I guess they call them intelligence services for a reason, and I'm expected to blindly accept that along with everything they say. You'd have to forgive me for wondering though when Jamil el-Banna and Bisher al-Rawi went to Gambia to set up a peanut processing factory, what exactly made MI5 think they were plotting to engage in terrorism. Whatever it was*, evidently it was pretty compelling because now Mr el-Banna is now being released from Guantanamo Bay without charge. [Well of course in a bout of frightening double-speak he has been "cleared for release", which is the new way of letting inmates go without charge without admitting you had no reason to lock them up in the first place!]
The Home Office has responded by pointing out that because he was away for more than two years, he has forfeitted his visa to stay in the UK where his wife and five (British citizen) children live.** Mr el-Banna's ten year old son Anas has written a letter to Gordon Brown, pointing out "My Dad was only out of the country because he was locked up over there." Now that is definitely intelligence.
On the upside Harriet Harman, the Cru-blog's on-going candidate of choice for the deputy leadership (from those running that is) is campaigning for Britain to raise the long-overdue issue of Guantanamo at the UN Security Council.
*If you're really wondering it was a battery charger the men bought from Argos.
**Oh and if you really want to know why they don't want him back in the country it may just be an attempt to hush up the horrific story of how badly MI5 mis-handled the case throughout.
Friday, June 15, 2007
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The actual reason MI5 had al-Rawi and el-Bannon arrested is that they wanted to pressure both of them to become informers back in the UK against other Muslims. Al-Rawi had briefly been working (unpaid) with/for MI5. The security services wanted him to resume; he refused. So they had him and his friends/relatives arrested in Gambia and tortured. He still refused, so did el-Banna, so the CIA shipped them off to Afghanistan and Gitmo for further torture.
Just a Kafka-esque tale.
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