Guradian breaks 'D' Notice on Craig Murray web posted documents

The Guradian, alone amongst the MSM (based on searches of Google News) have alerted their readers to the FCO's attempts to silence Craig Murray.

Former ambassador posts censored passages from memoir on website

Says the headline which reports an event that happened 7 days ago. They outline the FCO actions on Friday in attempting to suppress the web publication of the documents - an action which the bone heads at the FCO failed to understand would precipitate and unleash a frantic worldwide circulation, storage, mirroring, of the offending documents - which will of course have enabled them to identify all the bloggers who have been so busy over the wekend.

After a brief and useful examination, the article by David Leigh, (described as Investigations Editor), after a brief and useful examination of the principal document that details FCO objections to passages in the original text of the book, the brief report concludes...

"Lawyers say Mr Murray would be able to argue a defence of public interest for his own non-commercial disclosures, as would the media if quoting from the government documents on his website while reporting on current news events."

On which lawyers came to this view, Mr Leigh is silent, perhaps none wish to be quoted, no doubt the in-house brief must have an opinion? Mr Leigh passes the opportunity to identify where the documents may be read or downloaded.

Massive global effort by bloggers to circulate the Craig Murray texts

Lord Patel has noted over 20 sites who are mirroring the texts worldwide and is aware of a massive global interest in downloading the documents. A Google Blog search "Craig Murray downloads" , will reveal most sites hosting the texts as downloadable PDF's or Torrent or similiar bitstreams.

Many Angry Gerbils is a good start, who also prints an exchange of letters between Craig Murray and the FCO yesterday, as does Lenin's Tomb


Craig says ...

"Your peremptory demands reveal the motive behind your actions in this case - the suppression of information for political purposes. I don't believe it is right to use Crown Copyright in this way. Otherwise the government has an arbitrary power to keep secret absolutely anything that it does. Your contention in your letter of 7 July that the government can use Crown Copyright arbitrarily and politically to suppress material released under the Freedom of Information Act, would obviate the whole purpose of that Act in giving the public a "Right to know" what is being done in their name."

and ..

"If all or any of these are, in your view, matters of discretion where the government can exercise Crown Copyright if it so chooses, then the following is perhaps the most important question of all. Are there any criteria of reasonable action which the government is obliged to consider when deciding whether to enforce claimed copyright or not, or is the Crown claiming a power which is solely arbitrary?"

It is critical that Craig is given every support possible and every reader is urged to e-mail Craig with messages of support. You might also wish to write to your MP, MEP, the gormless Foreign Secretary Ma Beckett, the Prime Minister and even the preposterous Seargeant Buzfuz, AKA Mr Gareth Buttress, Official Solicitor.

Pickwick Papers. Charles Dickens (Copyright expired, Thank God)

"I say systematic villany, gentlemen," said Sergeant Buzfuz, looking through Mr. Pickwick, and talking at him; "and when I say systematic villany, let me tell the defendant, Pickwick, if he be in court, as I am informed he is, that it would have been more decent in him, more becoming, in better judgment and in better taste, if he had stopped away. Let me tell him, gentlemen, that any gestures of dissent or disapprobation in which he may indulge in this court will not go down with you; that you will know how to value and how to appreciate them; and let me tell him further, as my lord will tell you, gentlemen, that a counsel, in the discharge of his duty to his client, is neither to be intimidated nor bullied, nor put down; and that any attempt to do either the one or the other, or the first, or the last, will recoil on the head of the attempter, be he plaintiff or be he defendant, be his name Pickwick, or Noakes, or Stoakes, or Stiles, or Brown, or Thompson."