Monthly archives: April 2006

Below the radar: Secret flights to torture and ‘disappearance’

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From Amnesty International

To see an animated map of CIA rendition flights go here

Amnesty International today released a new report which exposes a covert operation whereby people have been arrested or abducted, transferred and held in secret or handed over to countries where they have faced torture and other ill-treatment. The report describes how the CIA has used private aircraft operators and front companies to preserve the secrecy of “rendition” flights.

Below the radar: Secret flights to torture and ‘disappearance’, shows that the CIA has exploited aviation practices that would otherwise require their flights to be declared to aviation authorities. The report lists dozens of destinations around the world where planes associated with “rendition” flights have landed and taken off — and lists private airlines with permission to land at US military bases worldwide.

Amnesty International has records of nearly 1,000 flights directly linked to the CIA, most of which have used European airspace; these are flights by planes that appear to have been permanently operated by the CIA through front companies. In a second category, there are records of some 600 other flights made by planes confirmed as having been used at least temporarily by the CIA.

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Strategic Voters target New Labour wipe-out in 4th May London local elections

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Click to find out more about Strategic Voting in the May 4th elections in London

Anti-New Labour tactical voting by former Labour voters, and supporters of all other parties, can deliver a local election result in London so disastrous for New Labour that a chain reaction will start that will go on to sweep Tony Blair out of 10 Downing Street.

This is the claim made by London Strategic Voter (www.strategicvoter.org.uk), the unique new London local elections website launched today by opponents of the Iraq war.

The website presents information showing just how vulnerable New Labour is right across London on 4 May. If opponents of the war unite and vote tactically for the strongest challenger to New Labour the party of government could be defeated in every London borough. It is the first time the internet has been used to encourage and co-ordinate large-scale tactical voting in a London election.

London Strategic Voter spokesman Richard Wilson said:

“Most progressive people have got the hang of tactical voting as a means of keeping the Conservatives out of power. Anti-New Labour tactical voting is trickier because voters are less sure which way to turn to maximise the effectiveness of their vote. London Strategic Voter gives ordinary London voters the information they need to use the May 4th local elections to send a powerful anti-war and anti-sleaze message to Westminster.’

Simply by typing in their postcode on the website, Londoners can find out which party stands the best chance of beating New Labour in their council ward. The interactive website will be a centre for vote-swapping between supporters of different parties in different boroughs, so that the power of tactical voting to create change can be exploited to the full.

‘May 4th is a referendum on whether the voters want Tony Blair to stay or to go now. We want him to go. Today, Iraq is a horrific and disgusting bloodbath, a disaster which Blair was instrumental in creating and for which he has no solution . For Londoners it’s a local issue. The 7/7 bombings happened because of Iraq ‘ and now we hear that the official report agrees with us on that.* How much more local an issue can there be than the danger we now face, as a result of Tony Blair’s policies, every time we get on a bus or tube train?

‘May 4th is shaping up to be the ‘perfect storm’ for New Labour – an utter electoral disaster, sweeping them out of councils in both inner and outer London. Only ordinary voters have the power to do this ‘ and London Strategic Voter shows them how.’

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Little has changed despite Abu Ghraib (or Condi’s visit)

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By Chip Pitts in SacBee.com

“We are convinced that once people living in America understand the scope of abuses taking place, these unlawful actions will end and our government’s actions will again be brought within the rule of law.”

[This] month marks the second anniversary of the now-iconic images of torture emerging from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. While Amnesty International would like to report that the situation for detainees being held by agents of the U.S. government has improved, it cannot. Contrary to the Bush administration’s claim that the abuses in U.S.-run prison facilities in Iraq were the work of a few bad apples, Amnesty International has documented a systemic pattern of abuses by agents of the U.S. government that spans the globe.

The use of torture and other inhuman treatment is firmly outlawed in both U.S. and international law. There is arguably no other principle of law more established than the absolute prohibition on torture. Perhaps this partly explains why the Bush administration shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, set out to redefine policies and practices in ways that pushed the limits on the prohibition against torture and inhuman treatment. In a series of memos composed between August 2002 and April 2003, the Justice Department, the White House counsel’s office and counsel to the secretary of defense attempted to redefine what constitutes physical and mental torture.

