More information on man killed in Edgware Road Tube Bombing 7/7/2005

The Independent today fleshes out the life of Sidique Khan from his personnel file at the Leeds Education Authority obtained unde the Freedon of Information Act.

They provide a brief outline ...The life of Mohammad Sidique Khan

* October 1974 Born, Leeds

* 1994 Works first for Benefits Agency, then DTI (1995), then learning mentor at Hillside Primary (2001)

* 2001 Upsets father and stepmother by marrying a girl of Indian-Muslim descent, Hasina Patel, whom he met at Leeds Metropolitan University

* 2003 Establishes gyms in Beeston, radicalising young British Muslims. Periods of absence from Hillside

* July 2004 Introduced to government minister Hilary Benn during school tour of Commons. Is also subject of routine MI5 threat assessment after his name crops up in an investigation; check not pursued

* September 2004 Begins long sick leave

* November 2004 Travels to Pakistan with Tanweer to prepare for London attacks

* July 2005 Bombs Edgware Road Tube station

Killling the kids, Livni follows family tradition

On Monday, Raed al-Batsh, 16, and his brother Mahmoud, eight, were killed along with 14-year-old Ahmed Sweisi by a missile that also killed two Palestinian militants on a crowded Gaza City street on Monday afternoon.The two brothers were helping out in their dad's welding shop when an Israeli missile slammed into an ice cream truck carrying Islamic Jihad gunmen.

The Israeli military confirmed the attack, saying the target was one of the dead men, Islamic Jihad operatives Munir Sukar and Ashraf Shaluf who had carried out rocket attacks against Israel.

The Israeli military continued to shell areas of the Gaza Strip, and conducted twenty-nine incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank this week. Houses were raided and thirty-eight Palestinian civilians were arrested. At least one house was occupied by Israeli soldiers and turned into a military post.


If you arrived here in May 2007 by googling for an image of Livni and Sharon, try reading what Lord Patel has written over a long time about Livni and how she will succeed Olmert. Today she made her bid - and she will succeed, and a great deal more blood will be spilt in the Middle East. Read on here

NSA eavesdropping constitutional

The NSA warrantless eavesdropping program has shown there should be limits to Executive power, to what extent a "wartime" President is unconstrained by law, how the Congress and judiciaryfail to check and balance Presidential power, and the ability of the President to ignore Congressional law on national security grounds.

Bush acknowledged that he had authorized the NSA to eavesdrop on conversations involving suspected terrorists in the months after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He contended that his constitutional powers and the prewar resolution gave him that legal authority.

George Bush said a Congressional investigation into this scandal, would be "good for democracy." Republican Senator Arlen Specter has also said that he believes the Bush Administration’s eavesdropping program ought to be investigated, and is busy investigating away.

Mr Specter (then Junior Counsel) has a history of investigations into thorny issues … he was responsible for the single magic bullet theory that struck and killed President J.F. Kennedy and wounded Governor Connelly which the Warren Commission claimed as the fatal single shot. See pic.

Sounds like a slam dunk for the Prez from here...

No 10's Iran Dossier on the way ... Google to rescue

Writely developed by Upstartle as a web based word processor / text editor has been acquired by Google.

Registration has stopped whilst integration with Google takes place. Users will be able to :



* Upload Word documents, OpenOffice, RTF, HTML or text (or create documents from scratch).

* Use a simple WYSIWYG editor to format your documents, spell-check them, etc.

* Invite others to share your documents (by e-mail address).

* Edit documents online with whoever you choose.

* View your documents' revision history and roll back to any version.

* Publish documents online to the world, or to just who you choose.

* Download documents to your desktop as Word, OpenOffice, RTF, PDF*, HTML or zip.

* Post your documents to your blog.

This sounds ideal for the No 10 Based Dodgy Dossier preparation department (Prop A Campbell - see pic in editing mode). However Big Al had better take care of Sec. 58 of the Terrism Act.... about possessing things that terrists might want to use ... Plod has got his size 11l's down to the floor on this at the moment.

No doubt that nice guy in Psy Ops has a list of tricky points to deal with ... FAQ's on why we are bombing (Country of choice select from drop down menu).

Flaming marvel

I reproduce this in it's entirety from Pootergeek .. you have to visit his blog for the photographs. Visit his site www.pootergeek etc., no I won't provide a link if yuo want to see pics of a flaming old age pensioner in a wheel chair, make an effort.

"Brighton and Hove’s local newspaper is called The Argus (writes PG) . Its staff don’t have much to write about: the football team and its struggle for a stadium, resident micro-celebrity Zoe Ball and her slightly more famous husband Fat Boy Slim. I think I’ve only bought a copy twice. Yesterday was the second time. Why? Because of the following wonderful, wonderful story. Under the page three headline “RON SETS HIS HEAD ON FIRE” Siobhan Ryan writes:

Veteran stuntman Ron Cunningham got a little more than he bargained for when he staged his latest show.

