There was never any doubt that the accusation of terrorism against Moazzam Begg was, once again, a tissue of politically motivated lies. What is still more appalling, I am told by a Home Office source that the decision to arrest and detain him was taken by Theresa May herself. This involvement of politicians in the abuse of individuals by the state is appalling.
Jacqui Smith did the same thing as Home Secretary, grandstanding about her role in the front page arrest of twelve Muslims in the North West of England, not one of whom was charged with any offence. The “bomb ingredient” the police found on that occasion turned out to be nothing but sugar.
Theresa May was lording it at the Tory party conference with a ludicrous speech about combating the “terrorist menace” which we are bombing Iraq to enhance, not decrease. At the same time as being acclaimed for further attacks on civil liberties, she was responsible for the completely unjustified imprisonment of the Muslim community’s most elegant spokesman against abuses, including torture, of state power against Muslims.
The other disgusting aspect of this case is the complicity of the judicial system with the state in the abuse of liberty by right wing politicians. There are no longer any effective checks on executive power in the British state. To cap this cycle of total power, Sky News last night were suggesting (and I understand behind the Murdoch paywall it is being propagated today) that Moazzam really is a terrorist and had been released as an appeasement to aid Islamic State British hostages. This total lie is a further snide attack by the terror state.
The truth of the persecution of Begg, who was detained to stop him researching British complicity in extraordinary rendition to Syria by Blair and Straw, is evidently something the Establishment does not want to enter a wider public consciousness.
In any decent society, Theresa May would have to resign over her involvement in the appalling mistreatment of Moazzam Begg. Instead she is touted as a future Prime Minister for the toughness on “terrorism”. That tells you everything about what a stinking, corrupt society the United Kingdom now has become.
@Fred
“an independent judicial inquiry”
Has there ever been one?
Let’s think?
The Warren Commission, Allen Dulles, member, the CIA head who had just been fired by Kennedy? LOL
The 7/7 Inquest?
The Lusitania Inquiry, prior to which Lord Mersey, the presiding judge, was directed to find Captain of the Lusitania “Most prominently guilty,” and who, after the inquiry, refused the one thousand guinea fee to which he was entitled and resigned from the bench.
The reason we have a corrupt elite is that they run the country and therefore easily cover their own tracks.
I have offered reading suggestions. If you choose not to read them, that says something about you.
And, if you think the Warren Commission Report bears any comparison to scholarly investigations like the ones I named, I can only conclude you haven’t read that concoction of politicians either. Or have you read it?
Johnstone, great book for children and adults alike.
Noddy’s not finished “Big Ears goes to Toytown” yet. But when he gets on to Animal Farm he will find out who is allowed to sleep in the beds, honk! honk!
At the moment Noddy thinks honk! honk! is what his car does. Shall we let him into a secret? It’s allegorical Noddy. To explain: when Mr Plod, for example, arrests Bumpy Dog because he had been seen with a firework in his mouth and a brick falls from the roof of the Toytown Bank that means it is September 11th 2001 and Bumpy Dog should be sent to the island kennel.
Get Sofia to explain.
Allen Dulles wasn’t just a member of the Warren Commission. He basically ran the thing, as Breach of Trust makes clear. Earl Warren was a figurehead who only attended a few of the commission’s meetings. Dulles attended basically all of them.
To learn what a stinker Allen Dulles was, read Stephen Kinzer’s The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War.
I still think LeMay, the fascist with scrambled eggs on his oversized hat, and incendiary bombing nutcase, was in on this.
I blame Truman and Congress for the National Security Act of 1947 for our current troubles.
Even Eisenhower saw it coming.
“At the moment Noddy thinks honk! honk! is what his car does. Shall we let him into a secret? It’s allegorical Noddy. To explain: when Mr Plod, for example, arrests Bumpy Dog because he had been seen with a firework in his mouth and a brick falls from the roof of the Toytown Bank that means it is September 11th 2001 and Bumpy Dog should be sent to the island kennel.”
LOL! You are the man John. I’m preserving that graf for posterity.
“Has there ever been one?”
The Scott report came within one vote of bringing down the government and they had an overall majority in those days.
