While the national media are only too keen to relay scare stories about Muslim terrorists who turn out to have no explosives or physical evidence of terrorism, the biggest actual, real world find of terrorist weapons went completely unreported by TV or national newspapers.

Why? It wasn’t a Muslim but an apparent supporter of the white supremacist British National Party. So that’s OK then.”

From Northwest Evening Mail

Rocket launcher ‘found at dentist’s house’

Published on 06/10/2006

A RETIRED Grange dentist is accused of being part of a bomb plot after a record number of explosives were seized in a Lancashire town.

David Bolais Jackson, 62, of Trent Road, Nelson, was arrested on Friday in the Lancaster area after leaving his Grange practice for the last time.

Jackson was charged with being in possession of an explosive substance for an unlawful purpose.

However, it is unclear who or what the intended target might have been.

Police found rocket launchers, chemicals, British National Party literature and a nuclear or biological suit at his home.

The find came shortly after they had recovered 22 chemical components from the house of his alleged accomplice, Robert Cottage, a former BNP election candidate, who lives in Colne.

The haul is thought to be the largest ever found at a house in this country.

Tony Blair has just completed his foreign visit to Afghanistan where, during talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, he said Afghanistan’s progress was remarkable. The Afghan President also commented on the sucesses acheived, including the return of refugees. But what do aid agencies, actually working on the ground have to say about the current situation?

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) issued a statement on the 3rd October:

UNHCR is concerned about the increasing number of people internally displaced in southern Afghanistan as a result of recent hostilities between government forces, NATO and insurgents. Since July, an estimated 15,000 families have been displaced in the southern provinces of Kandahar, Uruzgan and Helmand. This fresh displacement adds new hardship to a population already hosting 116,400 people earlier uprooted by conflict and drought…

…We expect further displacement may take place until conditions are safe for the population to return to their homes. Some families were reported to have gone back from Kandahar city to Panjwai and Zhare Dasht during daylight, but to have returned to Kandahar city at night as they felt it was too insecure to stay overnight. UNHCR has no information on population movements to other districts.

On the 27th October the international red cross (ICRC) chose to warn all parties to the conflict, including British and US forces, about infringments of international law and rising civillian casualties.

ICRC deplores increasing number of civilian victims

Geneva (ICRC) ‘ Hostilities have intensified in southern Afghanistan over the past two weeks between the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) on the one hand and the armed opposition on the other.

As a result, there is serious concern regarding the situation of civilians caught in the middle of the fighting. Aerial bombardment and ground offensives in populated rural areas, together with recent suicide attacks and roadside bombs in urban areas, have significantly increased the number of innocent civilians killed, injured or displaced.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) once more calls on all parties to the conflict to respect the rules of international humanitarian law (IHL).

IHL requires the parties to a conflict to maintain a distinction between fighters and civilians at all times. It also requires the parties to exercise constant care in the conduct of military operations and prohibits attacks directed against civilians or civilian objects. All parties to the conflict must at all times take all feasible precautions to spare civilians and their property from the effects of attack.

All the wounded must receive adequate medical treatment and captured fighters must be treated in accordance with international humanitarian law.

In view of the growing influx of casualties in the south of Afghanistan, the ICRC has sustained its support of Kandahar’s Mirwais hospital. In addition, the organization has replenished its own emergency stocks of essential household items so that it can help civilians affected by the hostilities. It is providing this assistance in conjunction with the Afghan Red Crescent Society.

ICRC delegates will continue to monitor the situation closely and stand ready to assist and protect civilians, visit and register detainees, and provide health care and vital supplies in response to any urgent needs.

So why, in these situations, are we regularly fed the official government line with so little critical analysis? Part of the answer may lie in one of the common myths of liberal democracy; the imparital nature of the BBC, which is neatly dissected on ZNet.

A couple or so petitions directed at our glorious Prime Minister, and hosted on the official 10 Downing Street www site, are up for signing and might be of interest.

Enquire

Resign

Juggle

via Bloggerheads

I was first alerted to the new BBC flagship drama The State Within by a friend who pointed out some of the BBC publicity to me. It concerned a character in the series, a former British Ambassador, who the BBC described thus:

‘James Sinclair. An outspoken critic of President Usman and the human rights abuse he encountered in Tyrgyzstan. As a result he was recalled and subsequently fired from the job of Ambassador. Seen as an embarassment to the UK government, who support Usman and have many commercial and strategic interests in the country. Now determined to turn Western public opinion against Usman. And to force both the UK and US administrations into withdrawing their support for him.’