Crowds gathered at the Bedford Tavern pub in Brighton to watch the 90-year-old escape from chains while his hat and jacket were set on fire.

Before the stunt Ron, also known as The Great Omani, said he was 99 percent sure that the stunt would be successful.

He said: “I haven’t done this one for a while and I don’t know what is going to happen but we’ll soon find out.

“I enjoy performing. I have done it all my life. “I need a wheelchair as I am on dialysis and have to go to hospital three times a week. I’m also having treatment for cancer but I don’t let it stop me.”

Pubgoers watched as Ron was wheeled into the centre of the pub by his son David. Chains were put around his wrist and locked with a steel bar and padlocks. Petrol was then poured on his jacket and hat…


…Omani’s hat came off and the flames on his arms flicked around his face, scorching it a little. As he successfully removed the chains and padlocks, the flames became bigger and his wheelchair caught alight.


David stepped forward quickly to put out the flames, but Omani—who ended up with a couple of burns on his arms—had managed to escape….

…After a reviving drink, Ron, who lives in Norfolk Street, Brighton, said: “I came a little unstuck there for a moment but I’ve still got my right hand and can still hold my glass.

“I’ve got a couple of burns but I still think it went well. ”

“I’m pleased to have done it. I love to perform.”

Pubgoer Rick Hawdon was stunned by the performance.

He said: “That is the most amazing thing I have ever seen in a pub on a Saturday afternoon.”

European nEUROn UCAV project under way

Everyone wants to fight but not get killed, so flavour of the month when making toys for the boys, is unmanned vehicles, aerial, land or water based either remotely controlled or robotic.

Benefits over manned vehicles include :

1 Reduction or elimination of the risk of (highly trained) pilot loss
2 Lighter and more fuel-efficient platforms, leading to lower costs and less environmental damage and Significantly longer mission time and range than manned aircraft
3 Greater cost-efficiency than equivalent manned aircraft
4 Potential for higher flight performance than manned aircraft

The French Armed forces have been pursuing the Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) for some time and made initial announcements at the 2003 Paris Airshow.

Dassault have now been awarded (by France's DGA procurement agency) a USD$486 Mn contract which will co-0rdinate a European 6 nation programme to design, build and fly an unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) technology demonstrator.

The aircraft will have unmanned autonomous air-to-ground attack capabilities with precision-guided munitions, relying on an advanced stealth airframe design that reduces radar and infared cross-sections to penetrate undetected at a speed of about Mach 0.8.The project will also examine the ability to control UCAV swarm flight in automatic mode from an advanced fighter like the Dassault Rafale or JAS-39 Gripen,

Based on the French 6,000 Kg nEUROn project vehicle it will co-ordinate efforts with European partners Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland shared by Alenia Aeronautica, Dassault, EADS Casa, Hellenic Aerospace Industry, Ruag Aerospace, Saab and Thales. Chief project manager Thierry Prunier is from Dassault Aviation, deputy project managers are Mats Ohlson of Saab and Ermanno Bertolina of Alenia.(Saab brochure here)

Saab's Filur vehicle had a 10min maiden flight, which took place from the Vidsel test range on 10 October 2005. Further tests are to follow to test the low radar cross-section design to conduct a mission without being detected by air-defence radars. (see pic)

The French have contributed USD$185 Mn and Sweden is next biggest contributor with USD$100 Mn.

Flight tests are rumoured for 2010 (2012 ?) with 2 x 250 Kg bombs but please do not hold your breath.

nEUROn is envisoned as a competitive system with the American J-UCAS program's Boeing X-45C or Northrop-Grumman X-47B. The project is of course a method of keeping design teams together in Europe now that the Typhoon, Rafaele and Gripen fighters are approaching production. BAE / RAF with the hopeless Corax project do not of course figure on the nEUROn program.

More information from Flight here and here

Dassault Aerospace - nEUROn
Dassault Aerospace - The official Neuron trailer

AFCEA Signal Magazine (September 2005) - Neuron Gains Altitude. Excellent article.

More Islamofascist teenage jihadists banged up

Aitzaz Zafar, 18 and Usman Malik, 19, both from Bradford, have been charged under Section 58 of the Terrorism Act, and appear in Bow Street Magistrates Court today.

They are accused of possessing a record of information likely to be useful to a terrorist under Sec. 58 of the Terrorism Act.

More here

Plod makes move on terrists + Postscript

The BBC report Irfan Raja, 18, from Ilford, Essex and Awaab Iqbal, 18, from Bradford, both described as students" being charged with making a record of information likely to be
useful to a terrorist under Section 58 of the Terrorism Act. (Under which Abu Hamza was charged for possessing the Encyclopaedia Of The Afghani Jihad)
---------------
58. - (1) A person commits an offence if-

(a) he collects or makes a record of information of a kind likely to be useful to a

person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, or

(b) he possesses a document or record containing information of that kind.

