The mainstream media is in a flurry of excitement over the “Terror” arrests of students in the North West of England. Linked to this is the media feeding frenzy over the resignation of Bob Quick, Scotland Yard’s anti-terror chief. It is important to note that the Quick incident only brought forward the arrests by a few hours. Yet in all the acres of coverage in the newspapers, and all the hype on TV, nobody seems to have noticed the real story.
It was an accident that Bob Quick had his secret document on display as he was photographed entering Downing St.
But it was no accident that he was photographed entering Downing Street.
No 10 is a Tardis-like building which is far more impressive inside than out, and which seems impossibly large. Its secret is that it links straight through to No 11 and, more importantly, through to the huge Cabinet Office building that runs along Whitehall. The Cabinet Office is the central secretariat of the British government and in effect the office of the Prime Minister. The separation of the No 10 staff and the Cabinet Office staff is a polite fiction. The government’s major interdepartmental committees meet in the Cabinet Office, including the sexy Joint Intelligence Committee and its sub-committees. One of the fascinating things about the vast Cabinet Office building is that it incorporates parts of the original fabric of the Tudor Whitehall Palace.
In the first Iraq War I used to hand carry intelligence reports to No 10, and sometimes had to explain them personally to Mrs Thatcher. I never once took one in the front door. In fact I have only ever walked in the front door of No 10 when accompanying a foreign dignitary or attending a party. The front door is for people the government wants to be seen ?” hence the permanent stand of photographers which captured Bob Quick. People arriving to brief on secret matters go in through the back door, or more likely through the Cabinet Office.
So why did the government want us to see that Bob Quick was entering No 10? The only possible answer is that, had things gone more smoothly in the arrest of the “Terror suspects”, the government would have paraded the footage of Quick entering no 10 as evidence that it was really Glorious Gordon and Genius Jacqui who had directed the operation and saved the world – again.
It is very, very wrong ?” it violates the whole spirit of the constitution ?” for politicians to be involved in arresting people. If the police had real evidence that these people are terrorists, then of course they should have been arrested when the Police felt the right moment had come. That moment is when they have sufficient evidence, and are not putting the public at risk by undue delay. That is a technical decision requiring skill, expertise and experience in operational policing.
It is a matter of the criminal law. It is absolutely not the business of Jacqui Smith and Gordon Brown. But we know that under New Labour the politicians are deciding who should be arrested and when. We know that for sure because then Home Secretary John Reid said in terms that he decided when the arrests should be made in the farcical “Bigger than 9/11”, (though in the event non-existent), “Liquid airplane bomb plot” case.
If politicians are going to decide the timing of arrests, then they cannot be surprised or aggrieved if we suspect that the timing of arrests is political.
This was definitely the case in the “Liquid Bomb Plot”. I know for certain from my own sources that in that case the intelligence services believed they had been forced by politicians to act too soon. That was quite widely reported at the time.
The view that John Reid had acted too early appears proved by a complex series of verdicts brought in by the jury. Less than half of those arrested actually were brought to trial. The jury found that three of the accused did have an intention to commit terror, but had formed no definite plan and specifically cleared them of the charge of planning to down aeroplanes with explosives.
Why had Reid jumped the gun? Because the Americans asked him to. With Bob Quick’s predecessor, the disgraced Andy Hayman, giving an official Scotland Yard view that the “Liquid Bomb Plot” was “Bigger than 9/11″ and involved plans to fly up to a dozen passenger jets simultaneously into different US cities, the resulting worldwide front page headlines were a Godsend for Bush in mid-term elections. They also enable the government to permanently ramp up the fear factor by the ludicrous toothpaste and shampoo searches that make flying so miserable.
In the liquid bomb plot do you remember the massive banner headlines ?” the full front page of every single tabloid in the UK -about the evil Muslim mother who planned to blow up herself and her baby along with the plane? There was no media reporting at all when she was cleared and released. The “Suspicious chemical” which police announced they had found in baby bottles was, errr, baby bottle sterilising solution.
The reasons why these “Terror raids” might be the subject of political timing could not be more obvious. Both Jacqui Smith and Gordon Brown were getting a well-deserved media pasting over the outrageous ripping off of the taxpayer for personal benefit through expense claims. The Metropolitan Police were under extreme criticism for their unprovoked killing of Ian Tomlinson.
