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.
diatribe (n.)
1640s (in Latin form in English from 1580s), “discourse, critical dissertation,” from French diatribe (15c.), from Latin diatriba “learned discussion,” from Greek diatribe “employment, study,” in Plato, “discourse,” literally “a wearing away (of time),” from dia- “away” (see dia-) + tribein “to wear, rub,” from PIE root *tere- (1) “to rub, turn, twist” (see throw (v.)). Sense of “invective” is 1804, apparently from French.
Substantiating!
Jay, it’s only talk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKIoEr2ZXD8
Habbabkuk,
Your desperation to follow your line manager’s idiot line is shameful ya daft slave-droid ya.
And also Habba..leave Mary alone..she’s got more truth in her than you ever could ever countenance.
Gettin Fed Up. Some Truth with Macky….. And Node… Ben I Know…. or maybe not… Cant keep.up.. .Can i Still Come roon here aboots
GG has lost the plot here.
George Galloway
@georgegalloway The only man who can lead Scottish labour is Gordon Brown. He’s the only man who can save Britain too. Warts and all…
https://twitter.com/georgegalloway/status/525854709328793602
Gordon Brown’s ego would never permit him to take the job Mary.
Jim Murphy can rally ridicule but he’s not leader material.
Scottish Labour needs a radical overhaul and raison d’etre and I can’t think of anybody
who’s up to the job.
after all the outside interference and dubious poll results in the first round,
plus the MSM propaganda about how Neves was the working class hero in his own region where he had been governor
& reuters reporting the day before the poll that neves was way out in front…
Brazil’s incumbent Dilma Rousseff wins by a whisker
Ms Rousseff enjoyed big wins among her support base in the poorer north of the country where the Bolsa Familia allowance has lifted millions out of poverty, but she also won in the key state of Minas Gerais,where Mr Neves had been governor…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/brazil/11189233/Mudslinging-dominates-final-moments-of-Brazil-election.html
i get the feeling rousseff won by a lot more than a “whisker”…
Q What is a ‘moderate militant’. 🙂
‘Senior officials from Qatar have strongly denied claims the country is supporting terrorist groups in Syria such as Islamic State.
They told the BBC that Qatar had only provided support to moderate militants, in co-ordination with the CIA and other Western and Arab intelligence agencies.
Strict financial controls had been put in place, they added.
The comments come ahead of a visit to the UK this week by the Qatar’s ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Earlier this month of a number of MPs were reported to have questioned the UK’s closeness to Qatar, amid the claims of the links to IS funding.
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says Qatar, a major investor in the UK through its sovereign wealth fund, has been stung by the allegations.’
Qatar officials dismiss IS funding claims
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-29782291
and
David Cameron urged to press Emir of Qatar on terror funds
The Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, will arrive in Britain amid a growing furore over his country’s alleged links to the financing of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and al-Qaeda http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/11188380/David-Cameron-urged-to-press-Emir-of-Qatar-on-terror-funds.html
which includes a lot of hostile quotes from Rifkind and the like.
It has probably not gone down well with the Zionist Tories that Qatar are donating $1bn to Gaza for reparations following the ‘Protective Edge’ slaughter and destruction.
Qatar is top donor as $5bn is pledged to rebuild Gaza
• 100,000 without homes before onset of winter
• UK gives $32m for bomb disposal and medical aid
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/12/gaza-rebuild-international-donors-israel-hamas-qatar
The editor of the Spectator (owned by the Barclay Brothers) is promoting Sarwar.
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/fraser-nelson/2014/10/gordon-brown-and-anas-s
arwar-in-the-running-as-new-leader-of-scottish-labour/
‘My hunch: Brown won’t stand, unless he’s unopposed as he was in 2007. He’s a hammerer and rather bad at winning elections, even within his own party. And he knows it. What’s more Scottish Labour has a far better candidate: the privately-educated Anas Sarwar, a former NHS dentist, now deputy leader and MP for Glasgow Central.
He is the clear favourite, so much so that Wm Hill has him at evens. He has quite a realistic grasp of how well Scottish state education has fared under 15 years of devolution: he has sent his kids to a private school (the one he himself attended, the £8,400-a-year Hutcheson Grammar School*). I suspect that, during the leadership contest, this point may be made once or twice. The last political leader produced by Scotland’s private schools was Tony Blair.’
