" ...the white hot heat of the technological revolution"

BBC Tuesday, 24 November, 1998
Blair hails Internet revolution

The government is preparing Britain for "the new industrial revolution" brought about by the Internet, the Prime Minister has told MPs.

The Net is the fastest-spreading technology ever and is transforming industries, he said. And electronic commerce would grow likewise.

Mr Blair said the government would take three steps to make the UK the leading nation for e-commerce:

1. Introducing a bill in parliament to boost the new market in the UK (Whatever happend to that ?)

2.Investing in skills: every school will be linked to the Internet, every teacher would be trained in it and every school-leaver should be information technology-literate, said Mr Blair. (Excepting those who cannot read or write)

3.Investing in creativity, through £1.4bn in scientific research and investment in arts funding

BBC Radio 4 "Today Program" with John Humphreys Saturday 8th July , 2006

" I think it is called the Internet , blogs or something.I've only just got used to the letter, John "

Deputy Prime Minister Right Honourable John Prescott, MP, PC, fornicator, pugilist, wannabe cowboy, fixer, ....

Sir Roy Meadows - the witchunt continues.

Sir Roy Meadows was struck off by the GMC earlier this year for giving flawed evidence at Sally Clark's 1999 trial for the murder of her sons.The High Court over-turned the decision in February and this is being appealed. Today The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith intervened to back an appeal by the General Medical Council over the case of paediatrician Professor Sir Roy Meadows which would protect expert witnesses.

John Batt,(pic outside Courts of Justice in the Strand today) a family friend, solicitor and who held a watching brief at the trial for Sally Calrk's father pursues Meadows but not Professor Southall who has publicly declared Sally Clark's husband a murderer, has refused an opportunity to retract this claim by the GMC - but John Batt leaves him alone. Mr Clark appears reluctant to prosecute Professor Southall for slander / defamation / libel - at least he has not raised any action against him.

This curious and virulet pursuit of Sir Roy is unprecedented and odd. The appeal succeeded not because Sir Roy Meadows provided unchallenged and flawed statistical advice but because the pathologist Dr Williams simply lied when giving evidence. This can be best explained by an extract from a review of the book that John Batt wrote about Sally Clark's Trial.

Stolen Innocence: The Story of Sally Clark by John Batt, Ebury Press 2004 ISBN 0091900700 336 pps

21/07/04 Stolen Innocence: The Story of Sally Clark Reviewed by Edward Teague

" ....Despite this, the dishonesty of the Crown Prosecuting Counsel's forensic scientists finished her off. The jury, unnamed, unknown, were truly the heroes of the case, described by the author as “…most in their teens, or early twenties, one man perhaps one woman is over 40. 3 have difficulty reading the oath. They look as if they have been beamed up to an alien planet by Scotty in Star Trek”.

It was these (to Mr John Batt) apparent simpletons, who penetrated the obfuscating fog of legal terms, medical terminology, and pedantic process. It was these 12 peers, good and true, who identified the simple clear need to answer a simple clear question. A question they framed in writing and presented to the judge. Harry died, blood samples were taken, what did they show?

Faced with this clear simple question, Dr Williams, the Home Office consultant forensic pathologist produced a simple response. He lied. Remarkably the Appeal Court judges said they discounted the possibility that Dr Williams deliberately concealed the information. Three years after Sally Clark had entered prison and her family's unbelievable anguish, enormous legal costs, and the press world wide had published photographs of Hope Cottage, their family home entitled “The Death House”, Dr Williams precipitated her release by refusing to explain himself.

....Robin Spencer QC for the Prosecution.

“My Lords, Dr Williams has decided not to appear as a witness…and the prosecution no longer seeks to uphold these convictions… The Crown does not seek a retrial”


The person who failed Sally Clark, was not Sir Roy Meadows (pic today), it was her brief Julian Bevan QC (that ornament of the Bar) renowned as a prosecutor, and his Junior John Kelsey Fry , past whose Rolls Royce minds the significance of the jury (who might have been beamed up by Scotty according to John Batt)who failed to challenge his faulty evidence, it was he who failed to follow the lead from the jury to ask what happened to the blood samples from Harry. He didn't and she spent 3 years in prison. It was another brief who led the appeal for her dismissal.

John Batt mis - directs his energetic campaign witchunt, but of course you cannot sue barristers for negligence.

Ma Beckett's Legacy - A fucked over ETS market and soaring energy costs

Camilla Cavendish ( a ravishing blonde judging by the byeline in Thursday's Leader page of Rupert's Rag the Times) has almost caught on to the nonsense of the EU Emission Trading System - Ma Beckett's legacy at DEFR.

" ...a prime example of ineffective bluster has been the EU's scheme for emissions trading.... What matters for global warming is whether greenhouse gas emissions are falling. And they're not"

What has esacped the sultry pouting Camilla (not to mention sultry pouting Margaret Beckett) with her deep beguiling eyes, is the fact that the architects of the ETS couldn't give a flying fuck about carbon dioxide concentrations, global warming, rising sealevels, emissions from power station , nocturnal or otherwise. What they deeply care about, the lawyers, the accountants, the merchant bankers, the consultants, the hustlers of very expensive weekly tipsheets serious analytical real time comment is MAKING MONEY - PREFERABLY LOTS OF IT.

The carbon market is merely a device to shuffle the worlds money, the stuff you shovel into pension funds, hold on deposit in the bank, the building society, your Mutual fund, hedge fund through the hands of dealers who willingly and with a smile take their commission, margin and profit.

The traded unit is a tonne of carbon, (EUA = EU allowance) produced by a producer of carbon dioxide in excess of their permit. Produce a tonne more than allowed and you pay the EU a tax of Euros 40 so the idea is you buy the unused tonnages (the EUA's) from someone who has underperformed. The broker sits in between (courtesy Ma Beckett) and peddles the differences.

Another example perhaps easier to comprehend is the Milk Quota scheme which has been operating for a very long time.

1. Every farmer is given a milk quota of (lets say 100 gallons).
2. Farmer A through better breeding , feeding produces 200 gallons.
3. Farmer B is idle, incompetent, stupid .. and greedy "sells" (or better still "rents" his quota to farmer A, (broker Y arranges the deal and takes let's say 5% of what A pays B.

Result, the market still gets the milk, but has to pay Farmer B, through higher wholesale and eventually retail prices for milk - Farmer B sits on his arse and draws a wage.

The carbon market is much more complex (sophisticated say the denizens of this jungle). Remember the Financial markets are casinos. They are merely well dressed and often highly educated gamblers - usually gambing with someone else's money and merely ladling their share off the top on every deal, buying or selling.

Gambling is universally enjoyed (Ask Tessa Jowell). However as the punter craves excitement and the book keeper wants more profit, devices are produced to satisfy both.

For example take horse racing

1. You can bet that Horse A will win. You place a bet, the odds of which have nothing to do with the likelihood of it winning but merely reflects the market view, as the amount of money staked on each horse, which is why 33-1 winners keep cropping up. The Gubment takes their share by a tax.

2. To add to the excitemtn you can bet on a place and get reduced odds 1.e 2nd pays 1/2 odds agreed on stake etc., - Bookies milk the market for big (i.e popular races, the derby) extending this to 4th place.