Re: the Lusitania Inquiry
to correct myself,
Richard Webb, director of the Admiralty’s Trade Division, wrote Lord Mersey: “I am directed by the Board of Admiralty (i.e., Winston Churchill) to inform you that it is considered politically expedient that Captain Turner the master of the Lusitania be most prominently blamed for the disaster.”
Source: Here
“The Scott report came within one vote of bringing down the government and they had an overall majority in those days.”
A miss is as good as a mile!
This blog sure gets some ultra waffle contributions. I don’t include Craig’s own entries but numerous of the responses.
great post, craig, except rightwing/leftwing framing is pointless. heard joan baez on bbc this week, blaming republicans for stopping obama doing anything!
Intercept headline: Syria Becomes the 7th Predominantly Muslim Country Bombed by 2009 Nobel Peace Laureate
NDAA, expansion of wiretapping, prosecution of whistleblowers, $1 trillion for nuclear weapons, first nuclear reactors authorised in 30 years, what else would Baez like Obama to do?
in australia, thousands of police rounded up innocent muslims to ramp up the fear & gain support for going back to iraq. broad support from the Labor Party, which also supported draconian new anti-terror laws.
however, no story created more outrage than a claim by a naval officer that he’d been attacked by muslims while in uniform. 24/7 MSM outrage. when the claim was debunked, the MSM (left/right) only mentioned the claim was withdrawn, allowing many to suggest the military withdrew the claim to appease muslims. interestingly, only Daily Mail bothered to get this police quote:
NSW Police have today confirmed the ‘claims an ADF member was assaulted at Bella Vista have been withdrawn’.
****They have told Daily Mail Australia that: ‘We believe it never actually took place’…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2770334/Assault-investigation-navy-officer-s-claims-attacked-outside-home-dropped-police-saying-never-happened.html
So Joan Baez is a zionist. Just learned a couple years back Dylan was the same stripe. It’s a trap to believe in heros. Believe in ideas.
Oh NATO-SHTF.
http://thediplomat.com/2014/10/russia-and-iran-lock-nato-out-of-caspian-sea/
As long as some have mentioned in passing the Warren Commission, I am pleased to inform one and all that there’s a new documentary to be premiered on Oct 26th in Dallas, Texas that will probably be of interest to many of the doubters and questioners of “official” government positions and pronouncements who frequent this blog. More specifically, I refer to official positions and pronouncements laying blame for terrorist type actions on certain parties that, if the truth were acknowledged, would have been no more than patsies or scapegoats designed to direct public scrutiny away from the truly guilty.
=============================================================================================
“A Coup in Camelot
A startling new investigation of America’s most infamous cold case.
A Coup In Camelot is a documentary that shines a fresh light on the forensic ‘fingerprints’ surrounding that fateful day in November of 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The film features compelling analysis by the top medical, forensic and research experts in the country.
A Coup In Camelot provides an in-depth study of how Secret Service protocols were not followed, and offers analysis of the famous Zapruder film with stunning 6k digital scans to show a clarity 10 times greater than High Definition. Modern day forensics and wound ballistic techniques are applied to determine where the fatal head shot came from. Details of a casket shell game and shocking medical alterations done to the President’s body are revealed, to uncover a chilling story of conspiracy.
Experts unravel the turbulent story of Lee Harvey Oswald’s life and actions, and reveal the results of a decades long search for the mysterious Girl on the Stairs. From JFK’s plans for peace, to the country’s immersion in Vietnam after President Kennedy’s death, this powerful examination of new research with exclusive interviews, unfolds to tell the dramatic tale of A Coup In Camelot.”
Web site for the documentary is at http://acoupincamelot.com/about.html
If you go to the web site you will see there is also a “Trailer” button to click to watch a short but interesting preview of the upcoming release.
the fact he lunched at the Pentagon after 9/11 did make us wonder!
Enemy or Asset? FBI documents show radical cleric Awlaki communicated with federal agent in ’03
Newly released documents further support the conclusion that the FBI was working with radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki after the 9/11 attacks – in the years before he became the first American targeted for death by a U.S. drone strike…
Watchdog group Judicial Watch has since obtained more than 900 pages of new documents in the course of its federal lawsuit against the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act. They show the cleric was emailing and leaving voice messages with an FBI agent in 2003, a year after Ammerman told customs agents at JFK airport to bypass an outstanding warrant for the cleric’s arrest.
