The Mail on Sunday is doing a very good job on the odious Jack Straw’s involvement in torture and persecution. I think that at last the truth has entered the established narrative. There is a little box in the report about my own evidence to Scotland Yard. I will type it out here as the Mail’s box format here is not internet searchable:
“Torture” Evidence Handed to the Yard
Further pressure was piled on Jack Straw last night over the “rendition” of Libyan dissident Abdel Hakim Belhadj after sensitive documents were handed to Scotland tard detectives.
Craig Murray, former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, passed the documents to police as part of the inquiry into the behaviour of Ministers and intelligence officials over the detention of Mr Belhadj in Bangkok in March 2004.
The opponent of Colonel Gadaffi was flown to Tripoli, where he claims he was tortured.
Mr Straw, who was Foreign Secretary at the time, has denied ever condoning the use of torture to extract information.
But the documents appear to cast doubt on that position.
One memo, headed “Uzbekistan: Intelligence Possibly Obtained Under Torture” contains minutes of a meeting Mr Murray held with senior Foreign and Commonwealth officials on March 8, 2003 to discuss his concern that the UK could be in breach of international law by possessing intelligence obtained by torture.
The minute, dated March 10 2003, quoted Linda Duffield, then the FCO’s Director of Wider Europe, apparently justifying the use of such material as part of the fight against terrorism.
A second memo, dated March 14 2003, and written by Simon McDonald – the Straw’s principal Private Secretary – to Ms Duffield says Straw has read the minutes and “agrees that you handled this very well”.
Mr Murray is understood to have told police that during Mr Straw’s time at the FCO diplomats were told to only refer to the policy on torture verbally.
Mr Murray said last night “My evidence stated that Jack Straw introduced a policy of allowing evidence obtained by torture to be used. I also told them that written evidence had been destrpyed, and we were told to not commit details into writing.”
There is a slight misquote in the above. It should say Jack Straw introduced a policy of allowing intelligence obtained by torture, not evidence. In fact it was specifically stated such intelligence would not be produced as evidence in court (people were imprisoned without charge or rendered instead). The instruction not to put things in writing was given to me personally, I don’t know if others were told the same. As I was the only one protesting, perhaps not.
These links are to the documents in question.
The first two were obtained by Freedom of Information Act request. Details of the CIA’s colllusion with the Karimiv regime’s torturers have been redacted by the FCO. Last week Jack Straw came out and argued strongly for the effective abolition of the Freedom of Information Act. Now there is a coincidence for you.
I know the Leveson Inquiry is centre stage at the moment. But please remember the good doctors and others who are fighting for an inquest into the death of Dr David Kelly. Another 3 signatures and we’re up to 700. Not bad when calling for a resignation. Those calling for the resignation of Cameron and Clegg have less than 30.
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/26133
No need for Fox to be there, Mary. Business transacted elsewhere –
http://www.defencemanagement.com/news_story.asp?id=17012
I have skimmed through those photos. I see the Israeli Ambassador, Ron Prosor, now at the UN, Lord Rothschild, Lord Adonis, Lord Mandelslime, Ken Livingstone, Baroness Ashton, Blunkett, Wee Duggie, Gordo and Sarah, etc etc What a party.
.
It was a bad venue as they all had to walk through from the road to the arcade to the entrance. No cover and no henchmen to shield them.
.
It is a Harvey Nichols offshoot. This is the current menu. The party was in 2009.
http://www.dine-online.co.uk/oxo-r.htm
Something those tossers have no care about or involvement in apart from taking the profits that is.
.
Reclaiming Our NHS
June 23rd 2012
Friends Meeting House, Euston Road,
http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=5f72f778439e38b1d18a28495&id=f680db0f08&e=6b1a0385b4
…though he was at the much less thoroughly photographed 2010 NI summer party (in Kensington)(with Cameron)(and Lord Tom Cobbley* and all)
*Tory donor, probably.
