This is very depressing news - a decision by Obama to threaten the UK with withholding intelligence if the British high court release seven pages detailing the torture of British resident Binyam Mohamed:

"The seven paragraphs at issue are based upon classified information shared between our countries," the U.S. letter said. "Public disclosure of this information, reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage to the United Kingdom's national security. "Specifically, disclosure of this information may result in a constriction of the U.S.-U.K. relationship, as well as U.K. relationships with other countries."





So Obama has now appointed a general to head up the Afghanistan occupation who reportedly assured his men who were routinely and sadistically torturing captives in Iraq that no investigator from the military, let alone the Red Cross, would be allowed in to witness the war crimes. And he has now threatened a major ally if its court releases details of another torture victim of the Bush-Cheney era.

One assumes it has something to do with Pakistan. If the Musharraf government were implicated, the wave of anti-Americanism in that country could explode even further. But this is speculation on my part. It's unclear why the details of the Zubaydah torture could be released, but not the torture of Binyam.

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