3. On top of this all sorts of "derivatives" arise on horse racing , Doubles, Trebles, Yankees , simply to raise the excitment (enjoyment ?) of the punter and the income of the bookie.etc.,

In football you can bet on the time, kicker of first goal, corner, person sent off, injure whatever.

Just so the Carbon market - and here is where the real money is in the carbon market.

The core market exists in 5 European trading centres who buy and sell the basic contracts , the big players use those prices as their benchmarks.
For example Dresdner, Kleinwort, Wassserstein (DRKW) the investment bank arm of the huge Deutsche Bank have introduced 2 products - because the world is split up into 2 sorts of investor (punter / mug / gambler / hedge fund manager ).

1. Those who think the market price of carbon will go DOWN
2. Those who think the market price of carbon will go UP

Expect the carbon price (EUA) to go DOWN, then DRKW will sell you (from 29th May) a "Knock out" put Warrant with a strike price of Euros 50 to expire on 3rd December 2007, the issue price is based on the EUA price on the Leipzig based European Energy Exchange (EEX) price. In other words the warrant is inversely linked to the carbon / EUA price.

How does this work / How do I make a profit ? DRKW charged on issue date Euros 30.95 ( Face value Euros 50 less that days price Euros 19.05. As the price of the EUA falls the warrant price goes up.i.e if the EUA drops to Euros 10 then the Warrant has a value of Euros 29.05. As the warrant is tradeable on the (regulated unofficial Freiverkehr in Frankfurt) or the EUWAX European Warrant Exchange, you can realise your trading profit, paying a modest sum to DRKW for their endeavours of course.


Expect the carbon price (EUA) to go UP, then DRKW will sell you (from 29th May) a "tracker certificate" at Euros 19.95 on issue date from 29th May of Euros 19.95. As the price rises the Warrant value will increase and again can be traded and profit taken.

What if the price doesn't go UP/DOWN as you expect. Well you are fucked, you have a piece of paper that has no worth , no assets, no value but which you can sell to somebody else assuming there is someone wanting to buy it.

... and DRKW , well they don't give a fuck if the price goes up or down, they draw their commission ( and beady eyed readers will note that the "Knock out" Warrant was using a price on issue of Euros 19.05 and the Tracker Warrant was using a price of Euros 19.5 - that Euros 0.90 "spread" is also an element in DRKW's humble margin.

This is a single example of just one "derivative" that your pension fund manager is gambling in putting your money into, either directly or via investment into another fund / hedge fund or through a bank deposit.

All this activity does not affect the price of EUA's , the production of carbon ...it is merely an accepted benchmark to allow a very small number of very rich people and institutions to cream off immense sums of money for themselves.

Does it cut carbon emissions ? ... NO
Does it cut the costs of energy? ... NO
Does it drive investment on carbon reduction / clean delivery ? ... NO. See FOOTNOTE

APOLOGIES

I must apologise if this is a tad complicated . There is a reason. Banks have tremendous security and so it is difficult to steal money from them using guns and masks (unless of course it is situated in Belfast) so it is a lot easier to steal money from the banks customers by computerised money transfer and couple of telephone calls.

I also apologise on the behalf of Ma Beckett who so enthusiastically endowed you the taxpayer with this fraudulent scheme which has been so helpful in "forcing" the major power utilities (curiously, owned by German and French companies) to increase the charge for gas, and electricity to your home ever since this insane scheme started.

Effectively she has placed a tax on every energy consumer, a tax that doesn't go to the Gubment but to the serried ranks of lawyers , accountants, traders, bankers , consultants .... God Bless her.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW ? MA BECKETT

She is now the Foreign Secretary who is now telling Prime Minister Olmerde to show restraint whilst he kills the Palestinians in Gaza, much as one might shoot fish in a barrel, or the Marronite Christian militia shot Palestinians at the Sabra and Shattila refugee camps whilst Ariel Sharon stood and watched.


FOOTNOTE

The UK Gubment paid for a survey to see how the scheme was working, this was before the market collapsed in April (published 30th May 2006) "Business views on International Climate Change and Energy Policy" by the UK Business Council for Sustainable Energy and The Climate Group. Conclusion ... " the emerging carbon price is not seen to be long-term enough to influence strategic decision-making, for example, over investments into new plant. This is compounded by the high level and volatility of gas prices."

"The EU ETS is seen as likely to survive independent of Kyoto, but be weaker without it and may so may eventually wither away."

" .... a few (companies) are of the view that the EU ETS would not survive."

" one company descriptively called the UNFCCC administration (organisers and bureaucrats who administer the ETS) as a ‘time intensive, lawyer invented scheme, with benefits to a lot of consultants".

"The political assumption that ETS, because it is set in legislation, will outlast changes in the international framework, is not a given for business. At least some assume that with a crumbling international regime, the ETS will be allowed to quietly fold, given that EU legislation is subject to national politics."


Well done Ma ... you dumb bitch.

The UK Business Council for Sustainable Energy was launched in 2002 bringing together the key players in the UK energy sector, to enable a high level policy dialogue with Government on climate change, and the transition to the wider use of sustainable energy.

The Climate Group is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to advancing business and government leadership on climate change. Based in the UK, the USA and Australia and operates internationally.

She's in Washington today telling Contileezza Rice that "Climate change" is the most important thing in world affairs ... Go and tell that to the Palestinians caught like rats in a trap in Gaza. Has this woman no moral compass ? She was in Chicago at the Mercantile Exchange, probably trying to set up a futures market in dead Palestine Babies. Some people from Israel have already made a kiling in the market.

"Bring 'em on" ... more UK troops consigned to die in foreign poppy fields.

Des Browne the baffled, grey haird, whey faced and probably sincere man in charge of the armed forces has been asked to send more UK troops for Taliban target practice - he will announce his intentions today or tommorrow after having been faced with an ultimatum from the senior commanders in Afghanistan.Having miscalculated the first time .. we'll see if we can get it right this time... the costs ?

As the Independent reports today
Britain to put in more troops as attacks mount
By Marie Woolf and Raymond Whitaker 9th July 2006

Britain's beleaguered troops in southern Afghanistan are to be heavily reinforced after a request from defence chiefs. Des Browne, the Secretary of State for Defence, will tell the Commons this week that a force of up to 1,000 soldiers, including combat troops and logistical support, will be urgently sent to the country.

Six months ago (27/1/06) Lord Patel said "Reid sends ill equipped troops to certain deaths in S Afghanistan"

Defence Secretary "Dr" John Reid met some of the troops due to die ("We expect to take casualties") in Afghanistan. In a nationwide 2 bases *Salisbury Plain , Dittingham Norfolk, and Otterburn) exercise 3 Para are part of 3000 3,300 army personnel are due to go to the lawless southern region of the country.

Those readers interested in history might wish to go back further (222/12/04)....

“Official” Terrorist lights fires of resistance in Afghanistan" by Edward Teague

.... Watch this space for an announcement about troop movements from the Scotsman John Reid AKA Minister of Defence – augmenting NATO forces (now approx 500) – beefing up the response – sharing the burden – spreading the load – part of a widening response in the War on Terror – blah blah … pulling US chestnuts out of the fire – re-run history reel .. Terrorist aided by US bites the hand that feeds … Osama ? Hekmatyar ?

