The planned scenario for a war with Iran is playing out before our eyes at frightening speed now. Unfortunately. as I have frequently said, Iran has a regime that is not only thuggish but controlled by theocratic nutters: the attack on the British Embassy played perfectly into the hands of the neo-cons. William Hague is smirking like the cat who got the cream.
The importance of the Fox-Gould-Werritty scandal is that it lifts the lid on the fact that the move to war with Iran is not a reaction to any street attack or any nuclear agency report. It is a long nurtured plan, designed to keep feeding the huge military industrial war machine that has become a huge part of the UK and US economies, and whose sucking up of trillions of dollars has contributed massively to the financial crisis, and which forms a keystone in the whole South Sea Bubble corporate finance system for servicing the ultra-rich. They need constant, regenerative war. They feed on the shattered bodies of small children.
Gould, Fox and Werritty were plotting with Israel to further war with Iran over years. The Werritty scandal was hushed up by Gus O’Donnell’s risibly meagre “investigation” – a blatant cover-up – and Fox resigned precisely to put a cap on any further digging into what they had been doing. I discovered – with a lot of determination and a modicum of effort – that Fox, Werritty and British Ambassador to Israel Matthew Gould had met many times, not the twice that Gus O’Donnell claimed, and had been in direct contact with Mossad over plans to attack Iran. Eventually the Independent published it, a fortnight after it went viral on the blogosphere.
The resignation of the Defence Secretary in a scandal is a huge political event. People still talk of the Profumo scandal 50 years later. But Fox’s resignation was forgotten by the media within a fortnight, even though it is now proven that the Gus O’Donell official investigation into the affair was a tissue of lies.
Take only these undisputed facts:
Fox Gould and Werritty met at least five times more than the twice the official investigation claims
The government refuses to say how often Gould and Werritty met without Fox
The government refuses to release the Gould-Werritty correspondence
The three met with Mossad
How can that not be a news story? I spent the most frustrating fortnight of my life trying to get a newspaper – any newspaper – to publish even these bare facts. I concentrated my efforts on the Guardian.
I sent all my research, and all the evidence for it, in numeorus emails to the Guardian, including to David Leigh, Richard Norton-Taylor, Rupert Neate and Seumas Milne. I spoke to the first three, several times. I found a complete resistance to publishing anything on all those hidden Fox/Werritty/Gould meetings, or what they tell us about neo-con links with Israel.
Why? Guardian Media Group has a relationship with an Israel investment company, Apax, but the Guardian strongly denies that this has any effect on them.
The Guardian to this day has not published the fact that there were more Fox-Gould-Werritty meetings than O’Donnell disclosed. Why?
I contacted the Guardian to tell them I intended to publish this article, and invited them to give a statement. Here it is, From David Leigh, Associate Editor:
I hope your blogpost will carry the following response in full.
1. I know nothing of any Israeli stake in the ownership of the Guardian. As it is owned by the Scott Trust, not any Israelis, your suggestion sems a bit mad.
2. The Guardian has not “refused” to publish any information supplied by you. On the contrary, I personally have been spending my time looking into it, as I told you previously. I have no idea what the attitude of others in “the Guardian” is. I form my own opinions about what is worth publishing, and don’t take dictation from others. That includes you.
3. I can’t imagine what you are hinting at in your reference to Assange. If you’ve got a conspiracy theory, why don’t you spit it out?
I can understand your frustration, Craig, when others don’t join up the dots in the same way as you. But please try not to be offensive, defamatory, or plain daft about it.
As I said, it would be honest of you to publish my response in full if you want to go ahead with these unwarranted attacks on the Guardian’s integrity.
Possible some Guardian readers will get drawn to this post: at least then they will find out that Werritty, Fox and Gould held many more meetings, hushed up by O’Donnell and hushed up by the Guardian.
It should not be forgotten that the Guardian never stopped supporting Blair and New Labour, even when he was presiding over illegal wars and the massive widening of the gap between rich and poor. My point about Assange is that he has done a great deal to undermine the neo-con war agenda – and the Guardian is subjecting him to a campaign of denigration. On the other hand Gould/Fox/Werritty were pushing a neo-con project for war – and the Guardian is actively complicit in the cover-up of their activities.
The Guardian. Whom does it serve?
Dug Scorgie Read the Gaardian’s mealy mouthed responses to the complaints about the Israeli spread last weekend which contained inaccuracies.
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Jews for Justice for Palestine website.