Craps, just as I discovered the best religion ever, and started to dream of joy eternal, and bliss by joining the order of the gamblers, smokers, and womanizers, the beans have been spilled and the monks are thrown off their worship and praising the Creator the only way proper: through their hard drinking, gambling and womanizing.
,
Well back to my sinners misery then.
,
South Korean Buddhist monks hit by scandal after devotees filmed smoking, drinking and playing high-stakes poker
,
Note the broken cross slapped across the temple building, as ever the mischievous DM trying to drive home the message, the irony is DM used to be the stalwart supporter of one Il Duce, whom later got pally with the other guy who used to slap broken crosses on everything he came across, and made fashionable goose stepping and clicking the heels when introduced to a woman.
,
,
Saying as women are being debated, Rebby the ginger aunt has been getting messages form one Anthony Linton War Criminal Blair, as well as our little Dave, who has been signing off with lots of love. Pass me the bucket I is going to spew any min………..
BTW how does one refer to ginger aunts without being gingerist? In the lines of somethingly challenged? Although denotation of ginger and aunt are gingerist and sexist, so the answer should address them both, I don’t want to come across in any wrong fashion, keeping in mind that “aunts” are in fact useful things, unlike some of the ginger aunts that are knocking around these days.
roflmao
*rolls on floor loving my attractive office*
Komodo. She is now having a nice little chat with Lord Leveson to wind things up.
It is a total farce.
.
What are the chances of you turning up any photos of arrivals and departures at this Elizabeth Murdoch/Matthew Freud party?
Phone-hacking-inquiry-judge-attended-parties-at-home-of-Rupert-Murdochs-son-in-law
.
I have skimmed through those other photos. I see the Israeli Ambassador, Ron Prosor, now at the UN, Lord Rothschild, Lord Adonis, Lord Mandelslime, Ken Livingstone, Baroness Ashton, Blunkett, Wee Duggie, Gordo and Sarah, etc etc. What a party.
.
It was a bad venue as they all had to walk through from the road to the arcade to the entrance. No cover and no henchmen to shield them.
.
It is a Harvey Nichols offshoot.
‘Mrs Brooks’ leaves accompanied by about 25 others. Lawyers and others I suppose.
2.58pm: Here is the full text of the Fred Michel emails, as seen by our reporters at the Leveson inquiry:
Fred Michel to Rebekah Brooks:
27 June 2011 16:29
Hunt will be making references to phone hacking in his statement on Rubicon this week.
He will be repeating the same narrative as the one he gave in Parliament few weeks ago.
This is based on his belief that the police is pursing things thoroughly and phone hacking has nothing to do with the media plurality issues.
It’s extremely helpful.
On the issue of the privacy committee he supports a widening of its remit to the future of the press and evidence from all newspaper groups on the regulatory regime.
He wants to prevent a public inquiry. For this the committee will need to come up a strong report in the autumn and put enough pressure on the PCC to strength itself and take recommendations forward.
JH is now starting to looking to phone hacking/practices more thoroughly and has asked me to advise him privately in the coming weeks and guide his and No 10’s positioning…
Fred
Brooks to Michel:
Jun 27 2011 17:30
When is the Rubicon statement?
Michel to Brooks:
Probably Weds
(Guardian live blog)
So, nothing untoward there, then. Just another spad from Murdoch’s fleet…
It’s the way everyone can remember quite clearly what didn’t happen, but suffers from amnesia when it comes to what did happen that is annoying.
No, Mary, the treasure trove from 2009 is, for the reasons you state, far and away the best. This guy wasn’t invited, evidently he’s a papparazzo, and long may he remember to remove his lens cap.
.
Go down the image searching road and you find that most of these buggers spend most of their evenings at each others’ parties anyway. Liz Murdoch specialises in charity dos – I doubt she’s ever sober.
Quite so.
.
This is the link to Lord Leveson attending the Freud parties.
.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/8656131/Phone-hacking-inquiry-judge-attended-parties-at-home-of-Rupert-Murdochs-son-in-law.html
Leveson went to Merton College, Oxford. It’s an entertaining task to find out how many other movers and shakers went there, Mary. But time is not on my side.
