The Strongest Yet

Despite being the Vicar of Downing Street's consultant on those merely legal matters which must be disregarded in the great war of Right against Wrong, Peter Goldsmith seems to have developed a sudden concern over Guantánamo Bay. "It is time, in my view, that it should close," he said in a speech last night. "Not only would it, in my personal opinion, be right to close Guantánamo as a matter of principle, I believe it would also help to remove what has become a symbol to many - right or wrong - of injustice." There is apparently some room for doubt in Goldsmith's mind as to whether people are right or wrong in viewing Guantánamo as a symbol of injustice. I wonder what matter of principle he has in mind. As New Labour's consigliere, surely he cannot be thinking merely of public relations.

Since Goldsmith was apparently at pains to stress that he was expressing personal views rather than those of his paymasters, we may take it that the Bush administration is not going to be in much hurry to act on his advice. If Tony himself were to speak up, of course, it would be a different matter, given the provisions of the Special Relationship and the great and ancient transatlantic bond which has brought such benefits to Britain in the past, and during the last three years particularly to over a hundred members of Britain's armed forces and over fifty British civilians. But Tony cannot speak up, because Tony is on the side of Right, and the Bush administration is on the side of Right, because the Bush administration says so; and the Bush administration further says that the people in Guantánamo are on the side of Wrong. "The fact of the matter is that the people there are dangerous people and ... one thing we don't want to do is release people now who might at some point in the future end up on the battlefield facing our troops ... or committing acts of terrorism," said a state department flunkey today. If those people in there weren't dangerous people, the Bush administration would "like nothing better than at some point in the future to close down Guantánamo", presumably because some people, like Peter Goldsmith, think there is some room for doubt as to whether its remaining open might not possibly constitute an injustice. Clearly, the situation is a sticky one all around. "Nobody wants to be a jailer for the world," the flunkey continued. Those bad guys in Guantánamo should, like the rest of us, be grateful to be spared the dilemmas which plague our beloved leaders.

Still, Goldsmith's remarks were, according to the Guardian, "the strongest British condemnation of Guantánamo yet"; which is an eloquent tribute to the restraint shown by one bad guy in lying about his experiences there.