Terrorism : British duplicity laid bare.

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Terrorism : British duplicity laid bare.

Postby antiaristo » Tue Feb 07, 2006 10:55 pm

<br><br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Intelligence sharing <br><br><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:small;">UK failed to act on damning dossier of evidence, says French anti-terror chief</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--> <br><br>Vikram Dodd<br>Wednesday February 8, 2006<br>The Guardian <br><br><br>A senior French intelligence chief has told the Guardian that for years Britain failed to take action against Abu Hamza despite being given evidence that he had extensive involvement in terrorism.<br><br>Christophe Chaboud, director of France's national anti-terrorism co-ordination unit UCLAT, said <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Hamza had sent dozens of people from Finsbury Park to terrorism training camps in Afghanistan.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Hamza's conviction and jailing yesterday left British counter-terrorism officials having to answer questions about how he was able to turn a London mosque into an alleged recruitment centre for jihad.<br><br>Linked back to the Finsbury Park mosque are plots to commit murder and kidnap abroad, and an alleged poison plot in London.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Mr Chaboud said the evidence implicating Hamza in terrorism was passed by French intelligence to Britain, but nothing seemed to be done to stop or disrupt his activities</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START >: --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/mad.gif ALT=">:"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> "We thought it would have been necessary to take action, to arrest and prosecute him."<br><br>The alleged "toleration" by the UK of Hamza and other Islamists led France to dub London as "Londonistan".<br><br>French intelligence believed Hamza was playing a key role in spreading jihad, said Mr Chaboud: "It involved propaganda and convincing young people to go to Afghanistan ... from the mid 1990s until the coalition attacks in 2001. Finsbury Park mosque played an active part in radicalising young Muslims, preparing them and <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>sending them to al-Qaida camps</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->."<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>France was so concerned that it ran undercover missions with the mosque as the target, two former French operatives <br>confirmed to the Guardian.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>France was concerned about Hamza's support for Algerian Islamists - the GIA - who had <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>bombed the French underground.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>A source close to Hamza told the Guardian the cleric was an "unwitting informant" for MI5, passing on information against jihadists whose views he considered more extreme than his.<br><br>In court Hamza said that during his many meetings with the security services and anti-terrorism officers he believed a deal operated, whereby <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>his activities would be tolerated as long as they were targeting only foreign soil.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Hamza told the Old Bailey that during one meeting with officials he asked if his fiery sermons were a problem and was told: "<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>You have freedom of speech. You don't have anything to worry about as long as we don't see blood on the streets."</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>However, sentencing Hamza, Mr Justice Hughes rejected his claims that M15 and Special Branch had told him in their meetings to carry on preaching. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>"Those discussions have nothing to do with this case," the judge said.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Some observers believe MI5 saw the mosque as a "honeytrap", and were prepared to let Hamza operate and see which extremists came and what they were up to. The mosque attracted people from north Africa, especially Algerians, who came to London after a bitter civil war in their homeland.<br><br>A senior British counter-terrorism source, speaking with official approval, said one reason for inaction was that for most of the time that Hamza controlled the mosque, their preoccupation was Irish terrorism.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>But if it was not for the US warrant requesting his arrest on terrorism charges Hamza may still be a free man</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->. While raiding Hamza's home executing the extradition warrant, British police seized the videos and tapes that formed the basis for his prosecution.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>The official said dozens of terrorist investigations all lead back to Hamza and the Finsbury Park mosque.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Hamza was arrested in the UK in 1999 for supporting a plot where kidnappers, including the cleric's son, took western tourists hostage in Yemen. The official said there was insufficient evidence to charge Hamza until 2003, when the mosque was raided as part of the investigation into the Manchester ricin plot.<br><br>Police were fearful of the Muslim reaction to them entering the mosque, the official says.<br><br>But a former trustee of the mosque says police were repeatedly begged to curb the activities of Hamza and his supporters.<br><br>Mufti Abdul Barkatulla said that in 2000 trustees asked police to act after Hamza supporters placed a poster in the mosque advertising a meeting where loyalty could be pledged to Osama bin Laden. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Mr Barkatulla says police did nothing.<br><br>In 1998 a court granted trustees a temporary injunction against Hamza, but again, Mr Barkatulla says, police refused to do anything: "The trustees were requesting the police for help to restore order in the mosque, we invited them to enter the mosque.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>"In 1998 the high court was convinced there was evidence. There was enough evidence for the police to do something against Hamza for years before 2003."<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1704754,00.html">www.guardian.co.uk/uk_new...54,00.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>A senior British counter-terrorism source, <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>speaking with official approval</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->, said one reason for inaction was that for most of the time that Hamza controlled the mosque, their preoccupation was Irish terrorism<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Those slimy fuckers.<br>Always blaming the Irish.<br><br>The Good Friday agreement was struck in 1998.<br><br>Reminds me of Aznar.<br>Tried to blame the Madrid bombing on ETA.<br>Even got the United Nations to pass a resolution condemning ETA for the atrocity.<br><br>When it was done by himself and the King.<br><br><br>Now think back to that Chirac speech a couple of weeks ago where he threatened the use of non-conventional (assumed to be nuclear) weapona against anyone launching an attack on France through terrorism.<br><br>Any thought on the intended audience? <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=antiaristo>antiaristo</A> at: 2/7/06 8:21 pm<br></i>
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The Obvious Connection

