Of Badgers & Men (& Censorship)

The reason for my blog being censored by WordPress was because of a post about ‘Sir’ Howard Newby, I have not been told this in an email or any such civilised notification but I found the post had been altered by WP admin and was the source of me being barred from my own blog. If you want some background on ‘Sir’ Howard check out Derek Wall, Ecologics & Bristle’s Blog from the BunKRS. It appears he is very sensitive about his time as vice-chancellor of the University of the West of England and the firm Carter & Carter of which he was a non-executive director, all of which is in the public sphere in various publications, for example this is from the Guardian–

The use of management consultancy firms linked to both Sir Howard and his wife, assistant vice-chancellor Lady Sheila Newby, also caused concern.

“They were private companies with no idea about university or academe telling us how to do things and what to do. People got upset because he was running the university life a little fiefdom and giving very big contracts to his mates,” said one academic, who preferred not to be named.

Such big publications with deep pockets were apparently not troubled but he had the University of Liverpool’s (where he is now Vice-Chancellor) legal department in the guise of one Mr. Kevan Ryan, Director of Legal Services go after the low lying blog fruit, which also caught the attention of Index on Censorship. This pushed my anti-censorship button and I made a humorous post that largely concerned itself with how trustworthy ‘Sir’ Howard was in regards to his moral conduct with badgers. But apparently WordPress err on the side of extreme caution when a lawyer and the UK’s libel laws hove into view (or maybe it was something to do with badgers, you never can tell). Consequently I realised I had to find other hosting arrangements for my blog if I am to be independent of people that do not value free speech or my own brand of what we shall loosely call ‘wit’. This has taken some time which is all down to my own procrastination but as we speak, thanks to the generous help of a friend of the blog, a new site is being prepared that is hosted in a far off land, details to come soon. If this post causes another act of censorship please refer to my Twitter feed for updates.

Bad YouTube

First The Huffington Post now Youtube has censored Max Blumenthal’s ‘Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem’-

Youtube has removed my video, “Feeling The Hate In Jerusalem,” on the baseless grounds that it contains “inappropriate content.” They have offered me no further explanation and have stonewalled my inquiries and attempts to rectify the situation. Thus they have censored a video that contains far less inflammatory content than thousands of video they are already hosting. Why? I won’t ascribe motives to Youtube I am unable to confirm, but it is clear there is an active campaign by right-wing Jewish elements to suppress the video by filing a flood of complaints with Youtube. At the same time these elements have attempted to paint me as a self-hating Jew determined to foment anti-Semitism. I answered this last charge to Ha’aretz (read the barely coherent article here) last week: “I have received death threats from people, mainly ones calling me a self-hating Jew. I am self-hating, but my self-hatred has nothing to do with me being Jewish.”

Jewish Voices for Peace (the parent organization of the excellent website Muzzlewatch) is preparing an action for tomorrow to pressure Youtube into restoring the video. They are asking their members to email press@youtube.com to demand an explanation for the censorship. For now, I have reposted the video on Vimeo and urge everyone to distribute it widely.

And worst of all it means I have to go back to my post with the vid and put in a new url for the video! Which is frankly just not on, so please write to press@youtube.com 

Some clue as to what may have helped the Zionist lobby pull off the Youtube censorship is provided by Jews Sans Frontieres YouTube has reached out to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). I don’t know what Huffington Posts’s excuse is and for that matter I don’t think Crooks & Liars posted it (yet happily posted his exposes of conservative & Christianist bigotry, hmm). Meanwhile here it is on another YT account yet to be shut down-

PS. CodePink Rule the Beach!

Huffington Post Censors Max Blumenthal

Seems polite liberals are happy when Max Blumenthal exposes right wing bigotry but aren’t ready to face Zionist bigotry, thus the exhilarating phenomenon of liberal censorship. His musings on this are very much worth reading @ Mondoweiss where he ably replies to his critics and below is the video too uspetting for the delicate sensibilities of Huffpo-

Google Disappear Norman Finkelstein’s Site

Both Jews san frontieres & Philip Weiss have discovered in the last few days Norman Finkelstein’s site has been disappeared from Google search results, you still get other sites with relevance to him and his work but not his own-

http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/

So what gives? Mistaken blacklisting or deliberate action?