(2) In this section "record" includes a photographic or electronic record.

(3) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to prove that he had a reasonable excuse for his action or possession.
-------------------
Mr Raja was arrested on February 27 after attending a police station in London. Mr Iqbal was held at his home in Bradford last Thursday.

The full charge against Iqbal, who turns 19 today, alleges that between February 23 this year and March 3 this year he "possessed a record of information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism".

The full charge against Raja alleges that between December 31 last year and February 24 this year he "made a record of information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism" .

Both men were due to appear before Bow Street Magistrates in London today.

Two other men (unnamed) arrested (described by the Mirror as students) in Bradford last week are still in custody.

POSTSCRIPT 10th March 2006

Irfan Raja, 18, from Ilford, Essex, and 19-year-old Awaab Iqbal appeared at Bow Street Magistrates Court on Thursday 9th March 2006 accused of making a record of information likely to be useful to a terrorist under Sec. 58 of the Terrorism Act.

Lawyers for the pair indicated both would be pleading not guilty - counsel for Mr Iqbal saying the charges had "absolutely no foundation".

Mr Iqbal a first-year forensic science student, at Bradford University,was arrested at his home in Bradford last week had an application for bail refused.

Earlier, Mr Raja had made no application for bail after the Prosecutor Deborah Walsh said the charge against Mr Raja related to information he had allegedly collated and downloaded using a computer.

Senior District Judge Timothy Workman remanded the pair in custody until 16 March and told them they would face a committal hearing on 6 April.

Recent blogs on same topic here

Economics of the madhouse.

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department of Commerce, announced today that total January exports of $114.4 billion and imports of $182.9 billion resulted in a goods and services deficit of $68.5 billion, $3.4 billion more than the $65.1 billion in December, revised. That’s trending to an annual USD$800 Billion.

January exports exceeded December exports of $111.6 Billion by USD$2.8 Billion.

January Imports exceeded December imports of $176.6 Billion by USD$6.2 Billion.

The FED Flow of Funds report was released today. It shows that household mortgage debt increased at a record pace in 2005.


On a dollar basis, household mortgage debt increased by a near record $290.6 Billion in the 4th quarter. The last 8 quarters (billions increase in household mortgages, Includes loans made under home equity lines of credit):

q1 2004: $190.4
q2 2004: $211.1
q3 2004: $277.1
q4 2004: $232.9
q1 2005: $184.5
q2 2005: $277.9
q3 2005: $314.1
q4 2005: $290.6

…Congress have yet to address raising the lending limit.
Recent blogs on same topic here

Adam Ingram admits CIA flights via RAF Northolt ......

Adam Ingram, described as the armed forces minister, in a letter to Sir Menzies Campbell, has disclosed details of CIA flights through Northolt. This information was only provided when he was threatened with being reported to the parliamentary ombudsman if he continued to refuse to answer detailed questions about flights suspected of being used for "extraordinary rendition".

The shifty Scot has reluctantly disclosed that two aircraft known to have been chartered by the CIA landed 14 times at RAF Northholt, west London, and RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire between October 2003 and May 2004.

Mr Ingram did not say the aircraft were used by the CIA, he insists his disclosure was not "at odds with the foreign secretary's statements on the subject". Jack Straw has said that the government is "unaware" of any CIA flights landing in Britain or using UK airspace since 1998 and transporting terrorist suspects. ( an unawareness, or convenient amnesia, that extends to other colleagues on matters of public interest such as the saintly Tessa).

Ministers have repeatedly said that they either have no record of CIA flights since 1998, when they received four requests from the Clinton administration, or that records it might once have had had since been destroyed - plainly they were lying in their fucking teeth - as per usual.

One aircraft, a Boeing 737, was registered N313P, the other, a Gulfstream executive jet , was initially registered N379P and later as N8068V.

Flights of CIA planes through RAF Northolt confirmed by the MoD

N313P Arrived from Brize Norton at 10.15, Oct 19, 2003. Departed to Tripoli at 13.00. Arrived from Tripoli, 15.35, Oct 22. Departed to Tripoli, noon, Oct 28. Arrived from Tripoli, 17.10, Oct 29. Departed to Shannon, 17.45. Arrived from Washington, 08:50, Dec 1. Departed to Tripoli, 11:00. Arrived from Tripoli, 13:00, Dec 3. Departed to Luqa, Malta 12:00, Dec 6.

N379P Arrived from Islamabad, 15:50, Oct 18, 2002. Departed to Washington, 09:00, Oct 20. Arrived from Amman, 12:50, Jan 16, 2003. Departed to Shannon, 10:00, Jan 18 03. Arrived from Washington, 20.05, Feb 24. Departed to Glasgow, 09:00, Feb 26. Arrived from Dohaa, 12:49, Feb 28. Departed to Glasgow, 09:00, Mar 1.

