The security services are delighted at the cancellation of the Gibson Inquiry into torture. Gibson had been showing worrying signs of independence. To use my own humble case as an example, he instructed the FCO, to their fury, that I must be allowed to see unredacted any document which I had already seen whilst Ambassador, and that I must be provided with paid legal assistance for my evidence on the same basis as other former public servants.
It is true that the terms which the government had set for the inquiry were ludicrous. Security service evidence would all be heard in secret, victims would not be allowed to question witnesses, the Cabinet Secretary, not Gibson, would decide what could and could not be published, and the CIA would have a veto on the publication of anything that related to their activities – including my own evidence.
But it was nonetheless true that a bad inquiry would be better than no inquiry, particularly given Gibson’s signs of fairness. Nothing short of assassination would prevent me from publishing my own evidence online, for example, and I would encourage detainees and others to take the same attitude.
The huge amount of time and energy devoted by the security services to persuade ministers firstly to constrain and then to cancel Gibson, is sufficient evidence in itself that the Gibson Inquiry would have been worth having. John Sawers has devoted more of his time to fighting the inquiry internally than to any single other subject, and become a hero to the torturers of Vauxhall Cross in the process.
It is ludicrous that Kenneth Clarke has announced that the Gibson Inquiry cannot go ahead because of the Metropolitan Police inquiry into rendition and torture anent Libya, when the Leveson Inquiry continues despite the long-running and delberately ineffective police investigations into News International.
The Gibson Inquiry contacted me in a friendly and helpful way, inviting me to submit a short evidence narrative for consideration in the interim report they will publish, to explain and put in context the official documents which I had supplied.
It dawned on me that my evidence of ministerial endorsement of a secret policy of collusion in torture, is extremely important to the Metropolitan Police investigation into rendition and torture, in favour of which Gibson has been cancelled.
This morning I therefore contacted Scotland Yard. I gave details of who I was and what I wanted to give evidence about. I was told a senior inspector would need to be consulted. Eventually, I was phoned back.
Scotland Yard stated that there is no investigation into complicity with rendition and torture in Libya.
UPDATE: Through the Gibson Inquiry secretariat I have now been put in contact with a senior policeman who will see me next week. Insofar as it is wise to comment on a criminal investigation (I certainly don’t want to jeopardise any prosecution) I will keep you posted on how “real” the police investigation seems to be.
It seems that it has been left to the British bureaucratic mechanisms to chew up torture inquiry. I wonder how many more decades will pass before we ever know the scale and detailed involvement of western intelligence services in torture. Having said this Obama is about to start his re-election campaign in which I bit there will be no mentioning of Guantanamo Bay detainees.
Craig, typo, para #5, “torture anent Libya”.
Unbelievable but at the same time, not unexpected. And Cam has beetled off to the ECHR to tell them to keep their noses out of our affairs. Fascism is not creeping in, it is galloping.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9686000/9686082.stm
PS Why is nonentity Martin Vickers invited in to speak on the subject other than he is anti EU?
His Wiki page says nothing
{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Vickers} and an almost empty register of interests.
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Has a lot to say on everything including railways, christians in Zimbabwe, fishing and floods, some comments quite parochial. {http://www.theyworkforyou.com/search/?pid=24814&pop=1}
Well, it seems that world order is now changing and everything else is changing with it. What was good after WWII is not good enough nowadays. Euro is collapsing, Iran is considering to sell oil for gold, China is western largest creditor and largest trade partner, Russia is using energy in blackmailing European nations, US spent 4 trillion dollars on wars and is about to start another war (one at least). Times when west was morally obliged to harbour all those oppressed at their homelands is coming to the end as well as times when west was obliged to stick to Human Rights and all this crap. Cameron is just clearing a passage for British elite to do well in the coming new world order. Can you blame him?
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I am of course being sarcastic
” Kenneth Clarke has announced that the Gibson Inquiry cannot go ahead because of the Metropolitan Police inquiry into rendition and torture anent Libya”,
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How will they rush to answer the charges of winging it, and lying through their teeth?
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Clearly Mr. Clarke is not misleading the public, stuff, etc. He has been given bum steers by the Vauxhall Cross, and Sawers and anyway the police inspector would not know because he is not security cleared and stuff, and so forth.
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BBC soon will obligingly go through the above lines.
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Why don’t we water board the lot of them in an enhanced interview, so to get to the bottom of it all?
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The disgraceful conduct of Clarke, I somehow mistakenly imagined he had a pair.
Off-topic – a petition to Toys R Us, to stop using cotton from child slavery in Uzbekistan.
