The British government Thursday apologized for previous denials that so-called "extraordinary rendition" flights from the US passed through British territory, according to dpa. Foreign Secretary David Miliband told parliament that he was "very sorry" about earlier statements denying that two such flights landed on British territory in 2002. He said in both cases the planes stopped on the "UK dependent territory" of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to refuel. The denials had been made in "good faith" and were now having to be corrected in line with information from the US. Former foreign secretary Jack Straw and former prime minister Tony Blair made statements in 2005, 2006 and 2007, saying there was no evidence that rendition flights had stopped on UK territory. Miliband said the US had told him that neither of the two men involved in the rendition were British. One has since been released and one is at Guantanamo Bay.