Re: Mary’s post, Q What is a ‘moderate militant’
Hi Mary. I saw that article from the BBC this morning too, and my first thought was “even the BBC accidentally reveals the truth sometimes”. The CIA reference was telling.
In answer to the question posed, this article a few weeks ago on Counterpunch was useful.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/03/there-are-no-moderate-syrian-rebels/
Scott
There is an increasing clamour in the US for the TSA operatives to adminster a Declaration of Independence oath at point of reentry to all the 750k dual nationality Americans arriving at US ports from Israel. Ostensibly to remove the “chosen” mentality poison that makes them look down on the goyim cattle, with the aid of it’s anathema “all men are created equal” underpinning affirmation. Judging from the way the returning haganah chosen are similarly deigning upon the goyim at Brent Cross we might just need a similar oath at Heathrow soon too.
@John Goss
“As were the Bolshevik revolution 5Mr Schiff funded it!) the Holocaust (the Nazis and Zionists were working hand in glove!), globalisation (the Rothschilds and Bilderbergers!) 9/11 (five Israelis observed high-fiving!), Ukraine (Nazis and Zionusts again! and so on and so on.”
I bet you didn’t say that when you were infiltrating the Labour Party – now piss off you miserable little racist.
“No wonder ResDis is in exile”
NO I’m not
” and over here instead of over there, most Russians would have no time whatever for Nazi-sympathisers in their midst”
I have never ever sympathised with Nazis and I never had any problems getting on with ordinary Russians
, I would guess his exile results from his despicable political affiliations.
What the Labour Party, the Fabian Society and GMB
“Though he imagines and paints himself as a victim of Soviet persecution,”
No I don’t – although I do seek to honour and defend them unlike some of the unspeakeable c**** here who cannot let a word of support pass their evil lips
“and manifests the persecution mania characterisitic of the dying zionist cult he labours for in vain”
An ordinary man defending his views is of course persecution mania in KGB speak
-I doubt it was the Russian state which took against him, but the people individually and in aggregate, anyone unfortunate to come into contact with him, and subjected to his warped diatribes.
No one has taken against me – apart from idiots and bigots like yourself
It won’t earn him many, or even any friends over here either I do hope, and Nigel Farage wouldn’t know whether to make him Reichsführer of the SS, Minister of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment or to deport him.
I detest Nigel Farage (and admirer of your boss dont’t you know)- and my guess is that he would try to deport my Russian wife given half a chance.
“his is the commenter who responded here to the recent Odessa Massacre with regret that more of the peaceful protesters there weren’t killed, that the death toll was too low and regret that they weren’t killed sooner by the bussed in from Kiev death squads, before citizen journalists could record and document the true nature and acts of the ‘government’ of Ukraine ‘the west’ had installed.”
This is of course a complete and utter lie – but of course lying to attack your opponents is perfectly acceptable for such creatures.
@Brian, thank you for the Peter Joseph link, which is just highlighting what every rational thinking person knows is self-evident, namely that basing the structure of human society to appeal to & reward the most base & ignoble part human nature, namely greed & self-interest, is to condemn us as a species, not only to misery, obscenities, endless bloodshed, etc, but also ultimately to extinction.
The ancient Greek philosophers quickly realized this, and warned about it; I think it was Plato, or maybe Plato quoting Socrates, that suggested that nobody should be more than three times wealthier than the poorest person; couldn’t find the exact quote, but found this;
“The form of law which I propose would be as follows: In a state which is desirous of being saved from the greatest of all plagues—not faction, but rather distraction—there should exist among the citizens neither extreme poverty nor, again, excessive wealth, for both are productive of great evil . . . Now the legislator should determine what is to be the limit of poverty or of wealth.” –Plato Greek philosopher (427-347 B.C.)