The documents further support claims that Awlaki, who eventually went overseas and linked up with an Al Qaeda affiliate, worked with the FBI and was likely a U.S. government asset.
Three weeks later, after leaving another voicemail, the cleric uses his personal Yahoo account to write directly to an FBI agent, now stationed at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., to complain about news reports linking al-Awlaki to the 9/11 hijackers.
“I was astonished by some of the talk circulating in the media about me. … I am amazed at how absurd the media could be and I hope that the US authorities know better and realize that what was mentioned about me was nothing but lies,” al-Awlaki writes, appearing to scold the FBI agent…
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/01/enemy-or-asset-fbi-documents-show-radical-cleric-awlaki-communicated-with/
Theresa May has done her job well. Why should she resign? Craig failed lamentably in his duties of concealing UK involvement in torture, use of murderous dictators in Muslim states to achieve long term UK strategic ambitions etc.
No doubt it takes time to get paid-up academics to publish counter-doctrine, so locking up Moazzem Begg on spurious charges may have bought them time. I would say that anyone who is in contact with MI5/6 would also be working with/for them. There are no loose cannon, even Craig, or Abu Qatada. So why assume that Moazzam Begg is free from involvement in the same?
Last week I followed a link here to a report about the FSA which said that they hadn’t received one bullet from USUKIS, and at the same time George Galloway was talking in the UK parliamentary debate about bombing ISIS stating the exact opposite of that claim.
So much shit is spoken on all sides that most people prefer to read the Hasbara drivel called newspapers or watch the news cartoons.
Theresa May’s words made me angry and, yes, I think she should resign. However, she is obviously saying the right things in Cameron’s opinion otherwise he would simply reshuffle her out of the position of Home Secretary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ewcSKlWFcs
I like Theresa May, not met her personally of course, but I think she carries her departments’ agenda through quite well. The Question I have, is is she fully in charge of the Home Office though?
It is strange how the same “Communications Overcollection Bill” et al. crops up – whoever is the ‘temporary’ minister.
The planned dropping of the co-operation with the Churchillian European Court of Human Rights brings up another question: is this a Farr project or a May project?
Is it extremist to ask this question online?
Is the question of online extremism a Farr project or a May project?
Is it extremist to ask that question online?
I suspect that mixing the intelligence community with government May, Farr-off in time, eventually be ruled to have been a mistake.
Let’s take an overview, broaden the horizons to a partner-nation: they do things differently in Ukraine!
beating-up MP’s & threatening the Home Office minister? – that’s akin to extremist terrorism, shouldn’t be allowed online.
oh, and the 2014 information warfare message of the day also comes from that country, courtesy of “Yats”
which I suppose is fundamentally why Farr May be pushing his/her current agenda in the UK, not just UA!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDNFdjwolaI#t=87
David Sheen – Russell Tribunal 2014 – 24/09
David Sheen talks incitement for Genocide in Israeli society discourse during Operation Protective edge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDNFdjwolaI
morning YKMY. You question whether St. Theresa is in charge of the home office, is a legitamite concern when one looks at the complacency and easy does it approach of the judiciary, custom and excise and the police who must all have their little cliques within.
I was appalled at the childish sidestepping and discussion this morning on Radio 4, making out that the EU human rights accord, accepted by some 40 countries in and around Europe, drafted mainly by Britains top lawyers such as Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, accepted here in 1951, some 63 years ago.
The fact that it mostly originated here does not mean much to Camerons wreckers in his now fully rightwing cabal and a clapping 1922 comittee, with a few liberal yellow Ribbons adorning these little Englaenders, clapping to any and everything.
Looking forward to the new resident permit schemes that gives US and OZ citizens greater rights here than that of EU citizens, their decades long assault and use of Britain as theirs has seemingly worked in their favour.
The TTIP will be the last straw, if Europe signs up to it, then we are at the behest of a new market orientated world Government, were Organic foods are contaminated with GM and farmers are being sued for having patented crops (through contamination) on their fields, were fracking is being imposed on the UK’s private land/houseowners, bar those grouse estates, as well as those large stretches that HMtQ claims to own.
National trust land and poperties will get ransom payments to shut them up and the fine and upstanding english estates will be sobs to the moneybags, whilst all others will just be bothered and held with fear.
