Sir, - The much proclaimed "ethical foreign policy" of Britain's New Labour now lies in tatters as Gen Augusto Pinochet - flies back to Chile and freedom.At the end of the day, the foreign policy of Blair's government differs little from that of the much maligned Maggie Thatcher. Their pre-election sound-bite of giving a new ethical dimension to foreign policy fell at the first hurried when principles became en- tangled with international commerce.
The announcement on January 13th by Jack Straw that he was "minded" to block the extradition to Spain of Gen Augusto Pinochet was the opening shot of a decision already made in the face of strong commercial pressure from Chile. Chile's security forces are one of the biggest tomers of Britain's armaments industry in the Southern hemisphere.
As international human rights organisations backed Mr Straw into a corner, the belated medical examination was a last desperate throw of a dice that would allow him, in Pontius Pilate fashion, to pass the poisoned chalice to themedical profession. In practice, however, Mr Straw's action was questionable on legal and medical grounds.
It is also possible that he contravened the 1984 convention against torture by attempting to prevent Judge Baltazar Garzon of Spain from examining the medical reports. Nor would he allow doctors, representing the Spanish case, an independent assessment of the health of Pinochet. Already many doctors have disagreed with the conclusions drawn from the published findings. The British Home Secretary, representing the left and smelling of "new ethics", was not for turning however. Justice may be brushed and aside if you have a hidden agenda.
Lord Justice Simon Brown of the high court in London had no other agenda when he stated that "fairness demanded" that the reports should be so viewed. In fact he went further and said: "If ever there was a case in which the integrity of the international justice system needed to be demonstrated, a case calling for the highest standards of transparency and fairness, this is it".
Mr Straw, it would appear, was not in the business of fairness or transparency. Anyone who watched the brutal behaviour of Pinochet's troops or listened to the voices of his victims on Prime Time on Wednesday last would be left in no doubt that the freeing of the former dictator was an unforgivable travesty of justice.
The hope given to many victims of brutal regimes by the arrest of Pinochet in London in October 1998 has been once again taken back from them. They are only the little people and they must not get in the way of international commerce.
Surely even they understand that! - Yours, etc.,
John T. Kavanagh, Braemor Road, Dublin 14.