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http://jfjfp.com/?p=26947
Israel’s Ministry of Tourism causes ‘systems breakdown’ at Guardian
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For an account of the story see the posting Israel’s Ministry of Tourism incorporates all occupied territory, including Gaza, in its maps.
o/t but relevant to Israel/Palestine
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Editor’s note: The possibility of all Palestinians having a vote in who
gets elected to the Palestinian National Council is a very exciting
development and is a real chance for Palestinians in the Diaspora and the
refugee camps to join with Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, East
Jerusalem and Gaza as a unified society “to affirm and advance Palestinian
rights, end internal division, restore and strengthen [the] national
liberation movement, and reactivate the PLO on a democratic basis so that it
can represent the will of the entire Palestinian people.”
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Please bring this to the attention of every Palestinian you know. The
process is inclusive and unifies Palestinian civil society – so long
disenfranchised and fractured – and brings the power back to the people to
decide how they would like to be represented in their struggle for freedom,
justice, peace and dignity. It is the responsibility of every Palestinian
to keep their ancient heritage and culture alive for the honour of those who
have already given their lives and for those who continue to suffer.
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Sonja Karkar
Editor
http://australiansforpalestine.com
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Civic Registration for Direct Elections to the PNC
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Welcome to {PalestiniansRegister.org}, the website of the civic registration
drive for elections to the Palestinian National Council (PNC), the supreme
legislative body of the PLO. Only 40 percent of the Palestinian people who
are eligible to vote are currently registered. This website provides
information and tools for the remaining 60 percent of Palestinians, in order
that they can register themselves for elections in all locations where
Palestinians currently remain unregistered. It explains how Palestinian
civil society can assist in registering those who have never had a chance to
vote in national democratic elections.
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/…
Komodo: Angry,
As I seem to be just about the only person on this blog to make a connection between the Trader Media deals and the involvement (allegedly) of Apax in the continuing viability of the GMG, I thought it as well to clarify my conclusions, for the record, What Craig said to Leigh, of course, I don’t know. It may have been based on my comments. Which were not about ownership, but (IMO) backdoor financing by Apax. As I hope I have now made clear.
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Yes, fair enough, but David Leigh seems to be replying directly to Craig Murray so maybe Mr Murray will publish the email that Mr Leigh is responding to. At the moment we have a somewhat bad-tempered email from Mr Leigh saying that he is annoyed with certain accusations being made to him and those accusations are clearly:
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1) that he is influenced by Israeli stake-holders at the Guardian, and knowingly so!
2) that he has either ignored or covered up Mr Murray’s correspondence and evidence, presumably because he is in the pocket of said Israelis!
3) that he has deliberately sought to have something horrible happen to Julian Assange/”thrown him under the bus”/been in league with neo-cons but presumably Mr Murray’s wording was rather coy and suggestive.
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I wonder if Mr Murray would be kind enough to show us the correspondence that Mr Leigh is responding to or whether one of us could lodge and FOIA request because there are some questions that a real democracy should see asked, namely:
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1) Just what kind of relationship with the Israelis did Mr Murray suggest existed?
2) Just what kind of demands were made of David Leigh regarding Mr Murray’s information?
3) Just what was Mr Murray suggesting is David Leigh responsible for re: Julian Assange?
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Now please remember, I’m just asking questions.
I never miss an opportunity to recomend this:
http://neo-jacobins.blogspot.com/2007/09/neo-jacobin-special-against-guardian.html
“A neo-Jacobin special essay – 50,000 editions of the imperialist, warmongering, hate-filled Guardian newspaper
“
I see JFJFP have carried these articles on Gould Werrity
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Craig Murray follows the plot on Iran
Craig Murray, former ambassador to Uzbekistan, was pressed to resign from the FCO in 2005. Since then he has blogged on the secretive side of foreign policy. Here he tracks links between Fox , Werritty and Matthew Gould, ambassador to Israel and that alternative foreign policy on Iran. It should go without saying for JfJfP website readers that being Jewish does not signify being for, or against, Israel, Report from Daily Mail first.
November 16th, 2011 | Tags: Fox, Gus O’Donnell, iran, MI6, Werritty | Category: News |
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Follow the money: Fox’s friend’s fund-raisers
Regular visitors to this website may have noticed the regular appearances of BICOM – and of Liam Fox at their We Believe in Israel conference last June. Why Liam Fox and his side-kick Werritty should have needed extra funding to promote the interests of Israel and military effectiveness is mysterious – except that (item 6) Mr. Fox supported a 2-state solution and criticised the settlements and supported peace with the Palestinians, see post above
October 14th, 2011 | Tags: 2-state solution, Adam Werritty, Atlantic bridge, BICOM, Liam fox, Poju Zabludowicz, settlements | Category: Analysis |
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and the Brian Brady article in the Independent on Sunday
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The odd couple, Mossad and our man in Israel
Liam Fox, Adam Werritty, and the curious case of Our Man in Tel Aviv
This odd trio met six times – not that the Government wants you to know that, of course. What did they discuss? Did it include Iran? And who exactly is Adam Werritty? Brian Brady investigates a Whitehall mystery which is slowly unravelling
Brian Brady, Independent on Sunday
27.11.11
Sorry for typo in your name Doug Scorgie and misspelling Guardian.