So this morning, instead of the news headline being the disgraceful fact that the policeman who launched an unprovoked assault from behind on Ian Tomlinson has still not been arrested, the headline is that the police have saved us all from certain death.
Let me be plain. I am not saying that terrorism does not exist. I am not saying that those arrested are innocent. I do not know. I am saying that Brown and Smith’s involvement in operational police arrests, and the fact that less than 1% of those arrested under anti-terror legislation in the UK have ever been charged with anything connected to terrorism, gives me the right to be suspicious of what is undeniably, at the very least, politically very fortuitous timing.
It is also the arrest of alleged terrorists from Pakistan, at a time when the government is under both parliamentary and criminal investigation for participation in torture of terrorist suspects in Pakistan. The government has responded by arguing that intelligence from torture abroad is necessary to save lives in the UK. I have no doubt that we will find the government arguing that this “terror plot” justifies their case.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2009/03/fco_finally_adm.html
Because of this suspicion, I will be setting a high test for evidence that these arrests really were needed at this time. The accusation is that a bombing campaign was ready for this Easter ?” ie now. If that is true, there must be explosives and detonators ready, or in the very final stages of preparation. We will see.
According to Sky News this morning, police searches so far have discovered photographs of leading buildings in Manchester taken by the students.
I studied Russian in St Petersburg. I have photographs I took of the Hermitage, of the Church on the Holy Blood, of the St Peter and Paul Fortress, of the bridges over the Neva, of the ornate underground stations. I studied Polish in Lublin. I have photographs of Lublin castle, of the main shopping street, of the Catholic University of Lublin…
I have, in fact, photographs of prominent buildings everywhere I ever studied. And photographis in bars and nightclubs.
Why do the police feel the need to feed out to the media the complete non-news of the non-evidence that they have discovered photographs of Manchester in Manchester? Why was it necessary for the Prime Minister to make a statement announcing the arrests? What does that do to the chances of a fair trial? Why was it never necessary to make a prime ministerial statement every time a suspected Irish terrorist ?” and remember they really did blow up the Arndale Centre in Manchester ?” was arrested?
There are many genuine and diligent people carrying out counter-terrorism work in the police and intelligence services, working the old-fashioned way with painstaking accumulation of evidence. They do save lives and they should be applauded and supported. They should be free from political interference and distanced from politicians.
They may have foiled a genuine plot here. If so they must be congratulated. The Home Secretary ?”who has not foiled any plots – should have been briefed after arrests were made, and there should be no room for suspicion that politicians had interfered.
That would have stuck to the cardinal rule of only telling people who actually have to know about an operation – and the rule of not carting around secret documents for no purpose.
The photo leak ?” which could indeed have jeopardised a security operation which may or may not prove to have been vital – was caused directly by the excessive and completely unnecessary involvement of the politicians in policing detail.
A police state is not a state where the police rule. It is a state where there is no distance between the politicians and police.
A police state is a state where a policeman can be caught on camera launching an unprovoked fatal assault from behind, yet not be arrested. A police state is a state where the police raid the parliamentary offices of opposition MPs. A police state is a state where it is the politicians who are making the decisions on who gets arrested and when.
Oh Jess,
you just don’t give up do you? You saw an explosion on the BBC so it must be real, mustn’t it?
Did the BBC concoct their ‘bomb’ in a plane toilet – with the hours of constant stirring required, while not atracting any attention and while maintaining constant temperatures not usually available in an airborne bog? Or are you spouting bollocks again?
Peter Owen: of course terrorism exists; who could possibly suggest it doesn’t? I’m sure however that the relatives of those who persished on 9/11 and 7/7 would expect that their respective governments at least ensure that full and proper enquiries take place into those events. We can only dream of what vital information and intelligence would emerge from such enquiries.
