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Transfer of terror suspects: US used UK base
Sat, Feb 23, 2008 The Straits Times
LONDON - IN AN embarrassing reversal, Britain has admitted that one of its remote outposts - the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia - had twice been used by the United States as a refuelling stop for the secret transfer of two terrorism suspects. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told Parliament on Thursday that recent talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice revealed that two suspects had been on flights to Guantanamo Bay and Morocco in 2002 that stopped on Diego Garcia, a US base on British soil. The disclosure could pressure the US to identify other countries used in extraordinary renditions, a practice of transferring suspects without formal extradition proceedings that human rights groups say opens the door for third-party countries to torture and interrogate suspects outside of international standards. Mr Miliband told lawmakers he was 'very sorry' to have to correct statements made by the government in 2005, 2006 and 2007 that there were no such transfers involving Britain.

The agency, which said that neither of the two suspects was tortured or held on Diego Garcia, reviewed rendition records late last year and discovered that in 2002 the CIA had re-fuelled two planes.

'The refuelling, conducted more than five years ago, lasted just a short time. But it happened. That we found this mistake ourselves, and that we brought it to the attention of the British government, in no way changes or excuses the reality that we were in the wrong,' CIA director Michael Hayden said.

Mr Miliband said he and Dr Rice 'both agree that the mistakes made in these two cases are not acceptable, and she shares my deep regret that this information has only just come to light'.

The British atoll, which was leased to the Americans in the 1960s until 2016, is in the heart of the Indian Ocean and largely cut off from outsiders or civilians. Although it is a British territory, the US base is controlled by Americans and requests to visit it are handled by the US government. The US Navy has said it maintains a logistical support base to service US forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Indian Ocean.

At the time of the 2002 flights in question, the US and Britain did not have an agreement regarding the use of the Diego Garcia facility for renditions, and the refuelling stops did not require permission from the British authorities, the State Department said.

However, that began to change in 2003 with an 'evolving' series of understandings that now require the US to seek British permission to use Diego Garcia for renditions, spokesman Sean McCormack said.

A 'final mutual understanding' appears to have been in place by late 2005, when Dr Rice said the US respects the sovereignty of foreign countries when conducting intelligence operations within their borders, suggesting that the CIA conducts rendition flights with the permission of the governments involved.

Human rights attorneys and former terror suspects have long alleged that the tropical island is a 'black site' prison or secret holding pen for terror suspects.

The US government has denied holding suspects on Diego Garcia.

British lawmakers were unhappy at the latest disclosure. Some, including the opposition Conservative and Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesmen, called for further assurances that Britain had not helped facilitate torture such as water-boarding.

The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Mr Mike Gapes, said the US government had 'clearly misled or lied to our government'.

ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE