Afternoon:
10°c
Bush: 7/7 bombs families would back terror torture
Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor15 Feb 2008
Britain is accused of being a "soft touch" for terrorists in a damning report while George Bush suggested the families of London's 7/7 bombing victims would back torture techniques on suspects.
The US President hinted politicians were out of touch with the public's desire for tough action in the war on terror at the same time as the report by the Royal United Services Institute criticised the UK's vulnerability to attack.
The RUSI urged ministers to "abandon flabby and bogus strategic thinking" which had allowed multi-culturalism to fragment British identity.
RUSI's warning against putting the rights of terrorists above the need to defeat al Qaeda came days after an Algerian pilot suspected of links to the 9/11 attacks was given the go-ahead for compensation.
In a further blow to Labour's terrorism laws, five Muslim men had their convictions for alleged plotting of terror activity quashed this week. The RUSI report today called for a radical shakeup of Government to take away oversight of security away from "short -term party politics".
"The UK presents itself as a target, as a fragmenting, post-Christian society, increasingly divided about interpretations of its history, about its national aims, its values and in its political identity. By contrast, those who refuse to integrate into British society have a firm self-image. We look like a soft touch. We are indeed a soft touch, from within and without." President Bush, in a wide-ranging interview with BBC World News America last night, said that relatives of those killed and injured in the 2005 London bus and Tube bombings would "understand" his own hard line on terror.
He said: "I suspect the families of those victims understand the nature of killers. And, so, what people gotta understand is that we'll make decisions based upon law. We're a nation of law."
The US President made his claim to defend "waterboarding", an interrogation method that simulates drowning and which has been used against Guantanamo Bay inmates. The CIA technique was yesterday declared illegal by the US Senate, but Mr Bush said he would veto the bill.
"To the critics, I ask them this: when we, within the law, interrogate and get information that protects ourselves and possibly others in other nations to prevent attacks, which attack would they have hoped that we wouldn't have prevented?
"And so, the United States will act within the law. We'll make sure professionals have the tools necessary to do their job within the law."
The President stressed America still occupied the "moral high ground" in the face of international pressure over measures used in the war on terror.
He also said he was "pleased" with progress in Iraq but spoke of the difficulty he faced when he decided to commit more troops as part of the surge strategy.
President Bush also urged China to "do more to relieve the suffering in Darfur" but said he would attend the Olympic Games this summer.
Reader views (1)
Presumably the convictions were quashed because of lack of evidence. This small detail doesn't seem to bother our "allies" across the pond.
- Peter, United Kingdom, 15/02/2008 15:12
Report abuse