Postby antiaristo » Wed Feb 08, 2006 9:46 am

Hey Cute-Bee,<br>Anything to say about this? You or your cabal?<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:small;">UK 'ignored Hamza terror threat'</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--> <br><br>Press Association <br>Wednesday February 8, 2006 11:08 AM<br><br><br>A senior French intelligence chief says the UK failed to take action against radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza for years, despite evidence that he was involved in terrorism.<br><br>Christophe Chaboud, director of France's national anti-terrorism co-ordination unit (UCLAT), said French intelligence had passed on evidence implicating Hamza and believed he was playing a key role in spreading jihad - holy war.<br><br>His comments came as Scotland Yard said it had "no evidence" to support claims that three of the July 7 London suicide bombers were preached to by Hamza.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>The Daily Mail and The Times reported that two of the four July 7 bombers, suspected ringleader Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, had visited Finsbury Park Mosque in North London, where Hamza was the central figure.<br><br>The reports also alleged that Jermaine Lindsay, another of the bombers, had attended Hamza's sermons outside the mosque. But a Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: "We have no evidence at this stage that any of those involved had connections with Abu Hamza and anyone who has any relevant information should contact us."</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Hamza was jailed for seven years at the Old Bailey after he was convicted of a string of race hate and terror charges.<br><br>Sentencing him, Mr Justice Hughes said he had "helped to create an atmosphere in which to kill has become regarded by some as not only a legitimate course but a moral and religious duty in pursuit of perceived justice".<br><br>The judge said: "No one can now say what damage your words may have caused. No one can say whether your audience, present or wider, acted on your words."<br><br>But he added that his views had caused "real danger to the lives of innocent people in different parts of the world".<br><br>Hamza, 47, described by security sources as a key figure in the global Islamic terror movement, was convicted of 11 out of 15 charges by the Old Bailey jury on the fourth day of its deliberations. The jurors were not told that the former Imam was <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>also wanted in the US where he is accused of terror charges</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-5602106,00.html">www.guardian.co.uk/uklate...06,00.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Who you gonna believe? Scotland Yard or your own lyin' eyes?<br><br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Terrorism : British duplicity laid bare.

