No surprises and no answers in torture report

The revelations of the brutal, shameful practices, sorry enhanced interrogation techniques the CIA used on suspected terrorists should have surprised no one.

Certainly no one in the US Government. They, and with broad agreement from most of their citizens, unchained the beast.

On September 11, 2001, the world changed for ever as al Qaida attacked the US, killing nearly 3,000 people and leaving America and its allies grieving and in shock.

The War on Terror had begun. My view at the time was that revenge must be exacted on those responsible, and no stone should be left unturned in our efforts to find them.

That any means, fair or foul, should be used to eradicate this barbaric scum from the face of the earth. They weren’t human, they were idealistic monsters who cared not a jot for the lives of others, so why should we give a damn about them?

I, of course, and millions of others seeking revenge, didn’t realise until it was too late that this War on Terror was flawed from the start and, where the invasion of Iraq was concerned, based on a complete lie.

The architects and grand schemers of it all, Bush, Blair and Cheney, seemed more interested in securing Iraqi oil reserves than looking for al Qaida. Afghanistan, once it had been cleansed of terrorists, could again be left and forgotten about.

Trillions of dollars were spent, hundreds of thousands of lives, civilian and military lost. And, for an unfortunate, mainly innocent, few, an orange boiler suit and years of sustained, systematic torture awaited them.

As I said no one should have been surprised at the findings of the Senate report, least of all the US Government. They, with the CIA, created their own hellhole, Guantanamo Bay, for many of those suspected of terrorism and it’s still in use today.

The practice of rendition flying suspects to other countries to be tortured was exposed by the Council of Europe in 2006 so again, nothing really of surprise there.

What did surprise me was that it was published. No one will ever be brought before the courts, no matter how guilty they are. The CIA, chastened though they may be, are already at odds with some of the findings, particularly the Senate’s claims that water boarding and other barbaric practices did not stop future terrorist attacks and save innocent lives. So why was it published?

Was it a political manoeuvre by the flagging Democrats designed to embarrass Republicans? Or was it to be a baring of the nation’s soul, a cringing apology for past misdemeanours in order to appease those gunning for the West?

Equally, how involved in torture was our own Security Service? How complicit were they? Did rendition flights refuel at Prestwick?

Did Tony Blair or any of his Labour Cabinet know what the CIA were doing and, if so, why aren’t we now being told? Was MI5 briefed about the contents before the report was published?

Given the amount of redacted text it contains there are more questions that must be asked than there are currently answers for.

In a week when our police were warned to hide their uniforms when not on duty for fear of being attacked by jihadists, when the public is given advice about what to do if they hear an explosion or gun shot, in a year when soldier Lee Rigby was brutally hacked to death on a London street and at a time when the terrorist threat from groups like ISIS is at an all-time high are we not entitled to have those questions answered?