Jack Straw speaks out on safe sex?
From The Nether-World via Backing Blair
For a direct listen go to The Telegraph
Yearly archives: 2006
Abducted imam seeks return to Italy
From ANSA.it
Lawyer confirms Abu Omar is in Egyptian jail
(ANSA) – Cairo, April 7 – A Muslim cleric allegedly kidnapped by the CIA in Milan in 2003 has asked authorities in Egypt, where he is incarcerated, to be allowed to return to Italy .
Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, who is usually known as Abu Omar, claims he has Italian citizenship and has requested legal assistance from Italy, his Egyptian lawyer Montasser el Zayat told ANSA .
Abu Omar, the former imam of Milan’s main mosque, lived in the northern city with his Albanian wife and their two children until disappearing mysteriously on February 17, 2003. At the time he was being probed by Milan prosecutors for suspected links to international terrorism .
Prosecutors say he was abducted by the CIA as part of its covert program – called ‘extraordinary rendition’ – in which suspected terrorists are transferred without court approval to third countries for interrogation .
Although Abu Omar has long been assumed to be in Egypt, this was only confirmed in recent days, when Cairo daily El Masri el Yom cited Egyptian security sources as saying that he was currently being interrogated.
Germany’s dialogue with the Uzbek regime: a disgrace for German democracy
In light of recent developments in Germany we are reposting this article from March.
This is an excellent article from Galima Burkabaeva, which deserves to be studied.
I was continually stunned by the enthusiasm of the cooperation of German officials and Ministers with the Uzbek regime. This even included Joschka Fischer, the most sycophantic of all politicians to regularly visit Tashkent.
The British consultant and former Liberal MP Michael Meadowcroft was kicked off a German-led, EU funded consultancy programme with the Uzbek parliament for pointing out that this was a token parliament (it meets five days a year) in a one party state. The rest of the consultants were all German and seemed to have no problem at all with this. Michael pointed out to me that they were all Russian speaking East Germans. That is indeed true of most of the Germans in Tashkent in official persons, particularly in the German aid agency..
When the EU brought in travel sanctions against Uzbekistan, on the very day those sanctions came into force Germany admitted Uzbek Interior Minister Almatov, the first name on the EU banned list, for medical treatment organised by the German government.
The German Air Base at Termez is of great symbolic significance to Germany because it is the first permanent overseas base Germany established since the Second World War. How fitting then that it should be sited with a fascist regime.
I am very reluctant indeed to conclude this, but I can no longer think of any other explanation for the attitude of German politicians and officials to Karimov, except that the German establishment retains a hereditary yearning for fascism.
Craig
Germany’s dialogue with the Uzbek regime: a disgrace for German democracy
From Muslim Uzbekistan
Guantanamo detainee claims he was handed over by the US to Morocco for torture
From The Guardian
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) – Binyam Muhammad, who has been accused of plotting al-Qaida attacks in the United States, was tortured with a scalpel after American authorities handed him over to Moroccan interrogators, according to an account provided by his lawyer.
Muhammad made his first appearance in the U.S. military courtroom in Guantanamo Bay on Thursday, charged with conspiring with Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders to attack civilians and other crimes.
Wearing a long, orange collarless shirt and a black skullcap, the 27-year-old detainee told the judge that he has been tortured. He criticized U.S. authorities for getting his name wrong, claimed he was not the person they sought and bitterly suggested the court refer to him as Count Dracula.
“After four years of torture and rendition, you have the wrong person in the stand,” Muhammad said. Military documents spell his name variously as Muhammad and Mohammad. The judge, Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann, told Muhammad it was the prosecutor’s job to establish his identity during trial.
Germany: Prosecutor Denies Uzbek Victims Justice
From Human Rights Watch
Almatov Decision Hurts Berlin’s Reputation
(Berlin, April 6, 2006) ‘ The decision by Germany’s federal prosecutor not to open an investigation against former Uzbek Minister of Interior Zokirjon Almatov for crimes against humanity will be challenged by Human Rights Watch. The prosecutor’s decision is a blow for victims in Uzbekistan and damages Germany’s reputation as a principled leader on behalf of international justice, Human Rights Watch said today.
On December 12, 2005, eight Uzbek victims of abuses, accompanied by Human Rights Watch, submitted a complaint against Almatov to the German federal prosecutor. They asked the prosecutor to open a criminal investigation against Almatov and 11 other Uzbek government officials for crimes against humanity related to the massacre of hundreds of unarmed citizens on May 13, 2005 in the eastern city of Andijan, and for the widespread and systematic use of torture. Almatov commanded the troops that bore primary responsibility for the mass killings in Andijan and, as interior minister, also oversaw Uzbek prisons and pre-trial detention facilities, where torture is routine. Four of the plaintiffs are victims of the Andijan massacre and four are victims of torture.
‘These victims have suffered horrific crimes and turned to Germany for the justice they could never find at home,’ said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director of Human Rights Watch. ‘It took tremendous courage for the victims to bring this case, so it is particularly disappointing that Germany has let them down.’
On March 31, 2006, Federal Prosecutor Kay Nehm issued his decision not to go forward with an investigation against Almatov, arguing that the likelihood of a successful investigation and prosecution was ‘non-existent,’ given that Uzbekistan was unlikely to cooperate and an investigation in Uzbekistan would be necessary. The prosecutor apparently gave little weight to the fact that hundreds of victims and potential witnesses now live outside Uzbekistan, including in Germany, Romania, Holland, and Sweden.
