07 December 2005
Dear Tony,
I am writing with regard to your answers to me at Prime Minister’s Questions about the US policy of "extraordinary rendition".
Could you clarify a number of points:
At Prime Minister’s Questions, you told me that "in respect of airports, I don’t know what he’s referring to." In fact, I was referring to the already published European Air Traffic and US Federal Aviation Administration data about extraordinary rendition flights. Can you now provide the full figures for the number of extraordinary rendition flights that have passed through UK airports and airspace since the policy began?
When you told me that extraordinary rendition had been US policy for "many years", did you mean that it has been the policy just of this administration, or of preceding US administrations?
Have you known about this throughout your time as Prime Minister and, if not, when did you first learn of such a policy?
At what stage did you give approval for British acquiescence in facilitating such a policy through the use of our airports and airspace?
If this has been such long-standing policy, can you advise me whether these 400 flights involving 18 airports represent a substantial increase in such activity?
Given that the Foreign Secretary wrote to the US Government in his role as Chair of the EU Council of Foreign Ministers expressing concern about extraordinary rendition flights, are we to assume that the Foreign Secretary was not aware at the time of writing, and, unlike the Prime Minister himself, that this was a long-standing US policy?
Finally, can you explain why these flights need to take place? If terrorist suspects are not being transported either for extradition or for torture, what possible reason is there for so many flights taking place around the world?
Rt Hon. Charles Kennedy MP
ENDS
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