Now if you substitute the very real Uzbekistan of President Karimov for the fictional Tyrgyzstan, you get a description of me precise in every detail. Uniquely so – there is nobody else that description remotely fits.

There are other coincidences ‘ the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan when I was Ambassador was named Usmanov. James Sinclair is an anglicised Scot like me. I live in Sinclair Gardens. Sinclair’s wife has the common Uzbek name of Saida. I have an Uzbek partner. Like me, his tipple is neat Scotch (not as common as you might think).

Both ‘Tyrgyzstan’ and Uzbekistan are in Central Asia; both have major US airbases threatened by a change of allegiance of the dictator. Both are described by the US and UK as ‘an ally in the War on Terror’ and ‘A backdoor to Afghanistan’. Both have perpetrated a large scale massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators.

Which was fine by me. I like the series, and James Sinclair is well played. I have received scores of emails from viewers, mostly complete strangers, commenting on the series, often asking me about its accuracy.

So I was pretty surprised to hear that the BBC were not just denying that the character was based on me, but denying it vehemently, as though it were an appalling accusation. A journalist had inquired, and received urgent rebuttals from both the Press Department and a producer.

Some of the things which the BBC asserted were simple nonsense. They claimed that many Ambassadors had resigned over human rights, not just Craig Murray. In fact, the only other example is David Gladstone about twenty five years ago ‘ and he wasn’t in a ‘stan’. The BBC even denied knowing that I had written my memoir, Murder in Samarkand. That is very strange, because the BBC had it in manuscript and I had formal meetings with BBC Drama over the film rights..

So what do I think of the series? On occasions the director is over-impressed by his own slickness. Rapid cutting between five second scenes accompanied by urgent percussion undermines some rather good writing, which builds up its own pace without such clich’. The atmosphere is nothing like that of any Embassy. FCO house style is much more ponderous. Nor do we sit in rooms whose walls are inexplicably all made of glass, surrounded by scores of flickering screens.

But that is to carp. This is important television. It touches on some of the most profound themes of our worrying times. In three episodes we have seen persecution of Muslims, attacks on civil rights, US support of dictatorships, false flag War on Terror operations, out of control private military companies, distorted intelligence and a very powerful statement against the death penalty.

Since resigning, I have spent the last two years in drafty halls speaking to small audiences about just these issues, and despairing as to how you reach a mass audience in these days of desocialised consumers sitting in front of their televisions. This series does it.

Bewildered as to why the BBC was denying the obvious connections, I spoke with a senior BBC contact. They sounded about as nervous to speak with me as my FCO friends, but told me that The State Within had terrified the BBC top brass because of its attack on the special relationship and the war on terror. They dreaded the government reaction. An edict on the line to take had therefore gone out to all, including the actors. The State Within is purely entertainment, with no political meaning and has no relationship to any real people, places or incidents.

But it has. The plot of The State Within begins and ends with a terrorist bomb blamed on the ‘Islamic Movement of Tyrgyzstan’, which turns out to be perpetrated by others entirely. In Murder in Samarkand I detail bombings blamed by Colin Powell on the real Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. British Embassy investigation proved these not to be what they seemed.

Getting my book published involved tough negotiations between the publisher and the FCO, determining what could be published without the government taking legal action. My conclusions on who was behind those bombs were scrubbed out. But I managed to slip past the censors: ‘it is instructive to read Graham Greene’s great novel The Quiet American and acquaint yourself with the historical truth behind it.’ Greene’s novel hinges upon a real event ‘ a terrorist bomb planted by the CIA and blamed on the Viet Cong.

In fact the world of The State Within is more real than you might imagine. There may yet be a story twist to please the conservatives. But already the BBC has produced something brave, relevant and timely, worthy to be mentioned in the same breath as Edge of Darkness.

They are just too scared to admit it.

Craig Murray

The State Within is currently showing on BBC tv. A diplomat’s equivalent of Spooks? It even has its own game where, as a British ambassador you try and use your Line of Influence to shape events in favour of the government.

It goes without saying that none of the characters or events have anything to do with recent history. Or do they? Click here to read a veiw on the script that you definetely won’t find on the BBC!