The main problems are the initial shortage of helicopter transport, trained crews (which is larded with intra service strife), maintenance, spare parts availability (which is larded with problems of the Berry amendment , shortage of special metals etc., etc.,) the problems of heat, dust, irregular maintenance and a huge demand on their time, flying in terrifying terrain.

The Canadians resolved these problems ... they didn't take any helicopters and as a consequence their road convoys are taking a disproportionate amount of flak (and deaths).

The major point worrying senior commanders is the huge caches of shoulder fired Anti Aircraft weapons funded by the CIA or simply left behind by the Russians.

NOTE FOR EDITORS

1. Make sure you know how to spell Hekmatyar.
2. Useful quote, " Uneasy sits the King (Kharzai) who sits on a throne of bayonets."

Israeli genocide mission on target , merciless killing and slaughter continue

This is a picture of 6 years old Rawan Hajaj being carried by her father, the back of her head is falling off, a fatal injury she received when an Israeli shell hit her house in the Shajaya district on the outskirts of Gaza city, near the Karni border crossing.Her mother Um Ayman Hajaj and her elder brother Muhammad ,20,were killed and Rawan died later.

They had been sat out in the cool of the evening under a tree in the garden of their house. A neighbour drescribed the scene as a "bloodbath," with body parts strewn around, and children screaming.The courtyard outside the house was stained with blood, and a pool of blood collected near the front door. One of the house's walls was torn open by the force of the blast.

The Israeli military, initially denied that any shells had been fired, later admitted a missile had missed its target in an open field and landed on a street in the Shajaya district on the outskirts of Gaza City, near the Karni border crossing. On Saturday morning IOF tanks had stormed the immediate area and killed 3 people.

How can they do this ? Margaret Beckett, has expressed her concern on the killing of Palestinian civilians and stressed on the need to maintain self-control by all sides.

Given the opportunity to accept that the Israeli action 'is in breach of international law and constitutes collective punishment that the international community should condemn and bring to an end as soon as possible', Blair declined.

"I entirely agree that the situation is very serious," Blair said.

Probably not the language Mr Hajaj might use if he was proximal to the Prime Minister.

Craig Murray needs your help

Rupe's rag The Sunday Times is the only Google reference to the vile Foreign Office campaign of intimidation which commenced a long time ago and continued in a new asault on him and his book "Murder in Samarkand" on Friday ... in News in Brief in their Scottish editions they print..

Ex-ambassador threatened with court

BRITAIN’S former ambassador to Uzbekistan has been threatened with legal action by the government over his campaign to expose human rights abuses. Edinburgh-born Craig Murray, who was ousted after false allegations that he offered visas for sex, has been told to remove Foreign Office documents from his website or face paying “substantial” damages. Murray has accused Britain of ignoring rights abuses perpetrated by the US-backed regime.

1. Craig is "Edinburgh born", they omit to mention that Mainstream publishing who have published the book are also based in the Athens of the North. Being born in Edinburgh is not exceptional, nor is it an offence ... yet.
2. Craig was not "ousted" , hounded, intimidated, yes. Gross lies about his sexual conduct, social behaviour, drinking were "leaked" by the Government to the Press and repeated ... he resigned and was compensated for loss of office by the taxpayer.
3. Whilst it is true that it was alleged he offers visas for sex, not a shred of evidence was ever produced to suppport the allegation - which originated from within the Foreign Office.
4. Craig is not threatened with "damages" but is threatened with substantial legal costs for a minor , technical breach of the Copyright Act merely to stifle free expression ... there has been no question raised of breach of confidentiality, the Official Secrets Act, theft of Government property etc.,
5. Most of the documentation on his website has been obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
6. The instruction to remove the documents, was peremptorily issued by the Official Solicotor by courier and e-mail on Friday afternoon for action by Monday - an insupportable and unreasonable demand which limits his ability to seek support, legal advice or arrange meetings to discuss the matter before action.
7. No jury would accept the use of the Copyright Act to be used in this way, which is merely an attempt to suppress information which is in the public domain - another intolerable example of this Governments excessive zeal for secrecy.

You are encouraged to support Craig in every way you can by registering your support, here, on Craig's website and by writing to the press , your MP, MEP. Keep a lookout for public meetings.

WARNING

If you are contacted by John Sweeney the man from the BBC with a dirty raincoat to talk about Craig - tell him to Fuck Off.

Sunday Times link corrected now

Perfidious Albion cosies up to Kurdistan

Paul Bremer's "My Year in Iraq" is remarkable more for what is missing than what is recorded and discussed. February 2nd 2004, the day of Eid al Adha is a day that will live in infamy for the Kurds of Northen Iraq. The day celebrates the Feast of the Sacrifice, commemorating Abraham's willingness to obey God by sacrificing his son.

On that holy day two suicide bombers entered the Headquarters of the 2 leading party HQ's, in Erbil, that of the Kurdish Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan blew themselves to heaven to be joined by 67 people and left over 200 more with horrific injuries.

At the time Bremer is recorded saying in a studied diplomatic mantra,that this was "a cowardly attack on innocent human beings as well as on the very principle of democratic pluralism in Iraq", but in the book, nothing, silence. However it is also the day these attacks recorded a step change in that these were said to be the first major strikes in Iraq in which the assailants strapped explosives to their bodies - rather than using vehicles. Like much of Bremer's book it is a string of events with no analysis, no overriding undestanding of the flow of events, the poltical movements and the interplay of the major forces at work.

It was also the weekend that UN (US agent) weapons inspector David Kay told the US Senate Armed Services Committee that "it turns out we were all wrong, probably," about the perceived Iraqi threat of WMD. From this point on public support by Coalition Governments and populations can be seen to have steadily declined. Bremer doesn't seem to have noticed - except when Kay produced his interim report in October to the Senate he said (page 185) the lack of WMD's must have been, " ..bitter news on the Pentagon E Ring" ... you bet. The Chancelleries of Europe were not too pleased either.

Among the dead were KDP Deputy Prime Minister Sami Abdul Rahman and KDP Minister of Agriculture Saad Abdullah Adnan Mufti, and several other key Kurdish politicians died in the bombings - Responsibility for the blasts was claimed by a hitherto obscure group calling itself Ansar al-Sunna (Defenders of the Tradition), which trumpeted the attack as a blow against "two dens of the devils . . . inflicting harm on the collaborators with the Jews and Christians." (Associated Press, 4 February 2004)

Ansar al-Sunna is caimed to have evolved from Ansar al-Islam [Defenders of Islam], a group with ties to Iran and which administration officials have linked to al-Qaeda.

Operating under the title Jund al-Islam (Soldiers of Islam), Ansar al-Islam grew out of the September 2001 unification of several militant Islamist groups which had taken root in the mountains of northern Iraq along the Iranian border.

At the time of the invasion US Special Forces, coupled with PUK peshmerga, attacked the town of Khurmal 3 miles from the Iranian border on 29th March 2003, killing or scattering hundreds of fighters who had gathered there.

