July 1, 2008
Andrew Mackinlay - an Honest Man in Parliament
New Labour hates independence of mind, and unsurprisingly therefore views Andrew Mackinlay as a threat. I doubt there is a more genuine and well-intentioned person in the House of Commons than Andrew. For years he has been devoted to the democratic development of Eastern Europe, and he is a mainstay of the all-party committees on the region. He is also an outspoken champion of the rights of Parliament against the Executive, and he asked the best ever question of Tony Blair at Prime Minister's questions. After one toady New Labour MP after another had asked questions written in No 10 for Tony Blair to look good with a sharp answer, Andrew Mackinlay stood up and asked:
"Does the Prime Minister recall that, when we were in opposition, we used to groan at the fawning, obsequious, soft-ball, well-rehearsed and planted questions asked by Conservative members?"
The House roared with laughter at an embarassed Blair, who was lost for words as things went so badly off message. He eventually replied with a thinly veiled threat that he would make sure Mackinlay remained always a backbencher. As Andrew Mackinlay has absolutely no desire to do other than serve his constituents, and has a Trollopean respect for the House of Commons, that was no great threat.
Media sources tell me that New Labour are now whispering to everyone who will listen (only the Daily Mail has half bought it) that Andrew Mackinlay is a Russian spy and a tool of the oligarchs.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1030235/Labour-MP-pulled-chief-whip-inviting-Russian-spy-tea-Commons.html
An article saying so has turned up in a Bulgarian newspaper as evidence. Evidently MI6 are losing their touch - they might have at least got it published somewhere outside the EU. Maybe Russia would have been more convincing.
Andrew Mackinlay's sharp and very well-informed interest in foreign policy has made him a mainstay of the Foreign Affairs Committee for over a decade, where he has frequently exposed and embarassed the government. I can give first hand testimony that the New Labour government and the security services absolutely hate him. They have also tried to discredit him before. In 16 April 2003 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office continued its camapiagn of internal vilification against me with the shocking revelation that I had been to a jazz bar with my secretary. In the same letter, they made the claim that I had been in strip clubs in Warsaw with Andrew Mackinlay. http://www.blairwatch.co.uk/murray/Butt.pdf See Murder in Samarkand p252.
This claim is utterly untrue. I have never hidden the fact that while in Warsaw for four years I went to a strip club on two or three occasions. But I never saw Andrew Mackinlay in or near one, and to my knowledge he has never been in a strip club, in Warsaw or anywhere else The question is, why was the FCO in 2003 libelling Andrew Mackinlay in this way, particularly in the context of a letter about Uzbekistan? Andrew had no connection with Uzbekistan. I had known him in Poland on official business as chairman of the British-Polish parliamentary group, but in 2003 I had had no contact with him for five years, so why bring in a totally irrelevant libel? Were they hitting two Iraq war sceptics with one stone? When I did contact him in summer of 2004, our telephone conversation was definitely bugged, as explained in detail in Murder in Samarkand.
Well, now they are trying to label him a Russian spy or stooge. Contempt for civil liberties has grown so strong in this country that the media has failed to focus on the truly appalling aspect of this case: when Chief Whip Geoff Hoon called Andrew Mackinlay in to dress him down for meeting with a Soviet diplomat, he knew the detail of their conversation. An MP had been bugged by MI5 inside parliament. Just ten years ago that would, quite rightly, have caused a scandal and ministerial resignations. Now it appears nobody cares.
One of the reasons the security services have targeted Andrew Mackinlay for years is that he has been a leading opponent in parliament of their exponentially increasing powers to bug citizens at will. http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200203/cmhansrd/vo030703/debtext/30703-27.htm
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/331667.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3295393.ece
As for the odious Geoff Hoon, Chief Whip from Minister of Defence? It seems the hopelessly impotent Hoon is given increasingly unimportant jobs until they find one he can actually do - a reverse Peter principle I hereby christen the Geoff principle. Personally I suggest they put him in charge of a sub-Post Office, and then close it.
Andrew Mackinlay is worth ten thousand of Geoff Hoon. Anyone who doubts that for a minute should read the speech he made in the House of Commons on this subject.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm080522/debtext/80522-0009.htm
He is one of the very few independent spirits remaining in the Houses of Parliament. How the Establishment hate him - as I say, I can give eye witness evidence of that from many years on the inside.
