It is ten years since I ended my FCO career by going on the Today programme and blowing the whistle on CIA/MI6 complicity in torture. It was on my 46th birthday, and I was in my second year as an Ambassador and my seventh as a top Whitehall civil servant, a member of the Senior Civil Service.
Looking back now, what is most striking are the blatant lies by the FCO that they were not obtaining intelligence from torture. As the BBC reported:
In one he claimed MI6 had used information passed on to it by the CIA but originally obtained in Uzbek torture cells – something strongly denied by the Foreign Office.
I do not think there is a single person in public life or social media nowadays who would not accept that the FCO were simply lying. Jack Straw was blatantly to lie about it to parliament. But ten years ago the public and media knew much less than they know now. Nobody outside secret circles had ever heard the words extraordinary rendition. It was a year later – May 2005 – before the New York Times revealed the CIA was sending people to Uzbekistan to be tortured, precisely as I had stated.
It sounds incredible, but in October 2004 many people believed it was Craig Murray who was a liar, not Jack Straw. Again I do not think there is a single individual today who does not understand that Jack Straw was lying through his teeth. But back in 2004 life was hard for me.
After going on the Today programme I went on the run, in fear for my life. I am not paranoid, remember David Kelly. I first stayed with my old friend Andy Myles in Edinburgh, then I think Chief Executive of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. He was phoned the next morning by the FCO. When he denied knowledge of my whereabouts, they not only said they knew I was staying with him, they said which bedroom I was sleeping in. Ten years ago today I was hiding in Aviemore in the house of my old friend Dominic.
That was the start of a decade as a dissident where I have devoted my life to exposing, and trying to counter, the evil of the neo-conservative policy pursued by our political class at the behest of the corporations who fund them. I have suffered a huge loss in money, status and most of the other normal aspirations. But what I have gained is invaluable. I have respect and love, while Blair and Straw will forever be despised.
DonnyDarkside
“£3000 is nothing.You take the guy out who looks after the farm,how can a paltry sum of money replace him?”
___________________
Purely on the figure, Donny, and nothing else (so no screams of “cold-bloodedness”, please):
According to the Asia Times (Online), the average income of an Afghan worker in 2010 was estimated by the Afghan Ministry of Finance to be USD426 (equivalent to about GBP 280).
Furthermore, according to the same Asia Times, “the nation still ranks the second poorest, after Niger in West Africa, among the 182 countries considered in the 2009 Human Development Report prepared by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)”.
Average compensation of £3000 therefore represents a capital sum equivalent to almost 12 years of average wages for an Afghan worker.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Habba in your wisdom you probably think the building of supermarkets in Ethiopia will combat hunger.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/26/islamic-state-isle-of-wight-prisoner-hostage
Good God , ISIS have already invaded the Isle of Wight . Cunning devils , the Iraqi/Syria events were only to distract us . They will be on the mainland in a week , mark my words . Defence militias need to be set up rapidly in Portsmouth and Southampton.
Macky 8.44am Who wrote that?
It was Craig on http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2013/06/russophobia/
@peacewisher
“@RD: I didn’t realise we had exported Andrew Lansley to Moscow…”
It is worse than that – those who were around when Putin came to power will know that many of his supporters frequently cited Pinochet and the Chicago Boys as the role model to be followed.
Macky 8.44am LOL
Lansley, Milton, Burcow and Burns, the ghastly foursome who sold OUR NHS down the river to the privateers, are personae non gratis now.
Agent Cameron, Gideon and Mr Unt all now deny having had anything to do with the Health and Social Care Act, 2012. ‘It wasn’t us Guv. Honest’.
‘“NHS reforms our worst mistake”? Coming from Tories this is too little too late
Kailash Chand 13 October 2014
Cameron and Osborne thought everyone supported the Health & Social Care Act, their allies now claim. As the NHS crumbles and workers strike, such pleading fails to convince.
Cast your mind back four years. The great majority of hospital doctors opposed the Health & Social Care Act. So did three quarters of GPs. So did the British Medical Journal, Health Services Journal, and the Nursing Times. So did leading experts in the King’s Fund, the universities, the Royal Colleges and professional associations, the NHS Confederation, the Patients Association, and the health trade unions.
But according to a report in today’s Times, those at the very top of government are now claiming they didn’t notice what the Bill was about, nor the overwhelming opposition from the medical profession.
A former number 10 advisor briefed the Times that “No one apart from Lansley had a clue what he was really embarking on, certainly not the prime minister. He kept saying his grand plans had the backing of the medical establishment and we trusted him. In retrospect it was a mistake.”
And an un-named “Osborne ally” added “George kicks himself for not having spotted it and stopped it.”