Postby antiaristo » Wed Feb 08, 2006 10:32 pm

It's now every man for himself.<br><br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:small;">Tories challenge delay in prosecuting cleric</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--> <br><br>· Davis demands inquiry into Abu Hamza case<br>· Security sources dismiss 'July 7 links' to mosque <br><br>Vikram Dodd, Duncan Campbell and Richard Norton-Taylor<br>Thursday February 9, 2006<br>The Guardian <br><br><br>The shadow home secretary, David Davis, yesterday called for an inquiry into why the controversial cleric Abu Hamza was allowed to preach freely for many years despite suspicions that he was linked to terrorism. With the Conservatives claiming he could have been brought to book years ago, the <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Crown Prosecution Service</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> was forced to defend its record, insisting that two previous police investigations into the imam of Finsbury Park mosque in north London had yielded too little evidence to bring him to trial.<br><br>Abu Hamza was jailed for seven years on Tuesday for soliciting murder and for race hate offences. The prosecution case was based on hate-filled videos and other recordings seized from his home by police executing an extradition warrant obtained by the US.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Mr Davis said: "It would appear the only reason Abu Hamza was actually prosecuted was because the US was seeking his extradition. No 10's claims that adequate laws are not available to prosecute is nonsense - six of Abu Hamza's convictions were under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, three of his convictions were under the 1986 Public Order Act and only the least important charge was under the 2000 Terror Act - which in any case would have allowed for prosecution in 2001, rather than 2005."</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Mr Davis dismissed talk from the government that the Abu Hamza case shows the need for tougher anti-terrorism laws.<br><br>Counter-terrorism sources poured cold water on reports in several newspapers that the July 7 bombers had been "inspired" by Abu Hamza's sermons and had attended the Finsbury Park mosque.<br><br>Police sources said they had no evidence any of the four suicide bombers had attended the mosque, though they could not totally rule it out.<br><br>Security sources agreed there was no evidence to suggest that any of the July 7 London suicide bombers had visited the mosque or met Abu Hamza.<br><br>MI5 admits that the July 7 bombers had been "under the radar", and security sources said investigations and research since then by MI5 had not come up with any indication that the bombers had been to the mosque.<br><br>The CPS said it had received files from police after two investigations into the cleric. The first was into allegations that Abu Hamza was implicated in the kidnapping in Yemen in 1998 of 16 western tourists, during which <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>three Britons died</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->.<br><br>The second also included material about a website believed to have been controlled by Abu Hamza. The CPS said both investigations had produced "clearly insufficient" evidence to prosecute, falling well short of the required standard.<br><br>In 2004 the CPS received files from police after videos of his sermons were seized from Abu Hamza's home, over which he was convicted on Tuesday.<br><br>A former MI5 undercover agent who informed on activities in the mosque to MI5, and a close Abu Hamza associate, have told the Guardian he was an "unwitting" informant for the security services, even informing on Islamic extremists.<br><br>Abu Hamza's defence team believed that the eventual prosecution was partly in response to the prolonged media pressure for something to be done about the cleric, who could not be deported because of the British citizenship he had acquired by marriage. That citizenship is now under question and has been challenged.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,1705626,00.html">www.guardian.co.uk/terror...26,00.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Terrorism : British duplicity laid bare.

Postby ewastud » Thu Feb 09, 2006 3:51 am

I think this may be relevant:<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=197332006&format=print">news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?...rmat=print</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>The FBI gave the UK fore-warning of impending 7/7 "terror" attack<br><br> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=ewastud@rigorousintuition>ewastud</A> at: 2/9/06 12:53 am<br></i>
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No further comment necessary...

