A bite in the butt.

During the Falklands war, 30 years ago, the then Secretary of State, Al Haig thought that the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington was a " duplicitous bastard ". Duplicity has always been British government policy and they are experts at it. While preaching human rights they helped the US to carry out mass genocide in Iraq. Having obtained a resolution from the UN Security Council solely to protect unarmed civilians they used it to bomb Libyan army positions, civilians in areas supporting Gaddafi, Gaddafi's family home killing his little grandson and eventually managed to wound Gaddafi so that he could be captured and killed. While vociferous in condemning torture the British allowed US rendition flights to land in Britain and allegedly helped British citizens to be transferred to Guantanamo. In an act of rendition 2 Libyans, Abdel Hakim Behadj and Sami al Saadi, opposed to Gaddafi, were transferred to Libya in 2004 where they were tortured. Unfortunately Behadj is now part of the revolutionary government in Libya and is threatening to take the British government to court. Yesterday evening the British government was forced to release Abu Qatada from a high security prison in London after 6 years. Abu Qatada is supposedly a highly dangerous member of Al Qaeda capable of plotting plots against the British while enjoying their hospitality. He has been fighting extradition back to Jordan, where he has been convicted of terrorism charges, on the grounds that some of the evidence against him was obtained by torture. The European Court of Human Rights agreed with him and a court in London ordered his release because the authorities could not prove any act of terror against him. A curfew of 22 hours a day has been imposed on Abu Qatada. He has to wear an electronic tag, is allowed out of his house for 1 hour twice a day, is not allowed to travel far, is not allowed a cell phone or internet and is not allowed visits from anyone other than family. So frantic are the British to get rid of him that a bunch of MPs are travelling to Jordan to obtain a commitment that he will not be tortured if transferred. They know he will be tortured but will pretend ignorance. A legal fig leaf as it were. After 6 years of abstinence it will be great fun if Qatada were to get his wife pregnant and then avail of free treatment on the NHS which is already severely constricted because of lack of funds. Sometimes duplicity can bite you in the backside.