It is ten years since I ended my FCO career by going on the Today programme and blowing the whistle on CIA/MI6 complicity in torture. It was on my 46th birthday, and I was in my second year as an Ambassador and my seventh as a top Whitehall civil servant, a member of the Senior Civil Service.
Looking back now, what is most striking are the blatant lies by the FCO that they were not obtaining intelligence from torture. As the BBC reported:
In one he claimed MI6 had used information passed on to it by the CIA but originally obtained in Uzbek torture cells – something strongly denied by the Foreign Office.
I do not think there is a single person in public life or social media nowadays who would not accept that the FCO were simply lying. Jack Straw was blatantly to lie about it to parliament. But ten years ago the public and media knew much less than they know now. Nobody outside secret circles had ever heard the words extraordinary rendition. It was a year later – May 2005 – before the New York Times revealed the CIA was sending people to Uzbekistan to be tortured, precisely as I had stated.
It sounds incredible, but in October 2004 many people believed it was Craig Murray who was a liar, not Jack Straw. Again I do not think there is a single individual today who does not understand that Jack Straw was lying through his teeth. But back in 2004 life was hard for me.
After going on the Today programme I went on the run, in fear for my life. I am not paranoid, remember David Kelly. I first stayed with my old friend Andy Myles in Edinburgh, then I think Chief Executive of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. He was phoned the next morning by the FCO. When he denied knowledge of my whereabouts, they not only said they knew I was staying with him, they said which bedroom I was sleeping in. Ten years ago today I was hiding in Aviemore in the house of my old friend Dominic.
That was the start of a decade as a dissident where I have devoted my life to exposing, and trying to counter, the evil of the neo-conservative policy pursued by our political class at the behest of the corporations who fund them. I have suffered a huge loss in money, status and most of the other normal aspirations. But what I have gained is invaluable. I have respect and love, while Blair and Straw will forever be despised.
Vergangenheitsbewältigung is a term the neo-nazis in Kiev don’t have in their lexicon.
Doesn’t look like it, Ben. They seem to want to continue where Hitler/Bandera left off. And they’ve been encouraged to do this. Frightening! Media must now know by now that they’ve been duped by those with bad intent.
Ben
“So far, I think the silent treatment is working.”
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You wish!
I’m still posting and the readers are still reading. So what if the Eminences (apart from you) are temporarily reduced to silence? 🙂
Good read on Squonk, with Ben and Trowbridge H. Ford squabbling about who “Deep Throat” really was.
Only 40 years behind “l’actualité”.
Vanity on display.
Sweet ! Prepare for the fusillade. They just hate being invisible. Maybe even a DOS attack. Hell hath no fury like a troll scorned.
All falling apart for Poroshenko this morning really?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/26/us-ukraine-crisis-election-idUSKCN0IF00R20141026
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/26/ukraine-petro-poroshenko-power-elections
Vote for Svoboda has fallen significantly since the last parliamentary elections – and is below that achieved by the LDPR fascists in the last Russian parliamentary elections.
But, but there are no neo-nazis in Ukraine, so how did Fatherland qualify with the needed 5%. We need better qualified trolls. It’s an insult they send in the 3rd stringers.
Yes, but, RD, Svoboda are the most extreme. Yats is the new voice of the Bandera followers. And he’s a close second in the election. Guardian misrepresenting the facts. Either still duped, stupid beyond measure, or following an agenda.
“Vote for Svoboda has fallen significantly since the last parliamentary elections – and is below that achieved by the LDPR fascists in the last Russian parliamentary elections.”
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Nice one, Resident Dissident, nice one – keep them coming!
I wonder how the Friends of Putin will talk their way out of that one?
Mr Goss?
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Ben; ““So far, I think the silent treatment is working.”
It’s the Dumb & Dumber Show ! Very entertaining !! 😀
@Mark, yes feeble is the right word, made even more amusing by the fact that they cannot even begin to fathom how abysmal they are; what has Craig done to warrant such crap trolls ?! They really need to go back to Harry’s Place where such piss-poor performances are highly rated ! 😀
@Mary, indeed, makes you wonder if he was subsequently “got at”, or suffer a knock on the head !
Ah, I see the Friends of Putin are already trying 🙂
Are they reading off a script, I wonder?
@Habby. See my reply, above. Don’t drag John away from his ornithology.
@Habby. Er… no. Against fascism, actually. Thought you would be as well.
