An Act of Poltical Cowardice

Today’s announcement by Alan Johnson that fellow Scot, Gary McKinnon, a man who suffers from mental health problems, is to be extradited to the USA to face a trial that could send him to prison for 60 years is an act of sheer political cowardice. Brutal murderers in Britain serve less time than that.

I am a socialist who has supported the Labour Party all my life, but I cannot wait to see the back of this shameless bunch. But then, they are not the Labour Party, they are impostors, and shame on us all for allowing them to get away with such a deception. It matters not a jot who follows them, contemporary British politicians are all a bunch of self-serving no-users.

What is it about the USA that has our politicians scrambling for scraps from their table? They keep banging on about this “special relationship" with the US, but why is it every time our sorry bunch of no-hopers deal with the US it feels like we’ve all been screwed with our pants on? This special relationship only works when the yanks want something from us, otherwise, it is no relationship at all. The extradition deal we have with them, for instance, is pretty much a one way street. The US will not extradite an American to Britain without absolute proof of guilt, but they demand we extradite Britons to America merely on suspicion of guilt.

Gary McKinnon was not the only person ever to hack pentagon databases, but he was the only one daft enough to admit it; say what he was looking for and was willing to take responsibility for his actions. The others did not and it would have been difficult for prosecutors to prove guilt, as it would have been for Gary McKinnon if he’d kept his mouth shut. The fact he was daft enough to admit it meant that they will have an easy conviction and will parade him to the American public as an example of how the authorities are winning the war on terror. The only people terrorised in all of this has been McKinnon, and his family.

This whole nasty little saga amounts to acts of cowardice on both sides of the Atlantic. In the real world, McKinnon, a UFO nut, is guilty mainly of being stupid. If America wants to incarcerate stupid British people in their jails I recommend they start with Tony Blair followed by Gordon Brown and every member of the British cabinet since 1997. As it is, Tony BLiar, earns millions of dollars on the American lecture circuit while McKinnon will earn himself a life sentence for being daft but honest.

If McKinnon was tried in Britain, as he should have been, he would have received an appropriate sentence for what he did; decent fellow that he obviously is, he was willing to accept that. Instead, he will be sent to another country, vilified and used as a propaganda tool, and he will receive a prison sentence far beyond the intent of his crime. This is justice American style, and no British politician should ever have been party to it; neither should we as British citizens. it couild have been worse I suppose, because Britain has an extradition treaty with Zimbabwe who like the USA is a category 2 country in this respect – I suppose we should be thankful that McKinnon did not hack Mugbabe's computer, his fate may have been so much different.

All things considered, I am sick to death of craven, greedy, smug politicians treating Britons like fools when it suits them. But then, we continually allow them to do this so maybe we are fools. Maybe we are all to blame for allowing a British citizen to be extradited to another country for a crime he committed in Britain.
It is time we got out of this one-sided relationship with the USA. We can start by telling the yanks where to get off; that if they really want a social, economic and political relationship with Britain they need to actually reciprocate. Then, we should demand that British politicians actually do the job they were elected to do and put British people before political expediency and personal aggrandisement.

Gary McKinnon has my sympathy and support.