Speakers Include: Majad Hussein (Presenter Islam Channel), Craig Murray (Former British Ambassador)

Sunday 19th November, 1 pm, The Asian Centre, Orford Rd, Waltamstow

A new report has been relaeased by the Joseph Roundtree Trust entitled “The Rules of the Game: Terrorism, Community and Human Rights”

It describes some of the deficiencies in the UK gvernment’s current strategy against terrorism.

‘The key to successfully combating terrorism lies in winning the trust and cooperation of the Muslim communities in the UK. However, the government’s counter terrorism legislation and rhetorical stance are between them creating serious losses in human rights and criminal justice protections’they are having a disproportionate effect on the Muslim communities in the UK and so are prejudicing the ability of the government and security forces to gain the very trust and cooperation from individuals in those communities that they require to combat terrorism.’

The full report (pdf) can be accessed here

From Military Families Against the War

Members of military families who have lost loved ones or have family serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have designated Saturday November 11 as Iraq and Afghanistan remembrance day.

We have organised a wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph in Whitehall at 2pm on that day. After the ceremony we will be handing in a letter to Tony Blair signed by 500 military family members calling for the troops to be brought home.

We are appealing to members of military families, veterans and service people to join us in holding a minute’s silence and laying wreaths for all the service men and women and civilians killed in Blair’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We will be assembling in Prince Charles Street off Whitehall at 2pm on Saturday November 11th.

Yours

Rose Gentle

Peter Brierley

Military Families Against the War

www.mfaw.org.uk

for further information contact:

Rose Gentle: 07951 767 530

Andrew Burgin: 07939 242 229

From www.notoextradition.co.uk

We now have confirmation that the Commons will be voting on crucial amendments to the UK-US Extradition Treaty 2003 on TUESDAY 24TH OCTOBER 2006.

If the vote is won, this will directly affect cases of several British Citizens facing extradition to the U.S. (including that of Babar Ahmad).

Please follow the steps below and urgently contact your MP to make sure they clear their diaries to attend the vote. MP’s from all parties need to be contacted, ESPECIALLY Labour MP’s.

This will take less than 10 minutes of your time.

STEP 1: Go to www.writetothem.com and paste the paragraph below in the box. You must include your name and postal address:

I am writing to you as your constituent to urge you to vote to support both amendments to the UK-US Extradition Act 2003 (prima facie evidence and forum) when the Police and Justice Bill returns to the Commons on 24th October 2006. I would urge you to please make yourself available to vote on that day to back both amendments and to encourage your fellow MP’s to do the same. I hope that you will vote to give British citizens the same rights as the U.S Government gives to its citzens.

STEP 2: Follow up the email with a phonecall.

Ring 020 7219 6967 (House of Commons Switchboard) and ask for your MP’s office.

Give them your name and address.

Tell the staff you have sent an email and would like your MP to back both amendments to the Extradition Act 2003 and would like them to cancel any prior engagements to make themselves available to vote on Tuesday 24th October 2006.

Please pass this email on to all your contacts TODAY and circulate on mailing lists and forums so as many MP’s as possible contacted.

Thank you for your time and efforts

Yours sincerely

Free Babar Ahmad Campaign

www.freebabarahmad.com

By Paul Joseph Watson/Prison Planet.com | October 12 2006

The British media is feverishly hyping the deranged notes of a screwball Muslim Londoner as evidence of a huge “terror plot admission” in which Wall Street and other prominent buildings were the target – despite the fact that the suspect had no means whatsoever to carry out the attack – meanwhile completely ignoring a report earlier this week where the largest haul of explosives and a rocket launcher were found at a white man’s house in Burnley.

“A man has pleaded guilty to conspiring to murder people in a series of bombings on British and US targets,” reports the BBC.

“The plans were for attacks on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank buildings in Washington, the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup buildings in New York and the Prudential buildings in Newark, New Jersey.”

According to the latest manufactured monster in the closet fairy tale, Dhiren Barot, of north London, planned to use a radioactive “dirty bomb” as well as blowing up cars in underground UK parking lots using gas cylinders and explosives.

Here’s the kicker.

“The Crown could not dispute claims from the defence that no funding had been received for the projects, nor any vehicles or bomb-making materials acquired.”

No money, no vehicles, no bombs – just some retarded nutcase scrawling absent-minded empty threats in a notebook. Should he be investigated by the police? No doubt about it. Should his “confession” of scribbling demented ramblings in a paper pad be splashed all over the top of the BBC website and head up the evening news as a major foiled bomb plot?