The TTIP will make all that and much more possible, we will have nothing to say anymore, we, the large majority of dissaffected, opted out by not bothering to vote, turned off by these antics.
Like a gin soaked existence barely able to realise ones own manipulated life, not much has changed since Victorian times and I expect workhouses to come back soon.
YNMN, sorry,
Habbu-Clown; “I think I might be silent for the rest of the evening, this is like shooting fish in a barrel. Too easy and therefore almost boring. Ho Hum”
There’s the self-confession of a narcissistic & egoist clown; clueless that he is intellectually clueless, who thinks that shallow counter-points & childish retorts, prove that he is as smart as he likes to fantasize himself to be; ironic problem is that some Posters, who are even less smart, actually think this Clown’s masturbatory addiction to bigging himself up on this Blog, is both clever & worth defending.
Ben; “It’s a trap to believe in heros. Believe in ideas”
Wise words; Aidworker1 take note !
Craig is right to urge concern over unanswered questions about the arrest of Moazzam Begg (MB) on charges related to terrorism legislation; and then the withdrawal of these charges and his release only a few days before his trial was due to start at the Old Bailey on 6 October. For background on what MB has said he has been doing, there is his own article of 24 December 2014:
http://www.cageprisoners.com/our-work/opinion-editorial/item/7453-the-real-reason-behind-the-confiscation-of-my-passport
I have seen no evidence that this account is inaccurate or misleading and I believe – though I cannot trace a precise reference – that MB had already told MI5 in advance of his recent visits to Syria (on behalf of Caged Prisoners); and that he was allowed to make these visits (ie the Home Office’s Royal Prerogative powers to withdraw his passport were not used).
Although no details have been officially released about the documents recently disclosed to the prosecuting authorities which led them to withdraw the charges, I believe that these included minutes by M15 which confirmed important parts of MB’s evidence that he had not been engaged in any illegal terrorism-related activities. It is not a question of there being little realistic prospect of securing a conviction, rather of there being no reason ever to have arrested MB. Prosecuting the innocent on false charges is not a characteristic of liberal democracies but of failed states with no respect for the rule of law.
There is thus a prima facie evidence of a premeditated attempt to pervert the course of justice, by M15 and other government agencies. Presumably it will be judged “not in the public interest” for such charges to be brought. The counter-argument is surely that not bringing charges amounts to a serious failure to uphold the rule of law. The rule of law has been the public rationale for huge human and financial resources being deployed to protect the UK public from supposed threats at home and abroad to its security. Regrettably, these resources have been largely obtained under false pretences, connived at by politicians who have allowed themselves to be blackmailed and lied to by what a latter-day Eisenhower might have termed “the military-security post-industrial conspiracy”. Of course, many politicians have shares in or are paid retainers by the private companies which benefit from all this public funding.
More details – his account – of his meeting with MI5 here –
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/02/moazzam-begg-contact-mi5-agents-papers
Begg’s (and Cage’s) assets are still frozen. This argues that some coercion is still operating, and does not support the theory that he has been cleared of baseless charges. I’d suggest that it does suggest that he’s being encouraged to sing from the intelligence songsheet, and that his version of events may be approved, rather than true.
“In any decent society”
You got it in one: there ain’t none- anymore.
@Youknowmyname: Excellent post… the definers of extremism are the bringers in of the fascist state. First the communists, then the trades unionists, then the conspiracy theorists… Whatever happened to the UNCHR? What happened to education and critical thinking? I’d have thought there would only have to be one Pastor Niemoiller.
Ukraine does now seem to be behaving like a fascist state, and the Western media are still in denial about this, or just cynically report a given narrative. Well done, neocons. More fool us for not objecting. Anyone inside that territory who dares to object to Poroshenko’s/Yak’s new Ukraine is labelled a terrorist. What sort of atmosphere is that to hold a election in? Donetsk still being shelled and civilians still being blown up. Every bomb alienates more people, but Russia won’t be provoked. What do you do next, neocons? All those civilian deaths, whether in Ukraine, Iraq, Syria or anywhere else where the bombing results from your actions, are your responsibility… it makes no sense, except for creating fear and ever bigger markets for the arms industry.
an interesting article is available at Indian Punchline by
M.K. Bhadrakumar
The author was India’s former Ambassador to Turkey and Uzbekistan. (hence the inclusion here, not wishing to dilute the May-day) Retired from the Foreign Service, he is a prominent columnist in major Indian publications.
