How interesting. In the week that Vicky’s reading the vapid, preening tosh that passes for insight in DC Confidential (think Vanity Fair meets Wonkette with no trace of irony or appreciation of breach of confidence) here we have a principled stand by another former civil servant, exposing the (alleged!) lies and hypocrisy of the British (New Labour) Government in respect of the use of information gathered under torture.
Whatever the view on Iraq and Britain’s involvement, on terrorism and the changes to our laws and customs, all democrats must hold dear the fundamental principles that underpin our world view. Without conviction that simple maxims are true (eg torture bad; free speech good etc) then the high-fallutin comments about the ‘British way of life’ and ‘fighting for our freedoms’ are without foundation. If relativism is our creed (torture ok if done by nice white males in the cause of freedom; free speech ok provided it’s trotting out the comfortable orthodoxies) then people should at least be honest that this is what they mean.
Craig Murray has ‘gone public’ with his allegations and, in addition to appearances on the Today programme, Craig’s looking to harness the network effect of commentators in the Blogosphere. It’ll be interesting to see whether a vast quantity of TrackBacks will be enought to protect him from the govmint’s lawyers.
I for one hope that the governement will spend some time answering the substantive allegations. We’ll see.