Palestine: to exist is to resist- The Article That Was Censored

Via Pulse.  An article- Palestine: to exist is to resist in Therapy Today, the monthly journal of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) was about the psychological trauma inflicted on Palestinians, with emphasis on children.

Pulse goes on- Under pressure from supporters of the Zionist state of Israel the editor, Sarah Browne pulled the article from their web page yesterday. Seemingly this pressure was a phone call telling them “that they’d find out they’d been very unwise to publish such a one-sided piece etc” and a couple of emails.

It might be worth email her saying that caving in to such pressure and withdrawing such an accurate piece does not serve the best interests of BACP members.  (Thanks to Ian for this).

Her email address is: sarah.browne at bacp.co.uk

To me this is pure thuggism and censorship, a nation causes this suffering then bullies anyone who talks about it in an attempt to silence them, supposing if their victim’s death and/or suffering goes unacknowledged it does not exist and they can continue doing it. It is curious how people who think of themselves as liberal support Israel, censorship is a liberal thing now? This at the same time Haaretz is publishing stories detailing the racial extermination culture of the IDF.

Below the fold is the article retrieved from google cache.

Free Book! Craig Murray’s- The Catholic Orangemen of Togo

I, like many others have volunteered to help former Ambassador Craig Murray (also his Wikipedia page) distribute his new book (the prequel to Murder in Samarkand) because-

We already face FCO censorship, separate libel threats from Tim Spicer and Peter Penfold, and a friendly fire attack from Clare Short who doesn’t want me to publish her over-enthusiastic and well-oiled dinner party denunication of the British Empire (she denies it happened). Now I have received the comments from my publisher’s lawyers, who suggests at several points that changes are needed due to the Max Mosley case.

Ultimately his publishers after much faffing ran away and so he took full advantage of the possibilities of the web and blogtopia and appealed for Spartaci to publish it today on the web, thus overwhelming mercenaries and their S(c)hilling law firms attempts at censorship.

I do hope more people will learn about the truth about Spicer that way, than they would if Schillings had not intervened. I am very much hoping that I will be able to make some copies of an actual book available at the same time. But you should of course be aware that if you read it you will cause Tim Spicer “profound anxiety and distress”, according to Schillings. Possibly less, however, than that caused to the families of those killed by his mercenaries over the years.

Spicer of course now heads up Aegis Defence Services Mercenay Firm which became infamous for its video of mercenaries in Iraq shooting at Iraqi’s in their cars set to hilarious (oh the wit of the hired killer) music.

So onto the freebies! The book The Catholic Orangemen of Togo and Other Conflicts I Have Known by Craig Murray:-

1. Togo Front Cover (1 page)
2. Togo Intro/Contents (7 pages)
   
3. Togo The Main Book (219 pages)

Or a single PDF of the entire book-

The Catholic Orangemen of Togo and Other Conflicts I Have Known by Craig Murray

(The advantage to the 3 part PDF’s is the page numbers of the Main Book PDF correspond to the page numbers of the book so referencing back from the index is made easier. The single PDF contains all 3 parts)

Or if you have such a thing as disposable income (I read about it in a library book once, money to spare, imagine such a thing!) and wish to compensate Craig for his work-

Go to his site and purchase a physical book (and you can have it signed and eveything by the author)

The blurb!-

The book is an autobiographical prequel to Murder in Samarkand and covers the period 1998 to 2002. It exposes the links between blood diamonds, crime and British mercenary involvement in Africa. it argues that the disregard Tony Blair showed for both British and international law in dealing with Sierra Leone prefigured the disaster of Iraq. It also covers my role in the dawn of democracy in Ghana.

