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Letter: You say - It's a scandal(Liverpool Echo Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)JACK Straw's invitation to Condoleezza Rice symbolises a long term relationship with US foreign policy. Take Uzbekistan. Back in 2002 the then UK ambassador to the US, Craig Murray, told his superiors that "intelligence" extracted under torture by the Uzbek regime operating alongside the CIA was immoral, illegal, and also worthless. The foreign office told Murray that Jack Straw and the head of MI6 had discussed his concerns and decided to continue to receive this CIA-sourced "intelligence" material. After the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq, the foreign office told staff to report any evidence of torture. Murray complained again and lost his job. On March 14, Straw told Peter Kil-foyle MP there had been "no collusion" when British monitors were withdrawn and Israel imposed a military siege of Jericho prison in Palestine, killing two and injuring 26. But as the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported, the US and UK told Israel three weeks earlier they would be leaving. Condi referred questions to Jack Straw. I oppose Condoleezza Rice's visit to Liverpool. Her host, the foreign secretary, is just as bad. Greg Dropkin, L8 |