& here’s one relevant link;
http://blog.microplace.com/2011/11/great-economic-thinkers-on-poverty.html
Hi again, RD. Taking up your argument that Yats and co. are not Bandera acolytes/sympathisers…
I think you must be getting your information from mm sources like The Guardian. Nowadays they, like the BBC, have an agenda, and wish to portray Ukraine, outside of Donbass and Russian influence, as a democratic land of milk and honey.
The truth of course is very different. You can get a flavour of the level of hate by looking on twitter.
The elections had a very low turnout in some regions. The lowest was Transcarpathia (Zakarpattia) in the extreme West. I wonder why this could be. Could it be that this was where a Banderite massacre, an attempted ethnic cleansing, took place? Kiev are threatening the local population and they are responding:
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/transcarpathia-and-transnistria-sitrep_29.html
Unlike the mainstream media, the people don’t forget.
Russia is aware of the situation, and reports it:
http://voiceofrussia.com/uk/news/2014_10_22/Russian-Duma-bans-display-of-symbols-of-Nazi-cooperation-groups-5176/
When I heard this ‘What is a moderate militant?’ line repeated on the news this morning, just after the taking down of the flag at camp Bastian, I wondered whether the returning soldiers are moderate militants, since they failed to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan.
But then, why would Quatar want to pay for our massive losses, billions wasted on nothing at all. Thousands of Life’s lost, ground into the dust, civilian children, women, and men, just as in Gaza, not to speak of the solders who fought a determined and militarily under equipped Taliban, and clearly lost.
Not a single area, bar Kabul, is controlled by the Afghan army, consistent of mainly northerners, not Pashtun’s, it begs the question whether we will now see a struggle between these two factions, or whether a power sharing accord will be found.
The UK could have spent these billions on measures here at home, rather than feed the arms producers and their greedy guts investors in doom.
Thanks for the link to the powerful work of May Ayres, Mary, it screams at us to stop. Still too few artists deal with the ravages of war many prefer to revel in fake glorifications instead.
I’m very concerned that the psychopath holding the strings of our politicians will want to start a large war, getting at Assad will wind up Putin something rotten, and then what?
Kievs freezing residents followed by screaming politicians accusing Putin of using general winter, ‘how dare he cuts of gas we don’t want to pay for’ and all the fascist rot that comes with it.
I have had a busy weekend playing a game of Bosseln between three villages, bringing people together, and shall have to do some work while the sun shines, hence I will not take part in much discourse here today.
leaves the questions whether those who are traumatised by years of war abroad, who have seen their best friends die under Taliban fire, and who now face resettling into their respective communities, should the returning Afghan soldiers/jihadies, be under the care and surveillance of our ever increasing security agencies, as Ms. May so prominently announced some month back?
@RD#2:
In case you think the links I provided are out of date, here’s one that has emerged this morning:
http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2014/10/27/the-situation-in-transcarpathia-intensifies.html
Apparently, like Crimea, this region voted for independence back in 1991 but were – like Crimea – denied it. If you want to help prevent another “Donbass” (4000 civilians killed and counting), maybe you could inform The Guardian about what seems likely to happen there.
http://theslowburningfuse.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/tumblr_l73ybv7sra1qzdi59o1_500-png.jpeg
Evidence of more than a thousand Nazis (real SS/war-criminal/Sieg-Hielers) working for US intelligence against, well, Russia.
According to which ‘conspiracy website’?
Yes, this appeared on page A1 of the New York print edition of Monday’s New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/27/us/in-cold-war-us-spy-agencies-used-1000-nazis.html
With the US resorting, allegedly, to continue using rabid Nazis in their relentless war to annoy Russia, they are simply keeping in-touch with their C.I.A. historic roots?
“Canada will not be intimidated by Ottawa shooting, declares prime minister” [boastfully]
“Harper was in parliament when the attack began, addressing… He was rushed out of the building and evacuated to safety.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/23/ottawa-shooting-will-not-intimidate-canadaprime-minister-declares
Oh no he wasn’t!
“Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who hid inside a cupboard in parliament for about 15 minutes during the incident, has described it as a terror attack.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29781824
Peacewisher
Crimea did not vote for independence back in 1991 it voted to join an independent Ukraine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_independence_referendum,_1991
Of course there are all sorts of ethnic groupings spread throughout the former Soviet Empire courtesy of Uncle Joe’s and yes Lenin’s ethnic policies – but if you think Putin’s aggressive policies which allows him to do anything he wants to defend what he deems to be Russian interests, regardless of the existing boundaries are to way to restore peace and harmony you clearly do not have much of an understanding of that part of the world. Political solutions involving devolution/varying degrees of autonomy are the way forward.
On the other hand perhaps the Germans could make a claim for part of the Volga.
Good informative posts this morning. Thanks.
~~~
Quel surprise! Same old.
Egypt cancels Hamas-Israel talks following Sinai attack
Cairo bars Islamist delegation, points finger at Palestinians for deadly bombings; ‘Stop blaming Gaza, you failed leaders,’ Hamas chief retorts
http://www.timesofisrael.com/egypt-suspends-hamas-israel-talks-following-sinai-attack/
‘Dashing Hamas hopes of a détente with the Egyptian regime of Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, Egypt closed its borders to a high-ranking Hamas delegation to talks with Israel on Sunday, accusing Palestinians of involvement in a deadly terror attack in Sinai Friday. The Hamas delegation had been set to resume indirect talks between the Palestinians and Israel over a long-term Gaza ceasefire on Monday, but those talks were cancelled.
Sissi said on Saturday that “foreign hands” were behind a suicide car bombing that killed over 30 soldiers at a checkpoint near the northern Sinai town of el-Arish, declaring a three-month state of emergency in the peninsula. But Egypt’s deputy interior minister, Samih Bashadi, was more specific on Sunday, accusing “Palestinian operatives” of involvement in the attack.
Security in the Sinai can only be achieved through the establishment of a buffer zone between the Gaza Strip and Sinai, Bashadi told Saudi-owned daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat. He said Egypt would target terror bases in northern Sinai using Apache attack helicopters.’
~~
In al Sisi’s hateful regime.
Egypt activists jailed for three years for ‘illegal protest’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-29778818
Peacewisher
I think you might also want to pay a little attention to Putin’s involvement in Ukrainians affairs since he came to power – he clearly sees Ukraine as a land where he and his pet oligarchs should be free to carry out their mafia like activities – just look at the history of blackmail, corruption, rigging elections and poisoning/eliminating those who get in his way. Like his predecessor Stalin. Putin is not above stoking regional atagonisms for what he sees as the good of Greater Russia. The same technique has been applied to Moldova using Transdinistr for a number of years – now the plan is the same for the Ukraine.
Macky
Pardon me if I’m not too worried at being labelled as not too bright by the likes of your self.
The law is quite clear – and I made it quite clear that I didn’t think that the level of support provided by Mary and others amounts to terrorism. But if someone uses the occasion of a terrorist attack to attack the victims rather than the perpetrators, it is pretty clear who they are supporting and I pretty sure that most reasonable and intelligent people would agree with me.
@RD:
I chose the example of Transcarpathia because it is as west as possible, so minimal chance of Russian independence.
Re Crimea… you’re twisting the truth again. They wanted independence… all they got was “Autonomous Republic”. Transcarpathia didn’t even get that, probably because they didn’t have Russian diplomatic influence. Draw your own conclusions from that.
Also, RD, it was regarding Crimea that you impersonated John to respond to my post. Do you really think people on here have forgotten that?
Just to clear up any remaining wiggle room, there was a referendum on independence or Crimea in 1994, and here were the results:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_referendum,_1994
78.4% for, 21.6% against.
Mary 27 Oct, 2014 – 6:28 am “Q What is a ‘moderate militant’. :)”
er …. a middle-of-the-road extremist?
Peacewisher
The fundamental fact whoever said it is that in the last free referendum the people of Crimea voted to be part of an independent Ukraine. A significant minority voted not to be – but it was still a minority.
The Kremlin also mistakenly leaked details that the Anschluss vote was rigged.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2014/05/05/putins-human-rights-council-accidentally-posts-real-crimean-election-results-only-15-voted-for-annexation/
Peacewisher
Hoist on your own petard I’m afraid
Per your link “Voters were asked whether they were in favour of greater autonomy within Ukraine,”
The 1994 referendum was not on independence as you falsely claim.