Britain regrets that U.S. "torture flights" landed on British territory

Source: Xinhua | 02-22-2008 07:57

LONDON, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- British Foreign Secretary David Miliband admitted on Thursday that two U.S. "torture flights" did land on British territory in 2002, contrary to previous reports.

Miliband told the House of Commons that he was "very sorry indeed" to have to say previous denials made in "good faith" were now having to be corrected.

"Terrorist suspects" on two separate U.S. flights landed at a U.S. base on the British Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia to refuel in 2002, he said, and the United States had only alerted the British government to the incidents last week due to archive errors.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw made statements in 2005, 2006 and 2007 saying there was no evidence that flights had stopped on British territory.

Speaking in Brussels, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was disappointed and that it was unfortunate that flights had landed on Diego Garcia without the knowledge of the British government.

Miliband said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has expressed "deep regret" that the British government was misled.

He said Rice shared his concern, adding "we both agree that the mistakes made in these two cases are not acceptable and she shares my deep regret that this information has only just come to light."

Editor:Zhang Pengfei