One of the continual problems we seem to have in this country’s leadership is
its ability to be honest and forthcoming with our allies. Another prime example
of this can be seen in today’s

Independent

The US ambassador in London has been forced into an embarrassing retreat
after his embassy clarified comments he made denying that the United States
was involved in removing terrorist suspects to Syria.

Robert Tuttle told Radio 4’s Today programme last Thursday that there was
no evidence that US forces had sent suspected terrorists for questioning in
Syria, a practice known as “extraordinary rendition”.

The US embassy issued a statement yesterday acknowledging that there had
been claims that a suspect arrested in New York had been sent by the CIA for
torture in Syria.

It is the second time in recent weeks that Mr Tuttle has had to correct
misleading statements about the actions of US forces, and provoked a fresh
outcry from Labour MPs over the practice of extraordinary rendition.

Andrew Mackinlay, a senior Labour member of the foreign affairs committee
investigating the use of UK airports for rendition by the CIA, said: “It is
troubling that they are contradicting their own assurances. We have no
confidence in the denials that they have issued. Increasingly, a number of
us … don’t believe what the US administration states any more. Nobody
believes that this is not going on.”

The US ambassador provoked the row after he said on the Today programme
that he did not think there was any evidence of renditions of suspects for
questioning to Syria.

Mr Tuttle said: “I don’t think there is any evidence that there have been
any renditions carried out in the country of Syria … I think we have to
take what the Secretary [Condoleezza Rice] says at face value … she has
said we do not authorise, condone torture in any way, shape or form.”

Yesterday the embassy moved to correct his statement. A statement, read
out on Radio 4, quoted an embassy spokeswoman as saying: “… the ambassador
recognised that there had been a media report of a rendition to Syria but
reiterated that the United States is not in a position to comment on
specific allegations of intelligence activities that appear in the press.”

Article continues
here.

the U.K. is our main ally in Iraq and now we feel compelled to lie to them.
We have grown to accept the lie’s of the Bush White House when it comes to what
they tell the American people. Just consider a few of the lies:

• Iraq has WMD
• Iraq was tied to September 11
• The only way phones are tapped is with a court issued warrant
• The insurgency is in its last throes
• Bush would fire anyone involved in leaking a CIA agent’s name
• Pat Tillman was killed by enemy fire
• Anytime they talk about the environment
• and my favorite: Your doing a heck of a job Brownie

These are just a few of the lies. If I spent the time to really think about
it I could make this blog entry 10 times longer while filling it with lies.
However bad lying to the citizens of this nation is, lying to our allies is even
worse. Why do I say that? Because in the situation here, we are lying to another
nation about illegal activity we have conducted on their soil. The UK is a
sovereign nation and the United States has absolutely no right to do what they
please in their country without permission.

We already have Italy wanting to arrest our CIA agents, will that be the next
step in the UK? Bush has highly flawed foreign policy, like every other policy
of his. Our next President is going to have their work cut out for them.
Repairing our diplomatic ties around the world is going to require a leader with
a sense of compassion and someone who accepts the sovereignty of every other
nation in the world. We have a place to try and repair our image. That is the
U.N., but with John Bolton representing us there our chances of it happening
before 2009 are even more slim.