LIDS / NOMIS / OASys - The Home Office systems that are on the edge of collapse - are PA the dog to kick or should it be Sir John Gieve ? Again ?

If you go to the Ministry of Justice website you can, in their section on Offender Management read about "End-to-end offender management " which ,"ensures that offenders are offered the best possible opportunity to change their offending behaviour. "

To do this the (old) Home Office embarked on the The National Offender Management Information System (NOMIS) system ...this was designed to "replace ailing legacy case management and offender assessment applications in public prisons and probation."

Three public sector prisons already use the live system - the first in 2006 was HM Prison Albany on the Isle of Wight. That's the position today, same as it was when Rebecca Thomson wrote an article on January 9th this year in Computer Weekly Government scales down prison IT project after costs spiral

The C-Nomis system was to cost £234m. The National Association of Probation Officers estimated that the full national roll-out would eventually cost £950m.

Furthermore the roll-out to the probation service had to be abandoned, and probation officers will have read-only access to the files once the system is installed throughout the prison service. Ho.Ho.Ho.

Prisons minister, David Hanson, told MPs that a revised timetable for the roll out would be published in the spring. Three prisons are already using the system - which is what the Ministry of Justice website is still saying and the roll out timetable is unaccountably delayed.

Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of Napo, said, "The whole C-Nomis project appears to have been badly managed since its inception. It is arguably an outrageous waste of public money. As a consequence of the problems, probation staff will now have to use systems that are not fit for purpose." See also the story on the web based "Scope" anti terrorist system that is 5 years late.

The situation for probation officers was handily outlined in the House of Commons by David Hanson (Minister of State, Ministry of Justice) on 26th February in answer to a question from David Drew (Labour) ..

There are currently no arrangements in place for staff in probation areas to read or record offender management information directly to or from the prison NOMIS database.

Relevant offender information held on prison NOMIS is transferred between the prison and probation service staff using a system of jointly agreed offender management forms, secure e-mail and dedicated OM mailboxes.

The newly revised and deliverable NOMIS programme, will, through its constituent projects, provide a simple read-only database, that will allow staff in the community to have access to important information from prison NOMIS in support of offender management.

C-NOMIS was to replace Local Inmate Database System (Lids) , Tony Collins wrote in his CW Blog in March that ..."A study by the Prison Service's main IT supplier EDS has found that more than 30,000 (37%) offenders did not have a criminal records number, and more than 21,000 (26%) did not have a police national computer number. The database contains records with made-up surnames such as "self-harm", and 194 offenders with no surname at all. More than 1,500 records contain no nationality information. "

Later, on March 27th in his Blog he expanded with a piece " Errors in thousands of records in prisoner tracking system - internal EDS study" . This provides a lengthy and devastating anlysis of the problems with LIDS which Prison Service staff told him was due to be replaced in 1997.

Beyond the many problems of LIDS it also feeds further internal systems, data in Lids provides some raw data for the Offender Assessment and Sentence Management - OASys which is an aid to assess how likely an offender is to be reconvicted.

The Inmate Information System which helps control the bulging and ever expnding prison population of 83,000+ is based on overnight updates from the Lids system.

Transferring data from this crumbling system, must be a nightmare. Evidently the code must be ancient .. database fields designating nationality include the Soviet Union , dissolved in 1991, and for East and West Germany to be treated as separate countries as though the 1990 unificaton hadn't happened.

With such antique code it must be difficult to obtain people who can nurse it along - there is no career in honing up your skills in Fortran and Cobol.

In the context of this nightmare we have the fact that a PA consultant downloaded the complete LIDS database, which must have been to undertake some serious analysis of the accuracy and content of the curent system.

The Daily Telegraph today show that PA Consulting have received £240m for Government contracts in recent years including £100m by the Home Office for the ID card scheme and other work and £35m to work on new biometric visas for the Foreign Office.

Between 2004 and 2007 the company also picked up at least £31m from the Department for Work and Pensions, £20m from the Department for Communities and Local Government, £17m from the Ministry of Defence, £16m from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, £9m from the Department for Education and its successors and £3.5m from the Cabinet Office.

In short and from personal experience PA are a bright bunch with an impressive record.

The Daily Telegraph also disclose that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was last night under pressure to explain why the Home Office, which had known about the loss since Monday (18th), had not made it public for three days when a whistleblower intervened.

Which leaves one wondering how PA "lost" the memory stick and why a "whistelblower" so wanted the information in the public domain.

A member of staff has been suspended says a spokesman for PA Consulting, "We are collaborating with the Home Office very closely on this matter and we have no further comment to make."

The public have every reason to be concerned. Not that an unencrypted version of LIDS is on a memory stick.

The public and their MP's should be concerned that the overcrowded prisons, the understaffed Probation service, who have difficulty recruiting and keeping staff, are left to manage the prisons with such a failed system which is evidently, totally and completely "unfit for purpose".

It is evident that this is a problem, about which many people have been aware for a long time. The brou ha ha over the "lost" memory stick will of course deflect public attention away from the real problem, envelop discussion in a sub judice cloud of much beloved Home Office secrecy and provide the public with a dog to kick in the guise of overpaid fat cat consultants.

The origins of this shambles (to be fair to Jacqui Smith who inherited this toxic waste of public money) lies at the time when Sir John Gieve was Permanent Secretary, at the Home Office, enabling his boss to secure a visa for his mistress's au pair and producing accounts that the Auditor could not pass... who then went on to greater things overseeing the wreck of the Rock (costing at least £20 Bn, so far) whilst at the Bank of England from whence he has had an early bath.

Can planes fly as fast through skyscrapers as they can through air ?

It seems unlikely... Thanks to Killtown for this.

Georgia - the dress rehearsal for Ukraine ..already suffering from once ina century floods and a very nasty gas bill shock due at New Year....

Elisabeth Byrs of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that “The situation on the ground (in Georgia) is deteriorating, sparking a significant movement of population”. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that more than 2,000 people have died in the first week of fighting and nearly 100,000 have been uprooted from their homes.

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) has been operating for the last 8 years in South Ossetia region, implementing health projects from its local office in Tskhinvali.

They report that according to UN estimates there approximately 56,000 displaced persons inside Georgia, of which more than 40,000 are from Gori. An additional 12,000 residents of South Ossetia have been left homeless inside Georgia, while 30,000 others have crossed into Russia’s North Ossetia region.

The UN also reports that 1,000 ethnic Georgians from the upper Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia, a region by the Black Sea that borders Russia, have become displaced following violence there.

Because many areas under conflict remain inaccessible, the number of (Internally Displaced Persons) IDPs is expected to rise. Food, water, shelter, and medical supplies are becoming difficult to find, intensifying an already difficult situation for local residents.

In Tbilisi, there has been a rapid influx of displaced persons fleeing the fighting , which has strained the city’s food supply, medical, and shelter capacities, ADRA plans to provide medical assistance to those affected.

A major disaster - the worst floods for a century in Ukraine

All the while this is going on in Georgia there has been virtally no reporting of the flooding and subsequent destruction in prospective NATO ally Ukraine, when between July 23 to July 26, massive storms hit western Ukraine, forcing thousands from their homes, and submerging hundreds of towns and villages. Nearly 40 people have been listed as either dead or missing since the onset of the storms, which government officials say are the worst storm to hit Ukraine in a century.