Postby antiaristo » Sun Feb 12, 2006 7:44 am

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:small;">Hamza set up terror camps with British ex-soldiers</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--> <br><br>US intelligence agencies reveal the jailed cleric's network of training facilities around UK <br><br>Jamie Doward and Diane Taylor<br>Sunday February 12, 2006<br>The Observer <br><br><br>Former British soldiers taught Abu Hamza's followers to use guns at a camp in Wales as part of an ad hoc terror training network set up by the jailed cleric, according to US intelligence agencies.<br>But the British security services were either unconcerned or ignorant about Hamza's activities, despite warnings that he was considered a risk from foreign governments and intelligence agencies as early as 1995.<br><br>Evidence collected by the American agencies shows that, as early as 1997, Hamza was organising terror camps in the Brecon Beacons, at an old monastery in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and in Scotland, suggesting that he ran a far more extensive training network than has been officially acknowledged until now.<br><br>The revelation that Hamza, who was sentenced last week to seven years in prison for soliciting murder and preaching racial hatred, was organising terrorist training camps across Britain almost a decade ago will further embarrass the police and security services.<br><br>Transcripts of interviews conducted with suspected al-Qaeda terrorists held by America in Guantánamo Bay reveal that the British ex-soldiers, some of whom fought in Bosnia, were recruited to train about 10 of Hamza's followers at the Brecon Beacons camp for three weeks in 1998. The former troops taught them to strip and clean weapons and gave them endurance training and lessons in surveillance techniques. The training camps in Tunbridge Wells, at which no ex-soldiers were present, were held in 1997 and 1998 and were attended by about 30 people who were trained to use AK47 rifles, hand guns and a mock rocket launcher.<br><br>The value of testimonies provided by Guantánamo detainees is contested by human rights lawyers. But the descriptions of what happened at the camps - unlike other allegations levelled by US intelligence agencies - has been corroborated by several witnesses.<br><br>The training sessions, attended by men, women and children, were advertised at Finsbury Park mosque in north London, where Hamza had preached until he was removed in 2003 after a police raid on the mosque revealed a small arsenal including blank-firing pistols, a stun gun, gas masks and knives. The sessions included lectures, prayers and debates on the jihad, or holy war. Hamza is understood to have attended several of them, although he was at the camps only for a few hours at a time.<br><br>The Observer has learnt that two foreign governments - Egypt and Yemen - sought Hamza's extradition from Britain in the Nineties. The Egyptian authorities asked for Hamza and several other suspects in 1995 to face terror charges there, but the British government refused.<br><br>'We tried hard to explain to both the British authorities and to other European countries that this is not a situation where they should be guaranteeing a safe haven to these people,' a spokesman for the Egyptian embassy said.<br><br>In 1999, the Yemeni President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, wrote to Tony Blair requesting Hamza's extradition. US authorities allege Hamza provided a satellite phone and money to terrorists holding hostages in Yemen that year and spoke to them several times. One of those hostages, Laurence Whitehouse, whose wife had been killed during a botched rescue attempt, called yesterday for the government to reveal any links between the kidnappers and Hamza.<br><br>Nazir Ahmed, a leading member of the British Muslim community and a Labour peer, told The Observer he was dismayed the government had not taken action against Hamza sooner. He had raised concerns about Hamza with the government in 2003, assuring the then Home Secretary David Blunkett that 'Muslim people in Britain would be glad to see the back of Abu Hamza and Omar Bakri [the militant cleric now exiled in Lebanon]'.<br><br>Andrew Dismore, the Labour MP for Hendon, north London, said evidence he had taken to authorities was dismissed as not strong enough, yet a lot of it later emerged at Hamza's trial. 'There is a case for the [House of Commons] intelligence and security committee to see what lessons should be learned,' he added.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1708002,00.html">observer.guardian.co.uk/u...02,00.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br> <p></p><i></i>
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The Hegel Dialectic in Action