Ansar al-Islam adheres to a rigid militaristic Salafi ideology. Its founding declaration states that "jihad in Iraq has become an individual duty of every Muslim after the infidel enemy attacked the land of Islam" and unequivocally claims itself as a pan-Islamic movement.

If anything this event stiffened the resolve of the Kurds to establish their own rule in what they see as their territory, also blaming the US for allowing the Iranian border to be penetrated by Iranian backed and financed "foreign" insurgents.

Kim Howells in Kurdistan

It is therefore interesting that in visiting the Kurdish territories this week British Minister of State for the Middle East Dr. Kim Howells met President Masoud Barzani and KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani to discuss energy and infrastructure - which means the future government of Kirkuk and it's oil.

Rentagob and highly peripatetic Howells (he was in Cyprus and Kuwait this week) said he supports settling the Kirkuk issue through a free, fair, and transparent referendum in accordance with Article-140 of the Constitution of Iraq.

It is therefore interesting that Howells in touring road projects, conference and cultural centres, housing projects, the new expanded airport , and the University of Salahaddin he also found the time to visit the Sami Abdul Rahman Park where he paused (in a well advised stop) at the memorial to the martyrs of the 1 February 2004 terrorist attacks in Erbil.

Oil Drilling commenced / University of Kurdistan

Turkey’s Ganel Enerji and Switzerland’s Addax Petroleum International Ltd. (and here)started drilling at Taqtaq, near Koysinjaq, (click here for large map) east of the regional capital Erbil in May in the first new oil development in the area since the invasion which Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said ...

"According to the new Iraqi constitution we have all the rights to explore and produce the oil of our land and to exploit it to meet the peaceful needs of our people. We secured these rights through the sacrifice and struggle of our people, the result of thousands of people who have shed their blood in martyrdom for this land, and through the thousands who were displaced. We shall, therefore, never be prepared to surrender these rights."

A point no doubt that he made forcefully when he and Mr Howells discussed "energy and infrastructure".

He may have also discussed the opening of The University of Kurdistan – Hawler, in Erbil which will commence course with 400 Kurdish students in September 2006. Course will be in English and will be validated by Bradford University. Bradford University will monitor the curricula, the quality of teaching and the process of examination. Arrangements are also being made for Bradford University to accredit the University of Kurdistan’s degrees.

The new (June 6th) UK Ambassador in welcoming President Masoud Barzani, Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani at an Embassy shindig on the Queen's Birthday on 15th June, claimed that full UK diplomatic representation would probably soon follow and meanwhile Ms. Andrea Reidy, was taking up the post of British Consul General based in Kirkuk.

Should the Iraqi nation be sundered into three parts, the UK is appropriately well placed to maintain it's presence where the oil is - a policy no doubt well founded on the principles which guided the annexation of Mosul in 1929, which many in the FO will not have forgotten - indeed some may well have been in post at the time.

FOOTNOTE

Addax Petroleum IPO'd on the Toronto Stock Exchange (AXC) in March 2006 at C$21 and now trade at C$29.75.Their principal interests are in marginal fields in Africa. Worth a look.

Iraq ; Winning Hearts and Minds (continued)

BAGnews has uncovered this picture of Steven Green in the town of Mullah Fayed, featured in the Army News Service on December 9th 2005. he seems to be shooting a lock off, presumably the US Army don't spring to a pair of bolt cutters.

Green is the former soldier arrested this week for the brutal pre-meditated rape and murder of a 15 year old Iraqi girl, her subsequent murder and the prior murder of her family on March 12the 2006 near Mahmudiya, 20 miles from Baghdad.

The photo has gone from the site but the article remains it is titled (unbelievably) "Coalition forces keep streets of Iraq safe".

"In order to stabilize the area, the Soldiers and the citizens have established a basic trust, which is why during patrols U.S. troops take care in searching people’s homes."

“This was nothing like a big raid,” Casica said. “We just asked people to open cabinets and looked around in their things.” (Sgt. Kenneth Casica - Patrol leader - B Company, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment and elements of 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division)

"It was a long successful day for the Soldiers but they knew more patrols awaited them the next day."

"When responsible for maintaining the peace of a city and reducing the effectiveness of the insurgency, there is no such thing as a day off."

Court Appearance

Honourably Discharged from the Army as a private first class for "anti-social personality disorder", Green has been charged in a federal not a military court with rape and four counts of murder in the March 12, 2006, incident.

The case will be presented to a federal grand jury later this month, Green entered a plea of not guilty through his public defenders on Thursday in Louisville, Ky. and waived a detention hearing and a preliminary hearing. Wearing a black Johnny Cash T shirt and flip flops he admitted he had no significant assets beyond a 1990 Lincoln Town Car and a checking account that holds US$6,000.

The other four suspects who allegedly took part in the rape and killings have been confined to a US base in Iraq, but their names have not been released.

In early reports of the incident the U.S. blamed the killings on insurgents.

Blair : I just obey the voices in my head

I think there will be further attacks, in fact I know there will be further attacks

BBC

Happy Birthday - Heil the Commander in Chief

Here's a nice little ditty from Jarvis Cocker which seems to say it all. Dubya's just had his 60th Birthday.

World LNG demand grows - UK gas output declines lickety split

PTT Plc, the State owned (55%) energy company of Thailand says Thai gas demand is growing at 12% per year is exceeding supply from indigenous fields. Despite indigenous fields in the Gulf of Thailand and overland supplies from Myanmar (Burma) Thailand need to increase imports of LNG.

As a result PTT are to spend US$700 Mn. developing a kilometre-long jetty for LNG imports and 2 gas separation plants ( the 7th & 8th) which is expected to be complete by 2010. The LNG will be imported from Iran and will be used to generate electricity.

The new plant is expected to handle 5 Mn. Tonnes of LNG per year initially, which will increase to 10 Mn tonnes annually = 1,400 Mn. Cubic feet per day.

This demonstrates how worldwide demand for LNG is growing, as well as transport resources (tankers), engineering expertise and pressure on prices for production, transport and storage. This must be seen against the declining UK gas output... Centrica, UK's biggest gas supplier has just announced that output from its depleting Morecambe Bay gas field (15% of UK's peak gas demand) will fall by 20 per cent in 2006.

DCDC : Joined up Military Thinking ....at last.

The Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC) has responsibility for the development of the Joint Doctrine that guides how the UK Armed Forces conduct their operations, for the provision of long-term conceptual underpinning for the development of future capability and for an analysis of the future strategic context.


The DCDC (as the JDCC) was established as a result of the Strategic Defence Review in 1998 and, although mainly sited at Shrivenham, lies in the Policy and Commitments area of the Ministry of Defence. It is responsible for ensuring that military operations and capabilities, both now and in the future, are supported by leading-edge concepts, independent thinking and doctrinal best practice.

The DCDC is a truly joint establishment, with staff from all three Armed Services and the Civil Service. Our desk officers come from a wide variety of specialised backgrounds and combine their skills in project teams.

In order to bring greater coherence to doctrinal, concepts and futures work across Defence, the DCDC is in the process of enlarging (with effect from 1st of April 2006) to absorb additional manpower from all 3 Services, notably from the Army’s Director General Development and Doctrine at Upavon and from the Directorate of Force Development.