I am no fan of the Putin-led Mafia/KGB hybrid that still rules Russia. But Russia and Eastern Europe are huge factors in future world development. We are sinking to the depths of cold war paranoia, that one of the most interested and informed MPs is smeared by the security services for having Russian contacts. Andrew Mackinlay is no Russian stooge and in nobody's pocket - and that goes for New Labour too.
Posted by craig on 9:34 PM 01/07/08 under Other | Comments (3)
June 24, 2008
Amnesty International Accuses European Governments of Complicity in 'Torture Flights'
Amnesty International has accused European governments, including Ireland and the UK, of complicity and inaction over US-led rendition and secret detention, as it published a new report on European renditions and a 'Six-point Plan' for their prevention.
Amnesty International's report, 'State of denial: Europe's role in rendition and secret detention', published yesterday, shed further light on the extent of Europe's role in the US-led rendition and secret detention programmes. It also exposes the continuing failure of European states, including Ireland, to admit or investigate violations carried out by their nationals or on their territory.
Posted by andrew on 7:53 AM 24/06/08 under Rendition | Comments (2)
June 18, 2008
"If the detainee dies, you're doing it wrong"
From The Washington Post
A senior CIA lawyer advised Pentagon officials about the use of harsh interrogation techniques on detainees at Guantanamo Bay in a meeting in late 2002, defending waterboarding and other methods as permissible despite U.S. and international laws banning torture, according to documents released yesterday by congressional investigators.Torture "is basically subject to perception," CIA counterterrorism lawyer Jonathan Fredman told a group of military and intelligence officials gathered at the U.S.-run detention camp in Cuba on Oct. 2, 2002, according to minutes of the meeting. "If the detainee dies, you're doing it wrong." ...
Posted by andrew on 6:45 PM 18/06/08 under Rendition | Comments (0)
June 13, 2008
If you can't buy them - ban them
Liberal Democrat shadow home secretary, Chris Huhne, has written to the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, calling on her to overturn the ban on the anti-Bush march on Sunday. Referring to the recent 42 day detention without trial vote he says: "Just because the votes of these protesters cannot be bought does not mean that their voices should not be heard by those in 10 Downing Street"
It seems that more than one MP is now waking up to just how serious this governments attack on civil liberties and British traditions has become.
Dear Home Secretary,I am writing to urgently request that you review the
decision of the Metropolitan Police to ban the anti-Bush
march taking place this Sunday 15 June from marching down
Whitehall. As you will be aware the Stop the War Coalition
have organised dozens of peaceful marches past Downing
Street, and I am deeply concerned that the request has been
denied.In this country we have a long tradition of peaceful protest
and I would be shocked if British civil liberties were
curtailed at the request of a foreign government. I hope
that you can also confirm that the decision of the
Metropolitan Police was not made at the request of the US
authorities.A static demonstration in Parliament Square is no
replacement for a protest march down Whitehall and I urge
you to work with the police and the protesters to ensure
they are able to make their voices heard outside Downing
Street. Just because the votes of these protesters cannot
be bought does not mean that their voices should not be
heard by those in 10 Downing Street.Kind Regards,
Chris Huhne
Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary
Posted by andrew on 2:52 PM 13/06/08 under UK Policy | Comments (3)
June 12, 2008
Over there and over here
(ACLU) NEW YORK - In a stunning blow to the Bush administration's failed national security policies, the Supreme Court ruled today 5-4 that the U.S. Constitution applies to the government's detention policies at Guantánamo. The Court concluded that detainees held at Guantánamo have a right to challenge their detention through habeas corpus.
(BBC Online) Shadow home secretary David Davis has resigned as an MP. He is to force a by-election in his Haltemprice and Howden constituency which he will fight on the issue of the new 42-day terror detention limit. Mr Davis, 59, told reporters outside the House of Commons he believed his move was a "noble endeavour" to stop the erosion of British civil liberties.
Posted by andrew on 9:09 PM 12/06/08 under UK Policy | Comments (0)
June 3, 2008
New Book Finished
I am emerging from six months purdah having finally finished my second book! It is called The Catholic Orangemen of Togo and Other Conflicts I Have Known, and is being published by Mainstream of Edinburgh.
I have submitted it first to the FCO for approval. The FCO never did approve Murder in Samarkand, but we went ahead and published anyway, and it turned out despite the government's bluster there was nothing they could do about it. But the approval process was very helpful in proving the truth of the book, through the FCO's table of requested changes.
http://www.blairwatch.co.uk/murray/FCO_Comment.pdf
I will keep you updated on what is happening with the Catholic Orangemen.