According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Emergency, more than 422 miles (679 km) of highway and motor roads and more than 900 bridges were destroyed in the storms. This has left more than 300 towns and villages without electricity, downing communication lines, and blocking food access routes throughout five regions of western Ukraine.

The floods , mainly from the Prut, Dniestr (15 metres above its normal level) and Seret rivers have submerged 40,600 homes and over 84,000 acres, (34,000 hectares) of farmland in western areas - some reports claim over 100,000 acres.

The regions of Ukraine most affected are Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Transkarpatsky, Ternopil and L’viv. In Ivano-Frankivsk alone, 50,000 are suffering from the impact of the floodwaters. Heavy floods have also hit neighbouring riparian areas of the Dniester River in Romania and Moldova. In the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, three people were found dead after being swept away by floodwaters, an Interior Ministry official said. Two drowned when they became trapped under cars while trying to cross a flooded road. Another was found under a bridge.

The authorities in Romania said that four people had died and more than 11,000 been evacuated.

The flooding has hit the Ukraine local farming economy and (OCHA) report that flooding in the Ivano-Frankivsk region has destroyed as much as 75 % of planted crops causing an estimated US$80 Mn. loss according to Deputy Agriculture Minister Serhiy Melnyk.

President Viktor Yushchenko on July 30th declared a 3 month state of emergency in western Ukraine.

The Ukraine Government are watching events in Georgia very closely and at a ceremony today granting 72 housing orders to the military in the Novohrad-Volynskyi garrison ,Defense Minister Yurii Yekhanurov said,"149,000 servicemen are enough to guarantee sovereignty and security of our country." Hmmm.

On the 31st July , the Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC) - which is a NATO body, received an urgent request for assistance in coping with flooding from Ukraine.

Their latest SitRep is dated August 7th and they confirm 36 people, including 8 children died, 2 are missing and about 500 people have been injured. They list the EAPC (EU basically) countries who have contributed to an appeal for equipment - Austria, Czeck republic, Greece,Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Belgium, Estonia, Spain and Switzerland - something been overlooked here by Messrs, Brown, Benn and Milliband ?

If the UK Government want to help they can contact The Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre can be reached in the following ways:
Telephone: +32-2-707.2670
Fax : +32-2-707.2677
Mobile Phone: +32-475-829.071
e-mail: Eadrcc@hq.nato.int
or they could have a look at them on the Internet website thingy here - http://www.nato.int/eadrcc/home.htm or perhaps have quick look at the manual "NATO’s Role in Disaster Assistance"

" ....the capabilities to protect our populations against the effects of war could also be used to protect them against the effects of disasters. As early as 1953, following disastrous North Sea floods, NATO had an agreed disaster assistance scheme. By 1958, the North Atlantic Council had established procedures for NATO coordination of assistance between member countries in case of disasters."

Given the circumstances in Georgia you might have thought that even those not on holiday in Whitehall might lend a hand to Ukraine if only in solidarity to NATO. If only to get some practice in when the Russian Bear decides to cut up rough in East Ukraine.

Just a thought.

PS : See Friday, August 15, 2008 Could Ukraine Become Russia's Next Target? @ Kiev Ukraine News Blog. "Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko prohibited ships from the Russian Black Sea Fleet that are engaged off the Georgian coast from returning to port on Ukraine's Crimean peninsula without Kiev's official permission.....Russia's Black Sea Fleet, which leases naval facilities in Sevastopol in Crimea, will likely steam back to port in defiance of a Ukrainian presidential order that it must first ask for Ukrainian permission."If Russia openly challenges Ukrainian sovereignty, I think that Ukraine will then turn to the West and say, 'you know guys, they're challenging our sovereignty with their fleet."

And this will happen without any kind of use of arms, or anything made in anger.

PPS : January 2009 Ukraine is committed to begin paying Russia’s Gazprom in the range of US$400 per 1,000 cubic meters for natural gas or US$22 billion per year. Presently the country pays US$179 per 1,000 cubic meters, or US $9.9 billion per year.

Viktor Yanukovych, is the leader of the opposition pro-Russian Party of the Regions - who have kept quiet about the price increase - Gazprom and the Kremlin might be tempted to play the “gas card” in order to see Yanukovych elected and to gain control—if not direct ownership—of the Ukrainian trunk gas pipeline, a long-time objective of Russian policy meant to give Gazprom the ultimate say over the largest supply route of Russian gas to Europe.

With a possible debt of over US$10 billion by late 2009, the new Ukrainian government could be forced to sell the pipeline to Gazprom by writing off most of the accumulated debt — as well as a substantial part of its industrial base, maintain the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol and renounce its intention to join NATO.

... if it is cold in December ...

I you see Sid (or Gordon or Hilary of the Boy David )..tell 'em.



PPS - want to know more about Pridnestrovyaian Moldova Republic and their contacts with South Ossetia ? See Volunteers from Pridnestrovya leave for South Ossetia 8th August 2008 2008

Shrillary - The mistress of suspense

The BBC report Shrillary has told supporters she is suspending her campaign to win the US presidency.

suspend (sə-spĕnd')
v., -pend·ed, -pend·ing, -pends
v.tr. To cause to stop for a period; interrupt:
To hold in abeyance; defer:
To render temporarily ineffective:

Bilderbergers 2008

The list of people said to be attending the 2008 Bilderberg Conference at the Westfields Marriott Hotel (site of 2002 meeting - when Conrad Black turned up as did Ed Balls) in Chantilly, Virginia, USA ,this week , is available here . Obama and Shrillary have supposed to have visited the meet together this week and agreed on a running mate for Obama.

The UK contingent is small ;
Ken Clarke, Conservative MP (also 1998,2006,2007)
Tom McKillop Chairman, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, bankers to MI5/6/7/8
George Osborne, Conservative MP andShadow Chancellor of the Exchequer (also in 2006)
John Kerr , Baron Kerr of Kinlochard, Deputy Chairman, Royal Dutch Shell plc. since 2002 UK Diplomat from 1966. Executive Member of the Trilateral Commission.
J. Martin Taylor , Chairman, Syngenta International AG. Crop protection 21,000 employees in 90 countries.

As ever folks from the Economist. Vendeline von Bredow (38, said to be a descendant of Otto Von Bismarck) has worked for Wall Street Journal Europe in Brussels, where she wrote about politics, business and culture. Later she worked for Merrill Lynch in London and as London correspondent for Financial Times Deutschland and has been the Economist, European Business Correspondent since 2000.

She has told us that she is to have a sabbatical to write a biography of Giovanni Agnelli a frequent Bilderberger.

Adrian D. Wooldridge Foreign Correspondent, The Economist (Like Ken Clarke a frequent visitor) and pal of John Micklethwait See "The Right Nation" Conservative Power in America Penguin ISBN: 1594200203

Visitor , not thought to be Henry Kissinger...

More pics here and hereand here

Rachida Data calls to gossip and points out that Manuel Valls 46, the Socialist Mayor of Evry and Deputy for Essonne, big pal of Sarkozy is there, very, very big in French masonry she says, but not invited to join the Government. Author of "The Old School of Socialism"...Pour en finir avec le vieux socialisme... et être enfin de gauche ...the French Left is ill .. a crypto Blairite , he calls himself a Social Liberal, telegenic and young.

