Chagos Islands-UK: FAC investigation into US lies announced
01 August 2008
In July the Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) published its report into the
Overseas Territories in which it considers the plight of the Chagosian people who were evicted from their homes by the British government in the 1960s and 70s so that the United States could use the island of Diego Garcia as a military base. This arrangement provided income for the UK and an essential component for the US in its invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. More recently, and despite UK and US government denials, the base has been shown to be a "grey site" at the heart of the US programme of kidnapping ("extraordinary rendition") and torture ("enhanced interrogation") as was very belatedly acknowledged by the UK Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, in February.
At the time of Milliband's "apology" the US Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice offered her "deep regrets", presumably for any embarrassment created for the British government rather than the degradations inflicted on innocent victims of the war on terror. Here the FAC announces its intention to investigate "US assurances about rendition flights [which] have turned out to be false". The report describes these lies as "deplorable" and says that "the failure of United States administration to tell the truth resulted in the UK Government inadvertently misleading our Select Committee and the House of Commons." The report also concludes that there is "a strong moral case for the UK permitting and supporting a return to the British Indian Ocean Territory for the Chagosians".
The report's main conclusions are:
"there is a strong moral case for the UK permitting and supporting a return to the British Indian Ocean Terrority for the Chagossians. We note the recent publication of resettlement proposals for the Outer Islands by Chagos Refugee campaigners. The FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) has argued such a return would be unsustainable, but we find these arguments less convincing. However, the FCO has also told us that the US has stated that a return would pose security risks to the base on Diego Garcia. We have therefore decided to consider the implications of a resettlement in greater detail.
On Diego Garcia itself, we conclude that it is deplorable that previous US assurances about rendition flights have turned out to be false. The failure of the United States Administration to tell the truth resulted in the UK Government inadvertently misleading our Select Committee and the House of Commons. We intend to examine further the extent of UK supervision of US activities on Diego Garcia, including all flights and ships serviced from Diego Garcia."
"Overseas Territories" Foreign Affairs Committee, 6.7.08 http://www.publications.uk/pa/cm/cmfaff.htm