@Mary May 11th – Referring to your comment on PwC. Since these tax avoidance measures are legal, surely it’s the government and parliamentarians who should be held to account for them. That’s not to say that I’m suggesting that Chartered Accounting firms are always ethical; it does seem to me that sometimes in recent years chasing fees has been put ahead of ethics. My own personal experiences dealing with PwC some years ago did not leave me with a high impression of their ethical standards. Indeed I referred to the ethics of the profession in an article I wrote a couple of years ago:
“Accounting Profession Partially to Blame for Banking Crisis”
http://mostlywater.org/node/84833
Komodo 1.49 – What a grisly montage – and against such a dismal background of brick walls and nasty little alley ways with the odd waste container – and don’t they all look so pleased with themselves and exceedingly well nourished – must be all those Oxo gravy dinners.
But notable absentees – apart from Werrity and Foxy – where’s the Strawman – lurking in the shadows perhaps?
Rose That was 2009. Murdoch has given two further Summer parties since then, both held at the Orangery, Kensingtom Gardens. Guest lists are available on the internet. The usual suspects attended. I do not think that there will be one this year. Nobody would want to be seen dead there.
.
This is the daughter’s party held at Burford Priory in July 2011.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2015563/Elisabeth-Murdoch-threw-party-Camerons-cronies-hours-beofre-Milly-Dowler-scandal.html
.
Feel quite ill having read through it.
“Unfortunately, Fascism has an undeserved bad reputation…”
Jay, on the Nine-and-One’th Day of the Merrie Month of May!
.
What’s this? ‘The Mussolini and Schicklgruber Appreciation Society’? The re-invasion of League of Empire Loyalists and the United Albionate Syndicate of the Couch Potato and the Rising Devonian Sun? If this were a social media network, one would be tempted to say, “ROFL”. I sense no irony.
.
But since it’s a serious a respectable political blog, I will simply post a serious and ineffably respectable link:
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOoIvScmFp8
God that’s awful Mary; I feel quite ill too – perhaps because my illusion of dear old Kom has been shattered by that picture of the Great Satan – or lesser tortoise.
What really saddens me is that the valuable insights offered to the world by the work of Sigmund – always contested but nevertheless important IMO, have been so debased and twisted by his descendants in their pursuit of wealth and power. Advertising – what kind of job is that?
Yeah people…lets just talk about Israel
http://bit.ly/JYesgd
pollok,
Nah, we all know what axes are getting ground by which sort of ziofuckwit, inclusive of this;
US Army course on Hatred of Islam
,
Hence reading the wanky Dougie Murray hit piece is a bit redundant! What kind of a person would pay Dogie Murray to write, and which kind of a tosser would recommend reading Dogie Murray’s brain farts? The answer is nuts and ziofuckwits silly.
Mary.
.
I checked your links to la Murdoch’s parties – and almost vomited.
.
What we are witnessing here is the last horrific bastion of the 1% who aren’t smart enough to suss,in their decadence,that the public tide has turned against such nauseating displays of indulgence an cronyism.
.
Not too mention,of course,the real sub-text of their gangsterism,ignorance,cruelty,blackmail,hacking and other most sinister practices.
.
Re: the good old days
.
I’m a lurker by nature, but with the UK centric nature of this blog I’m even more likely to be silent and defer to those with greater knowledge. But I’m still around.
.
I hadn’t realised who Nuid is until this thread. I had noticed Nuid’s posts and thought to myself ‘that poster seems like a good egg’. When Mary spilled the beans it made sense =)
.
Lets not romanticise the old commenting too much. I agree, it had a certain flair, but personally I don’t miss 9-11 arguments in .every. .single. .thread. I also haven’t forgotten the time I stupidly baited freebird and his alter egos and the complete shit storm that caused.
.
Personally, I think it would be cool if a forum was created separate from the post comments. The community here is great, but feel kinda bad if I want to post something off topic. Anyway, I still think this is the best political blog and comments section on the net (but feel free to recommend others).
Andy Burnam (A good guy)?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18017197
Debt slavery.