Malalai Joya - telling it like it is in Afghanista. President Karzai - telling lies, more lies and getting unqualified support from the West

Mohammed Sarwar became Britain's first Muslim MP and the first to swear his Oath on the Koran in 1997. He has decided he will not stand again and has probably obtained most attention since his son Athif Sarwar, was found guilty of laundering various sums of money between 24 February and 25 April 2003 while working as a cash-and-carry manager at United Wholesale (Scotland) Ltd based in Maxwell Road, Glasgow which was part of a major VAT carousel fraud.

He has been a bitter and frequent critic of Labour Party Foreign Policy although recently was supportive of the Prime Minister at Question Time on the 14th may when he asked "“Will my right hon. Friend join me and the House in wishing every success to Rangers football team, which is proud to be Scottish and British, in bringing the UEFA cup to Glasgow? " .

Perhaps more interesting is a Question (208568) he has placed today to the Boy David Miliband AKA Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs... "..what reports he has received on the continued suspension from the Afghan parliament of Malalai Joya; and if he will make a statement. "

Malalai Joya was first elected to the Afghan parliament in 2005 when she was only 25. Last year she was indefinitely suspended from the post when she compared the legislature in a TV interview (not unreasonably) to a zoo .

She also said in the interview on private Afghan station Tolo TV, "Since I've started my struggle for human rights in Afghanistan, for women's rights, these criminals, these drug smugglers, they've stood against me from the first time I raised my voice at the Loya Jirga,"

Ron Moreau & Sami Yousafzi " A Harvest of Treachery" Newsweek 21/1/ 2006 reported that the President’s brother is “alleged to be a major figure by nearly every source who described the Afghan network… including past and present government officials and several minor drug traffickers.” One Interior Ministry official says, “He is the unofficial regional governor of southern Afghanistan and leads the whole trafficking structure.” Newsweek adds that, “Diplomats and well-informed Afghans believe that up to a quarter of the new Parliament’s 249 elected members are linked to narcotics production and trafficking.” One especially controversial figure is Arif Noorzai, **** (As General he was jihad-era commander against the Soviets )who has won the post of deputy speaker of Parliament (naturally he denies any wrongdoing.) the body that threw Malali Joya out on the prestext of insulting her colleagues.

It was not the first time she got in trouble for criticizing the powerful in Afghanistan. Beginning in 2003, she emerged as a leading politician fighting for women's rights and called for the expulsion of warlords from the national government at the Loyal Jirga - which resulted in many of them , armed customarily with guns attacking her. In the firestorm that erupted from her criticisms, Joya has endured threats of rape, made even by fellow elected officials, and has (so far) survived four assassination attempts.

Now flanked by a large security detail provided by UN and still hounded by critics in Afghanistan, Ms Joya has taken her message of progressive reform around the world. Today, she works for The Organization for Promoting Afghan Women's Capabilities, arguing with dramatic force and reason that the situation for women has not improved greatly since the fall of the Taliban regime. Today, she notes,

"In some big cities, women have access to jobs and education. But in faraway provinces, the situation of Afghan women is worse than ever."

The United States-led coalition doesn't escape her tongue lashing either. She ssays the Western powers have "betrayed" supporters of democracy in Afghanistan by allowing Northern Alliance warlords into the government and by legitimising Islamic religious practices that she sees as promoting violence against women and children.

"We believe the US and their allies of the US have pushed us from the frying pan into the fire."

Now on an international tour , Joya has become, to her supporters, a symbol of the precarious democracy in Afghanistan. In a brief report about the Afghan parliament last summer, the European Union parliament cited Ms Joya's suspension as part of a troublesome trend on the part of the Afghan government of shifting away from "an open democratic system". As long ago as February 2003, Sen. Joseph Biden (D) said, “I think [the Bush administration has] already given up the ghost in Afghanistan. They’ve basically turned it over to the warlords.”

Along with the recent passage of an amnesty law, preventing prosecutions of people for war crimes in past Afghan conflicts, and codified restrictions on freedom of the media, Ms Joya's suspension has demonstrated that democracy in Afghanistan has taken a huge step backwards.

This has not stopped her from fighting for greater protection of human rights in Afghanistan.

"I strongly believe that they will destroy all of the flowers, but they cannot stop the spring. One day we will have everything in our country."

Hamid Karzai interviewed in der Spiegel

Yesterday President Hamid Karzai was interviewed and his remarks present a stark contrast to the views of his youthful Afghani patriot. Readers are best consulting the original text but some remarks are worth repeating.

SPIEGEL: Some of your closest aides are suspected of stealing land, drug smuggling and having illegal militias, among them respected governors and police chiefs. Your attorney general, Abdul Jabar Sabet, just named a few of them, including the governor of Nangarhar. Why do you still protect these people?

Karzai: I am not protecting anybody.

SPIEGEL: During the Taliban times there were no checkpoints at all.

Karzai: That was the best aspect of the Taliban. They did a lot wrong, but they also did a few things right. I wish I had the Taliban as my soldiers. I wish they were serving me and not people in Pakistan or others. When we came back to Afghanistan, the international community brought back all those people who had turned away from the Taliban …

SPIEGEL: Dirty deals are still necessary for the stability of Afghanistan?

Karzai: Absolutely necessary, because we lack the power to solve these problems in other ways. What do you want? War? Let me give you an example. We wanted to arrest a really terrible warlord, but we couldn't do it because he is being protected by a particular country. We found out that he was being paid $30,000 a month to stay on his good side. They even used his soldiers as guards …

SPIEGEL: That sounds like the story of Commander Nasir Mohammed in Badakhshan, a province where German soldiers are based.

SPIEGEL: There is a list of high-level drug lords and smugglers, and a number of well-known figures in the establishment. Some are your advisors and some are even alleged to be part of your cabinet. Why haven't we seen the trial of a single prominent person?

Karzai: This list is a myth. ***I have never received such a list. I have asked the international community to deliver this supposed list to me, but it has never been presented.

SPIEGEL: Your former interior minister, Ali Ahmad Jalali, claimed to possess such a list. ***

SPIEGEL: Since you became president, your family has become highly successful in the business world and also in politics. Your brother Mahmoud Karzai is currently CEO of a cement plant in Pul-i-Khumri in the northeast that was the envy of many competitors. Two other brothers, Qayum and Ahmed Wali, are powerful politicians in the southern part of the country. Many there say that no decisions can be made without the approval of the Karzais. Is there a grain of truth to that?

Karzai: This is really a lot of rubbish.

SPIEGEL: The south is the hub of drug smuggling. Is it possible that Ahmed Wali Karzai,(his brother - named in the New York Times 2004 as a drug smuggler) one of the most influential politicians in Kandahar, who leads the provincial council, doesn't have the slightest idea what is going on or has nothing to do with it?

Karzai: Yes, it is very much possible.

