MI6: license to kill?
An English commission investigating the intelligence activities of MI6 suspended its work. Representatives of MI6 were accused of illegal actions: kidnapping of persons suspected of terrorism, torture, illegal transfer of suspects to US prisons. The lawsuit against MI6 was filed by Libyan citizens. Libyans blame the ex-head of counterintelligence - Mark Allen. If the plaintiffs will be able to present solid evidence at the trial, the case against MI6 will be the first in the English stories verification of the issuance of the so-called "license to kill".In January 2012, Ken Clark, the Minister of Justice of Great Britain, publicly announced the suspension of the investigation of the commission of Sir Peter Gibson. What is this commission?
It appeared as follows: Conservative leader David Cameron made a promise before the parliamentary elections: having achieved victory in the elections, he will certainly deal with various rumors hovering around the British special services. The media published many testimonies about the abductions of innocent people by the secret services (all their “fault” was only that they were suspected of terrorism), and then about their illegal transfer to US prisons, including the notorious Guantanamo.
Having received the post of prime minister, D. Cameron partially fulfilled this promise. The year before last, the prime minister instructed popular judge Peter Gibson to interrogate everyone he deemed necessary - in order to identify and punish all the perpetrators.
But now the commission of Sir Gibson turns the job. The reasons? The formal reason is the newly discovered circumstances.
Serious accusations against the special services were brought from the residents of Libya - Abdelhakim Belhadj and Sami al Saadi. The first of the two, it should be noted, was implicated in collaboration with al-Qaeda. In addition, he fought on the side of Gaddafi in Libya. There he also held the post of military commander of Tripoli. Two Syrians did not blame anyone, but Sir Mark Allen himself, the ex-head of counterintelligence. It was Allen who, according to the Syrians, participated in their extradition to the authorities of Libya in 2004. According to the statements submitted against counterintelligence, they were tortured in their homeland. And torture, they claim, is the area of interest for counterintelligence. However, Sir Gibson will not be involved in this matter before the police investigation takes place: after all, Belhadj and Al-Saadi filed a civil suit.
This consequence can last for a very long time. As a result, the commission of Sir Gibson is not investigating anything now. When she continues the investigation, it is not clear. Discussion of the suspension of the commission’s activities gave rise to two versions. Proponents of the first confident: Sir Gibson initially did not have sufficient authority to get to the bottom of the “serious”. The commission, in fact, was created only to divert attention. There was a “demand” for her in English society, and she disappeared from the stage when the topic lost its relevance.
According to the second version, Sir Gibson performed the work with excessive zeal. This could scare someone. The observers of the newspaper "Guardian" suggest that the investigation was covered because it was quite successful. Perhaps too much has come to light. For example, it might have turned out that not only intelligence officers were involved in kidnapping, but members of the government also contributed to this.
Is it true that the commission of Sir Gibson discovered something? Check this is hardly possible. The commission’s website posted biographies of its members, published statutory documents, posted general statements, there is also correspondence with members of the government and parliament, as well as with the media. The link “Minutes of meetings” on the website is a dummy. This suggests a single conclusion: for security reasons, the information received has been decided to keep secret for the time being. Most likely, this secret will remain a secret.
Commentators on this topic today criticize the entire system of control of special services in the UK. Two English professors (the authors of the volume “Secret services in an unsafe world”), for example, believe that the investigation cannot be postponed. According to them, the truth of the Libyans who submitted the application is confirmed by documents from Tripoli, which were found in 2011 year. Professors advocate the creation of a special independent body that would be good to give full access to the materials of the special services. This is the body and will constantly monitor the British secret services.
However, it is extremely doubtful that the English establishment would decide to disturb the special services. Commentators do not exclude the fact that the British are afraid to jeopardize diplomatic relations with America. As in the cases of sending people to Guantanamo, and in Libya every time it turned out that MI5 and MI6 cooperate with the CIA. One has only to swim out the secrets of the British, as the operations of the Central Intelligence Agency will be immediately declassified.
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