M.K wrote an essay “West Beats Retreat in Ukraine”
West Beats Retreat in Ukraine
M.K. Bhadrakumar
The author was India’s former Ambassador to Turkey and Uzbekistan. Retired from the Foreign Service, he is a prominent columnist in major Indian publications. This articleoriginally appeared in Indian Punchline
Considering the huge lift the White House gave last week to the visit by the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko – the ‘rare honour’ of addressing a joint session of the US Congress etc – one might think the Obama administration was getting into a mood of heightened belligerence towards Russia.
But a close reading of President Obama’s remarks after the bilateral meeting with Poroshenko tells a different story.
Obama is a smart politician who can make a retreat appear a victory. He’s done it in Afghanistan. Is he doing it in Ukraine? Consider the following: Obama who poured scorn on the Minsk dialogue has now become its fan.
He says Ukraine should have “good relations with all its neighbours, both east and west.” He recommends Ukraine should continue its strong economic links and people-to-people relations with Russia.
This is vintage Obama.
Are we seeing signs of Obama all but counselling Poroshenko to sort out issues directly with Moscow? It seems so. On returning to Kiev, Poroshenko disclosed the US will only supply “non-lethal” military items to Ukraine, which of course falls far short of Poroshenko’s wish list.
As for economic assistance, the White House agreed to give Ukraine the princely sum of $50 million to help Poroshenko see through 2015. It’s rather tragi-comic when the IMF says Ukraine needs around $19 billion, if the civil war continues, to survive through next year. It’s a macabre joke: handing out a measly $50 million after egging on Ukraine to go to war with Russia. Where is the remaining $18,450 million coming from?
Europe? Not Poland or the Baltic States. It has to come from ‘Old Europe’. In essence Germany has to loosen the purse strings. Chancellor Angela Merkel must be hopping mad.
Meanwhile the IMF has revised its own estimate of six months ago. It now says a staggering bailout of $55 billion is needed as external financing for Ukraine. Experts forecast this figure could turn out to be closer to $100 billion.
Ukraine’s economic contraction this year could be in double digits.
All this may go a long way to explain certain intriguing developments: a) European Union’s summary decision to consign its hurriedly-signed Association Agreement with Ukraine in the freezer at least until end-2015; b) the robust EU backing for the Minsk accord between Kiev and the separatists in southeastern Ukraine; c) the top secret meeting between the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Russia on the sidelines of the recent international conference in Paris regarding the Islamic State; d) NATO’s belated acknowledgment that Russia has pulled troops back from Ukraine border; and, e) the meeting between the foreign ministers of Russia and the US in New York.
Vladimir Putin may be pulling off a major diplomatic coup in getting the West to recognize Moscow has legitimate interests in Ukraine. The West has no option but to accept that Ukraine’s economy is connected to Moscow with an umbilical cord. Without whole-hearted Russian cooperation, it cannot be salvaged.
Washington too should realize engaging Moscow is necessary for effectively mobilizing an international campaign against the Islamic State. It could be a sign of the way the wind is turning that the former British defence secretary and Conservative MP, Liam Fox explicitly cautioned Europe and the US against making threats against Russia over Ukraine.
Fox said, “I think it’s very important not to pretend that you [West] can or will do things that you clearly won’t. Making false threats, I think, is a big problem. We have to look at different ways of dealing with the Ukrainian situation.”
Don’t be surprised, therefore, if one of these days Putin comes once again to Obama’s aid in Syria. Russia can help Obama legitimize the international campaign against the Islamic State by getting a UN Security Council mandate for it. Russia can help the US deal with Syria’s President Assad. Make no mistake, Russia’s stance (here, here and here) on the Islamic State threat is unequivocal and broadly supportive of the US-led international campaign.
Russia’s only caveat is that US operations in Syria should be agreed with the Syrian government and/or should have a UN mandate. What stops Obama from seeking a UN mandate? The fear Moscow may not cooperate.
The ice may be broken regarding Syria at the meeting between Lavrov and Kerry in New York. The New Cold war, which started with a bang, might be ending with a whimper.