PS ***Ali Jalali, former Interior minister , who quit summer 2005 has repeatedly said he has a list of more than 100 high-ranking Afghan ----officials he suspects of involvement in the drug trade. A source close to him, fearful of being killed if identified, says Jalali's unpublished list includes at least 13 former and present provincial governors and four past or present cabinet ministers. The source adds that one of the minister's chief reasons for resigning was his frustration over President Hamid Karzai's failure to sack and prosecute crooked officials. Newsweek

In a study for the independent Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, Afghan expert Andrew Wilder concludes that at least 17 newly elected M.P.s are drug traffickers themselves, 24 others are connected to criminal gangs, 40 are commanders of armed groups and 19 face serious allegations of war crimes and human-rights abuses.

**** It may be of interest that General Arif Noorzai accompaniedAhmad Shah Masood, The Lion of Panjsher as a very close aide on his trip to Europe, with meetings with the US and UK staffs at the Plaza Athene Hotel In Paris, and helped in press conferences and tried to inform western leaders about the growing power of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan's secret assistance to the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

September 9th 2001 Masood was Killed by (allegedly Al Quaeda) suicide attackers. Interestingly enough, after this, suicide attacks become very common in Afghanistan.

The Boy David's response is waited with keen anticipation..perhaps he could explain the objectives of the current military mission of UK /NATO focres in Afghanistan for a start.

UPDATE :Kim Howells took on the job for the Boy David ...Kim Howells (Minister of State, Foreign & Commonwealth Office; Pontypridd, Labour)

In May 2007 Malalai Joya was suspended for three years (until the end of the legislative term) by her peers in the Afghan parliament for contravening Article 70 of the Afghan parliament's rules of procedure. Article 70 states that members of parliament who insult others are subject to disciplinary action. Action was taken against Ms Joya after a media interview in which she said that the Afghan parliament was worse than a 'stable or zoo'. Ms Joya has the right to challenge the decision and has indicated her intention to do so. Together with EU partners, we regularly raise the issue of freedom of expression in Afghanistan and look forward to Ms Joya and the Afghan parliament resolving this internal parliamentary issue.

A member of our embassy staff met with Malalai Joya on 1 May 2008. Ms Joya gave an account of her suspension by the Afghan parliament and discussed Afghan politics.

So that's alright then. Article 70 (which was especially promulgated to deal with Ms Malali Joya) can stand then. We, who pour Billions into this sordid corrupt country run by warlords , gangsters and drug dealers can carry on.

From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave you Pearl Harbour * Ver. II

Project for the New American Century website has entered Room 101 (http://www.newamericancentury.org/)

* From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbour Jerry Della Femina ISBN 0-671-78052-2 . Iconic title referring to famous Strapline suggested by JDF to their new client Japanese TV Manufacturer Panasonic.

Mosul's last stand and the Baathistas - Apocalypse real soon...maybe

Well informed Bernhard at Moon over Alabama says - "A new phase of the war over Iraq has started. "

It has been telegraphed for some time as Local news reports have been full of plans for Mosul and the numbers of troops heading there for battle for at least the last two / three weeks.

"The coming fight over Mosul will get bloody. As the Arab media will now be censored, it might take a while until we get a somewhat true picture of it.

Mosul is for some time now a hotbed of resistance activities in Iraq.

It is the capital of the Ninawa Governorate near to the Kurdish area in north Iraq. It lies on both sides of the Tigris with five bridges connection these parts. At least two of these bridges have earlier been under attack. Mosul has nearly 2,000,000 inhabitants.

Maliki has ordered a huge offensive against Mosul involving a three brigade size (10,000-15,000 troops) force of Iraqi government troops and U.S. support (likely one brigade - 3,500 troops).

The attack will start in the next few days."... More ..

The unlikely bulk of ex marine and child molester Scott Ritter looms - " Iraq's Tragic failure" at Truth dig .....

"If the president is free to pursue his policies, it could lead to direct military intervention in Iran by the United States prior to President Bush’s departure from office or, failing that, place his successor on the path toward military confrontation. " ... lay off it Scott you've been forecasting the Iranian invasion since June 2006.

However with his ear well close to CIA sources he does provide a timely reminder that the fag end of Saddam's Baathists have survived Bremer's brave boys and reports that in October 2007 the Iraqi Baath Party held its 13th conference, in which it formally certified one of Saddam’s vice presidents, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, as the supreme leader of the Sunni resistance in Iraq.... and then proceeds to punt this guy as the head honcho for Al Quaeda in Iraq (AQIQ).

He sees the coming strife in the North as a reflection of the Tet offensive.... watch this space.

"Saddam may be dead," says Scott, speaking for his paymasters, the CIA " but not so his plans for resistance. The massive security organizations which held sway over Iraq during his rule were never defeated, and never formally disbanded."

Are we to see the resurgence of the (rumoured dead) Nizar al Khazraji and his grisly pals (so popular with the CIA pre illegal invasion) ex Saddam's Information Minister Mohammed Sahaf, (not so Comical Ali) Health Minister Umid Mubarak and Foreign Minister Naji Sabri Al-Hadithi, 59 ... or even the arrival from retirement of Mr Aziz ?

PS : BBC World News briefing at 5.30 GMT says the Taliban have been re-branded for the Spring (Tet ?) offensive as the "Mujahadeen" and are gathering strength in Qetta on the Pak borders - they talk of 1.5 million madrassa studentswilling to fight for the legendary Muja.

USA Today 11/2/08 - Al-Qaeda tries to salvage image
ISN 10/2/08 - Questioning the Mosul offensive -"The military buildup in Mosul is part of a large-scale offensive involving 24,000 US soldiers and 130,000 Iraqi troops, designed to root out purported al-Qaida-linked militants in several provinces."
This Fucking War - No Local Allies in Wings for Mosul Fight - " Iraqi and American commanders are preparing for a prolonged - and possibly pivotal - fight against al-Qaida in Iraq in this vital northern hub. They are missing an essential tool used to uproot insurgents elsewhere: groups of local Sunni fighters - the so called Awakening Councils. "

"...creating ties with Sunni militia allies is a dangerous option. "It's just politically very delicate and the U.S. military would be in danger of breaking with its Kurdish allies if it went in that direction"
Captains Journal - Looming Battle for Mosul 10/2/08 see also Last Stand in Mosul 29/11/07

Boeing 777-236, G-YMMM AAIB Initial Report Update published

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) have updated their report on Boeing 777-236, G-YMMM which crashed at Heathow with an " Initial Report Update".

They report that based on data from the flight recorders there was "adequate" fuel on board and that , " whilst the aircraft was stabilised on an ILS approach with the autopilot engaged, the autothrust system commanded an increase in thrust from both engines. The engines (Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines) both initially responded but after about 3 seconds the thrust of the right engine reduced. Some eight seconds later the thrust reduced on the left engine to a similar level. The engines did not shut down and both engines continued to produce thrust at an engine speed above flight idle, but less than the commanded thrust."

They also report that ,"the autothrottle and engine control commands were performing as expected prior to, and after, the reduction in thrust."

Consequently they are undertaking , "a detailed analysis and examination of the complete fuel flow path from the aircraft tanks to the engine fuel nozzles" with Boeing, Rolls Royce and British Airways staff.

The accident has resulted in a curious story reported in the Sun of a Susan Archibald calling BA lost luggage ten weeks ago and being put through to a 777 pilot about to take off from Heathrow for Los Angeles.