No. That’s outright fearmongering and artificially inflating a nothing story to feed into the public’s fear of its own shadow – greasing the skids for Blair to shred the remaining tatters of liberty and blanket the country with more shouting telescreens.

The hype surrounding this nothing story is especially vacuous when you consider that earlier in the week the “largest ever” haul of explosives was found at a house in Burnley – including a chemicals, bio-suits and even a rocket launcher. The find was briefly reported on by a handful of local town newspapers but completely blacked out by the national print and TV press.

Some charge that the BBC were complicit in burying the story.

For the full article and links go here

With some reports describing Afghanistan as Britain’s Vietnam and the UK government scrabbling to try and shore up morale in the armed forces, it is worth noting again that no figures for Afghan civilian or military casualties are being reported. What is available is an assessment from UNHCR showing that about 90,000 people have been displaced from their homes by fighting in Southern Afghanistan since July. One can guess that total casualties are, by now, probably running into the thousands.

Accounts of the fighting and video, taken from the British perspective, are available here

From UNHCR

KABUL, Afghanistan, October 3 (UNHCR) ‘ Fighting pitting government and NATO troops against Taliban combatants has forced some 15,000 families to flee their homes in three southern Afghanistan provinces since July.

UNHCR spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that the refugee agency was concerned about this displacement ‘ amounting to approximately 80,000-90,000 people ‘ in Kandahar, Uruzgan and Helmand. She said it had added “new hardship to a population already hosting 116,400 people earlier uprooted by conflict and drought.”

The Taliban have been waging a relentless and costly summer campaign in the south against government troops and forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), with British and Canadian soldiers bearing the brunt of attacks.

The Afghan government has created a Disaster Management Committee in Kandahar to coordinate relief efforts. The committee is working in coordination with the United Nations, led by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

“UNHCR, as part of a joint UN effort, is providing the recently displaced Afghans in the province of Kandahar with non-food items. Together with UNICEF, distribution of jerry cans, plastic sheeting, floor mats, lanterns, family kits and blankets is under way,” said Edmond Kamina, a UNHCR official in Kandahar. These have been issued to some 3,200 families in Panjwai and Zhare Dasht districts. World Food Programme is providing food aid.

The government is currently assessing the needs of the displaced in the three southern provinces. “We are working very closely with tribal and IDP [internally displaced people] elders in order to assist the conflict-affected people, but they need more assistance to rebuild their lives,” said Rahmatullah Safi of the Afghan Department of Refugees and Repatriation.

“People have lost everything, their vineyards, orchards, schools and clinics. Some assistance has already reached them, but more needs to be done,” he said, adding that some 5,000 of the displaced families had received aid.

When the fighting escalated, Haji Abdul Majeed, 48, fled to Kandahar with his family from their home in Panjwai. “I will not return my family from Kandahar city until security has been restored,” he said.

Meanwhile, UNHCR has said it is ready to assist when it is clear what is required. “We expect further displacement may take place until conditions are safe for the population to return to their homes,” Pagonis said. Some families were reported to have left Kandahar city and returned to Panjwai and Zhare Dasht during daylight, but returned to Kandahar at night for safety reasons. UNHCR has no information on population movements to other districts.

A wide variety of speakers graced the stage at the Time to Go demonstration in Manchester at the weekend. Here we post video of the speeches from:

Malcolm Kendall-Smith – A RAF officer who was imprisoned for his principled styand against the Iraq war. “Resistence is not futile”

Lauren Booth – Tony Blair’s sister-in-law!

Michael Meacher – A Labour MP who dares to break with the mould.

16 US security agencies agree with the obvious…

As, of course, does the UK Joint Intelligence Committee, MI5, Chatham House, and well, lets be honest, everyone. The remaining question is why the Labour Party tolerates its leader smearing it with the mud of increasingly incredible denial.

From The Telegraph

The war in Iraq has boosted Islamist terrorism and the threat to the West has increased since the September 11 attacks, according to leaks from a report by America’s intelligence agencies.

In the latest blow to President George W Bush’s and Tony Blair’s justification for the war, the National Intelligence Estimate has concluded that it has fuelled radicalism and spawned a new generation of terrorists.

