Outspoken ex-envoy takes aim at Straw


BLACKBURN (Reuters) – Outspoken ex-envoy takes aim at Straw: “SACK JACK” is the simple message emblazoned on luminous green posters adorning an old army fire engine in the town square. “Hit the road Jack Straw. Don’t you come back no more,” blares an accompanying tune as shoppers wander by in the former mill town of Blackburn. The dated “Green Goddess” fire engine has been commandeered as a campaign bus by an outspoken former ambassador who left the diplomatic service in a row over torture in Uzbekistan and is now battling his old boss, Foreign Secretary Straw, in his own constituency in the May 5 election… “My campaign is about the lack of ethics in foreign policy and the abandonment of international law just to please George Bush,” Murray told Reuters. “Blackburn can send a powerful message of discontent,” he added… Murray’s 21-year diplomatic career came to an abrupt end late last year after he was withdrawn from Uzbekistan. He had accused the West of tacitly endorsing torture by accepting bogus information extracted by duress from prisoners in the authoritarian Central Asian state that has become a key ally of Washington…