McCanns - Nemesis ?

Through cynicism , boredom, or mischief, the McCann's are now reaping the whirlwind of a disenchanted media. 100 days relentless and restless publicity in a tornado of endless travel, faultless make-up, carefully selected wardrobes, and even more carefully selected words .

From the Pope to the presposterous and dishonest Alberto Gonzalez, they have enlisted help, and received a million pounds as they have fed the sun -drenched press pack and paparazzi . Led skilfully, initially (for 4 unpaid weeks) by the senior Press Manager , Clarence Mitchell ,from No 10 Downing Street and the ever present family - and this includes the vocal relatives and their fellow travellers .

All this has now resulted in a rapid, nasty and brutal reversal in public sentiment and Police policy.

The Sunday Telegraph today repeats a story from the Portuguese newspaper, Sol, who allege that British sniffer dogs have picked up traces of the girl's corpse in the holiday apartment from where she disappeared on May 3. This, says the Telegraph means the McCanns face new distressing claims that their daughter may have been dead before they went to dinner on the evening of her disappearance.

An unnamed expert is quoted saying : "In order for the dogs to detect a body, this would have to stay in place where it died for a minimum of two hours." which they calculate means Madeleine died "some time between being collected from a creche at 6.30pm and when the couple left the flat for dinner at 8.30pm"

It also claimed that police sources believe Madeleine's body could have been hidden for two months before being moved.

Speculating about where the youngster's body might now be, an unnamed source said: "Perhaps dumped in the sea or buried."

Friends of the McCanns said the speculation was "ludicrous and utterly untrue". One friend said: "No one could seriously suggest that Kate or Gerry had anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance."

This speculation is also reported by This is London who also explain that the Mundo Real another Portuguese newspaper claimed yesterday that the couple may have moved a dead body five weeks later in their hired Renault Scenic car , hired five weeks after the disappearance, which they explained was being examined for , "traces of a corpse".

Could the Portuguese Police (the inheritors of the feared PIDE of Salazar) portrayed in a truly xenophobic fashion by the UK press as a bunch of stumbling, bumbling Inspector Cloiseau's be playing games ? Short of damning clues, possessors of unusable telephone traces, e- mails, could they be trying to flush out their quarry ?

Has the love affair with a pliant and supportive press come to an end? Have the Police, who in the UK have had remarkable success in using the media to pressurise liars, been playing a brutal, calculated and very public endgame ?

The results of the tests on what is evidently blood, found on the wall of Madeleine's room may now form the evidence to frame a deadly tale ... and they are due this week.

For all posts on this subject go here.

UPDATE Monday 13/8/07

Daily Telegraph reports today that the Jornal de Noticias reported that blood traces had also been found on the curtains of Mr and Mrs McCann's bedroom. This is also remarked on in an article in the Daily Mail. The Times reports that Robert Murat was / is to be dropped as the only official suspect .

UPDATE Tuesday 14/8/07

Daily Telegraph says the Mccann's hire car ws stripped down over 2 days by the police.

UPDATE Sunday 19th August 2007

The phrase "Could the Portuguese Police (the inheritors of the feared PIDE of Salazar)" used above has been queried ,with the distinction being made between the PIDE and the PJ. The PIDE officers did not disappear - nor their methods, both were inherited and subsumed into the new forces.

Remember that Lisbon was, during WWII the meeting ground for spies / agents from both the Allied forces and the Axis forces... there is a lengthy history of covert policing, with many, many connections. President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, President Aznar, and Prime Minister Barroso of Portugal (now EU President) met in the Azores on March 16th 2003 to declare (effectively) war on Iraq. " ....and a declarative statement on Iraq." said the White House press statement.... which of course re-inforces the tantalising question of what Clarence Mitchell was up to and why Gordon Brown found it necessary to talk to the Portuguese Police.

e.g Northern Ireland. MI5 now have swanky new £20Mn barracks and no doubt they will still be funding members of the republicans and the loyalists, whilst liasing with the Northern Ireland Police Force . Some of the senior members - Sir Ronnie Flanagan's cronies have advanced stages of very selective memory loss and have been retired but their ethos lives on.

q.v. the PIDE. and see here re MI5 / NI

To see all posts on this site on the Madeleine saga go here

Lexington Comair crash - TSA censors NTSB Report / Docs.

When Lord Patel posted , "Kentucky aircrash - a Queens connection and a coincidence" on Monday 28th August about the crash of Comair (part of Delta) Flt 5191, bound from Lexington to Atlanta that crashed in a balzing inferno shortly after takeoff at 6.06.36 on the previous day last year . Only a day after the accident the cause was fully understood.

Flight 5191 had simply taken off from Runway 26 (1,051 m) not Runway 22 ( 2,100 m) which it would need to get airborne as it would need at least 1,350 metres to the point of rotation (or lift off).

The Bombardier - CRJ - 100 didn't make it and neither did 49 crew and passengers. Only the badly injured co-pilot James Polehinke survived, as did the flight recorders.

This was the most serious air crash the in terms of deaths since November 2001, when American Airlines Flt 587 Airbus A300-600 No N14053 mysteriously crashed in Queens NY, shortly after takeoff from JFK airport, killing 265 people.

Lord Patel pointed out that pilot Polehinke had been with Comair since 2002 and was based out of John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens... a coincidence of no significance whatever .. but a memory jog.

NTSB Board meet to consider report on Lexington crash

So when Reuters ( and USA Today, CNN etc.,) reported on Wednesday 25th July 2007 , that after a day long hearing in Washington (without witnesses) that The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had concluded that the experienced flight crew of Capt. Jeffrey Clay and First Officer James Polehinke who had previously flown from the Blue Grass Airport , Lexington ...

1. Missed visual cues;
a) Runway markings
b) Construction barricades
c) Standard taxi route signs

2. Failed to conduct proper preflight procedures for Flight 5191 to Atlanta

3. Confirm its position on the runway to the control tower

4. Engaged in idle chatter on unrelated matters ( from 6:02:16 a.m. on taxi way until they move to sit on the hold line at 6.04.33) in violation of FAA ( a "sterile cockpit") and company regulations that may have distracted them..

..and at 6.06.00 set the throttles for take off on the fatal short Runway 26 instead of Runway 22 they noticed (Polehinkes on the voice recorder at 6.06.16 says "its weird" ) that the tarmac (which was under construction) was not lit, but it was too late to abort and they attempted rotation, hit an earth berm, trees and crashed in flames 1820 feet from runway from the airport.

The lone veteran Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) controller (a second controller was required but not staffed by the FAA) on duty having cleared the only flight , who was not required to , "follow the aircraft movement from that point", directed his attention to some paperwork. The five member board forced to vote, decided that "the controller's actions did not contribute directly to the crash."

Staff dismissed as a non-factor the violation of an FAA directive calling for two controllers to work overnight shifts in airports like Lexington - one to keep an eye on the ground, the other to monitor radar.

The weather was clear, the crew fully rested . The plane was mechanically sound. Two previous flights had departed uneventfully on the correct runway.

Simply the pilots got it wrong, a problem the NTSB investigating staff struggled to explain how two competent pilots and the tower controller who cleared the jet for takeoff could make such blindingly obvious mistakes.

