Alex Massie Alex Massie

Con Coughlin & His Critics

David has already highlighted some of the more dubious arguments Con Coughlin deploys in response to his critics but a couple of other points may still be made. Con writes:

If I understand correctly Alex Deane’s high-minded rant about the rights of innocent people receiving a fair trial (which, just to put the record straight, I fully support), he is prepared to accept at face value former Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohamed’s claim that he was brutally tortured during his interrogation with the full complicity of British security officials. David Davies, the former shadow Home Secretary, made a similar argument on the Today programme this morning, preferring to believe the word of Mr Mohamed rather than our own intelligence establishment.

And

Nothing Mr Mohamed has said since the British government did him the enormous service of securing his release from Guantanamo adds up, which is why I am deeply concerned that Conservative voices are being raised in defence of his human rights.  If this is the type of cause that modern Conservatives wish to defend, you really have to question whether the party is fit to govern this country.

Firstly, and without wanting to sound glib, I think it’s also important that guilty people receive a fair trial. But that process is hindered, not enhanced, when they are subjected to the sort of treatment Mohamed describes. Just as significantly, the American government does not disputeMohamed’s account of his treatment. Indeed, that’s rather why both governments wanted to keep the matter secret in the first place.

More generally, one need not find Mohamed’s explanation of why he was in Afghanistan persuasive or doubt that he might well be guilty of something to object to the manner in which he was treated. Again, the manner of his interrogation has made discovering the truth more, not less, difficult.

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