Data Protection Justified At Last

Despite the hundredth significant death in Afghanistan this year, the Ministry for War and the Colonies continues to stand firm with the Bush-Blair policy which has gained us so many great successes in the region. Hilariously, the Ministry has cited "data protection rights" as its excuse for refusing to hand over to Reprieve information necessary for the legal representation of two Bad Men who were captured in 2004 and have been held in Afghanistan without trial or charge ever since. John Hutton, the empty suit in charge of the Ministry at the time, claimed that both Bad Men were members of a Sunni militant organisation, despite the apparent fact that one of them is a Shi'ite. Hutton also said that the Bad Men had been moved to Afghanistan because of a shortage of US linguists, and that they were being held in the usual "humane conditions that met international standards". Five years ago another empty suit calling itself Jack Straw told the Commons foreign affairs committee that "there simply is no truth in the claims that the United Kingdom has been involved in rendition", unless one was prepared to believe that Condoleezza Rice and an empty suit calling itself Jack Straw might possibly tell a fib or two. It is true that the Bad Men were captured by the British, handed over to the Americans, and then held without charge or trial, all of which might appear to the shallow and backsliding to be symptoms of rendition (or, in Oldspeak, kidnapping and optional torture), and that all this occurred with the knowledge and connivance of British officials; but the Bush-Blair policy is unequivocal. When you are in a hole, keep digging, and if at first you're not believed, lie, lie and lie again.