Tom Welsh –
Excellent. Thank you.
Has that Guardian journalist apologised for publishing the password to the Wikileaks cable cache yet?
All this shows is that it’s absolutely crucial to set up a newspaper online to deal in depth with issues such as these. The newspaper would draw in sources globally.
Sort of O-T but while Clarkson is in the news:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0i0RXMvzMs
The Guardian. Whom does it serve?
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It serves war.
@Pete – no, he hasn’t. To be fair, I don’t think Assange comes out of that debacle looking angelic, since he should have encrypted that copy of the cache with a unique password. I think it was more oversight than laziness on his part, but it would have hugely limited the capacity for damage.
Ruth the whole internet is a newspaper to us, depending on the value of what one digs ugs up, it will be published. Why duplicate was is plainly visible, popular blogs making money from ‘sponsors’, dependencies one should avoid form the start unless you are crucially ethical in considering who can advertise with you.
The moment you start thinking online newspaper you are inviting a massive bureaucracy, accountants, writers,etc. you become a fully fledged company with all its statutory needs, an employer perse, it would take some independent thinking away which is currently our strong point,imho.
It would have to be set up by a dedicated bunch with prior knowledge of setting up media outlets and ideally specialise on the issues that are currently left hidden and obscured by the MSM. The spectre of Wikileaks being blackmailed by a conspiracy of banks does not fill me with confidence.
There are many hurdles to consider before taking such a lifechanging stressfull step, would you not think so?
Article by Robert Fisk, “What makes Iranians hate Britain”,
http://www.presstv.com/detail/213238.html
The fix is in:
http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/59373/chief-whip-hauls-mp-after-matthew-gould-comments
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Whores will have their trinkets.
Nice to know there’s at least ONE journalist left on Planet Earth.
http://www.johnpilger.com/articles/once-again-war-is-prime-time-and-journalism-s-role-is-taboo
Iran does itself no favours. A plague on both their houses.
Azra, that is not actually a Fisk article for Press TV (not even he would sink that low) but rather a regular propaganda piece by Press TV in which they have excerpted bits of his article from the Independent. Just one thing that makes the Press TV thingy bizarre is its subtitle:
The United Kingdom has a history of adopting hostile measures against Iran, which is why the Iranian nation hates the British monarchy, an English journalist says.
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This is why the Iranian nation hates the British monarchy? Fisk said nothing about the monarchy at all.
Here’s Gould addressing RSY-Netzer>
http://blog.onevoicemovement.org/one_voice/ovi/page/2/
(scroll down to Aug 18, 2011)
But, you may say:
‘”We didn’t want to only define the issues, but also present the different approaches and views,” said Danny, OVI’s Youth leadership Program coordinator. “The students rejected any use of violence to resolve conflicts and acknowledged the Palestinian right for a state.’
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Specifics are as usual absent. The state they have in mind is probably in Jordan or Egypt. RSY describes itself as the “Zionist Youth Miovement for Reform Judaism.
Perfectly understandable that Iranians, lacking a Shi’a British Ambassador who can explain things in their own terms, should believe that, say, Ministers of the Crown should have something to do with the monarchy. If you’re nitpicking subheads, Angry, expect some retaliation on JPost pieces…
I liked this point, though:
“….Mossadegh was arrested – by an officer assiduously done to death in the 1979 revolution – and the young Shah returned in triumph to impose his rule, reinforced by his faithful SAVAK secret police whose torture of women regime opponents was duly filmed and – according to the great Egyptian journalist Mohamed Hassanein Heikal – circulated by CIA officers to America’s allies around the world as a “teaching” manual. How dare the Iranians remember all this?”
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Now that is from the original Fisk piece.
Yep, this bit might be interesting too:
Anyway, the Iranians trashed us yesterday and made off, we are told, with a clutch of UK embassy documents. I cannot wait to read their contents. For be sure, they will soon be revealed.
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And why would you be nitpicking JPost articles? :S
Jon
Sure, Assange could have done things differently. But the discussion here is of the Guardian. They need to apologise. If Assange had known the sort of people they were he would most likely not have had anything to do with them in the first place.
“Iran does itself no favours. A plague on both their houses.”
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Yeah they should just take it by snivelling, cowering, and begging for “forgiveness”! Never mind the constant streams of threats, unilateral, and arbitrary sanctions, constant harassment, and killing of their scientists. Indeed plague on them for not taking shit, and moreover, dishing out some street justice.
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The hysteria of antisemtie, antisemite directed at Paul Flynn is sickening. What happened to sovereignty, and independence of nations?