Posted by craig on 4:29 PM 03/06/08 under The Book | Comments (3)
June 2, 2008
George Bush to visit Britain on June 15th
Stop the War is planning a protest in London on that day against Bush and his war policies, and against the British government's continuing support for his wars.
For more details go here
Update: Stop the War have applied to demonstrate down Whitehall but so far the police, presumably under instructions from US security, are banning them. They are challenging the ban and are inviting supporters to send messages of complaint to the Home Secretary:
* Telephone: 020 7035 0198
* Fax: 020 7035 0900
* Email: indpublicenquiries@ind.homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
You can also complain to the Metropolitan Police about the proposed ban: Telephone: 020 7230 1212.
A protest is also be organised for when George Bush goes to Windsor for tea with the Queen at 3.00pm.
Posted by andrew on 12:58 PM 02/06/08 under UK Policy | Comments (0)
May 2, 2008
'Torture Team' UCL Law Professor Publishes an Indictment of the Bush Administration
A Professor at University College London, Philippe Sands, has revealed that top echelons in the Bush administration put pressure on officials at Guantánamo Bay detention camp to devise new torture techniques. These actions flouted the Geneva conventions protecting prisoners’ human rights. This information is revealed in a new book ‘Torture Team’ published by Allen Lane.
(UCL) Through candid interviews with, among others, the head of interrogation and the staff judge advocate at Guantánamo, Professor Sands reveals the true circumstances in which US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld approved new and aggressive interrogation techniques in December 2002 that reneged on principles for the conduct of interrogation laid down by Abraham Lincoln almost 150 years previously. The decision involved the administration’s most senior lawyers.The move was designed to extract information from a single detainee, suspected of being the 20th hijacker involved in the September 2001 attacks on the United States, who had been held in isolation for four months. However, it has led governments around the world to justify increasingly cruel methods in an effort to acquire information – methods that have proved no more effective than standard interrogation approaches, according to Professor Sands’s research. Professor Sands found that the popularity of the fictional television drama ‘24’ among the top level of the US government, which featured successful use of cruel techniques to gather intelligence, was a factor in the decision.
In an interview with the ‘Guardian’, Professor Sands said: “Since 1863, the US military had forborne the use of cruelty in relation to any person at any time. It’s a historic and marked change of direction. […] In relation to Guantánamo, decision-making went to the highest levels of the administration: the vice-president’s lawyer and the president’s lawyer were directly involved. […] Popular culture astonishingly played into individual decision-making on the ground at Guantánamo. The fact that the US has moved to these techniques is deeply disturbing; it has vitally undermined American moral authority and has made it much more difficult to promote the rule of law and human rights internationally.”
Posted by andrew on 10:09 PM 02/05/08 under Rendition | Comments (1)
April 22, 2008
US Torture Policy to be Rendered at the Movies
Posted by andrew on 11:27 AM 22/04/08 under Rendition | Comments (1)
April 17, 2008
The London Elections and Strategic Voting
The London elections loom. On 1 May 2008 people will be voting for the Mayor of London and the London Assembly, which has both constituency and London-wide members.
London Strategic Voter is an website not linked to any single political party. It claims to provide independent advice to voters looking for a progressive alternative to New Labour and the Tories, but who are frustrated by the unrepresentative first-past-the-post system we are currently saddled with. And there are more of you than you might think. According to LSV, in the 2004 elections 48% of Londoners voted for parties other than Tory or New Labour.
This site gives ward-by-ward information on how the 2004 London elections went, which can be accessed by postcode. The project aims to build a strong base of London progressive voters ready, willing and enabled to vote strategically at the next General Election to target a hung parliament by getting rid of pro-war, anti-environment and pro-privatisation New Labour MPs across London.
You can check out their advice and perspectives at: http://www.strategicvoter.org.uk/
Posted by andrew on 8:07 PM 17/04/08 under UK Policy | Comments (3)
March 31, 2008
Not a day longer
The Unsubscribe campaign at AI (UK) is asking people to pressure their MPs to reject the latest UK government attempt to extend executive detention without trial. This Tuesday proposals to extend pre-charge detention get their second reading in Parliament.
On 1 April (no, its sadly true...) proposals are being put in front of Parliament to extend the time people can be held without charge in the UK to 42 days - in other words the government want to be able lock people up for six weeks without having to say why. A clear and unnecessary erosion of habeus corpus.
