Blood on their hands

The US brutal knee-jerk reaction to the 9/11 attacks may have been swift and unlawfully severe in terms of its consequences for those suspected of terrorism, but - as a damning new report from the Intelligence and Security Committee reveals - it's not as though the UK government and authorities behaved much better: "That the US, and others, were mistreating detainees is beyond doubt, as is the fact that agencies and defence intelligence were aware of this at an early point". They may not have committed torture, but in condoning it, and in some cases even aiding and abetting it, they too have blood on their hands.

Here's hoping that the report's findings aren't somehow swept under the carpet, that the calls for an independent inquiry bear fruit and that the guilty parties are finally held to account.