The report, a collation of work from America’s 16 spy agencies, is the first official survey of US intelligence on global terrorism since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Summaries of the study, leaked to the New York Times yesterday, were seized on by critics of the war who have long argued that it is an effective recruiting sergeant for Islamist terrorists.

A spokesman for the White House, which has persistently argued that the world is a safer place because of the war, would only say that the leaks did not give a balanced account of the report.

Called Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States, the estimate argues that Islamic radicalism has spread across the world and diversified, according to the leak.

An early chapter ‘ Indicators of the Spread of the Global Jihadist Movement ‘ highlights the Iraq war as a prime cause for the spread of the ideology of jihad.

The 30-page estimate cites the “centrality” of the US-led invasion and the ensuing insurgency as the inspiration for Islamist terror networks across the world.

“It’s a very candid assessment,” one intelligence official told the Washington Post. “It’s stating the obvious.”

(more…)

Fromn The Raw Story

Lieutenant-Colonel (ret.) Nigel Wylde, a former senior British Army Intelligence Officer, has suggested that the police and government story about the “terror plot” revealed on 10th August was part of a “pattern of lies and deceit.”

British and American government officials have described the operation which resulting in the arrest of 24 mostly British Muslim suspects, as a resounding success. Thirteen of the suspects have been charged, and two released without charges.

According to security sources, the terror suspects were planning to board up to ten civilian airliners and detonate highly volatile liquid explosives on the planes in a spectacular terrorist operation. The liquid explosives — either TATP (Triacetone Triperoxide), DADP (diacetone diperoxide) or the less sensitive HMTD (hexamethylene triperoxide diamine) — were reportedly to be made on board the planes by mixing sports drinks with a peroxide-based household gel and then be detonated using an MP3 player or mobile phone.

But Lt. Col. Wylde, who was awarded the Queen’s Gallantry Medal for his command of the Belfast Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit in 1974, described this scenario as a “fiction.” Creating liquid explosives is a “highly dangerous and sophisticated task,” he states, one that requires not only significant chemical expertise but also appropriate equipment.

Terror plot scenario “untenable”

“The idea that these people could sit in the plane toilet and simply mix together these normal household fluids to create a high explosive capable of blowing up the entire aircraft is untenable,” said Lt. Col. Wylde, who was trained as an ammunition technical officer responsible for terrorist bomb disposal at the Royal Army Ordnance Corps in Sandhurst.

After working as a bomb defuser in Northern Ireland, Lt. Col. Wylde became a senior officer in British Army Intelligence in 1977. During the Cold War, he collected intelligence as part of an undercover East German “liaison unit,” then went on to work in the Ministry of Defense to review its communications systems.

“So who came up with the idea that a bomb could be made on board? Not Al Qaeda for sure. It would not work. Bin Laden is interested in success not deterrence by failure,” Wylde stated.

(more…)

“The statistics provided just do not add up”

The failure by the British Ministry of Defence to report full and accurate information on British casualties, during the war in Iraq has been previously documented by a number of sources. It now appears that the MOD admit that even the system of reporting casualties to the next of kin did not function correctly during the Iraq invasion.

As casualties continue to rise, in both Iraq and Afghanistan, LFCM provides the latest update on their attempts to unravel this bizarre case of continuing official obfuscation.

From Islamonline.net

British soldiers say the ferocity of the fighting and privations they face are far worse than generally known. (Reuters)

HELMAND PROVINCE ‘ British troops deployed in southern Afghanistan were stunned by the ferocity shown by die-hart Taliban fighters, while top NATO officers on Wednesday, September 13, struggled to find reinforcements.

“We did not expect the ferocity of the engagements,” a British officer who has served in the southern province of Helmand, told The Independent.

“We also expected the Taliban to carry out hit and run raids. Instead we have often been fighting toe to toe, endless close-quarters combat. It has been exhausting.”

Some 4,000 British troops make up the majority of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force deployed in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar.

Captain Leo Docherty, the former aide-de-camp to the commander of the British taskforce in southern Afghanistan, has resigned in protest at the “grotesquely clumsy” and “pointless” campaign against Taliban. The criticism, the first from an officer who has served in Afghanistan, came during the worst time so far for British troops in the country. In total, 22 British troops have been killed so far in September.

More than 90 foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan this year, and the casualties in the south have raised questions about NATO’s ability to successfully complete its mission.

Coming Back

The British troops complain that no matter how many Taliban fighters they kill, they keep coming back.

