UK deeply involved in CIA renditions

A former British special forces commando who quit the military says Britain is "deeply involved" in the US practice of rendition.

The soldier, Ben Griffin, quit the elite Special Air Service (SAS) in protest at what he said were US abuses in Iraq, BBC's website reported.

He left the SAS in 2005 after taking part in operations in the Persian Gulf and said that British soldiers detained suspected extremists and interrogated them before handing them over to the US military.

"We were under no illusion as to what awaited the individuals handed over by us," he said in a statement issued by Stop the War Coalition, with which he is now involved.

Britain, which supported the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, has maintained that it has not allowed the CIA "extraordinary rendition" flights with suspected extremists on board to land on British soil.

However, Foreign Secretary David Miliband apologized to parliament on Thursday after the US authorities said that two prisoners were transferred via the US air base on Diego Garcia, a British overseas territory in the Indian Ocean, in 2002.

The revelation - which has raised questions that there may be more to follow - came after an administrative error on the part of the US, he added.

Meanwhile, Griffin says, "The UK government is deeply involved in the whole process of rendition." He has details of dates of operations in which he was involved and a letter from one British interrogator who was "upset at what he has been part of".

Elsewhere, Andrew Burgin, from the Stop the War Coalition, told AFP that he didn't know whether or not Griffin would give the details in public at a news conference that is scheduled for Monday.

Interestingly, the defense ministry for its part has told AFP that they didn't comment on SAS operations and referred queries on rendition to the Foreign Office, which conveniently, had no immediate comments to make. Press TV