N8068V Arrived from Marrakesh, 12:10, May 15 04. Departed to Luton 13:00. Arrived from Luton, 11:05, May 17. Departed to Shannon, 08:00, May 18.

Pic N8068V (owned by CIA front Premiere Executive Transport ) at Geneva April 16th 2004 (i.e one month before jetting in from Marrakesh)

Recent blogs on same topic here

FOOTNOTE

A government memo leaked to the New Statesman written Dec. 7 by Irfan Siddiq, an official in the foreign secretary`s private office, advised ministers to 'try to move the debate on' and 'avoid getting drawn down on detail," on rendition flights. (see Liberty report)

The memo warned 'The papers we have unearthed so far suggest there could be more such cases... We cannot say that we have received no such request for the use of U.K. territory.'

However, the memo also raised the point that the government was aware that rendition was rarely legal. Foreign Office lawyers had advised that the practice 'is almost certainly illegal' and any British co-operation 'would also be illegal,' it said, before going on to question whether the U.S. definition of torture was consistent with that under international law.

5 days after this internal FO memo was written Straw said at a London press briefing (Dec 12 2005), 'We know of no occasion where there have been any flights involved in rendition through or over U.K. territory nor have we any reason to believe that such flights have taken place without our knowledge.'

He's been spending too much time with Condi, Dubya's washing room asisstant - like her he's a lying fucking bitch.

Hoosiers lead the way ... again

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (Ex CEO Eli LIlly and all round good guy) announced today that Louis Dreyfus Agriculture Industries LLC plans to build the world’s largest biodiesel plant near Claypool, Indiana.That means Indiana will become the leading US producing state in the biofuels industry.

“It’s been a hectic year of dramatic progress in renewable fuels development in our state. If Indiana can do this, think what America can do to work toward energy self-sufficiency. In just one year, we’re growing from one alternative fuels plant to nine, with more to come. We said our ag sector would be a big part of our economic comeback, and here’s the proof,” said Daniels, who made the announcement during his remarks at the 2nd National Agriculture/Forestry Renewable Energy Summit in Washington, D.C. a meeting point for 70 organizations which support a vision of providing 25 percent of the country’s energy needs from renewable sources by 2025.

Indiana, fifth largest corn state, fourth largest soybean state will produce an additional 400 million gallons of ethanol annually and 95 million gallons of biodiesel (including Louis Dreyfus). Indiana’s goal is to produce a combined 1 billion gallons of ethanol and biodiesel annually.

Through the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) and the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, the state has reached an agreement with Louis Dreyfus to build the project in two phases at Claypool in Kosciusko County in northeastern Indiana. The first will be a 50-million bushel per year soybean processing plant, and the second phase will be the biodiesel production facility. The plant will utilize Indiana grown soybeans.

When complete, the Louis Dreyfus facility will be one of the world’s first biodiesel production plants to be fully integrated with a soybean processing plant. About 260,000 metric tons of soybean oil from the plant will be used each year for biodiesel production.

1 million tons of protein rich soybean meal will also be produced annually for the livestock and poultry industry. 85 permanent jobs will be created at the plant,as well as 300 construction jobs.

“Today’s announcement says to the nation that Indiana is a state serious about being a leader in biofuels,” remarked Lt. Governor Becky Skillman, who serves as Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development and oversees the Indiana Office of Energy and Defense Development.

Louis Dreyfus, a global mega agri-business was founded in 1851 and operates in more than 50 countries.

The IEDC offered economic development incentives, including up to $95,000 in training grants, $137,500 in infrastructure assistance to the local community, and (here is the kicker folks) up to $5.295 million in tax credits based on anticipated employment and capital investment levels.

Pic is JULIA Louis-Dreyfus who plays Elaine Benes in "Seinfeld" and has no connection with this story whatever.... but, hey ....

Recent blogs on same topic here

Dr Chai Patel - An apology and an explanation

The BBC news programmes and BBC 2 Newnight have today been alive to the complaints of a Dr Chai Patel (no relation) whose name is said to figure on a list of Labour Party donors who are shortly to be ennobled.

Regrettably there has been some confusion for which I must apologise. An ennoblment is due for Patel. It is I. Me. Not he.

Thankfully this is not the result of a squalid donation of immoderate size to the Labour Party coffers. I cannot however, nor will I reveal how I came by CCTV recordings from Stockwell Tube Station when Mr De Menezes was murdered, nor the recordings of conversation between the Prime Minister and Mr Bush about bombing Al Jazeera (although fragments have been published here), nor the interesting result of certain paternity tests and the contents of a safe deposit box in the Isle of Man, nor the diaries of "Miss" Rita Ferrari.My friend "Bernie" Ecclestone and I have also agreed to remain silent upon certain topics relating to motor racing, smoking certain substances and contributions , payment of school fees, use of holiday homes etc., Geoff Hoon can also be sure that my lips are sealed about his "interesting" time in Louisville and the real reson why he is now ex Minister of War.