The JLC’s initial outputs are as follows:

1. The creation of a Defence repository of all authoritative UK lessons at the tactical, operational and strategic level.
2. The establishment of the UK Lessons Net in order to enable Defence-wide access to lessons material for research and analysis, whether for operations or training.
3. The provision, as required, of tailored Joint Lessons products to assist in planning, deploying formations and for military lessons studies and operational audits.
4. The maintenance of a reference library of documents on Land, operations and campaigns.
5. The facilitation of engagement between the wider-Defence community and the Corporate Memory, Naval and Air Historical branches.

JLC Project Point Of Contact:

DCDC Joint Lessons Manager (JLM)
Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre
MOD Shrivenham
SWINDON
Wilts SN6 8RF
Tel: 01793 31 [Mil: 96161] 4277
E-mail: dcdc-jointlessons1@defence.mod.uk

Doctrine

Concepts

Multi Agency Operations / Peace Support

Development and Experimentation

Policy

Strategic Concepts


This last section is the result of previous work and demonstrates that military intelligence is not an oxymoron. The results of this work were portrayed in a presentation at the Royal UNited Services Institute recently by Rear Admiral Chris Parry and encapsulated in an article in the Sunday Times June 11th 2006 Beware: The new goths are coming.

If a security breakdown occurred, Parry says, it was likely to be brought on by environmental destruction and a population boom, coupled with technology and radical Islam. The result for Britain and Europe, Parry warned, could be "like the 5th century Roman empire facing the Goths and the Vandals".

Parry pointed to the mass migration which disaster in the Third World could unleash. "The diaspora issue is one of my biggest current concerns," he said. "Globalisation makes assimilation seem redundant and old-fashioned . . . [the process] acts as a sort of reverse colonisation, where groups of people are self-contained, going back and forth between their countries, exploiting sophisticated networks and using instant communication on phones and the internet."

Finally it is exciting to see that some joinedup thinking has been at work .. expressed itself, and gets an audience. Parry foresees wholesale moves by the armed forces to robots, drones, nanotechnology, lasers, microwave weapons, space-based systems and even "customised" nuclear and neutron bombs .. so he may have been following Lord Patel's posts on UAV's , stealth boats, military robots and space based systems. Although we are already behind the curve, not being involved in the pan - European CUAV the Combat UAV nEUrone which is pioneered by the Swedes and the French.

Lord Boyce, the former chief of the defence staff, welcomed Parry’s analysis. "Bringing it together in this way shows we have some very serious challenges ahead," he said. "The real problem is getting them taken seriously at the top of the government."

Which sounds perilously like the situation with the country's energy policy which Tony Blair lamely now accepts is very, very serious. (see Lord patel's heading).

Parry predicts that as flood or starvation strikes, the most dangerous zones will be (already are ?) Africa, particularly the northern half; most of the Middle East and central Asia as far as northern China; a strip from Nepal to Indonesia; and perhaps eastern China.

He pinpoints 2012 to 2018 as the time when the current global power structure is likely to crumble. Rising nations such as China, India, Brazil and Iran will challenge America’s sole superpower status.

If interested follow what he says and go to the Strategic Concepts section of DCDC and don't miss Lord Patel's posts on the future.

Lord Patel said after carefully examining his crystal balls in April 2003

"Let's not forget that in this fog of war, Sharon will be consulting his roadmap, readying the bulldozers to push the Palestinians down the road to the seashore. No doubt the Zionist State department apparatchiks like Fieth, who has written about the land of Zion stretching from what is Syria to Ancient Mesopotamia will be fuelling their tanks. Condoleeza Rice announces today a 6Bn US$ grant to Israel, topping up their requests with the odd 1BnUS$ (BBC News)."

...and a little earlier before the illegal invasion of Iraq in March 2003 in the Canadian Spectator

"Counting the cost... eventually

The course is charted, arrogant use of the military is all the US ruling class has to maintain its dominance. After Iraq, asymmetric warfare, "terrorism," will be directed at Americans, American institutions, American targets, and American allies. When the rest of the world recognizes how thinly spread the US military is, thinly spread physically, and economically, because it is not a sustainable institution in its current incarnation, rebellions will occur. Indeed they have already started. The response of the weakening US will be to lash out, often with unforeseeable consequences, just as the consequences of this impending invasion are unforeseeable, and unknown. "

"Military might is a sign of strength, but the US military is not invincible worldwide. America's use of force as both first and last resort is a sign of profound systemic weakness. "

Perhaps the British Armed Forces are starting to look at the next war instead if fighting the last one .. lets hope that they take the lessons .. the current shambles in Afghanistan suggest they haven't.

"Murder in Samarkand" and backstabbing in Whitehall - Craig Murray breaches Copyright Act !!!! (alleged)

Craig Murray's book "Murder in Samarkand" is printed and will be reviewed next week. He publishes here http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/documents/docs.html
the 15 Documents that support a great deal of what he says in the book.

Document 1 - FCO Comment
Document 2 - IMF Telegram
Document 3 - Declaration
Document 4 - Speech
Document 5 - Hill Negotiation
Document 6 - Michael Wood memo of 13 March
Document 7 - Telegram of 18 March 2003 headed US Foreign Policy
Document 8 - Letter from Simon Butt dated 16 April 2003
Document 9 - Exchange of emails with Linda Duffield
Document 10 - Colin Reynolds' report of 26 June 2003
Document 11 - Minute of my meeting with Howard Drake
Document 12 - Letter from British Businessmen in Tashkent
Document 13 - Email to Kate Smith
Document 14 - Minute of 26 September 2003
Document 15 - Telegram

These are all .pdf documents and can be downloaded, read and saved.

Margaret Becket has hardly got her bony knees under the elaborately carved and veneered desk at the Foreign Office and on the first anniversary of the greatest mass murder ever in UK history has started her campaign to suppress dissent.using the Terrist Laws 2000 ? Public Order Avts ? Serious and Organsised Crime etc ., NO the Copyright Act 1988. WOW. Mandamus Sacndalatus as the be-wigged men in pin stripes would have it.

Craig has today (Friday afternoon 7th July received a letter from the Treasury Solicitor) and has been told to remove these documents from his website. The letter can be seen here which was delivered by e-mail and courier to both himslef and his publishers, Mainstream in Edinburgh. (pdf of the letter here which can be downloaded, read and saved.) There are also 3 photos of the letter which can be seen at Flickr here.

The puzzling thing is that Mr Buttrill, efficient, no doubt and obedient public servant , says they do not seek to use the Official Secrets Act but claim..
Section 153(1) of the Copyright Design and Patents Act 1988 covers their demands that "as the (documents) were produced by a servant of the Crown in the course of their Duties."

This monstrous nonsense (of which Buttrill cannot be proud) continues that ..."even if the Document is released under the Data protection Act or Freedom of Information Act .. does not entitle you to make further reproduction ...etc"

So dear reader, if you go to Carig's website and download copies , be warned you might be breaching the Copyright Act. (Oh My God) The same presumably applies say, if you (as many do) show reproductions of Government pamphlets, legal statutes, nay even press releases, transcripts of the Prime Minister's words on the No 10 Website, etc., as they have ... " been were produced by a servant of the Crown in the course of their Duties." .. unless of course you have asked for an obtained prior written approval for their use.