Widespread allegations reveal that torture and other inhuman treatment of detainees is occurring through the use of extraordinary rendition, in Department of Defense custody and in secret CIA detention facilities called black sites. Extraordinary rendition or outsourcing torture is the process by which the United States outside court purview transfers a person to another country for the purposes of interrogation and detention, often by first kidnapping them.

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Ahead of a new report US admits Scottish airport used on rendition flight

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From The Herald

The first official admission Scottish airports have been used for refuelling of US rendition flights has sparked calls for more openness and police involvement.

Chris Ballance, the Green MSP who has campaigned on the issue, seized on the revelation that the Americans transported a terror suspect through Prestwick airport in 1998.

Ahead of publication this week of an Amnesty International report that is expected to detail extensive US aircraft movements thought to be so-called “torture flights”, Mr Ballance said that the position of the government is at last shifting.

On Friday, the government admitted a suspect in a civilian aircraft bombing in 1982 was sent to the US via Prestwick in June 1998. The only previous admission has been a refuelling at Stansted airport, when the US was returning a suspect in the 1998 Nairobi bombings.

Since 2001 and the start of the war on terror, it is claimed American activity in “extraordinary rendition” ‘ transporting suspected terrorists to countries with reputations for use of torture ‘ has led to frequent use of Scottish airports.

However, it is also claimed by the government that it has received no applications to let British airports be used for these flights. Mr Ballance echoed the Scottish National Party, saying last week’s admission raises more questions than it provides answers. “The government has previously attempted to deny all knowledge of any rendition flights using Scottish airports,” he said. “Now ministers are changing their tune.”

He said he was glad if terrorists are brought to justice, as appears to be the case with Mohammed Rashed, who was found guilty in the US after being transported via Prestwick, but added: “Hundreds of other flights may have stopped in Scotland and it’s high time the public knew the full facts.”

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Movie stars in Straw poll

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By Bill Jacobs in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph

AL Pacino, Alan Rickman or Steve Coogan the Westminster guessing game has begun over who will play Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in a new film.

Blackburn producer and director Michael Winterbottom is planning to bring former ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray’s story to cinema screens next year. And it will give further exposure to Mr Murray’s claims that he was dismissed by the Blackburn MP for criticising British policy in the former Soviet Republic.

Already Steve Coogan, who played Alan Partridge in Knowing Me, Knowing You, on BBC 2 is pencilled in to play the hapless diplomat who claims the Government ignored human rights abuses. And Mr Winterbottom said: “I think Alan Partridge could play both characters, emphasising they’re both sides of the same coin.”

Mr Murray, who stood against Mr Straw in Blackburn at the last general election, had a slightly more mischievous suggestion Alan Rickman, who immortalised the evil Professor Snape in the Harry Potter films. Mr Straw himself, clearly torn between embarrass-ment over the revelations in Mr Murray’s book and shyness at the prospect of movie stardom, would only say: “No comment”.

However, his East Lancashire MP colleagues had their own suggestions.

Mr Winterbottom has a long pedigree of directing controversial films including The Road to Guantanamo, about the treatment of British detainees in the US Camp Delta prison in Cuba and A Cock and Bull Story, the sexually explicit Nine Songs and 24-Hour Party People about Tony Wilson and Factory Records.

He said he was excited at the prospect of directing Mr Murray’s “Murder in Samarkand”, an account of his two years as ambassador to Uzbekistan, to which he has already bought the film rights. The book, due out in June despite strongest efforts by Mr Straw and the Foreign Office to block it, is described as “an incredible true story, espionage, torture, high politics, sex and murder”.

Government officials are set to take legal action to stop both the book and the film claiming they are misleading and incorrect and the criticism of colleagues as “unfair and unwarranted”. Mr Winterbottom said: “This is a splendid story and I am really looking forward to filming it. We have got the rights already and I hope to do it some time next year.”

Mr Murray, 47, said: “I don’t come across as a hero. I’m an ordinary fallible guy who could not go along with what the govern-ment was doing.” He said he had already met Mr Coogan, who was interested in the film, which was confirmed by Mr Winterbottom.

Ribble Valley Tory Nigel Evans said: “I would like Al Pacino to play Jack he has the sort of “Don’t mess with me” aura that the Foreign Secretary has acquired.”

