A long awaited report on the UK’s handling of detainees and suspects during the war on terror has sharply criticised the chiefs of Britain’s intelligence agencies, accusing them of failing to recognise a “pattern of mistreatment” by their close US allies.
Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) published two reports on detainee mistreatment and rendition on Thursday morning, one covering the nine year period immediately after the 9/11 attacks on the US in 2001 and another covering the period from 2010 up to the present day.
Although the reports failed to find any evidence that UK intelligence operatives from MI6, MI5 or the ministry of defence directly mistreated or tortured terror suspects, they reveal new evidence of a greater number of cases where British agents were aware of mistreatment. Dominic Grieve, MP, chair of the ISC, said: “It is difficult to comprehend how those at the top of the office did not recognise the pattern of mistreatment by the US.
“That the US, and others, were mistreating detainees is beyond doubt, as is the fact that the Agencies and Defence Intelligence were aware of this at an early point. “In our view the UK tolerated actions and took others that we regard as inexcusable.”