Today’s reports contrast with the message from Cameron at the time. ‘
/..
https://www.opendemocracy.net/ournhs/kailash-chand/%E2%80%9Cnhs-reforms-our-worst-mistake-coming-from-tories-this-is-too-little-too-lat
What disgusting specimens they are.
‘personae non gratae’ to be accurate.
@RD: Many? Maybe some. It is not fair to judge a leader by the most outlandish of his supporters. Putin h
I’ve started so I’ll finish… Putin was certainly good news economically for the Russian people for many years, after the car crash that was Yeltsin. Agreed that matters have become more complicated since the altercation with Georgia.
@Mary: they showed their true colour over Libya; Clegg & co. showed their true colours over student fees. The current Labour Party is not that much different, though. What a fine mess!
Being one of the 45%, I surmise that living in Scotland post indyref would be a bit like living in occupied Europe during WW2.
Knowing that you have no-one looking after your interests, knowing that the airwaves are being manned by the occupying authorities, afraid to even step out of line one iota for fear of reprisals….
The list of similarities is endless.
In our case though, the occupiers trojan horse based at pathetic quay, churning out its daily dose of unionist tripe MUST be an early target for these who wish rid of our “nazi” occupiers.
secondly, knowing that the occupiers are being collaborated by 55% of your own nation is a cross the Scots alone only must bear. THAT at least did not happen in Europe under occupation-THAT is unique to the Scots nation!
“a social networking service favored by Alexei Anatolievich Navalny to spread his pornography.”
So there you have it those who show dissidence to Western governments are heroes those who oppose the Putin oligarchy are pornographers.
If you don’t realise that Putin and those oligarchs who he favours have accelerated the kleptocracy and rape of Russian resources since they took over, and this is supported by all the data on capital outflows from Russia, then we need to add stupidity as well as malevolence to your characteristics. And your continued silence in support of those dissidents and free trade unionists who opposed the actions of the former Soviet Union throughout its empire speaks volumes as to where your politics comes from.
As for you support of the slobbering Dauphin in Syria and his long standing police state …….. all I can say is it not a little racist to assume that ordinary Syrians are unable to support a state of their own that supports something other than the despotism of Assad and ISIS, lets start to listen to what those people want.
Another criminal enterprise by our Western betters. ( btw Afghanistan poppy production at stratospheric levels now that we are helping.)
“A recent United Nations report estimated nearly 9,000 civilians have been killed and 17,386 wounded in Iraq in 2014, more than half since ISIL fighters seized large parts on northern Iraq in June. It is likely that the group is responsible another several thousand deaths in Syria. To be sure, these numbers are staggering. But in 2013 drug cartels murdered more than 16,000 people in Mexico alone, and another 60,000 from 2006 to 2012 — a rate of more than one killing every half hour for the last seven years. What is worse, these are estimates from the Mexican government, which is known to deflate the actual death toll by about 50 percent.
Statistics alone do not convey the depravity and threat of the cartels. They carry out hundreds of beheadings every year. In addition to decapitations, the cartels are known to dismember and otherwise mutilate the corpses of their victims — displaying piles of bodies prominently in towns to terrorize the public into compliance. They routinely target women and children to further intimidate communities. Like ISIL, the cartels use social media to post graphic images of their atrocious crimes.
The narcos also recruit child soldiers, molding boys as young as 11 into assassins or sending them on suicide missions during armed confrontations with Mexico’s army. They kidnap tens of thousands of children every year to use as drug mules or prostitutes or to simply kill and harvest their organs for sale on the black market. Those who dare to call for reforms often end up dead. In September, with the apparent assistance of local police, cartels kidnapped and massacred 43 students at a teaching college near the Mexican town of Iguala in response to student protests. A search in the area for the students has uncovered a number of mass graves containing mutilated bodies burned almost beyond recognition, but none of the remains have been confirmed to be of the students.”
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/10/decade-of-dissent/comment-page-2/#comments
“The list of similarities is endless.
In our case though, the occupiers trojan horse based at pathetic quay, churning out its daily dose of unionist tripe MUST be an early target for these who wish rid of our “nazi” occupiers.”
And there I was thinking that Scotland had a better education system that England – might I suggest Nigel have a look at what the Nazis actually did as occupiers before making such an otiose comparison.
Mary
“Cast your mind back four years. The great majority of hospital doctors opposed the Health & Social Care Act. So did three quarters of GPs.”
__________________
That may have been the case, Mary, but it does not necessarily prove that the purpose of the Act was wrong.
