lectures examine the issues of terrorism and security on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

She said that the use of torture had not made the world a safer place, adding that the use of water-boarding by the United States was a "profound mistake" and as a result America lost its "moral authority".

Allegations have recently emerged that the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) was involved in the rendition of Libyan terror suspects, following the discovery of papers suggesting close ties between MI6, the CIA and the Gaddafi regime.

Baroness Manningham-Buller, who was director-general of the security service MI5 between 2002 and 2007, stated that she "would like to say more" on the recent allegations.

However, her position made it difficult to do so as she anticipates being called to give evidence to the Gibson Inquiry which will investigate the subject.

Sir Peter Gibson is chair of the ongoing detainee inquiry, which was set up last year by Prime Minister David Cameron to investigate the alleged involvement in torture by UK security agencies.

A statement issued by the inquiry said it would also be considering the new allegations of UK involvement in rendition to Libya. Some of the inquiry will be held in secret to protect intelligence sources and methods.

Following the lecture, which was held in Leeds City Museum, Lady Manningham-Buller answered questions posed by members of the audience.

The Conservative MP, David Davis, asked the former MI5 head if she thought Britain's resistance to the use of telephone intercept evidence in court had hindered the conviction rate of terrorists in the UK.

Baroness Manningham-Buller replied that MI5 had first suggested the use of intercept evidence in 1988, and she would "still like to see that happen" - but successive British governments have found the idea "procedurally difficult".

The second of Eliza Manningham-Buller's Reith Lectures, which is entitled Security, will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday, 13 September
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Blunderov
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Re:Former MI5 head: Torture is wrong and never justified.
« Reply #1 on: 2011-09-08 19:10:11 »
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[Blunderov] Most of us in Virus were saying pretty much the same thing at the time. Vindication however belated.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/sep/02/mi5-war-on-terror-criticism

MI5 former chief decries 'war on terror'

Lady Eliza Manningham-Buller uses BBC lecture to criticise 'unhelpful' term, attack Iraq invasion and suggest al-Qaida talks

Richard Norton-Taylor
The Guardian, Friday 2 September 2011

Lady Eliza Manningham-Buller, the former head of MI5, delivered a withering attack on the invasion of Iraq, decried the term "war on terror", and held out the prospect of talks with al-Qaida.

Recording her first BBC Reith lecture on the theme, Securing Freedom, she made clear she believed the UK and US governments had not sufficiently understood the resentment that had been building up among Arab people, which was only compounded by the war against Iraq.

Before an audience which included Theresa May, the home secretary, she also said the 9/11 attacks were "a crime, not an act of war". "So I never felt it helpful to refer to a war on terror".

Young Arabs, she said, had no opportunity to choose their own rulers. "For them an external enemy was a unifying way to address some of their frustrations."They were also united by the plight of Palestinians, a view that the west was exploiting their oil and supporting dictators. "It was wrong to say all terrorists belonged to al-Qaida," added Manningham-Buller.

Pursuing a theme which some in the audience may have been astounded to hear from a former boss of MI5, she said terrorist campaigns – she mentioned Northern Ireland as an example – could not be solved militarily. She described the invasion of Iraq as a "distraction in the pursuit of al-Qaida". She added: "Saddam Hussein was a ruthless dictator but neither he nor his regime had anything to do with 9/11." The invasion, she said, "provided an arena for jihad", spurring on UK citizens to resort to terror.

September 11 was a "monstrous crime" but it needed a considered response, an appreciation of the causes and roots of terrorism, she said later in answers to questions. She said she hoped there were those – she implied in western governments – who were considering having "talks with al-Qaida".

Some way must be found of approaching them, she suggested, though she said she did not know how, at the moment, that could be done.

Manningham-Buller, who retired in 2007, attacked the invasion of Iraq in an interview with the Guardian in 2009. However, she has never before expressed such antipathy towards the prevailing policies and rhetoric of the government which she had to endure when she was in office. The lecture is to be broadcast on Radio 4 on 6 September, and entitled Terror.

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