Where future generations pay for assets which have all ready been paid for.
So good Jay that he and his NuLabour neoliberals left us with £billions of PFI debt and a fragmenting health service.
.
On Monday a man called Rato left Bankia just before it was bailed out (nationalized) by the Spanosh government.
Now a woman called Ana Mato tells Spain’s illegal immigrants to find their own medical treatment. Apart from her appalling lack of humanity, the result will be outbreaks of disease and a rise in communicable diseases such as TB and HIV/AIDS.
.
http://campopulse.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/half-million-illegal-immigrants-to-lose.html
CheebaCow, Suhayl, Rose; it’s good to see you all here. CheebaCow, I’m really sorry about how things have been here since my emotional outburst. I’m not about to start deleting comments for being off-topic, not if they seem like simple comments rather than attempts to divert multiple threads onto a single issue. When a post is recent and the topic is well-focused, Craig is usually tending the thread himself in any case. He keeps things on track with replies to comments, and the occasional deletion.
.
I didn’t seek to become a moderator here; I was just given a moderator’s account because I helped to find some errors when the site was being upgraded. I now realise that I kept my status hidden because moderating interferes with my independence as a commenter. I don’t like commenting much now my status as a moderator is known, but hopefully I’ll get over that.
.
Pollok, I’ve been looking at the Rochdale case. The media have been presenting this as a “paedophile rape-gang”, but most of the convictions are for trafficking and conspiracy, with only one count of sexual activity with a child. This looks like a gang of pimps to me; I suspect that money was the main incentive, and sexual power was incidental. The latest reports of many more men involved would seem to confirm this; these new suspects probably include some of the clients. Note also the willing participation of some of the girls.
.
I don’t see how or why you connect this with criticism of Israel on these threads, the two matters seem entirely dissimilar, but feel free to clarify if you wish.
.
Pollok, would you post full URLs please? Some people like to be able to see where a link leads before they click on it.
Andy Burnam no good by association then.
I really hope that the care that is needed in Spain is given.
So much for the few and little else for the many.
A selfishness instilled through ignorance and destructive moral behaviour.
I say this indicative is our failure.
I don`t drop litter.
I don`t swear in public.
I don`t cheat.
I don`t lie.
I work as hard as i can.
I help others when i can.
I give to others if i can.
I hope for the best, I try and behave with decorum.
Why is society failing to meet these standards.
Why.
Education. media, Tv, papers, magazines, film.
Are we stupid?
Do you teach your children or let them learn from the tv?
Decorum!
Jay, I think Andy Burnam is just playing his assigned role in the two-party system – promote government policy when your party is in power, oppose government policy when in opposition, and if it happens that due to a general election you thus find yourself promoting and then opposing the very same policy, ignore this incongruity. This is known more generally as “just doing my job”.
.
Nearly all the bad stuff is done not pro-actively with self-motivation, but by people playing roles within groups and organisations. It is in our interactions within group structures that we find adequate excuses to ignore moral considerations. Conversely, when people treat each other personally, they have to take personal responsibility.
Not for use on their own people. No of course not. Must keep them armed against Iran and must keep the 5th Fleet safe.
.
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/05/11/obama_administration_seeks_to_bolster_bahraini_crown_prince_with_arms_sales
Rose – lost a post pointing out that while Fox wasn’t at the 2009 binge, outside which a useful snapper happened to be lurking, possibly hidden in a bin – he did manage to attend the 2010 one in Kensington, whose coverage looks to have been more tightly controlled. Doesn’t look as if Straw is all that interested in parties, anyway. Except that he’d like to lead one without it being too obvious who does the necessary backstabbing.
“Yeah people…lets just talk about Israel”
At the time of that post, we weren’t, Pollok, and hadn’t been for a while.. But if you insist, lets. Shitty little country. Demands preferential treatment. Ignores international law. Keeps 1.25 million people in a prison colony. Doesn’t quite dare to call what it is doing apartheid. Locks people up indefinitely without trial or representation. Invades other countries.
Thanks for the invitation…