You may just be old enough to recall that a rather large majority of GPs and consultants opposed the National Health Service Act until a month or so before the Act’s vesting date in 1948?
wrong link
http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/10/isil-vs-mexican-drugcartelsunitedstatesislamophobia.html
“Putin was certainly good news economically for the Russian people for many years, after the car crash that was Yeltsin.”
Perhaps you should have a look at what happened to oil prices – and then how the increase in income that arose as a result was then distributed. Just a clue it most of it wasn’t invested in Russia.
might I suggest Nigel have a look at what the Nazis actually did as occupiers before making such an otiose comparison.
Ok Resident- While our occupying authorities didn’t actually send Scots to the death camps, they have been implicit in the steady emigration of Scots for aons, and being too ready to place Scots in the front lines of all foreign wars. (i.e. in WW1 Scots had 20% of casualties as against 10% of the population.
And all because of londons undiminishing greed.
The end result was the same……………………….
@RD: You could say the same about the riches that came into Britain over the same period as a result of “financial deregulation”. No much of that filtered down either. No doubt, Blair and Brown were also looking at “the bigger picture”.
My point is that it is easy to point the finger at others, but doesn’t carry much weight if “we” (i.e. our government) are behaving equally badly.
I remember something like “before you seek to taker the specks out of others eyes be sure to take the plank out of your own” from the gospel according to St Matthew.
This is great stuff.
‘More than twenty activists occupied the London offices of Airbus on Friday to protest the aerospace company’s military cooperation with Israel.
“Staff were unable to arrive for work and senior executives agreed to meet the campaigners in a bid to end the occupation of the second floor office on the Strand,” says a statement from London Palestine Action. “The occupation lasted more than an hour, whilst others distributed leaflets and spoke to the public outside the offices.”
The video shows activists inside Airbus’ offices and at a certain point police are called.’
[..]
‘“Airbus has close ties with Israel Aerospace Industries, which is an Israeli state-owned company that is a key supplier of drones to the Israeli military. Drones were widely used in attacks on civilians during the recent Israeli attack on Gaza in which more than 2,100 Palestinians were killed,” the statement adds.
Airbus and Israel Aerospace Industries are currently working together to build a drone based on the Heron model extensively used in Israeli war crimes against Palestinians.’
Bastards.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/video-london-activists-occupy-airbus-protest-israel-weapons-deals
The Board of Airbus.
http://www.airbus.com/company/people-culture/management-overview/
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.de/2014/10/ukraine-mini-sitrep-very-ominous.html
Following the use of a tactical ballistic missile against Donetsk by the Ukies, Zakharchenko has declared that the ceasefire was basically over.
Strelkov has made an official appeal warning that according to this information the Ukies were massing troops in preparation for an attack. According to Strelkov, the Ukie plan is for a very short and very rapid “push” towards Donestk and the Russian border to make any Novorussian state non-viable and thus to negotiate from a position of force. True, Strelkov does have a record of exaggerating threats in order to minimize them, but this time there are some strong signs that his analysis is shared by the Russian military, and these signs are the most ominous signs of all.
Russian sources – including the excellent Colonel Cassad blog – report that the voentorg aid-spigot has been fully re-opened including for some major deliveries. While, of course, I am very happy that the Novorussian resistance is getting much needed equipment (and specialists), this kind of full reopening of the voentorg also indicates to me that the Russian intelligence services have concluded that an attack is very likely, possibly very soon.
I have been following the situation in Banderastan pretty closely and I can only say that the cracks in the regime are visible all over the place. Whether Poroshenko and his US master’s really believe that an attack can succeed (I doubt it) or whether they really want to force Russia into openly intervening (which I see as almost inevitable), the fact is that starting a major war might well be the only way to save the Poroshenko regime which currently is in free fall.
Don’t feed the trolls.
@Ben: I’m sure you’ll remember what happened immediately after Bush was re-elected in November 2004… I’m sure Putin’s tacticians would remember that as well.
RD hopes memories are short, or that new posters are unaware of his failed diplomacy and rectitude. Shortly, after he feels more secure he will high -five the sock-puppet master anonymouse et all.
What are you referring to Peacewisher?
Which bit Peacewisher?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_2004
It was your government, Ben!
In the helpful Wikipedia source, start on 5th November… and Kofi Annan’s warning (not that it was anything like strong enough!)
Hey we also came up with HALO 2 Peacewisher. Can’t be all bad. 🙂
LOL… A 7th November entry is missing from your source! How convenient.
Try this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Fallujah
The $3 billion Putin needs to keep the hearth going is making them quite desperate. When they are desperate, that’s quite dangerous.
I really think the West wants to highlight the suffering in useful outlets as a form of genocide on the Ukies, while they have been quite sedate about the Eastern front.