The main problem, resulting in this tiresome delay is my wish to be known as Lord Patel of the Internet. There are, Patel being a common name, already 2 Lords Patel, one an eminent gynaecologist and the other a very, very close friend of Jack Straw's, so confusion should not arise.

However the pedants of the Honours Office claim there is no such place as "The Internet". Apparently there is also a problem with the copyright of the particular DNA sequencing, displayed on the scroll on my coat of arms, which neither parent, the chambermaid nor the Cabinet Minister will allow to be used.

I much regret the way Dr Chai Patel has been misled, but I would refer him to the unseemly squabble over the unlikely (and deeply unlikeable) Lord Bossom of Brighton, a warning to any one anxious to hire their scarlet and ermine trimmed robes from Ede & Ravenscroft.

Until the official announcement is made, I will, naturally, still be known as... Postman.

De Menezes murder explained ... BBC Panorama

9.00 pm GMT BBC Panorama ... the Murder of De Menezes explained ... well that's what the BBC website says.

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program borrows from next year ...

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program

Federal assistance for home energy costs, dates backto the oil crisis of the 1970s, and affects some 5 million families nationwide. Proponents of expanding the program say the $2 billion budget doesn't go very far when there are some 33 million households, spending about $55 billion a year in energy costs, eligible for the program.

$1 billion had been set aside for fiscal 2007. New legislation, which still must be considered by the House, passed by a voice vote Tuesday, but only after a lengthy debate between northern state senators, who said rising heating costs were creating a crisis in their states, and lawmakers from warmer states who claimed they were being shortchanged.

Sen. Olympia Snowe's, (R-Maine) original bill would have distributed $250 million under an existing formula that would mainly benefit warm-weather states. The remaining $750 million would have been labeled contingency funding and disbursed at the discretion of the President.

"We don‘t deny there is a need," said Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev. But "is it fair across the country or does it benefit some states and not other states?"

Last week Snowe successfully overcame opposition from conservative Republicans, led by Rep. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who tried to kill the bill on the grounds that the spending was not offset by cuts in other programs.

Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said in a statement that he supported Snowe's bill. "This is a positive step to provide additional aid for those in need of energy assistance this year."

Meanwhile Congress have not even considered the Governments ability to raise borrowing limits..... shucks let's spend next years money now.

Cotton pickin' good .....

The US department of Agriculture issued a notice on January 20th 2006, to the cotton trade, including all warehouse operators approved under the Cotton Storage Agreement, regarding temporary storage space in outside yards for the 2005-Crop of Upland Cotton in certain counties in West Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and New Mexico.

Why ?

Because there is too much of the stuff to fit in the warehouses.

Yet as poor nations press the World Trade Organization (WTO) to stop unfair US farm subsidies, U.S. cotton producers intend to plant 14.44 million acres of cotton this spring, up 1.7 % from 2005, according to the National Cotton Council’s 23rd Annual Early Season Planting Intentions Survey.

The US government spends US$4.5 billion annually in subsidies on a cotton crop with a market price of $5.9 billion, which otherwise would have to be priced more than double in the world market. This subsidy enables US growers to export profitably three-quarters of their output and control 40% of world trade in cotton.

What the US lost in textile yarn, fabric and clothing manufacturing, it gains back in subsidized cotton export, high returns on investment in overseas textile mills and low consumer prices in cotton goods = a low Consumer price Index, US / CPI is down 69% for clothing in last 10 years.

So the current "tariff war" against Chinese textiles is merely the US wanting its cake and eating it too. USD$4.5 billion is a mere pittance in the USD $2.4 trillion 2005 US fiscal budget, the subsidy effectively simply ruins the economies of the world's poorest nations and maintains US dominance.

The National Cotton Council, a powerful trade group in US domestic politics, while basking in the happy situation of seeing US cotton exports increase by 350% between 1999 and 2004, from 4 million 480-pound (218-kilogram) bales to 14 million bales, explains that the goal of helping African growers is "not to make Africa a big cotton producer", only to make the lives of the poor fucking Africans "a little better".

It is simply a strategy of protecting managed trade with welfare trade. Simply doubling the market price of cotton will not help African growers, whose competitive disadvantages go beyond market price, and cannot be eliminated without fundamental changes in the terms of global agricultural trade.

Those cotton states are mighty important in the upcoming mid-term elections too.

Terrorism - an Israeli family business

He was born Yerucham Bzozowitch in Gerodna, Poland, in 1919 and arrived later in Palestine and at some time adopted the name Eitan Livini.. He became a member of the Irgun group, headed by Menachem Begin, later Israel’s Prime Minister. Irgun began a campaign of violent terrorism against the British administration in Palestine at the beginning of 1944.