The good news is that there are a lot of MPs and Lords prepared to fight this - but they need your encouragement and support. Others may be persuaded to make a stand if their constituents demand it.
So here's what Amnesty suggest you can do:
1 Write to your MP and ask them to stand up for our civil rights and oppose this draconian extension of pre-charge detention. Simply pop your postcode into http://writetothem.com and the site will channel your mail to your own MP. It is important that you write in your own words (inspiration here).
2 Get everyone you know to sign their petition http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/notadaylonger
3 Spread the word everywhere you can on Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, blogs and anywhere and everywhere you are active online.
Posted by andrew on 11:40 AM 31/03/08 under UK Policy | Comments (3)
March 26, 2008
The Iraq Surge... Again
With fighting surging in Basra and other parts of Iraq, the Government is, yet again, squirming out of holding an enquiry into how this whole mess got started. With 4,000 dead Americans and a current best estimate of 1,200,000 dead Iraqi's, Tony Blair is taking a little time out from solving the Middle East conflict to to talk about 'Faith and Globilisation' at Westminster Abbey. Marvellous.
To keep track of some of the people who are actually responsible for starting our involvement, its worth a look at http://www.holdthemtoaccount.com/.
To get an update on how others in the inner circle of war initiators has prospered read Catherine Bennett here. However, even there one of the biggest beneficiaries of the WMD scam is not mentioned. John Scarlett, was promoted in May 2004 to be head of MI6. This followed his role in overseeing the 'intelligence' behind the dodgy dossier as chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee. Transparent corruption at the highest level.
This is definetely a long term Project for the New "choose your own" Century. So, if you are still at school and thinking of joining up for this never ending jolly foreign colonial escapade, better check this out first: http://www.beforeyousignup.info
Update: A British soldier was killed in Iraq in the early hours of this morning.
Update 2: Sounding out Tony Blair is going to try and ensure his appearance at Westminster Abbey is not a quiet event...
Posted by andrew on 4:17 PM 26/03/08 under War in Iraq | Comments (4)
March 20, 2008
Five Years of Progress
Amnesty International describes the curent state of play:
Carnage and despair in Iraq
Five years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, the country is still in disarray. The human rights situation is disastrous, a climate of impunity has prevailed, the economy is in tatters and the refugee crisis continues to escalate.
Seumas Milne sums it up brilliantly in The Guardian:
There must be a reckoning for this day of infamy
The problem in Iraq, we're now told, was a lack of preparation, or the wrong kind of planning, or mistakes in implementation. If only, say the neocons, we had put our man Ahmad Chalabi in charge from the start, the Iraqis wouldn't have felt so humiliated. If only we hadn't dissolved the army, the pragmatists insist, the insurgency would never have taken off. If only the Brits had been running the show, mutter the old Whitehall hands, all would have been different. The problem, it turns out, was not the invasion and occupation of a sovereign Arab oil state on a tide of official deceit, but the way it was carried out......For the future, so long as the disaster of Iraq is put down to mistakes or lack of planning, the real lessons will not be learned, but repeated - as appears to be happening now in Afghanistan. Gordon Brown has at last promised a full Iraq inquiry when British troops are no longer in the firing line. But any more delay to a proper accounting of what has taken place - including, as the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said at the weekend, the nature of the US-British relationship - will only further corrode the political system. The disaster of Iraq has at least had the effect of demonstrating the limits of imperial power and restraining further US attacks. The danger is, however, that next time they'll just try and do it differently - without the mistakes.
Posted by andrew on 6:40 PM 20/03/08 under War in Iraq | Comments (9)
March 18, 2008
The Zimbabwe Elections
On the 29th March Zimbabwe will go to the polls. From the outside its a complex thing to get to grips with. However, one thing appears plain. Change is badly needed and Zimbabawe needs fair elections, and for Robert Mugabe to loosen his grip and hand over power in a peaceful transition. But will it happen?
Fay Chung is one independent candidate who has decided to run in this potentially risky election process, and instead of supporting the MDC has thrown in her lot with Simba Makoni. Her international support blog is now running at http://zimbabwe-now.blogspot.com/ and provides some interesting alternative views.
For news on the situation in Zimbabwe try http://www.irinnews.org/
Posted by andrew on 10:37 AM 18/03/08 under Other | Comments (1)