Staff members had also concluded the flight crew's lack of updated maps and notices alerting them to construction that had changed the taxiway route a week earlier was not a factor in the navigation error. Board Member Debbie Hersman pointed to the paperwork the crew never got detailing the taxiway change. Not only was it not in their packet from Comair, but the air traffic controller didn't broadcast the announcement that morning, even though it had been doing so the rest of the week.

Debbie Hersman said, this accident led them, " ...into the briar patch of human behavior." Hmmmmm.

Some 25 bereaved family members watched a live TV link at the downtown Hyatt in Lexington - Lois Turner whose husband died said "...the hard part, (is) to know that there were so many missed opportunities."

In what the NTSB considered basically was a slam dunk case of pilot error (despite understrength and diverted air control staff, absence of construction / taxi route changes for pilots / failure to broadcast taxi changes ) it had taken a long time to report.

TSA black out "sensitive data" in NTSB report / docs.

Therefore it was interesting to read in the Washington Post a report by Jeffrey McMurray (AP) , " Ky.Plane Crash screened for Secrets" on Tuesday 24th July, the day before the NTSB met a reason for some of the delay in reporting.

Jeffrey reported that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) (created in November 2001 as a response to 9/11) which has no statutory role in the investigation of the crash, had reviewed the investigation report for, "secret information about aviation procedures."

Apparently TSA spokeswoman Amy Kudwa says the agency doesn't want "sensitive security information" involving airline operations to become public ,"because airline manuals often have overlap between safety and security procedures". So the agency inspected about 39,000 pages of documents sought in lawsuit by families of the crash victims between March and May and which must have led to delays.

Michael Gobb, executive director of Blue Grass Airport, which Comair has listed in a countersuit, said the TSA review came at the request of Comair, which is based in Erlanger, Ky. (Cincinatti Post) (WDTN.OH) (video to view here MUST SEE)

Two families have raised lawsuits against Comair and are represented by Attorney Stan Chesley who says his firm is still waiting for records and depositions to be distributed, he understands that when those documents are returned to be filed in the public record, the sensitive data will be blacked out.

Former director of the NTSB Jim Hall said he is surprised (he isn't the only person) that an agency that usually deals with terrorism threats would get involved in reviewing the legal documents of a plane crash attributed to human error.

"It totally shocks me," Hall said. "I have no understanding what their role would be unless it was a criminal matter, and that would seem to be handled by the FBI. If I were a family member, I would definitely want to know what the TSA was doing."

The NTSB proceedings are separate from the lawsuits, which will of course be heard in state / federal courts.

It is therefore even more interesting that the following day - the day the NTSB met in Washington , that the same AP reporter Jeffrey Mc Murray had a very long story in the Louisville Courier - Journal about the the case that Stan Chesley ( a fire follower starting with the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire 30 years ago in which 165 people died ) has about post accident survivability. Whilst the NTSB concentrated on the pilot's mistakes, Chesley points out that ....the fuel carrying wings were largely intact - the fuselage where the passengers sat was gone -- engulfed by a massive fire, even though the plane had never got far off the ground. First responders told investigators the explosion was almost instantaneous, giving passengers little opportunity to escape.

The safety board's preliminary report suggested at least 16 passengers suffered smoke inhalation, indicating they were still alive at impact time and perished by choking and fire.

When the American Airlines Flt 587 Airbus A300-600 No N14053 mysteriously crashed in Queens NY, shortly after takeoff from JFK airport, killing 265 people the NTSB eventually found that the rudder fell off as a result of anual over correction by the pilot in response to wind turbulence from the preceding JAL 747 flight... ignoring eye witnesses who saw fireballs and explosions in the mid section of the plane etc.,

.. and within half an hour the NTSB chairperson lady declared it was not a terrist incident, although the Hudson tunnel was closed, etc., etc.,

It makes Lord Patel consider checking with Homeland terrist Chertoff about the way to evaluate your guts .. because when the TSA want to "inspect" the NTSB report into a slam dunk crash and to black out sensitive data .. from the public report / documents ... his guts get a feeling.

Odd that Lord Patel made the connection between Old Blue Grass Airport and Kennedy Airport a year ago ..... very odd.

Grieving Queen seeks solace in Brown, the steadfast Scot

In all the excitement nobody seems to have noticed that a Scotsman called Brown slipped quietly into Buckingham Palace this week.

Does this presage the quiet admiration lavished on another Scotsman by another generation of the Royal family ? As the Queen grieves over the memories of her most favourite wife of the next and future King - has she sought solace in that rough embrace, redolent of the Fish Dock in the Lang Toon combined with the perfume of midnight scolarship in the Manse. Och Aye! the Romance of Scotland.

Will his visits become more regular - will there be something in this dour Scot's awkward shyness, his sly obseqiousness that 10 years subserviance to His Masters Voice has instilled in him that have made him attractive to Lady Helen Mirren ? (AKA Queen Elizabeth II ).

Will the Glens of Balmoral and the valleys of Speyside echo to the soft sussurations of tender nothings from Brown as she watches him ply his rod and flies in the soft summer sun ? Sylvie Krin could soon be telling us the tale.... shared breakfasts from the Tuppwerware ....

Is David Icke correct ? Have the Purple Lizards led by HM taken over ? A clue maybe is that the Lady Dame Jane Pauline Neville Jones Fan Club have been augmenting Gubment*** in the shape of Sir John Stevens K.St.J ,QPM, DL, LL.D, Hon DCL, M.Phil, CIMgt, FRSA , Master of the Inconclusive and Lengthy Inquiry (who it must be remembered forecast the 21/7 bombers in the pages of News of the World) he is of copurse also an advisor on Policing to the Governments of advises the South African, Jamaican, Bulgarian, Romanian, Qatar and Greece.

Admiral Sir Alan West GCB,DSC. and one time Chief of Defence Intelligence has also ben appointed as amanuensis to Jacqui Smith the new and naive Home Secretary and swiftly and prominently figured in her small entourage to chair the COBRA committee this weekend.

*** Lady Dame Jane Pauline Neville - Jones will of course continue as the Fan Club's spokesperson to BBC Newsnight, Today, World at One, PM, BBC World News with her comments syndicated to the TV / Press throughout what we used to proudly call the "White Commonwealth".

Courtney Coventry Where are they Now ? Pt 433 Amazing Pictures

Sources close to David Cameron have revealed today that an American porn star has been flown to Britain by detectives investigating the sleazy honours sold for cash injections to the New labour party by Lord Levy and his team of influence peddlars.

Glamorous, small, but perfectly formed and pertly pouting porn actress Courtney Coventry, 25, unlike fellow Hollywood hero Arnie hit town , not to meet Tony Blair, but to spill the beans to PC Plod about how sleaze ball, midget Karaoke King, ex personal Envoy for Tony to the Middle East and peddler of honours who funded New Labour at the 2005 election took £1,000 off them at a Hilton Hotel fund raising bash.... and how Jane Hogarth , Lord L's chief assistant chased them for a contribution. (Jane Hogarth was head of corporate relations and fundraising, took voluntary redundancy in June 2006. Darren Milner, the corporate relations manager, (now working for Public Affairs News) and Sairina Ramakrishnan, whose responsibilities include helping to organise gala dinners, are also understood to have left).

