Quote of the day

Comes from Simon Jenkins in the Guardian and he is talking about the Binyam case

Something is wrong. A ­sensible, clean-living chap such as David ­Miliband wants nothing more ­sinister than to lead the Labour party, yet he finds himself consorting with spies, lawyers, rendition merchants and torturers.

Binyam-should we care about our US relations?

There is much in the papers about yesterday's high court ruling over the Binyam Mohamed case.

The spotlight will surely turn to the foreign secretary who the Times says persuaded senior judges to erase “exceptionally damning criticism” of MI5 from their ruling yesterday.

However the repercussions will go a lot further with the White House The White House saying yesterday's ruling was "deeply disappointing" and that it "complicates" the UK-US intelligence sharing relationship.

For a view from across the water read Marc Ambinder in the Atlantic who believes that

I think this is a bluff. The US shares more raw data and polished intel product with Britain on a daily basis than any other country in the world, and that's not going to change. Perhaps the US will be more careful in certain documents that might find their way into the UK court system -- but it's hard to imagine that intelligence cooperation between the two countries will really be damaged by today's revelation. Indeed, the information -- that Mohamed was subject to sleep deprivation and threatening behavior before 9/11 -- makes the US more vulnerable to court challenges from detainees, and possibly even to an international inquiry -- but the real and present damage to national security is hard to ascertain.

Binyan revelations Britain is surely implicated

The interview that Binyam Mohameed gave to the BBC this morning is attracting a fair amount of coverage,not least for if true it more or less confirms British compliance in torture.

Michael White is quickly off the mark writing that

It all sounds ridiculous, but to my mind ridiculous enough to be plausible. As noted here before, crucial to the politics of Mohamed's campaign now is that M15 provided data to the Americans about him that led to him being sent to Morocco. Thus to the BBC today: "If it wasn't for the British involvement right at the beginning of the interrogations in Pakistan, and suggestions that were made by MI5 to the Americans of how to get me to respond, I don't think I would have gone to Morocco," he said.

This will once again bring to the fore questions to be raised about British entanglement with the war on terror as fought from Guantanamo bay.

The Economist sums it up nicely

Britain was the only western European country to be named as one that “facilitated” renditions. There are “consistent, credible reports” that British personnel have “provided intelligence or have conducted the initial seizure of an individual” for extraordinary rendition,