You could of course write to the polite, efficient and obedient Offical Solicitor and ask to reproduce Craig's files. He can be contacted at Gareth Buttrill, Treasury Solicitor, Floor 10.03, One Kemble Street , London WC2B 4TS Tel: 020 7210 3393 .. unless that is Copyright under the Act ?

Here is the Epic Craig Murray / Buttrill correspondence as it stands at 5.35 BST today.

Dear Mr Murray

The Treasury Solicitor acts for the Foreign Secretary in respect of the above matter which relates to the placing by you of a number of Crown documents on your website on 4 July 2006.

I attach a letter before claim, which is being delivered to you personally by courier this afternoon. A response from you is required by 4pm on Monday 10 July 2006.

Yours sincerely
Gareth Buttrill Treasury Solicitor Floor 10.03, One Kemble Street London WC2B 4TS
Tel: 020 7210 3393 Fax: 020 7210 3410

From: craig
To: Gareth Buttrill
Sent: Friday, July 0
Ga7, 2006 2:56 PM
Subject: Re: Infringement of Crown Copyright: letter before claim


Mr Buttrill,

As no court has ruled on anything, I would like to know by what power you, acting for the government, can tell me what I "must" do in this respect. I am putting that question formally to you as a government servant and it is not rhetorical; I require an answer.

I find the increasing authoritatianism of government in this country deeply disturbing. I will consider carefully your points once I can get proper legal advice, and not before. It should not take too long.

I am now late for collecting my duaghter.

Sent: Friday, July 07, 2006 2:42 PM
Subject: Re: Infringement of Crown Copyright: letter before claim


Mr Murray

I have asked my clients for instructions. However, you must proceed on the basis that the deadline set out in my letter stands.

Gareth Buttrill


Gareth,

Many thanks for your letter of 7 July.

I am of course in agreement with your advice that I must take legal advice. Your letter has arrived on a Friday afternoon when I am just off to collect my daughter from boarding school in Ramsgate. It is in practice impossible for me to get advice and reply before 4pm on Monday 10 July. I would ask you to give a more practical deadline - if you will not, I am sure that is somethig a talk would take into consideration in considering where costs lie. I am not sure what precedents there are for government action for copyright over documents posted on the website, so it might tke a day or two to know if you are right. If I am advised you are right, of course I will remove the documents as requested. On that basis, perhaps you could be kind enough to give me a few more days.

Craig

So that is where it is. Take some advice. don't goto http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/documents/docs.html and download those Copyright Documents, unless of course you have received prior written approval. Don't even look at them, don't e-mail them to someone overseas who might archive them away from HMG access or even publish them in print or on the web.

Many Angry Gerbils and Politics in the Zeros and Dahrjamail (zipped or Torrent stream) have a facility whereby it is claimed you can download the documents in question, again .. don't even look at them, don't e-mail them to someone overseas who might archive them away from HMG.
access or even publish them in print or on the web.

Simply assume that any downloads will be detected and recorded.

Entebbe Anniversary : Settlers demand a move into N. Gaza.

Already the attempt at re-settlement of Gaza has begun - Activists are preparing a list of families, bachelors (11 families and 17 bachelors so far) interested in returning to former Northern Gaza , Dugit, Nisanit and Elei Sinai settlements. ‘Today everyone understands that these settlements are Ashkelon’s bullet-proof vest, and in order to protect Ashkelon we must have Jewish presence in the area,’ Baruch Marzel head of the Jewsih National Front is reported by ynet.

According to the activists, should the IDF deny their request, they will consider taking “operative steps” to resettle the Strip, including entering the area without authorization.

“To gain back Israel’s deterrence we must prove that our concessions are reversible, but the settlement enterprise will remain forever. Therefore we must impose Israeli sovereignty in these areas. A military maneuver is only temporary and will therefore give temporary results. We are willing to rebuild our homes in north Gaza.”

Wonder what the Minister of the Interior Mrs T. Livini thinks of all this ?

If you think these people have no support read this comment to the news in ynet ..

16. Gaza will be liberated and Jews will come back
Don't worry guys. Jews will be back in free Gaza. One guy asked, "But what if Olmert .?" Olmert will soon be gone to US, France or other places with his family. You forgot that Gaza belongs to Jews, and Israel is not "Olmerts Israel" like "Saudi Arabia". The main reason Jews will be back in Gaza, of course, is not that Tel Aviv and Askelon don't like missiles. The main reason is that Gaza is our Jewish place.
Yariv , Tel Aviv (07.06.06)

Picture : Hitherto unseen of the Mercedes ferried to Uganda which Israeli agents in Uganda Army Uniforms stormed the tower at Entebbe 30 years ago today.

Bush : ... "rule-maker, investigator, accuser, prosecutor, judge, jury, sentencing court, reviewing court, and jailer or executioner"

On June 5th the American Bar Association (400,000 members) announced creation of a Task Force on Presidential Signing Statements and the Separation of Powers Doctrine . “The task force will study thoroughly the implications of presidential signing statements for the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers and interpretation of laws,” said ABA President Michael S. Greco in announcing the task force which will report at their annual shindig in Honolulu August 7-8, 2006.

Why so ?

Well if you were taught about the US constitution and were told about the separation of powers, of the Legislature (Congress) and the Executive (The President) you need a little up dating.

When the President signs a Law he can also add a “signing statement”

Whilst this practice started with 5th U.S. President, James Monroe (1817-1825), from then they were used sparingly and mostly for rhetorical purposes ( I commend this Bill in the fight against slavery etc.,) . Until Ronald Reagan became President in 1980, only 75 statements had been issued. Reagan and his successors, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton (247 SS’s) took it to new heights and George Bush II has by some accounts issued some 750 challenges to Congressional authority.


Legally there is no US Constitutional provision, federal statute or common-law principle which explicitly permits or prohibits signing statements. Art 1 S. 1 in the Presentment Clause empowers the president to veto a law in its entirety, or to sign it and S. 2. requires that the executive "take care that the laws be faithfully executed".

When challenged the Clinton Administration claimed:

If the President may properly decline to enforce a law, at least when it unconstitutionally encroaches on his powers, then it arguably follows that he may properly announce to Congress and to the public that he will not enforce a provision of an enactment he is signing. If so, then a signing statement that challenges what the President determines to be an unconstitutional encroachment on his power, or that announces the President's unwillingness to enforce (or willingness to litigate) such a provision, can be a valid and reasonable exercise of Presidential authority

What brought this to a head amongst constitutional lawyers, Congress and informed members of the public was the McCain Detainee Amendment about the inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees in U.S. custody which the President issued a signing statement ;

"The Executive Branch shall construe [the torture ban] in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President to supervise the unitary Executive Branch and as Commander in Chief and consistent with the constitutional limitations on the judicial power."

