The law is not blind in this country – “joint enterprise” is used almost exclusively against young black men. But I can see no reason why the principle of joint enterpirse should not apply equally to those who set the policy under which people were rendered to be tortured in Libya, rather than merely to the security service functionaries who carried out the policy. In my reading of joint enterprise, if Ministers can show they were not involved in signing off individual rendition permissions, they should still be guilty for having participated in the behaviour that made such results likely, indeed inevitable.
I have given evidence to parliament that I was told, officially, as a British Ambassador, that Jack Straw had initiated a policy of using intelligence obtained by torture. I also testified before parliament that this was an unacknowledged policy which I was told, officially, should not be discussed in writing. The government has at no stage attempted to deny the truth of my account. The government did not submit evidence to the Parliamentary committee to claim that my account was untrue. The government has nowhere stated that my evidence is untrue; they prefer to rely on private media briefings to claim, untruly, that I am mad and alcoholic.
I shall tell the police that those involved in rendering persons to be Libya to be tortured were doing so in keeping with a War on Terror torture intelligence programme authorised by Jack Straw. It is no secret what I will say; here I am saying it.
Of course, I realise that the Crown Prosecution Service and the Met will,three years hence, claim there were no grounds to prosecute anybody. I am not that naive. But the fact of a formal police investigation will force some attention on whether or not my account is true. Ignoring the facts and just being rude about me is less easy in a criminal investigation.
Craig, last paragraph above the video, ‘rendering persons to be Libya to be tortured? please change.
God bless you, mate. I worked like billyo to get Labour into power and they turned out to be nutters. Jack Straw is no better than a NAzi to have allowed all this to happen.
The yanks are at it too. Descent into dictatorship.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/is-the-united-states-still-the-land-of-the-free/2012/01/04/gIQAvcD1wP_story.html
Jack Straw was gung-ho for the war in Iraq, so close to Tony Blair they were almost joined at the brain. I cannot believe Jack Straw acted alone. He and Blair are equally as culpable. If Blair did not know, he should have done.
“President Obama has claimed, as President George W. Bush did before him, the right to order the killing of any citizen considered a terrorist or an abettor of terrorism. Last year, he approved the killing of U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaqi and another citizen under this claimed inherent authority. Last month, administration officials affirmed that power, stating that the president can order the assassination of any citizen whom he considers allied with terrorists.”
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Ronald The Barfing Donkey – I judged it vital a paragraph from the your link is echoed here. Of course ‘allied’ can be affiliated, associated, connected, even married or made to appear that way by evidence and exhibits at one end of the spectrum or by torture, coercion or deception at the other.
We have a bunch of criminals as our elected politicians . with the exception of few, People did not care as long as their pocket was not effected, and will not care again if the economy improves.
Once again I reitrate : people deserve their government…
Mr Murray,
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It seems that it is not a case of few rogue individuals but the whole state (or at least security and intelligence related part of it) was involved in supporting and promoting torture. In this case as history teaches it is very little to no chance of any sort of investigation finding guilty and punishing them. Look at Henry Kissinger mass murderer and still influencial figure not only in the US but in many other countries. The same fate I am afraid is reserved to Straw and Blair. Unless of course something changes cardinally.
Since torture does not produce reliable intelligence, what was the purpose of the torture?
I would have thought that ministerial involvement in such policies would be fairly critical to establishing whether the crimes were “systemic” rather than the acts of individuals or small parts of the government organizations which is, in turn, key to determining if these can be considered crimes against humanity, rather than individual crimes, and therefore under the jurisdiction of the ICC if the national criminal justice system proves ineffective, as looks likely to happen. Therefore, even if the police chose to ignore Craig’s evidence he is doing an excellent job in making it part of the public record.
“Since torture does not produce reliable intelligence, what was the purpose of the torture?”
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To justify so called anti-terror measures. Such as military and financial support for karimov and him alike, to keep people indefinitely in Guantanamo Bay, to attack this country to attack that country. Torture serves its purpose very well indeed.
Of course Mr Murray has been doing an excellent job for at least last 9 years since he started in Uzbekistan. The tragedy is that despite there being few decent people in the FCO it is very unlikely that anyone would be willing to follow Mr Murray’s path after what had happened to him.
I am puzzled – will the ‘large scale censorship’ and redaction be conveyed to the Met. In other words in a court of law, will the process require the original documents uncensored for clarity or are the responses ‘redacted’ because of a threat to national security, a breach of the Data Protection Act, advised by the British security services or just exempt information not requested?
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I believe FOI rules should, where censorship is enforced or information redacted, make it mandatory to include a reference that gives the reader an explanation or reason for the censorship.