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http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/294/648/588/?z00m=20181610
Clark,
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anent = with regard to.
“Scotland Yard stated that there is no investigation into complicity with rendition and torture in Libya.”
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Jesus.
I would pass that on to Amnesty. Here is what they issued when Gibson was wound up:
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=19900
Giles, thanks, never seen that before…
Very old-fashioned – kept alive in diplomatic circles.
Thank you for the web link Clark.
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It is believed that Uzbek authorities are now using third party companies to export Uzbek cotton to the world market. Those companies often display false documents to hide the information on that the cotton has originated in Uzbekistan. It is also believed that both Karimov daughters are involved in cotton scam. The only problem is that I am not able to get any information on particular companies that are involved in the scam and some of them are believed to be UK based. Can anyone help with names of the companies?
The dictionary is your friend.
anent
n preposition archaic or Scottish concerning; about.
ORIGIN
Old English on efen ‘in line with, in company with’.
(Concise Oxford English Dictionary)
Why shouldn’t Craig use a Scots or is it Lallands – I’m out of touch!) word if it comes naturally to his pen? The context made the word ‘anent’ quite clear
Nobody said he shouldn’t use it.
Thanks for the link to the Uzbekistan cotton petition, Clark.
Thanks for becrying the Gibson inquiery, should we not accuse all the main parties of supporting torture, rather than singling out this Government?
ca’nt say that labour would do any better. With the war pending, Camcleggs tough talking will no doubt lift them further into the polls, making a snap election more likely.
What would we do if there is an election? I mean apart from eating drinking, farting behind our keyboards as usual and watering the plants?
Is there any appetite to oppose these rascals? if NO? why not?
Craig, did you really (in your wildest dream) think there was going to be any other outcome ?.
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I see GEAB have a new article on their site
http://www.leap2020.eu/End-2012-Neo-protectionism-establishes-itself-as-the-new-paradigm-of-world-trade_a8859.html
Uzbek,
ask former Liverpool cotton association (International cotton association nowadays) they may give you full list of not just the UK but other country based companies who deal with cotton trade from Uzbekistan.
There is also a cottong association in Germany. Forgot its name. They also do with membership of international cotton trading companies.
some companies are mentioned in these films.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PZMdyNvBIu4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1HFX7y5MnI&feature=related
Uzbek,
ask former Liverpool cotton association (International cotton association nowadays) they may give you full list of not just the UK but other country based companies who deal with cotton trade from Uzbekistan.
There is also a cottong association in Germany. Forgot its name. They also do with membership of international cotton trading companies.
some companies are mentioned in these films.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PZMdyNvBIu4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1HFX7y5MnI&feature=related
Reminder Protest Saturday afternoon Grosvenor Square 2 – 4 pm
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STOP THE WAR BEFORE IT STARTS – EMERGENCY PROTEST THIS SAT JAN 28
TWEET-OUT TO SPREAD THE WORD, TODAY 12 ONWARDS
*****************
1) STOP THE WAR BEFORE IT STARTS – EMERGENCY PROTEST THIS SAT JAN 28
Hands off Iran and Syria
2 – 4pm, US Embassy
Grosvenor Square
London W1K 2
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Called by Stop the War Coalition.
Supported by UNITE the Union, War on Want, Palestine Solidarity Campaign,
Campaign against Sanctions and Military Intervention on Iran, Friends of
Al-Aqsa, Goldsmiths Student Union and SOAS Student Union.
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This is the most dangerous moment in the world since 2003. The sanctions on Iranian oil imposed by the EU on Monday are a provocation that could spark a war at any time. Iran’s threats to retaliate by closing the Straits of Hormuz were answered on the weekend by US Defence Secretary Panetta saying the US would ‘respond’ if there was a closure and by US, British and French navy ships sailing through the Straits.
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The new sanctions mark a sharp escalation in an ongoing campaign of cyber
attacks, assassinations and US troop deployments in the area all designed to destabilise the Iranian regime. Such a strategy of tension isn’t just deeply irresponsible. It shows the argument for war is gaining ground in the west. An article by influential US hawk Matthew Kroenig in the current edition of Foreign Affairs is headlined ‘Time to Attack Iran’. His basic argument is summed up in a single subheading: ‘Strike Now or Suffer Later’.
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http://stopwar.org.uk/index.php/action-a-events/national-events/1004-sat-28-january-2pm-4pm-picket-at-us-embassy-no-western-intervention-in-the-middle-east
I hope Mr.Sawers realises that to be held in high esteem by torturers is hardly a badge of honour.