The governments’ persistent failure to countenance such enquiries proves, beyond any doubt, that they have no genuine interest in countering terrorism whatsoever. We really have to ask ourselves why this is.
this plot is all hype but serves the average redneck kneejerks politics of hate.
the fact is the government planned this propaganda exercise for this weekend so that it would hit the news broadcasters big time with a lot of coverage instead that plan was put off course firstly by tomlinsons death and quicks unfortunate disclosure.
the interesting part of that manifest was right at the bottom .. “media strategy” .. since we know that such raids can be undertaken covertly without any or little reporting or ‘sources’ blabbing as much as they can to get a narrative out one has to wonder why not if its a real plot of any worth.
why would government and police seek to accuse and demonise before due process?
anyway if youre not certain what its all about .. the usa-uk have been planning the afghan surge into pakistan for some years, we now have pretty much all we need in place militarily so this was part of the justification for our new war. (if you hadnt noticed both sky and bbc have been doing quite a bit of pr for the hearts and minds campaign on behalf of the government).
as the pakistan high commissioner stated on newsnight last night the whole process of vetting and giving visas is undertaken by the british govt.
so for brown to blame pakistan is a bit of a own goal. ( not to mention our 300 year long war with the irish which is still ongoing )
anyway the important linkage is that if we are going to go around killing hundreds of innocent people we can only create more militancy. and the fact is the oblairma-bush strategy in the region has been a failure and will continue to be so until it is recognised that european cultural imperialism is not wanted.
further the government is playing with some stats to create a sense of threat that doesnt really exist at the level they want us to believe.
the recent mantra has been that 70% of all severe terrorist activities have some link to pakistan.
firstly 50% of muslims are from pakistan so 70% is not so much or a surprise when the majority of the conflict is in that region of the world.
that is usa drones and covert actions killing many many civilians
further the 70% figure is after one has decided which activities are classed as ‘severe’. wholly subjective and open to political manipulation.
apparently this current alleged plot was to take place this weekend, and yet no weapons or bombs just some holiday snaps.
and again speaking pushtu (their native dialect of choice)and calling back home is a terrorist threat these days.
after the lies of tomlinson, de menezes etc and other high profile raids that have been proven to be cowpoo nothing can be believed as being true either from this government or the politicised police force that we have today.
its just another exercise to serve their mad ideological neo conservative wars.
“If these people are found guilty, will you be as quick to write an article praising the police for saving lives?
I very much doubt it
Posted by: Peter Owen ”
is terrorism just 9/11 7/7 etc or do you think iraq, afghanistan and our current covert war against pakistan (uk special forces training afghan and baluchistan militia) is terrorism too?
usa drones are killing civilians daily inside of paksitan and afghanistan, no one reporting it to you?
yesterday the usa killed 2 women and killed an unborn child of a 9 month pregnant woman in afghanistan . terrorism? unreported?
what about the american soldier who disguised themselves as iraqis and then went on to rape a 14yo girl before killing not only her but her whole family?
do you really believe these to be isolated incidents?
the idiocy is that because our war crimes are not reported on a daily basis we arrive at the stupid notion that those who resist our foreign policies are doing so because they are some how deranged and primitive.
The Liquid Bomb Hoak – The Larger
Chris @ 12.58pm
Quite.
Implications by James Petras
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=3069
Impossible to Make a Liquid Bomb on a Plane – Lt Col Nigel Wylde ex UK Intelligence Service
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364×2164763
“He doesn’t seem in the least concerned with whether there really is a terror plot in Manchester.”
neo conservative ideologues as we have at the top of new labour today arent concerned about terrorism period.
it is about serving a political agenda : terrorism, islam etc are a means to an end.
it is also a means to deny accountability of those who have chosen to inflict so much pain on so many.
Somehow the title of the first link was shortened. Should be
The Liquid Bomb Hoax: The Larger Implications
by James Petras
Global Research, August 25, 2006
http://www.dissidentvoice.org
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7993352.stm
looks as if all is going to plan in the region ..
Chris, you claim I am spouting bollocks because I point out that the liquid bomb plotters were convicted and it was possible to make the liquid bombs?
You’ve really got to start using your brain here. The fertilizer bomb plotters were also convicted.
This is real.
If it makes you feel better to think the BBC, the jury and everybody else is lying, then so be it. But don’t be surprised if serious people laugh at you.
Jess
Actually just three out of the 24 arrested were eventually convicted, but not of an intent to blow up aeroplanes with liquid bombs. They were specifically cleared on that charge. It seems they were planning some kind of terrorsit attack, but hadn’t got very far in planning what.
But the Manchester terrorists were according to the propaganda going to attack this weekend. So where is the bomb or firearms?
Here you go you – another programme with Andrew Gillian from Channel four I believe on liquid bombs…
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-525011381725680397&ei=Gp_gSeO_OJKj-Abcw634CA&q=Panorama%2C+liquid+bomb+plot
Why the hell would you not want the security services to stop them trying this and possibly killing many hundreds of people? What type of crazy people are you?