Eitan Livni, had been on the British wanted list for several months. He was a member of the Irgun high command and Begin's righthand man.

He was captured and with 31 others, was tried in Jerusalem by a military court on June 27, 1944, and sentenced to 15 years. (pic is of the whore on Terror and Livni's daughter - she is on the left (of the picture) in Washington this week - just in time to meet those friendlt folks (and a few spies) in AIPAC)

His imprisonment was one of the reasons for the Irgun's decision to launch its most militarily spectacular anti-British operation: the attack on May 4, 1946, on the crusader fortress at Acre. The fortress, which was being used as a prison by the British, had successfully withstood a siege by Napoleon's forces in 1799 when it was in Ottoman hands and had been captured by Allenby in 1918.

The Irgun assault on the fortress was well planned both inside and outside the prison, explosives having been smuggled in beforehand. Livni masterminded the operation inside and the escapees included 30 Irgun men, 11 members of the Stern group an extremist breakaway group from the Irgun and many more Arab prisoners. Away from the fortress however they encountered a group of passing British soldiers and in the battle that ensued nine Irgun men were killed.

Livni then resumed his leadership role in Irgun, in spite of being hunted by the British, and in August 1947 was dispatched by Begin to organise Irgun's military activities against British targets in Europe. He returned nine months later on May 15, 1948, the day the British withdrew from Palestine and modern Israel was declared.

Only last week the official records office at Kew, London released details of Israeli terrorists sent to London to assassinate Foreign Minister Bevin and others. The MI5 files contain a report that Irgun carried out the attack after drawing lots with two other militant groups, Stern and Hagana. Stern drew the lot to attack British ships in the Mediterranean while Hagana were chosen to attack army camps.

In August 1946, the month after the King David attack, Major James Robertson, head of MI5’s Middle East section, warned London that both Begin’s group and Stern were sending five terrorist cells to the capital to mirror IRA tactics of bombing and assassination.

“In recent months it has been reported that they have been training selected members for the purpose of assassinating a prominent British personality. Special reference has been several times made to Mr Bevin.”

Bevin, the Labour foreign secretary, was an opponent of the creation of a Jewish state and had recommended that Jewish refugees in Europe should be forcibly prevented from emigrating to Palestine. It is difficult to believe that the release of these papers was a "coincidence". Miss Livni's dad was probably one of the terrorists sent to kill the Foreign Minister - maybe Jack Straw should take note.

In the war that then began (after the founding of Israel), with the Arab forces Levni led the first Irgun battalion into the newly-formed Israel Defence Forces and was a commander in one of the fiercest battles against the Arabs in the Sharon district east of Tel Aviv.

Following independence Livni became chairman of the Irgun veterans organisation but in the 1970s, as a result of pressure from Begin who was by this time the leader of the parliamentary opposition, he was elected a member of the Israeli Knesset. He remained there for three terms and helped to bring about the rightwing Likud coalition which gained power in 1977.

Eitan Livni died in February 1992.

His daughter Tzipi (short for the biblical name Tziporah) was taken to visit Begin every Saturday.

She grew up part of Likud's royalty as a child of what is known as a ''fighting family.' The heroes of the "palach".

Tzipi grew up to become a lawyer She served in the army, becoming a lieutenant, and at the age of 22 began working for the Mossad, the intelligence service, where she stayed for four years. She does not discuss those duties. ''It was wonderful,'' she said, laughing. ''But it taught me skills I cannot use.'' Oh yeah ?

She married Naftali Shpitzer, worked as a real estate lawyer and first ran for Parliament in 1999, eight years after her father died, when she was over 40. Despite the late start, she has risen fast, serving in five ministries and earning the deep trust of Mr. Sharon, who made her Justice Minister and allowed her into his inner circle, the security cabinet, which planned and carried out the painful pullout from Gaza last summer.

Tzipi Livni, 47, is the first woman to serve as Israel's foreign minister since (appointed Jan 16th 2006 and still serves as Justice Minister) Golda Meir did so half a century ago. Some think she may be the first since Ms. Meir to be Prime Minister.

This is what she said after joining her mentor Ariel Sharon into Kadima from Likud … Israel was established as a homeland for the Jewish people. This should be also the true meaning of the future Palestinian state...In other words, the establishment of a Palestinian state takes [care of] what the Palestinians call the 'right of return'." Now that’s what the rest of the world call apartheid.

Again she spells it out in the Washington Post …” My need as an Israeli and a Jew is to keep a Jewish homeland for the Jewish people, a sovereign, Jewish and democratic state with a Jewish majority. So how do we [do that]? The idea is to divide the land, to give up some of our rights on the land of Israel and to establish a two-state solution.”


