The inquiry into British torture tactics hasn't even begun yet, but already its credibility is dirt. The important hearings will be held in secret and cabinet ministers will get the final say over what is made public. A secret document that has been in effect for 10 years, instructing British intelligence officers to weigh up the pain of torture against the benefits of information acquired, is being withheld from the inquiry. The head of the inquiry, Sir Peter Gibson, has previously held British intelligence positions including a post decriminalising criminal actions of British agents abroad. Rights NGOs including Liberty, Reprieve and Amnesty International have refused to acknowledge the inquiry for these reasons.

Yet again, public outrage is being smothered in bureaucracy and vested interests. Torture is ongoing and only the most naive will believe we are not up to our necks in it. For the victims of torture

But most fundamentally, the inquiry misses the point entirely. Officially the inquiry is to investigate British complicity in torture overseas. The overbearing action and message therefore, is to condemn the British getting our hands dirty, rather than to condemn and move against torture in the first place. It's fine for people we find threatening to be tortured, as long as it's not by us. I'm sure the victims of torture are grateful for our privileged stance.

Every second the inquiry is delayed, watered down and poisoned by vested interests, people are being tortured. It should go without saying - the British state is morally bankrupt.