Les balades de la CIA agacent Tony Blair

Il semble que la question des vols clandestins de la CIA, — plus ou moins clandestins, c’est selon, — commence à réellement préoccuper, voire à exaspérer le gouvernement Blair. Les diverses enquêtes, européennes mais aussi l’enquête parlementaire britannique, pourraient finir par poser de très sérieux problèmes au gouvernement.

L’agence UPI a notamment parlé avec le parlementaire conservateur Andrew Tyrie, qui dirige la commission d’enquête des Communes. On trouve rassemblées des indications précises sur une évolution potentiellement très dommageable pour les relations USA-UK et pour les intérêts américains, alors que l’efficacité des pratiques de la CIA est largement mise en doute. Le gouvernement britannique semble ne plus accepter que de tels vols aient lieu dans son espace aérien et il met fortement en cause leur légalité. Tyrie lui-même est un bon exemple de cette évolution perverse potentielle: il s’affiche comme atlantiste, partisan des relations USA-UK mais en même temps très critique de l’action US et de son efficacité. Il est difficile de penser qu’à terme ne s’établisse pas un rapport entre les deux domaines : peut-on rester très longtemps un atlantiste sans nuances alors qu’on reproche de telles pratiques aux Américains?

« Andrew Tyrie, a Conservative parliamentarian and chairman of the parliamentary group, told UPI it was clear the government had become “deeply concerned” about the issue. He cited a government memo leaked to the British media last week, in which a Foreign Office Official advised ministers to “try to avoid getting drawn on detail” and “move the debate on.” The document also said the government did not know how many times the United States had requested to use British airports for renditions, which, it went on to say, were illegal in most circumstances.

» Tyrie also noted Foreign Secretary Jack Straw's parliamentary response to the leaked memo, in which he said Britain had made clear “that the U.S. would not render a detainee through U.K. territory or airspace (including overseas territories) without our permission,” and reminded Washington of its international obligations under the United Nations convention against torture. “It suggests they are worried that British territory or airspace may have been used to assist with renditions without permission,” he told UPI.

» It was also clear that the government was worried about having to rely on U.S. assurances that nothing illegal was taking place, he said. So far these assurances had been “so narrow as to render them virtually worthless.” Tyrie said he had the impression that the British government wanted to bring to an end any rendition flights that may have passed through its territory, and that they believed the issue to have “explosive properties.”

» The Conservative MP said he was a strong Atlanticist and believed the United States and Britain had shared security interests. But, he asked: “Does kidnapping people and taking them to places where they may be tortured make us safer? In my view it does not. It undermines the very values that we are trying to export.” Such practices acted as “a recruiting sergeant for terrorism,” as the British government had found out to its cost in Northern Ireland, he said. Allegations of rendition would galvanize moderate Muslim opinion against the West, he added; the very group it was crucial to win over if the struggle against terror was to be successful. »

Mis en ligne le 26 janvier 2006 à 16H08