O/T Another dreadful cover up. The case of the abuse of Hollie Grieg by her father and brother. Robert Green who tried to get justice for her was arrested and has now been found guilty of a breach of the peace. If this is Scottish justice, it is worse than the English variety.
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http://holliedemandsjustice.org/content/who-really-issued-the-interdict-on-robert-green/
“Nothing short of assassination would prevent me from publishing my own evidence online”
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Didn`t Dr David Kelly have plans to “publishing” a book, if memory serves me, his draft pages went missing at the same time as his death!, strange that!.
Glenn Greenwalds current post covers similar issues in the US.
http://www.salon.com/2012/01/24/rules_of_american_justice_a_tale_of_three_cases/singleton/
“Obama has charged a former CIA officer with espionage for giving reporters information on US government torture activities.
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“Obama has attacked whistleblowers like no president before. In effect, Obama considers that telling the public is telling the enemy, because the public is the enemy”. (with thanks to Richard Stallman)
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cia-officer-charged-20120124,0,2883556.story
From the article linked by Edwin above:
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Kito
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Thank you for this information.
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Case gets complicated because as you might know some large western buyers have boycotted Uzbek cotton but unfortunately not all of them. But even at this stage in order to get Uzbek cotton to the western markets it is believed that Uzbek authorities deal with third parties. Officially those third parties do not buy cotton from Uzbekistan as they produce fake documentations of cotton originating somewhere else but in fact still keep trading Uzbek cotton. It is believed that major cotton trading companies are involved in this and also in money laundering (payment for cotton) for Uzbek authorities.
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Switzerland based ECOM is at least one company that could be seen as benefiting from child slavery. Below is the statement on their website. Their representative is still registered for the International Cotton Association.
‘Overview
Following several years of reduced activity in Central Asia, ECOM has recently opened an office in Tashkent with the intent of developing integrated origination and logistics for deliveries in Russia, Europe and China. The office also coordinates operations in other regions of Central Asia.
Uzbekistan has traditionally been a major producer and exporter of cotton. With the stabilization of demand and manufacturing structures in Russia, it is expected that inter-regional trade will continue to grow.’
There is an investigation into two specific cases concerning the alleged rendition of named individuals to Libya and the alleged ill-treatment of them in Libya – Abdel Hakim Belhadj & Sami al-Saadi. DAC Sue Akers leads small team under Detective Superintendent John Levett – you should ask for them. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16523249
UK PM David Cameron at Council of Europe: ‘I want noone here to doubt the British commitment to defending human rights’
Story metadata:
Submitted 32 mins ago by editor
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http://www.breakingnews.com/item/ahZzfmJyZWFraW5nbmV3cy13d3ctaHJkcg0LEgRTZWVkGOHNmAYM/2012/01/25/uk-pm-david-cameron-at-council-of-europe-i-want-noone-here-to-doubt-the-british-commitment-to-defending-human-rights
Clark;
Marcy Wheeler @ Empty Wheel is atop most of these stories. Fitz will, no doubt be successful against a whistleblower in contrast to his miserably unsatisfying ‘victory’ against Scooter Libby.
http://www.emptywheel.net/2012/01/24/did-the-government-know-who-journalists-are-talking-to-in-the-kiriakou-investigation/
The UK government continues to assert that where intelligence gained from torture “bears on threats to life, we cannot reject it out of hand.” It is clear from the evidence of Craig Murray and others that there is no evidence that the government has in fact faced such a situation.
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UK involvement in torture is clandestine, an abomination no recently recruited intelligence operatives in the UK have any knowledge of. Yet after the towers were destroyed by explosives there has been an increase in the frequency of such practises. The conduct of the “war of terror” in has led to serious violations of human rights some of which have been made public.
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The ‘dirty’ or ”dark’ corridors of British intelligence is known to have drafted lines of inquiry necessary to incriminate an arrested or abducted victim by extreme fear so powerful that victim can be released on an assignment several years in the making.
It is not the physical pain of torture that is the darkest anathema, it is the neurasthenia and prostration that results from torture that keeps victims in a state of acute fear for years. Such victims can be controlled and even induced to recruit others.
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Rashid Rauf, Salahuddin Amin, Zeeshan Siddiqui, Rangzieb Ahmed, and an individual who wishes to remain anonymous, have described meeting British officials while detained in Pakistan. In some cases this happened shortly after sessions in which the individuals had been tortured, when it was likely that clear and visible signs of torture were present. For example, Rangzieb Ahmed alleges that he was interrogated by British security officials shortly after three fingernails had been pulled out.
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Rashid Rauf was reportedly killed in a US drone missile strike in Pakistan in November 2008. It is agreed he knew too much.