What is more, the prosecutor appears not to have considered that he could interview international witnesses such as the former U.K. ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, or the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Theo van Boven, who had declared their willingness to serve as witnesses in the case. As special rapporteur, van Boven issued a report in 2003 documenting the systematic nature of torture in Uzbekistan.
Canadian juvenile boycotts Guantanamo trial
From BBC Online
A Canadian teenager accused of killing a US soldier in Afghanistan has told a Guantanamo Bay tribunal he will boycott his trial, claiming unfair treatment. Omar Khadar told a pre-trial hearing he had been kept in solitary confinement and said he would not participate until he was “treated humanely and fair”.
The 19-year-old’s defence lawyer argued the military trial rules were unclear and not based on any legal framework.
Mr Khadr is one of 10 Guantanamo detainees charged with war crimes.
“I am boycotting these procedures until I am treated humanely and fairly,” Mr Khadr said, adding he had been held in solitary confinement since 30 March.
An angry exchange followed between his defence lawyer, Lt Col Colby Vokey, and the military officer presiding over the tribunal. He complained that his client was being treated unfairly and that the conditions at the prison and the tribunal’s procedures undermined the defence team’s ability to carry out its work.
Lt Col Vokey said just as he was trying to prepare his client’s case, “they move him to solitary confinement for no apparent reason whatsoever”.
Stuff Happens off Broadway
After a very sucessful run in London, Stuff Happens, David Hare’s timely drama about the Iraq War receives its New York premiere at The Public Theater. Directed by Daniel Sullivan.
Below the radar: Secret flights to torture and ‘disappearance’
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.
Strategic Voters target New Labour wipe-out in 4th May London local elections
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.’
Little has changed despite Abu Ghraib (or Condi’s visit)
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.
Ahead of a new report US admits Scottish airport used on rendition flight
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.”
Movie stars in Straw poll
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.
Jack Staw is considering publishing his memoirs…
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.”
Terror backlash from the Iraq war will effect the UK ‘for years’
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.
Beware, Jack, there’s steel in her heart
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.”
Jack and Condi: not so much a match made in heaven as a computing error at Dateline
“Is that a rendition order in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?”
By Alison Rowat in The Herald
Condoleezza Rice is expected to pop the question when she arrives in Britain for her visit to Jack Straw’s constituency. The world’s most powerful woman and most eligible bachelorette might come out with it at the airport. Or she could wait till they are in Blackburn itself. But when the moment is right the US secretary of state will look into the British foreign secretary’s eyes and utter the immortal words: “Is that a rendition order in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?”
Expect a lot more of this as the love-in between Straw and Rice spreads across the weekend papers like an oil slick. When Straw visited her last October in her home town of Birmingham, Alabama, she took him to a football game and to a family dinner. He will escort her to what is billed as “a major industrial site” (Blackburn men know how to show a girl a good time), a school, and then on to Liverpool, home of Rice’s favourite band, Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Or it might have been The Beatles. Anyway, all will be revealed as Rice and Straw skip their way, hand in hand, through fields of swaying anti-war protesters.
So far, her visit to a mosque has been called off due to the threat of protests, and the host of a concert she is due to attend has pulled out. Faced with this level of discontent, any other pair would call the whole thing off and stay in London. Not these two. Not the Warrior Princess and the Straw Man.
Pressure grows on the Straw-Rice visit to NW England
“The most unwelcome visit to Liverpool since Oswald Mosley came here in the 1930s.” Liverpool Echo
Blackburn: Muslims ‘withdraw Rice invitation’
An invitation to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to visit a mosque in Jack Straw’s home constituency has been withdrawn, it was claimed.
Mosque leaders in Blackburn decided on the U-turn following pressure from the local community, according to campaign group Stop the War Coalition.
The planned visit on Saturday was designed to repay a trip that the Foreign Secretary made to the Alabama hometown of Ms Rice last year.
Ms Rice will tour Blackburn and Liverpool as part of a two-day regional tour, which is due to start on Friday.
However, the Masjid Al Hidayah mosque in Millham Street is said to have cancelled the invitation because of community feelings about US and British policy on Iraq.
Liverpool: Straw in appeal to anti-war protesters
…It comes after news of Ms Rice’s impending arrival prompted the Stop the War Coalition to organise protests outside The Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA), when she visits on Friday.
Already poet Roger McGough has pulled out of his booking to compere the Celebration of Liverpool concert at the Phil, and Mona Lisa actress Cathy Tyson turned down an offer to step into the role.
Visit CondiWatch for up to the minute information on the planned protests.
Update: MEP tells Rice: Stay at home
Riverbend sails on…
Belated congratulations are due to Riverbend.
Following the sucessful hosting of the Iraqi Oscars she has now been nominated for BBC Four’s Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction.
More investment in permenant US military bases in Iraq
From BBC Online
The Pentagon has requested hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency funds for military construction in Iraq, fanning the debate about US long-term intentions there.
“In other words,Rumsfeld has never given up the possibility of moving bases further east, which was part of the [reasoning behind] invading Iraq.”
“I think the administration is at the very least keeping its options open.”
Iraqis are also suspicious. According to a recent poll, 80% believe the US intends to retain a permanent presence in Iraq, regardless of whether the Iraqi government asked the US to leave.
For the full article go here