Of course I didn't know whether they did, but I hoped that when United Nations' Inspectors, according to the BBC, said that the US was '"not willing to co-operate with the United Nations human rights machinery"' over Guantanmo Bay, they didn't mean the same 'machinery' of which Koffi Annan said this:

'"Unless we re-make our human rights machinery, we may be unable to renew public confidence in the United Nations itself,"'

But since the Beeb didn't bother to inform us of the origins of these 'inspectors', how could I know that they weren't the honorable representatives of Sudan or Zimbabwe, China or Saudi Arabia? It seems public confidence isn't part of the BBC's business.

As it happened when I followed up the BBC's reporting I found that the inspectors are from 'Algeria, Canada, New Zealand, Austria, Argentina and Egypt'- so not any of the above that sprang to my mind.

...But hang on, wasn't that a list that included the Egypt that people have complained the US sends alleged terrorists to for extra portions of torture? And why were they accused of that except because of the poor human rights record of Egypt?

That's the rationality of the UN at work, which the BBC just treats as an anti-US merry-go-round. Spin, spin, spin- till we're so dizzy we fall off.