After enjoying the company of the charming thespian Lord Patel wrote about her closeness to Tony and Lord Levy, ("My midget gem", she called him) on Sunday, March 25, 2007 Tony Blair - Guilty by Association ..she was even kind enough to add a very interesting and revealing comment to the post.

Slim , self confident Mrs Coventry was delighted to be introduced to Tony Blair by Lord Levy along with her husband who were masquerading (in the way porn stars do) as a real life Count and Countess of Rozel - see above post for all the seamy details.. Jack Straw and her ...well...large chest...etc.,

Yesterday, suntanned and looking fabulous, she was flown into Heathrow from Nice, the sunny home of the Hollywood celebrities and starlets by the Metropolitan Police sleuths hot on the trail of the "Cash for Coronets" gang as Assistant Chief Constable Yates calls them.

Plod apparently dismissed her incriminating information as "valueless". Ho.Ho.Ho.

Curiously (and simultaneously) Newsnight and other sources revealed that the Met super sleuths received a stark warning from Number 10 in January as they were preparing to grill the Prime Minister under caution that Tony Blair would quit earlier if he had been quizzed as a suspect.

The result was , they were warned off and he was dealt with simply as a witness.... so far.

Whew what a relief ... unless of course lovely Courtney (videos of her fillums here) had an interesting tale to tell that the denizens of Fleet Street might possibly have a modest interest in. An ancient story also here.

Update.

Yates's supersleuths have kept the retired PM busy today (Thursday) having a leisurely chat with him at a solicitors well appointed officers near Red Lion square where they have previously met him - so convenient.

The CPS have the files of course but there are apparently one or two odds and ends, loose dangly bits to .. just well ...clear up.

One wonders now what GB is doing about Ruth and the other collaboraters in the criminal sale of honours will be doing round the office now.

MaddyMania

SAFETY concerns have arisen over a low fence next to a Southampton school in light of the abduction of Madeleine McCann in Portugal.

Bishop of the Algarve - D. Manuel Neto Quintas appealed to Madeleine's abductor to phone him to arrange Madeleine's return - but he failed to supply a phone number.

"Madeleine McCann and the Psychic Tracker"
One of the UK’s most talented pyschic trackers, Amanda Hart, travelled to Portugal in an attempt to use her powers to help locate the missing toddler.

"Maddy has had her hair changed to look more like a young boy.There is a blonde woman and 2 men involved. There is a dog around them - like a rotweiler because of the teeth. Keep getting the guard dog coming up. It is used as a warning to alert people are approaching the property she’s at.There is arguing amongst the adults....blah..blah"

Clarence Mitchell was a BBC Reporter left the Beeb for an important job with HM Government. According to this, he is now the director of the Media Monitoring Unit ***within the Central Office of Information(COI). Tony Hatfield has a snap of him (see pic) with an official looking tag round his neck in the company of Dr. McCann and is evidently getting involved .....?

Madeleine's Picture Lights Up Marble Arch
An image of missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann has been projected onto London's Marble Arch ahead of today's International Missing Children's Day. (With a Video from Sky)

Kevin Warwick, Professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading developed an implantable RF chip that could tell a computer where he or she was at any time - after the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman he was swamped with people who wanted to chip their children. Now he has (it says here) been bombarded with e-mails over the past few days from parents desperate to keep tabs on their children. As we talk, another e-mail drops into his inbox from a mother of two young children who says that she is deeply anxious about Madeleine’s disappearance and wants to know more about the chip technology.

From 666 Mark of the Beast - A website dedicated to the study of the End Times, the Rapture, the Tribulation, and the Prophecies in Revelation.

"All Aboard the Gravy Train" - Angry Harry has a rant about it all.

***

"Based in the Cabinet Office in Whitehall, our team of professionals monitor regional, national and international media, covering the main media outlets. These include print, terrestrial TV news bulletins, news channels, radio, websites, wire services and a selection of foreign language media.

The information gathered is then analysed, distilled and delivered to our clients in a format that is easy to understand and access – giving them a comprehensive view of how their stories fit into the wider government agenda." read more of the work of this fascinating Government unit.

£313,091.17 in the Find Madeleine Fund to date

Tony Hatfield in his Retired Ramblings has done some digging and uncovered some fascinating information about the "Find Madeleine" fund (The Official Website to find Madeleine McCann). Although the website gives a companyname "Madeleine's Fund :leaving No Stone Unturned Limited, Registration number (6248215 ) a search against that number at Companies House returns

Name & Registered Office:
MADELEINE'S FUND: LEAVING NO STONE UNTURNED LIMITED
2/6 CANNON STREET
LONDON
EC4M 6YH
Company No. 06248215

Status: Active Date of Incorporation: 15/05/2007

It appears the Fund is a Company Limited by Guarantee and that an application for charitable status has been refused. The Company objectives are listed at length on Tony's site.

The website stated that the current balance of the fund at mid day 25th May 2007 was £313,091.17. which doesn't include money taken over the counters of NatWest Bank & Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), along with the donations made by cheque, which have not yet hit the account and that the site had received over 125 Million hits.

The company running the website are Infohost which appears to be run by Calum and Cameron McRae and is Ullapool based (?) . They list 40 odd clients but their website returns "Still in development " for New Projects and News tabs.

Clicking a banner on the Home Page of Infohost for Find Madeleine with the URL www.bringmadeleinehome.com re-directs you to the Find Madeleine website.

Whois on www.bringmadeleinehome.com returns

Registrant:
Madeleine's Fund Leaving No Stone Unturned Limited
2-6 Cannon Street
London, London EC4M 6YH
GB

Domain name: BRINGMADELEINEHOME.COM

Administrative Contact:
MacRae, Cameron  cameron@infohost.co.uk
27 Pulteney Street
Ullapool, Highland IV1 1UP
GB
+441854612821

Whois on www.findmadeleine.com returns

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: FINDMADELEINE.COM
Created on: 10-May-07
Expires on: 10-May-08
Last Updated on:

Administrative Contact:
Private, Registration FINDMADELEINE.COM@domainsbyproxy.com
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
DomainsByProxy.com
15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States
(480) 624-2599 Fax -- (480) 624-2599

5 Wannabe "bombers" found guilty - surprise,surprise..the Crown says they had a connection to Al Quaeda

Top, from left: Jawad Akbar, Omar Khyam and Shujah Mahmood.
Bottom, from left: Salahuddin Amin, Anthony Garcia and Waheed Mahmood

After one of the largest , longest and costliest (£50Mn) terrorism trials in the UK ,Omar Khyam, 26, from Crawley, West Sussex, was found guilty of conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life between 1 January 2003 and 31 March 2004. Waheed Mahmood, 34, and Jawad Akbar, 23, also of Crawley; Salahuddin Amin, 31, from Luton, Bedfordshire; Anthony Garcia, 24, of Barkingside, east London have also been found guilty by a jury which spent 27 days considering the case and returning majority verdicts.

Garcia, Akbar, Waheed Mahmood and Amin were convicted with Khyam of conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life.

Hussain and Shujah Mahmood were cleared of conspiracy to cause explosions.