Postby antiaristo » Sun Feb 12, 2006 9:15 am

<!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:medium;">First create the problem (Hamza, above).<br><br>Then this.</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--><br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:small;">Police chiefs urged secrecy over shoot-to-kill anti-terror tactics</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--> <br><br>By Sophie Goodchild, Chief Reporter <br>Published: 12 February 2006 <br><br>Chief police officers kept a controversial shoot-to-kill policy against suicide bombers secret from the public because they feared it would be "watered down". <br><br>Barbara Wilding, one of the architects of the strategy known as Operation Kratos, has revealed that members of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) advised against a national debate when the new guidelines were drawn up three years ago, because people did not understand how serious the threat was from suicide bombers.<br><br>Ms Wilding, the Chief Constable of South Wales Police, also said the team's work, which recommended that suspected terrorists should be shot in the head without warning, was "ridiculed" by top-ranking officers.<br><br>"I was told it [suicide bombings] would not happen here and that the public would not accept it [the policy]," said Ms Wilding in an interview with Police Review magazine.<br><br>There was criticism of the Metropolitan Police when it emerged that officers had been acting under Operation Kratos when they gunned down Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station last year.<br><br>MPs were furious that the Home Office was aware of the guidelines but that they were not publicised or discussed in Parliament before being introduced.<br><br>The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is considering whether to bring charges against more than 10 officers involved in the killing of the 27-year-old Brazilian electrician, who was shot eight times.<br><br>Officers have always used a shoot-to-stop policy, which allows them to fire into the upper body to shut down the central nervous system quickly.<br><br>However, senior officers ordered a switch in approach after the escalation in the terror threat to Britain from al-Qa'ida.<br><br>Ms Wilding and the Acpo group set up to form a policy on tackling suicide bombers visited countries with experience of such attacks, including Israel.<br><br>Their research revealed that repeated shots to the head were the only way of stopping someone intent on detonating a bomb.<br><br>The controversial tactic means that officers do not need to shout a warning and police are not required to identify themselves if they judge the intelligence is strong enough that the suspect is intent on mass murder.<br><br>Since the 7 July attacks, the Met has identified 250 incidents during which police thought they might have been dealing with a suicide bomber.<br><br>There is widespread concern, however, about guidelines surrounding the use of Operation Kratos, even among senior officers. Acpo is understood to be carrying out a review in the wake of the Stockwell shooting.<br><br>Defending the policy, Ms Wilding accused senior officers of "jump[ing] on the bandwagon" after the 7 July attacks by reassuring the public that police had tactics to combat bombers.<br><br>"Suicide terrorism officers have to make the decision if they can stop a suspect," she said.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>"If [the suspect] is behaving strangely the [officers] have to launch a pre-emptive strike."</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article344957.ece">news.independent.co.uk/uk...344957.ece</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><br>Or even if he's not.<br><br> <p></p><i></i>
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Laws and How They Are Used