“We are flattening places we have already flattened, but the attacks have kept coming,” one soldier told the British daily.

“We have killed them by the dozens, but more keep coming, either locally or from across the border,” he added.

The solider asserted that they have used almost all their available military cards including B1 bombers, Harriers, F16s and Mirage 2000s.

“We have dropped 500lb, 1,000lb and even 2,000lb bombs. At one point our Apaches ran out of missiles they have fired so many,” he said, noting this has not prevented ambushes.

“Almost any movement on the ground gets ambushed.”

Lt Gen David Richards, ISAF commander, admitted that British forces have been involved in some of the fiercest fighting since the Korean war in 1951.

Even Afghan civilians are complaining. “We are not safe now; it is more dangerous than it was just a few months ago,” one man said in the market town of Lashkar Gar.

Reinforcements

In Brussels, top N ese worthy tasks. What the media fails to mention is that the trans-Afghan gas pipeline will eventually pass through Helmand and Kandahar, although its construction has recently been suspended due to rebel activity.

Could it be that securing this area to allow pipeline construction is the real reason British troops are fighting in Afghanistan? If so then it’s a pointless exercise, as even if the pipeline is constructed it would never be secure in a hostile country like Afghanistan.

In the nineteenth century the British lost two disastrous wars fighting Afghan tribesmen, I fear we are seeing the mistakes of history repeated.

From BBC Online

Anti-war protesters have accused Labour of censorship after they were banned from holding a peace camp near the party’s annual conference. Military Families Against The War had planned to camp near the conference in Manchester but have been banned by the city’s Labour council.

Providing facilities for the campers would not be logistically possible, a council spokesman said. The Labour Party conference starts at the G-Mex centre on Sunday. On Wednesday, it was revealed the police operation covering the event would be the “biggest the city has ever seen”.

‘Doing government’s bidding’

About 20 activists were denied permission to pitch tents in Albert Square in front of the Town Hall from 21 September on health and safety grounds. Rose Gentle, from Glasgow, whose 19-year-old son Gordon died in Iraq in 2004 said the council were “doing the government’s bidding”.

“We think it’s because it’s the Labour conference and they don’t want us going and voicing our opinions because Mr Blair is going to be there,” she said.

“They say it’s health and safety. They said they don’t want drunks thinking it’s somewhere they can sleep. But we’ve got our own security.”

Mrs Gentle said they were still planning to go ahead with the camp.

A spokesman for Manchester City Council said: “We recognise that it is vital we work together so the city runs smoothly while at the same time protesters are allowed to air their views in a lawful way. We cannot logistically provide facilities for camping in Albert Square.”

A police spokesman said: “Greater Manchester Police supports the public’s right to peaceful protest. However this is a matter for Manchester City Council.”

Extra visitors

Launching the police operation, Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Thomas of Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said that security would be tight.

Up to 1,000 officers each day would provide “robust” policing to cover anyone entering the “island” zone around the G-Mex. He said: “There is no specific threat to Manchester at the moment but obviously the UK’s national threat level is currently severe.

“But, of course, with the Prime Minister and the seat of government coming here we have high-level people to protect and there is an added risk.”

About 17,000 extra visitors are expected to begin arriving in the city from 22 September for the five-day conference.

The Home Office has given GMP ‘4.2m to police the conference.

From The Scotsman

THE officer in charge of the bungled operation in which Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by anti-terrorism police in London is to be promoted, it was revealed last night – provoking outrage from his family. Commander Cressida Dick has been “provisionally selected” to become one of four deputy assistant commissioners at Scotland Yard.

The promotion, which was announced exactly a week before the next hearing in a prosecution case against the Metropolitan Police over its handling of the disastrous operation in July 2005, was described as a “slap in the face” by a spokesman for the de Menezes family.

Mr de Menezes, an unarmed, 27-year-old Brazilian, was shot seven times in the head by anti-terrorism officers at a Tube station in south London after being mistaken for a suicide bomber. The Metropolitan Police is to be prosecuted under health and safety laws for allegedly failing in duties owed to non-employees, although no individual officers will be charged.

Cmdr Dick was the designated senior officer who oversaw the operation that ended in Mr de Menezes death. She has been interviewed under caution by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) over her role in the shooting, but until the IPCC’s report and its evidence is published, her testimony will remain under wraps.