This is based upon the Prof. Yoo / Alberto Golazalez unitary executive theory under which the the Commander in Chief when the nation is at war has the power and authority to use his discretion in interpreting and applying the law. The result is , it is argued, the President has with the signing statement to the McCain Detainee Amendment reserved the right to waive the "torture ban", effectively re-writing the law passed by Congress.

Of course this device has been used already to override other acts. Last March, Congress passed legislation requiring Justice Department officials to give them reports by certain dates on how the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is using the USA Patriot Act to search homes and secretly seize papers.

But when President George W. Bush signed the measure into law, he added a "signing statement." The statement said the president can order Justice Department officials to withhold any information from Congress if he decides it could impair national security or executive branch operations.

Congress is also unhappy at Bush's defense of his National Security Agency (NSA) "domestic eavesdropping" program, in which the president claimed he could ignore a 1978 law prohibiting wiretaps of U.S. citizens without "probable cause" and a warrant issued by a court.

The American Bar Asssociation had already taken the matter in hand when in February after the Press blew the whistle on widespread unauthorised elecronic surveillance, they issued a resolution ;

…. FURTHER RESOLVED, that the American Bar Association opposes any future electronic surveillance inside the United States by any U.S. government agency for foreign intelligence purposes that does not comply with the provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, 50 U.S.C. §§ 1801 et seq. (FISA), and urges the President, if he believes that FISA is inadequate to safeguard national security, to seek appropriate amendments or new
legislation rather than acting without explicit statutory authorization;

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the American Bar Association urges the Congress to affirm that the Authorization for Use of Military Force of September 18, 2001, Pub.L. No. 107-40, 115 Stat. 224 § 2(a) (2001) (AUMF), did not provide a statutory exception to the FISA requirements, and that any such exception can be authorized only through affirmative and
explicit congressional action; FURTHER RESOLVED, that the American Bar Association urges the Congress to conduct a thorough, comprehensive investigation to determine: (a) the nature and extent of electronic surveillance of U.S. persons conducted by any U.S. government agency for foreign intelligence purposes that does not comply with FISA; (b) what basis or bases were advanced (at the time it was initiated and subsequently) for the legality of such surveillance; (c) whether the Congress was properly informed of and consulted as to the surveillance; (d) the nature of the information obtained as a result of the surveillance and whether it was retained or shared with other agencies; and (e) whether this information was used in legal proceedings against any U.S. citizen.

.. and you guessed it they formed a Task Force.

Judging by the Commander in Chief’s response to the ruling last week by the Supreme Court over the case of Guantanamo resident Hamdan … don’t hold your breath.

Barbara Olshansky, Director Counsel of the Global Justice Initiative at the Center for Constitutional Rights, a prominent advocacy group. is reported saying , "I think it is hard evidence of (The President's) continued aggressive arrogation of power. It is a blatant attempt to expand power by pulling the rug out from under Congress each time it passes a bill that he dislikes." A book to read by her, is Secret Trials and Executions - Military Tribunals and the Threat to Democracy


"Olshansky, ..lays out a skillful argument which, point by point, shows how the "war on terrorism" at home amounts to a declaration of war on the Constitution itself..."

"With a single swipe of his pen, President Bush replaced the democratic pillars of our legal system with that of a military commission system in which he, or his designee, is rule-maker, investigator, accuser, prosecutor, judge, jury, sentencing court, reviewing court, and jailer or executioner."

Prof. Edward Herman of the University of Pennsylvania, also said , "The brazenness of Bush's use of this practice is remarkable. Even more remarkable is the fact that this de facto further nullification of congressional authority fails to elicit sustained criticism and outrage. It is part of a step-by-step abrogation of constitutional government, and it is swallowed by the flag-wavers and normalized. We are in deep trouble!"

It was Prof Herman who wrote of the gullibity of the Press and quoted the position in Guatemala in the 50's when a United Fruit public relations man commented sardonically on the media's gullibility ... "It is difficult to make a convincing case for manipulation of the press when the victims proved so eager for the experience."

EU Parliament gets tough over CIA renditions

The EU Parliament has adopted by a massive 389 votes in favour, 137 against with 55 abstentions the interim report on alleged illegal CIA activity in Europe.


The CIA, noted the European Parliament in its report, (The preliminary conclusions, were drafted by Italian Socialist MEP Claudio Fava) has been "directly responsible" in cases of extraordinary rendition, "illegal seizure, removal, abduction and detention of terrorist suspects on the territory of Member States, accession and candidate countries" - all of which constitute violations of fundamental rights under international law. As MEPs determined, the CIA - using aircraft hired by front companies - has made use of such practices for the illegal transfer of terrorist suspects to countries which frequently use torture during interrogations. With that in mind, MEPs have demanded extraordinary renditions to be "clearly prohibited" in international law.

Member States "may be held liable" for failure to comply with the European Convention of Human Rights, they added. Under the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, EU countries have the positive obligation to prevent human rights violations on their territory -- and to carry out investigations "to ascertain whether their territory and their airspace" have been used in connection with human rights violations.

European governments attacked

MEP's say "it is implausible that certain European governments were not aware of the
activities linked to extraordinary rendition taking place on their territory". Such
involvement or complicity, they argue, was likely ;

1. On the part of Italian authorities in the 2003 abduction of Egyptian cleric Abu Omar by CIA agents in Milan
2. On the part of Bosnian authorities in the abduction and transfer of six Bosnian nationals or residents of Algerian origin to Guantanamo Bay
3. On the part of Swedish authorities, who expelled Egyptian nationals Mohammed Al Zary and Ahmed Agiza, handing them over to CIA agents for transfer to Egypt.

They also condemn the 2003 abduction of German national Khaled El-Masri by the CIA and "deplore the reluctance of [the FYROM authorities] to confirm that El-Masri was in Skopje and was probably being held there before his rendition to Afghanistan by CIA agents."

Parliament also has noted that EU-Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism Gijs the Vries and CFSP High Representative Javier Solana both told MEPs that they were not aware of any violation of national, European or international law by Member States cooperating with the CIA, adding that they were not competent to request relevant information from Member States.

Citing "repeated violations" of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation during flights carried out by the CIA in Europe - and underlining that no European country has made consistent efforts to ensure that civilian aircraft are used for purposes compatible with international human rights - the Parliament calls on the Commission to harmonise national laws on the use of national airspace and airports. Current European legislation, MEPs conclude, is "totally inadequate".


The report (as ever) asks for more time - so the Temporary Committee on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners (TDIP) will continue its work for the remainder of its 12 month term. The Committee's final report, should appear by Jan / Feb 2007.

MEPs plan, among other things, to invite the Secretary-General of NATO to a hearing to clarify the possible involvement of SFOR and KFOR forces in the illegal detention of the six Bosnians who still remain in Guantanamo. MEPs again call for the closure of the prison at Guantanamo, asking Member States to "take a proactive role" in finding a solution for the detainees.

Curiously when Googling this news item you will find nothing in the MSM anywhere in Europe.


POSTSCRIPT 9th July 2006

The excellent Jacksonville sage Nur al Cubicle as ever has the low down on SISMI and the Italian Job - Niger Uranium, now you sees it now you don't, co-ordinating CIA kidnappings - trying to blackmail Prodi with connections ot CIA renditions etc., etc., required reading.

