Own Ass Handed To British Judges, Used

British judges today agreed not to divulge details of the treatment of Guantanamo detainee and British resident Binyam Mohamed contained in an earlier court opinion on his case, following explicit threats by the US State Department to sever intelligence flows on terrorism should the UK not comply. The decision by High Court Judges Thomas and Lloyd Jones to bow to the USA's threats has caused something of a diplomatic stir, since the US government is being especially hostile on this issue.

The onus will fall on President Obama to patch things up, even though the threats were actually issued by the Bush administration. This should be a fairly perfunctory task, given how ridiculous the threats were. 

There is no strategic reason to obfuscate evidence of torture or other maltreatment of prisoners in Guantanamo. It doesn't give the terrorists an edge to know that some cock in the US Navy is going to shit on a Koran if they get caught. Additionally, the threat to sever intelligence links with the UK if the passages are released is completely unrelated, and is a mere act of spite. 

In response to this quarrel, the US State Department issued a reassurance:

The United States investigates allegations and claims of torture, and cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment such as those raised by Binyam Mohamed.

We're just not allowed to know when, how, and if it actually does. But we should trust that it definitely does.