So the Belhaj family have accepted an apology and half a million pounds of our tax money to drop their legal action against HMG and against Jack Straw personally over their extraordinary rendition to torture in Libya.
The British establishment, whichever party is in power, continues to do everything possible to cover up the shameful history of its complicity in torture and extraordinary rendition, and in particular to hide the authorisation by Jack Straw and Tony Blair and the involvement of senior MI6 officials like Sir Mark Allen and Sir Richard Dearlove.
A judicial inquiry by Judge Gibson into British government complicity i torture was cancelled when he showed signs of being an honest and independent man, and was replaced by an inquiry in secret by the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament. I gave evidence to that inquiry but no report has ever issued.
Most tellingly, a police investigation into the Belhaj case and other cases was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service ensuring that Jack Straw never stood trial. Senior policemen in the investigation had told me they believed they had sufficient evidence to prosecute. That evidence included my own sworn witness statement, taken by the Metropolitan Police over two days of interviews.
This is the crux of my sworn evidence, where I testify that the decision to use intelligence from torture came from Jack Straw and Richard Dearlove.
You can see my full evidence and an account of the circumstances of the CPS dropping the case here.
On the same issue of complicity in torture, in the US Gina Haspel, like Straw, Dearlove, and Allen here, has got away with her crimes, to the extent she has now been appointed head of the CIA. My good friend Ray McGovern yesterday made a protest over her very close involvement in authorising torture, at her confirmation hearing. As a result Ray, who is 78 years old, was brutally assaulted by six policemen who kept yelling “stop resisting” at this unresisting 78 year old man, as they dragged him around the floor, dislocating his shoulder.
Nobody has gone to jail in the UK for a complicity in torture which everybody knows occurred. Everybody also knows precisely who ought to have gone to jail, including Blair and Straw. The government spent over £4 million in legal battles to try to keep the evidence in the Belhaj case secret, before they settled out of court to avoid a public trial and to save the Establishment being exposed.
Never was there a plainer example of the neo-cons sticking together than the Tory protection of Blair and Straw.
I am personally not happy at this waste of taxpayer resources to keep Jack Straw out of jail. Are you?
Hague.
http://belltoons.co.uk/bellworks/index.php/leaders/2013/3519-110613_BIGHAGUE
The end of the Trans Atlantic partnership, or just suspension of it?
Is it time for Europe to join the resistance?
“Trump’s renown is rooted in American hero myths. Trump says that women like Carla Bruni lust after him, something that women like Carla Bruni vehemently deny. Trump says he is exorbitantly rich, yet Trump ran himself into the ground with his casinos to the point that he was 295 million dollars in debt in 1990. He was bailed out by the banks and by his father. The greatest myth, though, has to do with Trump’s alleged negotiating expertise. This too is nonsense. Trump was never proficient in the art of the deal. As a businessman, he paid far too much for substandard properties and has shown no patience as a politician. He isn’t curious. His preparation is nonexistent. Strategy and tactics are both foreign to him. Trump is only proficient in destruction. And that’s what he does.”
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/editorial-trump-deals-painful-blow-to-trans-atlantic-ties-a-1207260.html
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=vEm%2fGKvt&id=7B8BE184E8CC75A9E3A0050D10ABDF8BADE5AA59&thid=OIP.vEm_GKvtsHmWYL6hfqyFswHaFP&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fwww.garybarker.co.uk%2ffiles%2fobedience-theresa-may-cartoon.jpg&exph=389&expw=550&q=Theresa+May+Political+Cartoon&simid=607987597008634518&selectedIndex=15&ajaxhist=0
@ John Goss May 10, 2018 at 20:15
‘I can’t make it Paul because we are checking out a cycle-route from Birmingham to Coventry for the Big Ride for Palestine early Saturday. But good luck with the important demo.
On another matter can you do me a favour please? Here is a screendump of another comment I have left on the RT article about the Skripals.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/127161425@N07/41122764195/in/dateposted-public/
Please go to the site and see if it is there.
https://www.rt.com/uk/425600-skripal-poison-update-suspect/
This should concern everybody. You might think you have shared an article, link, photo, video, but you may not have done. ‘
I believe I have solved the problem. I believe if you have a link in the comment, it wan’t be accepted.
I have now put up the Yulia Skripal and the Boris Johnson petition info on the same RT site, by just putting the headlines:
Let Yulia Skripal speak and Boris Lied, He Must Be Sacked
Anyone want to check if they can see them? https://www.rt.com/uk/425600-skripal-poison-update-suspect/
Ray McGovern on Sputnik.
Ex-CIA Agent Recounts Violent Arrest on Capitol Hill for Protesting CIA Torture
15th May 2018
https://sputniknews.com/military/201805151064457198-cia-agent-violent-arrest-torture/
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No, not happy at all
Mind you I’m not happy that Blair, Straw, Campbell, Hoon, former anti-Apartheid hero Hain, and several others haven’t already been tried Nuremberg style – as they ALL SHOULD HAVE – and hung by the necks until in a far more satisfactory condition.
Might have served “pour encourager les autres”. Tragic that it didn’t happen.
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