Postby antiaristo » Tue Feb 14, 2006 11:58 am

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Comment <br><br><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:small;">These double standards</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--> <br><br>Satisfaction at seeing Abu Hamza in jail should be offset by concern at how his conviction was won <br><br>Faisal Bodi<br>Tuesday February 14, 2006<br>The Guardian <br><br><br>Few tears were shed at the jailing of Abu Hamza last week. Most Britons were relieved that the cell door had slammed shut on a man who has come to embody every western stereotype about Islam. Notwithstanding the lampooning of Hamza's disabilities to create his caricature, even the Muslim community struggled to find <br>a sympathetic soundbite.<br><br>And yet sympathise we must if we are to remain true to the principles of defending the rights of our community and Britain's civil and political liberties. In our satisfaction at seeing Hamza jailed we have given succour to the enemies of freedom. That is out of character for the Muslim community, which has been in the vanguard of opposition to anti-terrorism legislation. While most of their coreligionists in the Commons have supported the measures currently proposed by the government, the grassroots have resisted on the grounds that the proposals cordon off unwarranted areas of expression. Just as importantly, they fear that in the climate of Islamophobia the law will be used against dissenters.<br><br>Hamza is a case in point. He was convicted on six counts of soliciting murder under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. As the date suggests, it's an archaic piece of legislation; the soliciting provisions had, in effect, lain in abeyance for over 100 years until 2003, when they were used to convict another loose-tongued preacher, Abdullah el-Faisal. As the Guardian noted then, it was the first time in over a century that a charge of soliciting murder under the act had been used in a case where the prospective assailant and target were unidentified.<br>The double standard in this becomes evident when you consider how many people could have been hauled in under this legislation and weren't. Theoretically the rapper Buju Banton could still be prosecuted for advocating the murder of homosexuals in an infamous 1992 track, Boom Bye Bye. Or, for that matter, the poet Tom Paulin, for telling an Egyptian newspaper in 2002 that Jewish settlers should be shot dead.<br><br>Hamza was also found guilty of stirring up racial hatred, underlining the point that this legislation has become an anti-Muslim cudgel. El-Faisal was also convicted of the same in 2003 and jailed.<br><br>Earlier this month we saw the BNP's Nick Griffin and Mark Collett acquitted of inciting hatred against Muslims, apparently because the statements they made were directed against a faith group, not a racial group. The Commons also voted to defang the government's attempt to outlaw incitement to religious hatred, leaving us with a situation where the offence encompasses a narrower range of behaviour than its racial counterpart, making it more difficult to enforce.<br><br>Then there's the dreaded Terrorism Act 2000, Britain's anti-Muslim "sus law". Hamza was convicted of having a handbook of guerrilla warfare originating in Afghanistan. Critics have noted how this act is so broad it can draw in anybody, from the protester sympathising with armed resistance to the occupations of Iraq and Palestine to the downloading of information from the internet. There was no requirement for the jury to be convinced that Hamza had ever used the information - possession was enough.<br><br>Our loathing of Hamza and his ilk should not blind us to the price the war on terror is exacting. This week sees the terrorism bill back in the Commons for a vote that seeks to extend the definition of terrorism by outlawing statements that glorify the conduct it already embraces. Why should the law differentiate terrorism from gangsta rap, whose glorification of violence exacts many casualties on our streets?<br><br>Even before the war on terror we had started to lose our liberties to politicians who wanted to erect a shield around future iniquities. They are free to wage illegal wars in which the original crime is compounded by abuses and atrocities, but we have to watch what we say. The widening net has caught Hamza, but relief and satisfaction are the wrong responses. None of us is safe.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1709062,00.html">www.guardian.co.uk/commen...62,00.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>
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The Puppetmasters

Postby antiaristo » Tue Feb 14, 2006 1:09 pm

The ghouls behind the curtain never change The puppetmasters are the crowned heads of Europe and the Bush dynasty.<br><br>But they have to rotate the front men.<br><br>When Prodi finished his term as President of the European Commission he was replaced by Barroso. Here is what I wrote to him (no reply, of course).<br><br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>C/Eusebio Navarro, 12<br>Sr Jose Manuel Barroso                        35003 Las Palmas de Gran<br>President Elect Euro Commission                Spain                Canaria<br>(Correos Certificado        454689)                All Saints’ Day 2004<br><br>Dear Mr Barroso,<br>A few thoughts in support of your pending reshuffle.<br><br>You doubtless know that Peter Mandelson is one of the Dirty Old Slag’s privateers/pirates, who plunders under cover of the missing Article 13. But did you know that his name features prominently on the “Wonga List” uncovered by the South African police? And that the South African authorities are in the process of extraditing Greg Wales and David Tremain in connection with their mercenary activities (which will lead straight to Severo Moto and his fellow conspirators in Spain**)? My source for these is Britain’s prestigious Channel 4 News, but if you are not too high and mighty you may wish to make contact with the South African police and find out for yourself.<br><br>For context I provide three documents sent to your predecessor, the UN Secretary General and the Chairman of the Spanish parliamentary inquiry into the worst terrorist attack in the history of the European Union.<br><br>My advice? Peter Mandelson for the overseas aid and development portfolio. Not everyone has such invaluable experience in promoting<br>Coups d’Etat in Africa.<br>RSVP<br>Yours sincerely,<br><br><br><br>John Cleary<br><br>Ps        Do you have any children of your own? I have two girls: Victoria who is nearly sixteen, and Georgia, nearly fourteen. I last saw them on Christmas Day 1994. What use is your Constitution to those of us who are not members of a secret society?<br><br>Enc        Cleary to Prodi 5.6.2002<br>        Cleary to Annan 4.7.2004<br>        Cleary to Rivero 11.9.2004<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <p></p><i></i>
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mandy