“…they prefer to rely on private media briefings to claim, untruly, that I am mad and alcoholic.”
So that’s what they say about you – while I am called eccentric – but at least I am “sane” with just a mild amount of grog.
Chuckle.
” I believe FOI rules should, where censorship is enforced or information redacted, make it mandatory to include a reference that gives the reader an explanation or reason for the censorship.”
In reply: “National security” will appear on each redacted line.
It makes me weep to read your words about the attempt to smear you. How dare they! The wickedness goes to the very depths.
@Mary, we should be thankful that they did not arrange for his “suicide”… Bastards
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/9497946.Statue_targeted_in_vandal_attack/
Anti semitism or Black Propoganda?
Incidents like this make it easier to claim the UK has an anti-semtism problem and claim the coming anti-zionist protests during the prelude to the Iran war are “anti-semites”.
Or it might just be mindless vandalism.
We need to change the language bandied about – decapitalise to start with; “Zionism” appears so much more important when it is given the staus of a proper noun. Why cant it become an adjective as in “zionist behaviour” – thus removing it from association with a particular ethnic group.
“Mafia” seems more acceptable – though no doubt somebody will put me right on that! – and I’ve no idea what the adjectival form of that word is.
Anyway here’s my definition: any behaviour from the powerful which seeks to defame,deny,denigrate, dispossess,de-humanise and dispose of the powerless.
Michael Stephenson,
You were right, this is now an antisemitic incident, despite the police statement to the contrary. The facts before us are, in an era many yonks past the WWII, to find such a keen historical knowledge, which only an expert could boast of being in the knowledge of, that is put to ill use; smacks only of an insider job.
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Lets face it, kids these days think Churchill was a dog, and Hitler won the second world war. None of our home grown thugs know, or even care to know about the events so far in the past.
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On the other hand these kind of Hoaxes can be useful to a certain tribal chiefs who are desperately trying to keep their flock together, and scaring the crap out of them is the easiest way.
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On this Holocaust remembrance day, Media does not publicise the unions calls for: Holocaust Memorial Day is opportunity to end to discrimination, says TUC.
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The day aims to remind people of the crimes, racism and loss of life during the Holocaust in World War II and prevent it ever being forgotten or repeated. It also remembers more recent genocides in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur, and has been held annually in the UK since 2001.
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On the same day a black south African girl 25 catching the metro gets punched on the face and racially abused by a thug boarding the metro in Jarrow North East.
you have a real point about Straw and Blair but all that anti-zionism stuff ruins it. Soz.
Thanks Courtenay – Tom Secker is always good with the grog – Here’s ‘Crime and Prejudice’ in lieu of a fee. 😉
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFllLvhgYm8
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‘Sniper’ seems to be a word in common currency. We have just heard about the US super sniper, Chris Kyle, and his book. SEAL Sniper Chris Kyle Tells O’Reilly His Thoughts on Enemy Iraqis.
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You, our audience, are probably quite familiar with the military’s deadliest sniper by now. We’ve done two stories on Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, the man who has killed more people as a sniper than anyone else any other American, and who once punched Jesse Venture in a bar. And he’s starting to make the rounds. In fact, he joined Bill O’Reilly in a segment that aired Thursday to explain his thoughts on the enemy. And did you really expect him to hold back? He didn’t.
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In his new book, “American Sniper,” Kyle refers to enemy Iraqis as “savages.” He told O’Reilly why:
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“The way they live day-to-day as far as the violence they commit on American troops – the beheadings, the rape of innocent villagers and townspeople, just to intimidate them. They live by putting fear into other people’s hearts. Civilized people just don’t act that way.”
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“I’m killing them to protect my fellow Americans,” he added, and made it clear that, “It’s not a problem taking out someone who wants your people dead. That’s not a problem at all.” (Blaze.com)
NO IRONY!
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Now we have Adelson, Gingrich’s funder, with his aspirations for his son.
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Billionaire Gingrich backer Adelson regrets he served in US instead of Israeli military
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27 January 2012
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Billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who along with his wife, has
donated $10 million dollars in recent weeks to Republican
presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich, has said that he
wishes he had served in the Israeli army instead of the US
military and that he wants his son to grow up to “be a
sniper for the IDF.”
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http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/billionaire-gingrich-backer-adelson-regrets-he-served-us-instead-israeli-military
After having watched all of the videos I find that I no longer have time to read the comments. So my apologies to those posters of interesting comments that deserve a response. I just want to say, Craig, that you truly are an honourable man of principle. I am honoured to be able to comment on your blog and I am proud that you have chosen to be Scottish.