Pendle Labour MP Gordon Prentice said: “Derek Jacobi would be ideal. Jack is a man of many parts and it would take a consummate actor like Jacobi to do him justice.”

Hyndburn Labour MP Greg Pope said: “I would like Bill Nighy to take the role. He would be perfect.”

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said discussions were going on with Mr Murray and they had made it clear it was not right to publish the book and it was “a betrayal of trust”. The Foreign Office claimed that Mr Murray’s dismissal came because he was suffering from personal problems not from his outspoken comments.

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Jack Staw is considering publishing his memoirs…

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From The Lancashire Evening Telegraph 31st March 2006

JACK Straw will include no broken confidences or tittle-tattle in his memoirs if he ever gets round to publishing them.

The Blackburn MP and Foreign Secretary came under fire from MPs on a Commons committee cross-examining him about his attempts to block two books by former diplomats. They asked him if he intended to publish his own memories, and he said he might.

Mr Straw was immediately accused of hypocrisy for on the one hand savaging former Washington ambassador Sir Christopher Meyer and ex- Uzbekistan envoy Craig Murray over their tell-all books and considering writing his own.

But today Mr Straw said: “I have not decided if I am going to write a book yet. I might but if I do it will be in due time and will observe all the rules. “If I do it will be memoirs not diaries like my predecessor as Blackburn MP Barbara Castle. I don’t keep a diary. “The problem with Sir Christopher’s book was that it broke confidences.

“The case of Mr Murray’s book is still ongoing. With Sir Christopher’s book, I take responsibility for not trying to legally stop it because he did not actually break any rules. He just broke confidences and filled it full of tittle-tattle.”

“If I do publish my memoirs I shall not break any confidences and there will be no tittle-tattle but I hope it will be amusing.”

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Terror backlash from the Iraq war will effect the UK ‘for years’

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From the Sunday Times

SPY chiefs have warned Tony Blair that the war in Iraq has made Britain the target of a terror campaign by Al-Qaeda that will last ‘for many years to come.’

A leaked top-secret memo from the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) says the war in Iraq has ‘exacerbated’ the threat by radicalising British Muslims and attracting new recruits to anti-western terror attacks. The four-page memo, entitled International Terrorism: Impact of Iraq, contradicts Blair’s public assurances by concluding that the invasion of Iraq has fomented a jihad or holy war against Britain.

It states: ‘It has reinforced the determination of terrorists who were already committed to attacking the West and motivated others who were not.’

It adds: ‘Iraq is likely to be an important motivating factor for some time to come in the radicalisation of British Muslims and for those extremists who view attacks against the UK as legitimate.’

The memo was approved by Eliza Manningham-Buller, the head of MI5, John Scarlett, the chief of MI6, and Sir David Pepper, head of GCHQ, the government’s eavesdropping centre. The leak of the JIC’s official assessment ‘ marked ‘top secret’ ‘ will alarm Blair as it appears to be directed at undermining the public statements in which he has denied that the war in Iraq has increased the terror threat from Al-Qaeda.

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Beware, Jack, there’s steel in her heart

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From The Guardian

“Once more there is talk of WMDs and regime change. Once again Britain is embroiled. But this US Secretary of State is clearly no dove…

As the stakes rise, Jack Straw has concerns beyond whether Condi will wear her Blackburn Rovers strip with pride. Though they did not seem to notice, the protesters who heckled her have bigger worries too. It’s not about getting Dr Rice miraculously to end this war. It’s about stopping her embarking on the next one.”

Right on cue, and in contradiction to the public pronouncements by Straw-Rice, we hear from The Telegraph that the Government is in secret talks about a military strike against Iran.

“The Government is to hold secret talks with defence chiefs tomorrow to discuss possible military strikes against Iran.

A high-level meeting will take place in the Ministry of Defence at which senior defence chiefs and government officials will consider the consequences of an attack on Iran.

It is believed that an American-led attack, designed to destroy Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear bomb, is “inevitable” if Teheran’s leaders fail to comply with United Nations demands to freeze their uranium enrichment programme.

Tomorrow’s meeting will be attended by Gen Sir Michael Walker, the chief of the defence staff, Lt Gen Andrew Ridgway, the chief of defence intelligence and Maj Gen Bill Rollo, the assistant chief of the general staff, together with officials from the Foreign Office and Downing Street.”

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