Watch this space, Craig.
Not that most will know about this – our crazy media laws again – but they are being re-tried on the air plane aspect of the plot at this very moment. I bet you anything they will be convicted too given how strong the evidence is….
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7605583.stm
We will know within a couple of weeks
I never said they had been convicted on that part of the plot, but they had been convicted on conspiracy to make explosions with liquid bombs. It’s semantics really; they were planning to blow up something with liquid bombs. That we certainly do know.
Of course, if they had waited a few more weeks, as the British wanted, and they’d done it, then we would hear endless drivel about them allowing it to happen just so they could invade another country or something. It’s no win.
‘Jaded, my point was that when a death occurs after a fall, it can be attributed to that fall (contrary to what the trolls are claiming about Tomlinson). Donald Dewar, then Scotland’s first minister, fell on the steps of his Edinburgh residence and reassured everyone he was fine, but soon became ill and died a few hours later. (He wasn’t surreptitiously assassinated by the establishment; nor was Lennie Bennett, for that matter.)’
As I said, I knew little of Dewar’s death and didn’t think Bennett had been bumped off. 🙂 However, I did find it odd that within a year of Blair attending the 1993 Athens Bilderberg Conference he was leader of the Labour Party and PM 3 years after that. This couldn’t really have happened without Smith’s death, as his position wasn’t really threatened. Furthermore, Smith died the morning after he attended a banquet of 500 people apparently. Another case from history here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_mcfadden
Smith’s death passed without much question. As for Robin Cook, there are certainly a few people that have asked questions about it. Anyhow, short of those responsible, ‘if’ they were indeed bumped off, coming forward and saying ‘we did it’ we will never know for sure. What I would warn against is dismissing the whole idea that political assassinations have happened and will continue to happen in this country and other countries. You have to be openminded about it and look at each case individually. Furthermore, you don’t have to decide one way or another and say ‘I believe it’ or ‘I don’t believe it’. If you proceed with an open mind though you will, in my opinion, see enough to conclude that these things have happened. I hope no one has forgotten JFK! IF he had died of a ‘heart attack’ no one would have imagined he had been assassinated? Also, what about the whole spate of deaths in the Belgian Dutroux case? People were dropping dead like flies!Logistically, who or what could have been capable of orchestrating all that? Please, take time out to look at it and seriously think about it. 300,000 Belgians marched in Brussels for nothing? All loons? What about our own Jersey case that suddenly got dropped and buried?
I repeat, a little known Brown attends the 1991 Baden-Baden Bilderberg Conference, as did a little known Bill Clinton. As did Blair as I have mentioned. As did George Robertson in 1998 before becoming head of NATO a year later. That’s just to name a few of the notable coincidences. My point is does anyone think that the power group behind all that, and that is naked power exposed, would hesitate to bump off the odd chap that stood in their way or threatened them? This thread is essentially about abuse of power so I hope to have not gone too far off topic. The world is murky and I feel Jaded.
Craig, Jessy will be taking you to a river soon to be rebaptised in his image. 🙂 You definitely seem to be on his conversion list… Eek.
Jessy is Jesus?
Jess : “What type of crazy people are you?”
The type that think rather than just accepting ludicrous, politically motivated rubbish that is trotted out with monotonous regularity every time our pathetic, shameful shower of a government wishes to bury an unfavourable story.
Perhaps the kind that would rather hold the executive (and its agents in the mainstream media) to account for their atrocities.
Or, perhaps just the kind that wish that trolls would go back to living under bridges.
Now stop hyper-ventilating and wasting time here and get on with building the bunker you so obviously need to save you from the evil terrorists that seem to inhabit every aspect of your waking life.
The New Labour B-liars, who sloshed Al Qaida paint everywhere, are no longer safe inside their armoured car of spin. Craig and an army of dissenters have planted the equivalent of a roadside bomb, viz the truth, under British foreign policy, and New Labour is doomed for destruction.
So what’s next? The Conservatives are still suffering from the Post Traumatic Shock Syndrome of their own backfired history of Market Economy deception. The system that has just been exposed as Banking fraud on a global scale. The Liberal leader couldn’t remember his lines when they asked him about pensions, so he’s not going to be trusted with the top PR job at No. 10.