7/7 Plod doesn't want enquiry - Quis custodet ...

Colin Cramphorn the chief constable of West Yorkshire Police believes a similar attack to the July 7 bombings in the UK is "very possible".

He said resources would be better targeted at preventing further atrocities, rather than holding a public inquiry into the previous one in London.

So, the largest murder in UK history and we don't want to find out what really happened, we don't want public examination of the evidence and the testing of that evidence ? (Not a whimper from our elected representatives either)

Colin Cramphorn says we should be "alert but not alarmed" - when the evidence that has been published, "leaked" , "emerged", is so confusing and unconvincing to fit the official narrative we MUST have an enquiry.

E.g To take what is (one would imagine) is a straightforward piece of investigation ...the "suicide bombers" arrived at Luton in 2 cars ... here is the tale of the two cars....http://www.julyseventh.co.uk/7-7-hire-cars-at-luton.html there is also a great deal more to see at this site of course.

"There seems only one thing to say with any certainty regarding the issue of the cars that these men are said to have used that day…that there is no consistency at all in the reporting of it. For almost every account there is another that contradicts it and a myriad of questions arising from the lack of verified information on the subject. As time has gone on it has only become more mystifying."


POSTSCRIPT

Listening to Sir Ian Blair interviewed by James Naughtie on BBC Radio 4 "Today" now, it transpires he hasn't yet been interviewd about the murder by his officers of de Menezes on 22nd July 2006.

Asked about an enquiry into the 7/7 bombings he said he had no view but wouldn't disagree with Colin Cramphorn. "The investigation continues at an enormous pace. "

Asked about the chance of a threat he said it had "palpably increased" and he would agree with what Colin Cramphorn said.

Professor Yoo is upset

I can't think of a better way to spend the 4th of July than with the All Americans of the 82nd Airborne. (Applause.) You're Airborne all the way, and I'm proud to be here with you.

The architect of the principle that the wartrime President can do any damn thing he wants resents the Supreme Courts decsion last week on Mr Hamdan.

"What the court is doing is attempting to suppress creative thinking," said Professor Yoo, who now teaches law at the University of California, Berkeley. "The court has just declared that it's going to be very intrusive in the war on terror. They're saying, 'We're going to treat this more like the way we supervise the criminal justice system.' "

The court's decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, Professor Yoo said, may signal the collapse of the entire enterprise. "It could affect detention conditions, interrogation methods, the use of force," he said. "It could affect every aspect of the war on terror."

Well, Whooooop di do Prof. Yoo. It's time someone reigned the mongers of war in at the White House.

Pic. White House POTUS rallies the troops on Independence Day at Fort Bragg

Victory in Iraq will not, in itself, end the war on terror. We're engaged in a global struggle against the followers of a murderous ideology that despises freedom and crushes all dissent, and has territorial ambitions and pursues totalitarian aims.

Shezad Tanweer, cricketer, idler, drug dealer...bomber ?

Al Jazeera began airing a tape today which is similiar to the one shown last year. This time it features for 20 seconds of Shezad Tanweer, with the same background as the earlier tape featuring Siddique Kahn.

It also shows al Qaeda's supposed No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri and the full tape is said to also include former Californian Adam Gadahn, AKA Azzam al-Amriki, or "Azzam the American" as Fox TV calls him,former heavy metal skunkhead, now Al Quaeda convert who US "sources" claim is running the al Qaeda propaganda operation from a secret location somewhere inside Pakistan.

What to make of these tapes? There seems to be little doubt that they are of the named persons, but where, when , under what circumstances, why ?

The texts of both , as supplied, convey nothing specific, and would support any argument that they were play acting out of bravado - manipulated into the situation. Certainly there are none of the usual icons of of violence, slogans, flags, guns, grenades, sloganised head bands.... psychoactive substances in evidence ? Those eyes are a dead giveaway .. but what do I know?

They will of course be used to convey the impression that these guys were committed jihadists - one the pampered middle class kid with a red Mercedes and an estate at death of £120,000 and the other married outside the faith with a child expected.

Add to that the kid whose mum called the cops when he didn't turn up after a day out in London, and the Luton lunatic who spent £900 on top of the range scents in a day.

Yeah ! Yeah! fits my picture of the radical islamofascist jihadist, who makes bathtub bombs etc., etc., etc., but can't keep a real job down.

If you believe these four guys, acting without anybody else in asupportive or manipulative role then you are wrong ... there are others out there .. and I don't think they are seeking to extend the Empire of the Saracens.

Pic (c) FBI of Gadahn

Prescott : is Sarah taking a RISE ?

Former Labour Parliamentary candidate Sarah Bissett-Scott, 57, said she had a two-year fling with Prescott and believed she was just one of a string of torrid affairs.

Mrs Bissett-Scott, who stood as a Parliamentary candidate in Stevenage in 1992, but now is the big wheel in Stevenage based Rise Associates, consultants in squeezing money from Governments, the EU and other funding bodies ....especially for regeneration projects .. which is of course a major responsibility of the ODPM.

Interestingly they have responded on their website to the excitement and interest with an item they call "News Focus" (undated)

Sometimes you get more publicity than you bargain for!

Over the years, RISE Associates have diligently brought Nolan Standards to the attention of our clients. But life, like art, is sometimes stranger than fiction!

A work relationship on a transport report for the South East has been amazingly embellished and redefined by some of the less scrupulous press. Clients and colleagues who have worked with RISE and particularly with Sarah, will know that

(a) Sarah's post-graduate dissertations on housing finance and the 'impact of planning' on women's lives were strong academic pieces of work - so much for the blond bimbo label!

(b) The SEEDS research managed by Sarah on Integrated Transport published in 1989/90 was well-received and influential - it made interesting reading for transport specialists and many councils in the South East of England.

(c) Standing as a parliamentary candidate is a serious business - that's why Sarah signed up as a founder supporter of 'Emily's List UK' - the pressure group for 'more women in parliament'.

Whilst interviews have been taking place to replace Tracey etc., (see pic) we wonder does this have anything to do with the following exchanges in the House of Commons on May 11th ?

Mr. Heald: (North East Hertfordshire, Conservative) To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many tenders Rise Associates have submitted to his Department in each of the last five years; and how many were successful.

Angela E. Smith: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was formed in May 2002 and information prior to this date is not readily available. Since that date there have been no successful tenders for Rise Associates. The number of tenders submitted during this period is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Heald: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many contracts his Department holds with Rise Associates which have a potential duration of five years or more.

Angela E. Smith: ODPM has no existing contracts with Rise Associates.

Mr. Heald: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many applications for regeneration monies have been submitted by Rise Associates to his Department and its agencies in each of the last five years for which figures are available and what the value is of those which were successful.

Angela E. Smith: No regeneration monies have been paid directly by the Department to Rise Associates. The Department maintains a record of funding to its agencies, but this does not include details of any payments made by agencies to third party organisations for services.

Pic (C) PA of man with funny red skull cap meets DPM Prescott and in the background Tracey, sometime mistress to DPM Prescott (only minutes away from a quick shag we now discover) but she is was not Sarah another mistress to DPM Prescott.