Now 47 she regularly visits her father’s grave…. On his gravestone is written, "Here lies the Head of Operations of the Irgun -- the underground that fought for the establishment of the State of Israel." And on his tombstone he left a map of Greater Israel -- with both sides of the Jordan Valley being part of Israel.

When in London last week, this scion of terrorists (her mother was an Irgun heroine) was pressuring the British Government to find an immediate solution that would allow Brigadier-General Aviv Kochavi to arrive in the UK as planned for a year of studies at the Kimberly military academy. Kochavi is currently facing an arrest threat in Britain, due to his service as commander of the Israeli army in Gaza.

Tzipi Livni on Sunday reported to the cabinet ministers that in her visit to London last week, her counterparts in the country have also voiced their concern regarding the issue of Israeli’s visiting the UK facing charges brought by private citizens, and said they intend to resolve it as quickly as possible.

The British Foreign Ministry is currently formulating a solution to the problem that will not necessitate legal amendments to the constitution. According to this new procedure, which has already been approved by British legal officials, courts in the kingdom will be prohibited from issuing arrest warrants against foreign citizens without the authorization of the chief prosecutor.

This new regulation will enable the government to supervise over lawsuits and prevent the mass issuing of arrest warrants against IDF officers and other Israeli officials.

The British hope this new procedure will prevent damage to the relations between the two countries.

Israel's leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday that Britain has informed Israel it is close to finding a solution that will enable IDF officers to visit the UK without fear of getting arrested due to war crime lawsuits filed against them.

This is what she said to Newsweek last week ....

"Israel made clear in the last few months that the participation of Hamas in the Palestinian Authority elections is totally against any kind of democratic values," Livni says. "Abu Mazan says he is weak. When a leader is weak and cannot confront the terrorist organizations, this is the real importance of the international community -- to say it will not accept terrorist organizations as part of any parliament, any government."

Recent blogs on same topic here

Rachel Corrie ... the fight continues

The Second Death of Rachel Corrie
Censorship of the Worst Kind

By VANESSA REDGRAVE Counter Punch March 6th 2006

"I am urging the Royal Court Theatre to sue the New York Theatre Workshop for the cancellation of the production of "My Name Is Rachel Corrie". Not because I donated money for this production, which the Royal Court have been fundraising for--a target of 50,000 pounds, underwritten by Alan Rickman.

This is censorship of the worst kind. More awful even than that.It is black-listing a dead girl and her diaries.A very brave and exceptional girl who all citizens, whatever their faith or nationality, should be proud and grateful for her existence. They couldn't silence her voice while she lived, so she was killed. Her voice began to speak again as Alan Rickman read her diaries, and Megan Dodds became Rachel Corrie.Now the New York Theatre Workshop have silenced that dear voice."

March 16th is the third anniversary of the murder of Rachel Corrie. For more information about events go here and petition to NYTW , comment, etc., also here and more in the NYTimes today here

Also rather tedious piece but plenty of information about dramatic spat by Walter Davis in Counterpunch Theater, Ideology and the Censorship of "My Name is Rachel Corrie"
The Play's the Thing

By WALTER A. DAVIS
Pic (c) Reuters with permission Royal Court Theatre.

See also William Bowles exposing the way the Zionists have crushed the MSM reporting of this censorship... here

BBC ... never late with the real news.

Even the BBC has noticed that the US has reached it's legal debt limit. Maybe they have been too busy polishing the tarnished image of Miss tess Jowell the 35 year old, fresh faced, saintly lady who looks after Tony's best interests.

Now single again , she is available for sales conventions, promotional work and bar mitzvahs and discussing the BBC TV License fee.... maybe even foreign media take over of ailing ITV....?

Afghanistan. Turning point reached .... again.

Marine General James L. Jones is supreme allied commander in Europe and commander of U.S. European Command (SACEUR). He is reported by the American Forces Information Service saying ...

"I think this is a turning moment for what's left of the insurgency and also for the criminal element, the narcotics traffickers and all the others, who are working on their own in their own way to destabilize the growth of the (Afghan President Hamid) Karzai government," to "CNN Late Edition" host Wolf Blitzer.

Which is almost as funny as correspondentBuzz Hefti, vice president, Van Scoyoc Associates writes a letter to the Hill Julty 2005 .. " count me in as one of the first to register at jljones2008.com."

Useful Knight Ridder report here, detailing growth of Taliban rsistance and growth of opium trade.

7/7 Tavistock Square bomb? Questions ?

Antagonist raised some time ago the curious nature of thes photographs immediately after the Tavistock Square bomb on 7/7. The absence of Police / Emergency / Paramedical services. Do these people look as though they have just been in a bus explosion that smeared and shot blood all over the BMA building ? Do they look traumatised ? Injured ? Upset ?

What is happening here ?

