7/7, Terror and Torture: Protecting the Deep State
By Nafeez AhmedFive years on from the London tube bombings, we remain no closer to a full, complete and impartial understanding of the terrible events of that day. Today, the coalition government has demonstrated that it has largely fallen in line with the steps of its predecessor.
The announcement that the government will hold an official inquiry into allegations that the secret service was complicit in torture of 'terror suspects' is, needless to note, welcome. But its arrival on the anniversary of the most devastating attack on London since WW2 is no accident.
While in opposition David Cameron and Nick Clegg both supported the call for an independent public inquiry into the 7/7 terrorist attacks. Yet now that power is theirs, the duo’s coalition regime is challenging the 7/7 inquest’s attempts to explore the “preventability” of the attacks. Three weeks ago, MI5 declared they were now preparing to apply for a judicial review of that decision.
While the government’s underhandedly attempts to quash the only independent inquiry process currently available in the form of the inquest proceedings, Cameron’s much-lauded declaration of a decision to hold an inquiry into the torture allegations has served to eclipse public recollection of the whole 7/7 inquiry issue. Yet the proposed torture inquiry is not designed to involve a meaningful investigation, but has far more to do with damage-control over the pending lawsuits of 12 torture victims suing the intelligence services for official complicity in their torture. Those lawsuits pose the danger of exposing in public hearings the systemic misconduct of the intelligence services with high-level Whitehall approval, through potentially damaging and embarrassing subpoena requests and witness calls.
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