Anybody remember how the Guardian failed to protect Sarah Tisdall who leaked documents regarding the arrival of cruise missiles? Nothing changes much. It still has its dark side. There are some competent journalists at the Guardian, but the newspaper, in severe financial difficulties, is on its way out. Those who tried posting comments on the Guardian’s pages regarding Werritty, Gould, Fox and a secret plan to wage war on Iran were systematically removed. David Leigh might have no idea what the opinions of his co-hacks at the Guardian are (what a strange admission?) but everybody who reads this blog is sure that they are all singing from the same hymn-sheet. If David Leigh does not take dictation from others, and he is planning to publish about the other meetings, he is the only one on the paper. That augurs badly for circulation figures.
Ingo we may consider ourselves as purveyors of the truth via the internet and blogs, but not the Master of the Rolls, Lord Newberger of Abbotsbury f=giving evidence to a joint committee the other day.
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Q529
Lord Janvrin: You will have seen from some of the earlier evidence sessions a certain amount of discussion about bloggers and tweeters. Could you reflect on whether this should affect our deliberations on, say, trying to define privacy or public interest, or how we ought to take this into account. Or do you see it simply as a matter of the practical application of the law, and therefore a different order of question?
Mr Justice Tugendhat: We certainly cannot ignore it. The world is as it is. One of the reasons I am hesitant about the way the law has developed out of confidentiality is that it gives people the impression that privacy is about secrecy. Sometimes it is, for example the identity of a former employee of the intelligence services; either the name is known or it is not. But in most personal privacy cases, while they have an element of secrecy in them, the main element has nothing to do with secrecy; it is harassment or taunting, as I sometimes prefer to call it. For example, it is not in the least private that somebody is of a particular ethnic origin, but if every time their name is referred to their ethnic origin is added there comes a point at which a message is being conveyed and at a certain point it is unlawful. It may be harassment or something else; it may be discrimination. The bloggers and tweeters who tweet what idiots we judges are think, I assume, that what we are concerned to do is to
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stop disclosure of a secret, and they are saying, “Ha, ha, you can’t keep it secret.” But if what we are attempting to do is something quite different, which is to stop harassment, intrusion and taunting, then all that the bloggers and tweeters are doing is demonstrating to us how necessary it is to keep the order in force. There is a difference between the blogosphere and other media. The two main differences are that people take more seriously something that has passed through the editorial department of an established newspaper; it carries more weight. You are more likely to think there is, or may be, something in it if it comes from an established news organisation, whereas you may dismiss anything on the blogosphere as being impossible to verify and of little value.
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There is also the question of whether or not something is ephemeral. Nowadays, in a newspaper most organisations have archives which appear to be everlasting, so once you get your name in the BBC or The Guardian it is unlikely that it will ever be removed, whereas something in a tweet or blog is much less likely to be everlasting. There are claimants who are well aware that, if an injunction is granted, it will not stop people disclosing or discussing the information on the internet, but nevertheless they wish to stop it getting into a publication which carries some degree of weight.
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We were being disparaged. We have no weight in his eyes.
Correction…. Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury giving evidence to a joint committee the other…..
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Link http://www.parliament.uk/documents/joint-committees/Privacy_and_Injunctions/ucJCPI211111ev6.pdf
Sorry, off-topic: For long hours Bradley Manning has been kept naked in appalling conditions in a US prison and has been denied access from the United Nations special rapporteur on torture Juan Méndez. 50 MEPs have written an open letter to Obama and the Senate.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/29/bradley-manning-mep-open-letter?newsfeed=true
On 13 December at 2 p.m. there will be a vigil outside the US embassy in London.
@Pete – no, I think he’d still have worked with them. In fact, as an evidently highly intelligent individual, I suspect Assange decided to hold his nose whilst working with the MSM even before they fell out. He can’t possibly have been unaware of the structural flaws of the corporate media, but they were necessary to lift the story outside of the blogosphere.
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My criticisms of Assange are not intended to suggest I don’t support him – I do. I think he’s done a lot for transparency already, and I hope he does more. (Also: major hat tip to all the people who do work for Wikileaks and don’t get credited)!
@Latin – I don’t particularly subscribe to the ‘dictation’ theory, in the main. Sure, there are directions from UK security services from time to time (“D Notices”) but even the MSM would squeal if they were used too frequently. Even the Telegraph would jump up and down, and it is often said (tongue in cheek, of course) that its primary audience is retired colonels.
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I think the biases are psychological and subconscious, and perhaps in this case they are the self-censorship that comes from not wishing to be “too radical”. Might scare aware the wealthy middle-class moderately-left readership.
Assange probably got turned years ago and is playing his role to perfection as a warning to any others who might be tempted to whistleblow.
What did he really reveal? Tittle tattle largely.Nothing of earth shattering proportions IMO.