There has been claim and counter-claim about whether Cmdr Dick authorised officers to use lethal force against Mr de Menezes as he entered Stockwell Tube station. Len Duvall, the MPA chairman, who led the interview panel, acknowledged in a statement that there were some “sensitive and unprecedented circumstances involved”, and said officers would not be promoted until “outstanding issues” were resolved.

He said: “The MPA would not prejudice an officer’s fair promotion prospects by making assumptions about future disciplinary action.” A spokesman for the de Menezes family said: “The family are absolutely disgusted and outraged at what is just one more slap in the face.

“We have not even seen the beginning, let alone the end, of the legal process as to who is culpable and responsible for the death of an innocent man.

“How can the Metropolitan Police Authority give the green light to promote Cressida Dick, someone who is centrally involved in the court case?”

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, who faced criticism over his immediate support of the officers involved in the shooting, acted as an adviser to the selection panel of five MPA members. In a statement, Sir Ian said: “I welcome the officers who have succeeded in promotion to these strategically important roles.”

Alex Pereira, a cousin of Mr de Menezes, last night told Sky News he felt as if the “people in charge” were working together to prevent his family being given justice. However Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, welcomed the appointment of women as deputy assistant commissioners, which he said sent out “a powerful positive signal about the development of the Met as a modern police service.”

A spokesman for the IPCC said: “Promotion is entirely a matter for the Metropolitan Police Authority.”

From The Sunday Times

‘We’ve been grotesquely clumsy ‘ we’ve said we’ll be different to the Americans who were bombing and strafing villages, then behaved exactly like them.’

THE former aide-de-camp to the commander of the British taskforce in southern Afghanistan has described the campaign in Helmand province as ‘a textbook case of how to screw up a counter-insurgency’.

‘Having a big old fight is pointless and just making things worse,’ said Captain Leo Docherty, of the Scots Guards, who became so disillusioned that he quit the army last month.

‘All those people whose homes have been destroyed and sons killed are going to turn against the British,’ he said. ‘It’s a pretty clear equation ‘ if people are losing homes and poppy fields, they will go and fight. I certainly would.

‘We’ve been grotesquely clumsy ‘ we’ve said we’ll be different to the Americans who were bombing and strafing villages, then behaved exactly like them.’

Docherty’s criticisms, the first from an officer who has served in Helmand, came during the worst week so far for British troops in Afghanistan, with the loss of 18 men.

They reflected growing concern that forces have been left exposed in small northern outposts of Helmand such as Sangin, Musa Qala and Nawzad. Pinned down by daily Taliban attacks, many have run short of food and water and have been forced to rely on air support and artillery.

‘We’ve deviated spectacularly from the original plan,’ said Docherty, who was aide-de-camp to Colonel Charlie Knaggs, the commander in Helmand.

‘The plan was to secure the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, initiate development projects and enable governance . . . During this time, the insecure northern part of Helmand would be contained: troops would not be ‘sucked in’ to a problem unsolvable by military means alone.’

According to Docherty, the planning ‘fell by the wayside’ because of pressure from the governor of Helmand, who feared the Taliban were toppling his district chiefs in northern towns.

Docherty traces the start of the problems to the British capture of Sangin on May 25, in which he took part. He says troops were sent to seize this notorious centre of Taliban and narcotics activity without night-vision goggles and with so few vehicles they had to borrow a pick-up truck.

More damningly, once they had established a base in the town, the mission failed to capitalise on their presence. Sangin has no paved roads, running water or electricity, but because of a lack of support his men were unable to carry out any development, throwing away any opportunity to win over townspeople.

‘The military is just one side of the triangle,’ he said. ‘Where were the Department for International Development and the Foreign Office? ‘The window was briefly open for our message to be spread, for the civilian population to be informed of our intent and realise that we weren’t there simply to destroy the poppy fields and their livelihoods. I felt at this stage that the Taliban were sitting back and observing us, deciding in their own time how to most effectively hit us.’

Eventually the Taliban attacked on June 11, when Captain Jim Philippson became the first British soldier to be killed in Helmand. British troops have since been holed up in their compound with attacks coming at least once a day. Seven British soldiers have died in the Sangin area.

‘Now the ground has been lost and all we’re doing in places like Sangin is surviving,’ said Docherty. ‘It’s completely barking mad.

‘We’re now scattered in a shallow meaningless way across northern towns where the only way for the troops to survive is to increase the level of violence so more people get killed. It’s pretty shocking and not something I want to be part of.’