Irving family face more court appearances

67 year old Historian David Irving has pleaded gulity to Holocaust Denial and is set to spend time in a prison cell in Austria. Those who wish to financially assist his cause might wish to donate ... as an urgent appeal for funds to assist Mr Irving and his family: Click this link to donate or mail to Bente Hogh, 8 Queen Anne's Gate, London, SW1H 9AA. Cheques should be addressed to Parforce UK Ltd or David Irving, US cheques should be made payable to Focal Point Publications. More at his website.


Interestingly his young cousin John (Johnny) is wanted rather urgently in the United States on charges related to the Food for Oil for Saddam and the Texas based Bayoil Co. and funds that found their way into the "Babylon" account in Abu Dhabi.

The US Warrant for his extradition is here at the US Dept of Justice site.

DAVID N. KELLEY, the United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York, and JOHN KLOCHAN, the Acting
Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Office of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced the unsealing
today of an Indictment against DAVID B. CHALMERS, JR., a Texas
businessman; two entities in which CHALMERS was the sole
shareholder, BAYOIL (USA), INC., an oil company based in Texas,
and BAYOIL SUPPLY & TRADING LIMITED, a Bahamian company
(collectively, the “BAYOIL COMPANIES”); and two individuals who
worked with CHALMERS to purchase Iraqi oil for the BAYOIL
COMPANIES, JOHN IRVING, a British citizen, and LUDMIL DIONISSIEV,
a Bulgarian citizen and legal permanent resident of the United
States, currently residing in Houston, Texas. The charges are
contained in a Superseding Indictment filed under seal on April
13, 2005, and unsealed today in Manhattan federal court.

Northern Ireland Terrorists - business as usual

On Wednesday 1st March, a planned operation carried out jointly by HM Customs and Excise and the PSNI’s Fraud and Organised Crime Squads resulted in a substantial amount of counterfeit and illegal films being seized.

The DVDs, a substantial sum of cash and other items concerned in the making of counterfeit DVDs was seized during searches at shops in Belfast City centre and at a house and commercial premises in Ballymoney. The total value of items seized is estimated at £600,000.
A man and a woman were arrested in the Ballymoney area.

Black Shrouds and Black Markets

SUSAN COOKE KITTREDGE daughter of broadcaster Alastair Cooke tells how her father's body parts were sold on via the gruesome business of selling parts of the deceased.
March 5, 2006 NYT

Afghanistan ...money pit and soldiers grave ...

Douglas Farah has a good blog and valuable insight into the activities of Mr Osama Bin Laden, his influence on the border region of Waziristan etc., and doom laden reports on the wisdom of military action in the home of the opium poppy. It demonstrates how unwise it is to read too much into reports in 2002 such as this ... "On 18 March 2002, the Secretary of State for Defence announced that a Commando battlegroup was being dispatched to work with US, Canadian and other Coalition forces in operations against remaining pockets of Al Qaida and Taliban resistance in Afghanistan. It was confirmed on 16 April that 45 Commando Group had commenced operations."

PS. David Mills the talented international lawyer and separated husband of the tragic but beautiful Tessa Jowell, is NOT involved in heroin smuggling , financing or drug distribution. (Note that a recent report (BBC 5/8/2005) stated that the River Po showed such a concentration of the products (benzoylecgonine (BE)) of cocaine that Italy must claim to be the highest users oc cocaine in the world).

David Mills 7/7 bombing Mastermind ?

"Close" friends of Tessa Jowell attached little credence to rumours of her husband's association with Red September and their bombings of off licences and pubs. The daughter of an ex-Labour Prime MInister said she thought that even if he was implicated in supplying funds to the jihadist muslim brigades he would not have told her about it.

David M, well known in New Labour circles said that even if rumours that Tony Blair (prime Minister) was pressing for beatification of Tessa through contacts Silvio Berlusconi has with the Holy Father, he thought that David Mill's claimed "involvement" with Satanic child abuse was something he kept secret from his lovely and talented wife even if there was no evidence beyond a large file held by the Crown Prosecution Service.

An ex associate of the Prime Minister with Press contacts, (and a close interest in football) thought that now David Mills was "separated" from his "hard working" wife life could return to normal and if David Mills was, as hinted, witholding money from his wife he got all he deserved. Asked if it was true that David Mills had murdered his first wife, he gnomically answered , "Maybe he did, maybe he didn't". "What is important is the saintly Tess gets on with her job, saving the country for 24 hour binge drinking, gambling and watching the Olympics on TV... which will by then be wholly owned by Berlusconi Mega EuroTV " he said winking broadly and grinning.

A family "friend" denied that constant beatings by her husband had sapped her morale and that she was facing the future free of her husband's "attentions" to save the country from boredom by feree access to alcohol , circuses and 24/7 gambling.

"Free of her husband, who is probably planning World War III with the Iranians now" said a well known member of the cabinet, "Tessa will shine like the star she is".

Tessa Jowell is 35.