Khyam and Garcia were also found guilty of possession of 600kg of ammonium nitrate fertiliser for terrorism, but Hussain was cleared.

Khyam was also found guilty of possession aluminium powder for terrorism, but Shujah Mahmood was found not guilty.

The jury found 2 other defendents , Nabeel Hussain and Shujah Mahmood (brother of Omar Khyam) , not guilty.

Now the trial is over the prosecution "reveal" ,or at least claim , without revealing a shred of evidence...

1) That Mohammed Sidique Khan who is alleged to be a ringleader of the 7/7 "suicide" bombers was spotted on 4 (!) occasions in 2004 with at least one of the conspirators. At one point MI5 officers followed Khan back to his home in Leeds but no further action was taken.(!)

2) Khyam is also said to have met Shehzad Tanweer another of the 7/7 "suicide" bombers...presumably to discuss their shared passion for cricket.

3) It is also claimed that through these connections there were contacts back to Pakistan and Al Quaeda.

One wonders why the mastermind Omar Kyam, an agent of Al Quaeda therefore found it necessary to borrow the money for the rental space to store the ammonium nitrate from 21 year old student Nabeel Hussain - who the jury found not guilty.

Evidently these guys were adolescent fantasists motivated by some curious quasi religious/political ideology ,who had malign intent, but were hardly trained terrorists - they represented, compared with the threat of the IRA and UDF over 30 years a negligible risk to public safety. The level of knowledge, expertise and experience of making bombs that was exposed in court suggested they were more of a threat to themselves than the larger public.

We now know that in Northern Ireland, terrorists who stole, mugged, horribly mutilated, killed, bombed, dealt in drugs were in the pay of and under the control of the state by and through it's secret services (FCO) and Police force(Home Office) and Army(MOD / FRU). (See Operation Ballast report and other reports). The current head of MI5 was one of those involved for many years in manipulating, funding, supplying, directing those terrorists, suppressing information, evidence, falsifying records and even ensuring the removal of armed military and police patrols to enable them to commit crimes. Quite where the State and it's employees fit in, in this case, it is not, at this stage possible to discern.

Mohammed Sidique Khan might well fit in as part of the larger jig-saw, but quite how, and why remains a tantalising question.

UPDATE 3pm

Aha! MI5 version of events has appeared on their website with the "evidence" which the BBC reports keep saying were presented in court. Presented in court maybe , but not during a trial when their origin, source, provenance could be tested. There is also statement from the head of MI5 called Jonathan Evans "But the severity of the threat facing our country means expanding counter-terrorist operations at an unprecedented rate just to keep pace." (Why have they not learnt to start sentences /paragraphs with a conjunction ?).

Is the relationship between terrists and the State, Symbiotic, parasitic, incestuous ? Discuss.

Blair, Beckett - fucking hyprocrites. Paxo and the Urban Myth for the Tower and the mystery of the Missing Lynx

On 23 March a boarding team 7 Royal Marines and 8 sailors - in 2 boats embarked from corvette HMS CORNWALL to conduct the latest of 66 boardings in March and of 4 in this immediate area. The anchored Indian flagged vessel (name ?) had unloaded cars onto barges and their investigation was co-operative throughout- the on board survey started at 0739 local time and was completed at 0910 with the merchant vessel having been cleared to continue with her business.The Royal Navy state the vessel location was The position was 29 degrees 50.36 minutes North 048 degrees 43.08 minutes East.(slightly different from this MOD pic from the Missing Lynx taken later over the vehicle.

At 9.10 communications were lost and the Cornwall's Lynx helicopter immediately returned to the scene to locate the boarding team. The MOD statement of events does not explain why the Lynx which had accompanied the original boarding did not remain on station to give aerial cover - The Urban myth on Newsnight 28th March stated they returned to the Cornwall as fuel was low and they needed to re-fuel..

Debriefing of the helicopter crew and a conversation with the master of the merchant ship both indicate that the boarding team were ambushed while disembarking from the merchant vessel. Both boats were equipped with a GPS chart plotter.

Iranian Televsion have released a film which is a mixture of RN footage, and Iranian footage of the event and another film showing the kidnapped staff eating and a verbal statement by a WREN who was part of the boarding party - plus releasing a photo and text of a letter from her to her parents.

BBC filming crew, had the day prior to the kidnap filmed and interviewed sassy married mother of 3 year old, WREN, Leading Seaman Faye Turney about her life in the RN which had been widely broadcast by BBC and other YK TV channels and probably elsewhere.

Before the Iranians broadcast and released the video film of the capture a spokesman for Blair said .,"any showing of British personnel on TV would be a breach of the Geneva Conventions."

After the footage was aired, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said:

“I am very concerned about these pictures and any indication of pressure or coercion of our personnel who were carrying out a routine operation in accordance with international law and under a United Nations Resolution.

I am particularly disappointed that a private letter has been used in a way which can only add to the distress of the families.”

The Sun reports fun loving Defence Secretary Des Browne was also upset:

"It’s completely unacceptable to parade our people in this way. My whole focus is to secure the immediate release of our people."

At the Morning press briefing today 29th March 2007 When asked for the Prime Minister's reaction to the TV pictures of the naval personnel last night, the PMOS replied ....

".... that nobody should be put in that position. It was an impossible position to be put in and it was wrong. It was wrong in terms of the usual conventions that cover this kind of situation, and it was wrong just in terms of basic humanity."

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett (pic - or is that a really pissed off Tess who has lost her casinos - another of Tony's apparently unsackable female cabinet colleagues) made a statement in the house today which yuo can read at the FCO website. She didn't mention the Iranian TV films, she didn't say she was "concerned", she didn't say the films were "wrong" ... which is just as well because the BBC - most of which is a section staffed, funded and paid for by the Foreign Office have been repeatedly showing the films both on UK and worldwide on BBC World programs.

On BBC Newsnight last night the UK benefited from a frame by frame analysis by the Urban myth, (Hon. Sec. The BBC2 Quizzical Raised Eyebrow Club Prop. J Paxman Esq.) who deconstructed the triumphal Iranian film, identified the RN clips (presumably seized from their video kit) .. and amazingly the fact that one soldier after being kidnapped retained his S-30 Assault Rifle - He also explained in painstaking detail (courtesy MOD) how the stationary Indian (un-named) vessel was in 2 places simultaneously and where the Brits drew the boundary between Iranian and Iraqi waters - in Mercantile Law a fiction as no such line has been agreed by the adjoining sovereign states.viz Iran & Iraq.

Perhaps we should get Plod round to White City and have the Newsnight crew hauled off to the Tower of London , breach of Human Rights, Law of the Sea, Geneva Conventions.

PS Virtually every UK daily newspaper had the photograph of WREN Leading Seaman Faye Turney wearing a black Hijab (some of them complete with her smoking a fag) - Human Rights anyone ? Geneva Conventions anyone?

.. and as for the Missing Lynx top cover that wasn't adequately fuelled for the task ...

Hurry, Hurry Trips around the Gulf of Tonkin, book now whilst the opportunity is here.

Dodgy Maritime Maps Dossier from the MOD see Craig Murray
Also Blair's Faked Border by Alabama Moon