@Lysias
“Since torture does not produce reliable intelligence, what was the purpose of the torture?”
not defending the torture, I would like to ask: what is the evidence for such a statement?
for interrogators the only useless victim is one who refuses to speak at all. most people are not so strong. some prisoners want to be clever and provide misinformation. but with repeated interrogations they are unable to maintain the integrity of fabricated story. also subconsciously they can pass some information in the form of “keywords” which allow to dig further and confront other prisoners.
apart from the situation when interrogators really care about quality of information, very often they would be happy with anything fuelling witchhunt – to justify their own job and to maintain the state of terror.
Everyone should watch this short video by David Duke, ex member of House of Rep in USA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_qxzZY4JycY#!
This week I was working at a water borehole in Shropshire and it reminded me of my Chemistry ‘o’ Level. When I was a bookbinder we used to bleach out foxing on paper. The pH scale is corrosive at both ends, Acid and Alkali, and we used to counteract the burning action of the bleach with a mild acid in those days.
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It’s the same in politics. You use extreme, corrosive force such as rendition, and counteract it with other measures such as giving lots of benefits to Muslims, or getting AlQaida to fight for your colonial objectives in Bosnia Afghanistan Libya etc.
On the acidic end of the pH scale, we are not living, thank God, under the Papal rule of Medeival times, or Soviet or Chinese communism, in which your people, their history, their aspirations are completely erased in an acid bath, leaving only the gall stones.
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One would hope that, in spite of the West’s agenda to curb Islam and adapt it to christian purposes by whatever chemical processes corrosive and counter-corrosive, the quintessential Truth of the divinely revealed Qur’an will remain to rejuvenate the humanity and spirituality of future generations. Whether they are English or Chinese or Russian or African or American.
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Human beings become sickened by oppression and do not cure easily. Above all the Qur’an is the medicine for oppression, because it details the oppression of Zionism, the oppression of those who worship the statues or institutions they have created by their own hands, and the oppression of the human upon his/her own soul by forgetting to believe in and worship God and do righteous good deeds to other human beings.
Iranian parliament is to legislate for sanctions on Europe, by stopping the government from any sales of oil to Europe. This move in effect will be shutting down seventy refineries across Europe.
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I was the first to bring to the attention of all on this blog at the time of demise of Coryton; I have explained the hastily put together sanctions are the first ever sanctions in history to hurt the Sanctioneers first.
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As anticipated no mention of these developments in the Media.
Craig
http://www.firmmagazine.com/news/2789/Unique_speaking_ban_to_be_imposed_on_Tommy_Sheridan%3A_%E2%80%9CNot_appropriate_to_a_democratic_society%E2%80%9D_says_QC_.html
Guano, do explain your singleing out of the Quo’ran as the most oppressive religion.
“Above all the Qur’an is the medicine for oppression, because it details the oppression of Zionism, the oppression of those who worship the statues or institutions they have created by their own hands, and the oppression of the human upon his/her own soul by forgetting to believe in and worship God and do righteous good deeds to other human beings.”
Far from going into the nitty gritty of the quo’ran, I challengwe you to explain why catholicism and Christianity, their zealous oppression of libertarians such as Dr. Kueng and many South American scholars/priests wanting for a humane reform of a medieval doctrine for humanitarian reasons mainly, why these religions and their ‘manuals’ are less oppressive.
Maybe you would like to start with the ecclastical ranks within Opus Dei and how they are kept inline to keep the faith, explain were it is said in the biblwe that painfull self castigation will bring bliss to your mind and get you on to the righteous path. Mind you cannot talk to the boss directly, you have to use his go betweens. dare you not to starin form this path or hell fire and damnation, fear and loatghing will follow your wrtched life until you descend to hell.
Loving words allround. How can catholicims, responsible for multiple death in deeply religous countries that follow this faith, for lack of condoms, water, dying from poverty and deprivation of the worst kind, how can this so called religion be less oppresive than the Quo’ran? Its daft to play out one religion against the other thats tabloid stuff. They are as bad as each other, prescriptive dogma ridden bullying to make one follow a prevailing thought. I agree which whatever communist said it first, be it Marx or Engels, religion is the opium of the masses and it has misled generations after generations, so lets not make oppression the vestige of a single religous thought and book.
Should you not be able to point out the reasoning behind your boisterous assumption here, I suggest you level your arguments somewhat, apologise or be so kind to refrain from such like in future and/or keep to boreholes.
That Tommy Sheridan gagging story is currently the 2nd most popular story on the BBC News website http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-16773620