What worries me is that this blog which as seen above is tapping into many seams of public opinion, is missing that element of truth which is Islam. For that reason, and that reason only, I find it conceivable that Craig and people like him may soon be running the country. Our very own Obama, or better still our very own Martin Luther King.
Sorry to say it but the grey suits that run this country will accept any shade of politics as a leader from yellow through to purple, that excludes Islam. That’s why the news is now and has been for centuries about Islam. This is my honest opinion, and my genuine prediction, but sorry, I’m not a betting man.
Anas, show me an Islamic country which allows free speech, tolerates political dissent, doesn’t persecute women, gays, and apostates,and treats ‘infidels’ as equal citizens, and I’ll show you a snowman in the Sahara.
Jess
I am watching. I am especially watching for a bomb or firearms, which as they were allegedly going to attack this weekend, must be around.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWyCCJ6B2WE
Jess – ‘It’s amazing that people will just read someone on a website and take that as fact, even though they haven’t seen anything about the case. Frightening.’
Jessy, that’s the best point i’ve seen you make on this site. Keep it up! So everyone, it seems Jessy is exhorting all of us to critically question everything and make our own minds up. He also seems to be saying that we should spread that ethos to all our family, friends and acquaintances as well. Great advice. Bravo Jessy, bravo.
Interesting blog, Nobody. Dare I say, compelling.
Oh and ‘Jess’… Do go away. Surely you’ve better things to do than spend all this time interacting with ‘loons’ and ‘conspiracy theorists’.
Your jigsaw is pretty complete nobody. Impressive stuff. Focus solely on the Belgian case and all the ‘deaths’ if you want to wake people up. That’s my advice for what it is worth. That’s what opened my eyes and people can’t easily ignore that circus, if only they’d look. How many people got bumped off in all? Like 30 we know off? As Regina Louf said, ‘they all just seemed to ‘die”. Would be comical if it wasn’t so sick. Good luck with your blog.
Anticant
Yes that’s what the West has spent the last 1,400 of obscene military adventure achieving against the Muslim world. It will not be like that forever, whether you agree or don’t agree. The resilience of the superbug bacteria, as epitomised by Pope Anthony (Blair) and others whose high rank should not criticised by scum of the earth electricians like me, is only matched by the resilience of the Muslims in too many places to mention.
Proxy Colonialism continues in Africa, to this country’s eternal shame. Proxy wars are the future under the likes of Obama. We pay Iran to oppress Sunni Islam and we glow in the glory of not being Islam’s enemy. It worries me about you and other contributors that they don’t understand these things, but I’m not worried about Islam because faith moves mountains and will prevail.
I am not very well acquainted with Brittish internal affairs, but I did hear Obama, the other day, state that the next big terrorist attack will come i Europe. I have also heard that he wants more European soldiers to Afghanistan (to bomb more weddings pehaps).
A coincidence? May be, but If not, Brittain, and perhaps also other European countries, will soon send more soldiers to Afghanistan.
Too kind by half, jaded and fortuzero. But bugger you two! How about that Jess, eh? His transparent disinfo aside, I was really taken by his argument pivoting on ‘What about the loved ones etc.’ Taken to it’s logical conclusion, we should never doubt the guilt of anyone accused, never mind tried and convicted, ever. (Hmm… someone get in touch with the Guildford Four etc. and tell them, “Sorry but on account of the loved ones of those who perished, it’s necessary you all go back to jail. Um… Jess said so. Take it up with him.”
It also logically follows that the word ‘frame-up’ should be stricken from the dictionary. What about the loved ones! They’ve been told who dunnit and to suggest anything else is clearly inconsiderate to the point of callousness! Sorry – words in your mouth there Jess, but that’s the thrust of it isn’t it?
As for your posited terrorist events, I could drive not just one semi-trailer, but a fleet of the damn things through each and every one of them.
And as ‘loved ones’ go mate, you might want to get in touch with those relatives of those killed in 9/11 and who’ve declared that the government investigation was bullshit and that the real perpetrators remained unpunished, and tell them how inconsiderate they are.
Otherwise, yeah, good point!
@Anas Taunton
While agreeing with most of what you say about Our Great Leader, Broon, I would wager that where foreign policy is concerned –and in this instance Afghanistan/Pakistan– he merely parrots what is expected of him by his US minders.
Pieces of 8. Pieces of 8. Is that 8 carat gold or short for hate, he’s parroting, I wonder? No problem, Islam will prevail, Inshallah.