London police take a page from Dick Cheney’s playbook

On one side of the Atlantic, the debate over waterboarding and torture, so prevalent less than a month ago, appears to have taken a back seat once again to economic issues and nuclear confrontations. On the other side, though, the mere use of the word “waterboarding” is enough to draw headlines:

Torture allegations against six officers in the Metropolitan police were so serious that Scotland Yard used the word “waterboarding” to describe the claimed mistreatment of five suspects arrested in a drugs raid.

Despite attempts to play down the seriousness of the allegations against six officers in north London – with sources describing it as more Life on Mars than Guantánamo Bay – it emerged today that it was the Met itself which used the word waterboarding in a document to describe the alleged actions of its officers.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating claims that the five supects arrested at addresses in north London in November were subjected to torture techniques used by US agents in Guantánamo Bay.

This wider inquiry is continuing and eight officers, including the six alleged to have been involved in waterboarding, have been suspended. A further two have been placed on restricted duties and a new borough commander is to be appointed.

The whistleblower claimed that his colleagues had held the suspects’ heads in water to try to get them to reveal where a drugs stash was held, it is understood.”

At least they haven’t started teaching it to schoolchildren.

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