29 May 2007

Less than human?

The scandals surrounding Iraq and the legal advice given to the Blair regime just won't go away. Today's Independent carries a story about the questionable guidelines set down by the Attorney General related to the rules that British forces were to follow when arresting and questioning Iraqis. His advice was that they were not bound to follow the Human Rights Act which incorporated the European Convention of Human Rights into the British statue books. The ECHR sets a lower threshold for inhuman and degrading treatment than the Geneva Conventions do.

I have a word of advice for Lord Goldsmith; once you define something as a "human right" there are no exceptions unless you chose to define someone as less than human. It really is quite simple and I don't see what it is you don't understand.

Note: the British Army's senior legal adviser, Lieutenant-Colonel Nicholas Mercer, ruled that the ECHR did constrain British forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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