Postby blanc » Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:14 pm

if you return, anti, please tell all on mandy. enjoyed the letter. <p></p><i></i>
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Omagh Complicity

Postby antiaristo » Fri Feb 24, 2006 11:13 am

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:small;">MI5 'withheld Omagh bomb evidence'</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--> <br><br>Press Association <br>Friday February 24, 2006 12:38 PM<br><br><br>MI5 withheld vital anti-terrorism intelligence just months before the Omagh bomb atrocity, it has been revealed.<br><br>Although the agency helped thwart an attack planned on the County Tyrone town or Londonderry at the time of the signing of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, it kept police in Northern Ireland in the dark about the bomb plot, according to authoritative security sources.<br><br>Even after the outrage, which killed 29 people, MI5 failed to inform Special Branch of the threat, and details have only just emerged as part of an investigation into an FBI agent who infiltrated the Real IRA, the dissident republican group which carried out the attack.<br><br>Relatives of some of the Omagh dead have said they were astonished by the disclosure, and with MI5 preparing next year to take control of national security intelligence in Northern Ireland, one MP called on Downing Street to abandon its plan.<br><br>SDLP leader Mark Durkan said: "Allowing MI5 to have a lead role in intelligence in Northern Ireland would be like appointing Herod as childrens' commissioner."<br><br>Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan, 21, was among those killed, said: "At best, this is criminal negligence. At worst, it's assisting a terrorist murder plot."<br><br>Three dissident republicans were arrested and later released without charge at the time of the foiled April 1998 bomb plot.<br><br>It followed an MI5 tip-off involving American FBI agent David Rupert, who was working undercover in the ranks of the Real IRA, warning that Omagh or Londonderry - but most likely Omagh - was to be hit by a dissident republican unit based in Fermanagh and the Letterkenny area of neighbouring County Donegal.<br><br>At the time, the Royal Ulster Constabulary was aware that a planned terrorist operation had been disrupted, but according to authoritative security sources today, police found no trace on their records of any MI5 intelligence that Omagh, or Derry, was going to be a target.<br><br>Police in the Irish Republic are not being blamed for holding back on any information linked to the failed bomb plot, four-and-a-half months before Omagh was attacked in August 1998 by a gang based in south Armagh and County Louth. But there is serious unease among security chiefs about MI5's handling of the affair.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-5644259,00.html">www.guardian.co.uk/uklate...59,00.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>
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GCHQ 'monitored Omagh bomb calls'

Postby Fixx » Sun Sep 14, 2008 12:28 pm

The UK's electronic intelligence agency GCHQ recorded mobile phone exchanges between the Omagh bombers on the day of the attack, the BBC has learned.

The BBC's Panorama says the calls were monitored as the bombers drove the car bomb into the County Tyrone town.

The attack on 15 August 1998 was the worst single atrocity of the Troubles, and killed 29 people.

The Panorama programme has led to calls from bereaved relatives for a full inquiry.

'Shadowy and secret'

Labour MP Andrew Mackinlay, a member of the Commons foreign affairs select committee, said the BBC's revelations needed to be "thoroughly investigated".

The MP for Thurrock said: "It is disgraceful that there is no parliamentary oversight of the intelligence and security services.

"All there is, is... the shadowy and highly secret, so-called 'intelligence and security committee'.

"Its existence simply will not be sufficient to assuage grieving relatives, nor the public, that we were well served by our security services in this incident."

The committee, set up in 1994 with the task of overseeing the security services, has nine members hand-picked by the prime minister and reports to them.

The 500lb (227kg) Omagh bomb was planted by members of the Real IRA - renegade IRA members opposed to the Northern Ireland peace process.
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