The assimilation of Banderistas into the mainstream is just PR, like UKIP. A Trojan Horse for the pathogens of humanity. Just like conservatives who refile as ‘Independent’ or ‘libertarian’, it’s the same smell with a different label.
Ben
Last time they got 10.45% this time the exit polls are showing 6% – no one is saying that there aren’t neo Nazis in Ukraine (or elsewhere in Europe for that matter) – but as you know they get everywhere. Look up Zhironovsky and the LDPR in Russia and you will see that Putin has an even bigger fascist problem – and remember who Putin allowed into the Crimea during his Anschluss and who has provided him with pretty constant parliamentary support.
But anyway congratulations to the electorate in the Ukraine in making a substantial reduction in their vermin problem – as always democracy is the best disinfectant.
Peacewisher
“@Habby. See my reply, above.”
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Tut, tut, should you be talking to me? Ben will throw a hissy fit!
But to your “reply”. It’s an old trick, Peacewisher. The fascist party loses voting share and so, as quick as a flash, you say “oh, actually, they’re not the fascists, this other lot are”. Not convincing.
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@RD. Sigh! Yats party got 21% according to the Exit poll, only 2% behind Poroshenko. If you are reading the facts like that, nothing much I can do.
Amos, Micah…what next?
‘mene mene tekel upharsin’
Oh dear!
My fellow-prophet Amos has just had a comment of his deleted by Squonk .
Apparently he pointed out that Ben and Trowbridge’s squabbling about the identity of “Deep Throat” was funny.
Heinous! 🙂
“Amos, Micah…what next?”
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Another hissy fit from you, perhaps?
Or how about some more Vanity Fair?
I predicted more than 20 years ago that if the proto-fascist NL (New Labour) continued to oppose Scottish independence, they would be crushed out of existence.
So far, so good.
Tears of joy.
I’m not surprised you aren’t convinced, Habby. But Yats is very much in the Bandera mould and he’s now almost in the driving seat. Just one more election… or resignation… and then we’ve got a budding 4th Reich. I hope I’m wrong… I’d be delighted to be I a position to apologise in six months… but history suggests that neo-Nazis don’t just go back into their shells.
Macky. Yes he’s definitely in need of a psychiatrist or therapist. Rather sad actually. Probably quite lonely.
” Probably quite lonely.” Isn’t that the boiler-plate description when some nut offs some citizens. I suspect Mum is listening to a shout from the basement..”Where’s my meatloaf?”
Macky
Do you have anything of substance to say whatsoever? Perhaps I can help you with a few multiple choice questions to help you develop your thinking and for all of us to understand your political position.
Did you cry the day the Soviet Union broke up, just like your hero gorgeous George?
Yes/No
Who betrayed the Revolution – was it a) Trotsky b)Stalin c)Class traitors d) No one it was undermined by evil Western Imperialists, e) something else
Who was the biggest class traitor was it a) Dubcek, b) Walesa c) Gorbachev
Who was to blame for the Holodomor was a) a poor harvest b) greedy Kulaks c) interfering Western jounalists d) western imperialists e) the Jews f) some naughty people who comrade Stalin has dealt with
Can the political party you belong to be accommodated in a) a phone box, b) a taxi or c) a village hall as it is the world’s smallest mass party
What do you regard as the greatest political achievement in the UK during the past 50 years was it a) nothing b) a failed strike c) an arresting piece of street theatre d) swearing at a police officer at a demo you once attended e) selling 5 copies of the paper in an afternoon.
When you were a student what posters did you have on your wall was a) a girl playing tennis scratching her bum b) Che Guevara c) Trotsky d) Lenin e) Whatever campaign the SWP was pushing at the time.
Did you get into politics because a) you couldn’t get a girl friend b) in order to chase a girl friend c) solidarity with working class d)class hatred e) cognitive dissonance f) you liked the badges and the opportunity to shout in the streets.
Mary, are you misreading me, or being bolder than I could possibly imagine ! 🙂
“But Yats is very much in the Bandera mould”
Don’t be silly – this just shows you know nothing about either Yats or Bandera.
Goodness, it’s Comedy Gold tonight ! 😀
“Goodness, it’s Comedy Gold tonight !”
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Certainly is, with Macky in a lead rôle! 🙂
Perhaps not the sharpest but certainly the funniest knife in the drawer.