More importantly, it is intended in an entertaining way to present questions of African development, drawing on thirty year’s practical experience. I am deeply critical of current fashionable doctrines in the field of overseas aid. I hope it will inform and entertain as Murder in Samarkand did, but on a different set of issues. Here is the blurb from the book:

Craig Murray’s adventures in Africa from 1997 to 2001 are a rolliciking good read. He exposes for the first time the full truth about the “Arms to Africa” affair which was the first major scandal of the Blair Years. He lays bare the sordid facts about British mercenary involvement in Africa and its motives. This is at heart an extraordinary account of Craig Murray’s work in negotiating peace with the murderous rebels of Sierra Leone, and in acting as the midwife of Ghanaian democracy. Clearly his efforts were not only difficult but at times very dangerous indeed. Yet the story is told with great humour. Not only do we meet Charles Taylor, Olusegun Obasanjo, Jerry Rawlings and Foday Sankoh, but there are unexpected encounters with others including Roger Moore, Jamie Theakston and Bobby Charlton! Above all this book is about Africa. Craig Murray eschews the banal remedies of the left and right to share with us the deep knowledge and understanding that comes over 30 years working in or with Africa. Gems of wisdom and observation scatter the book, as does a deep sense of moral outrage at the consequences of centuries of European involvement: even though he explains that much of it was well-intentioned but disastrous.

I enjoyed it immensely, found myself at page 100 before I knew what hit me, a testament to fascinating subject matter and an easy friendly style. It’s fascinating to learn more of how our embassies work (or don’t, it also works as a companion to le Carré’s recent books in providing more background detail to the machinations of power) and the reality of New Labour politicians (Amos!) and their far too close relationship with business all the while slickly marketing themselves as great states-people. His account of Africa and our role in it is useful and pragmatic although like me I’m sure there will be differences of opinion here and there. But as with Murder in Samarkand it is a forthright account of a man who we can recognise, with faults and weaknesses but a core determination to do his best, his pesky loyalty to democracy and human rights is the thing that tellingly makes him different from the establishment. Careerism, party/class loyalty, greed, tradition seem to have trumped all other considerations in many of the well known names who crop up. For example it’s interesting that the ‘ethical foreign policy’ that Robin Cook tried to implement was steadfastly opposed by Blair in No. 10 from the outset. And the passages where Craig, in Sierra Leone peace talks, realises he is the only one in the room who has never killed anybody, show the difficulty but necessity of peace negotiations.

So enjoy, download before some lawyers come sniffing around to protect the reputation of a mercenary…hmm, something fucked up right there.

The Independent Censor Mark Steel on the Raytheon 9

[Via Chicken Yoghurt] As if looking to hire Roger Alton wasn’t bad enough, The Independent had an attack of the vapours (propaganda model variant) and are not publishing Mark Steel’s piece about the Raytheon 9. Luckily he has a website and has published there on his blog, so go there or read it here (appended below). Here is the report from the Raytheon 9 site on the first day of court-

The trial of the Raytheon 9 finally got underway today at Laganside Court in Belfast. The day started well with about 50 people congregating outside the Courthouse. 28 of them carried placards with photographs of the men, women and children who died in the Qana massacre of 30 July 2006. A carload of Irish Anti War Movement activists travelled from Dublin and everyone felt good to see so many turn up to show their solidarity when the ‘official’ protest of the day before had been cancelled at such short notice.

As expected, the first day was taken up with legal arguments about the nature of the defence, witnesses etc. They don’t deny that they occupied Raytheon or that they destroyed their computer system but say that they had a legal, moral and political duty to do so in order to stop or at least delay war crimes, in which Raytheon were involved, being carried out by the Israeli army in Lebanon.

The judge accepted defence arguments that he should not rule the defence out but allow it to be argued and then, having heard the evidence, he can decide how to instruct the jury on what they can, and cannot, take into account in reaching their verdict.

The judge said that he recognised the difficulties the defendants and their supporters face in getting up and down between Derry and Belfast and ruled that the Court would start no earlier than 10.30am and finish no later than 4pm every day. The trial is expected to last three weeks.

Mark Steel– Hmm, I’ve written this article for this week’s Independent, about a case that should have had masses of publicity but has had hardly any. So there I am feeling smug at redressing the balance and I’m informed this evening that the good people of the law won’t let it be printed. So here it is – my illegal article – oo, it must feel like reading Lady Chatterley’s Lover in 1962…..

There’s a trial currently taking place in Belfast, that seems to explain plainly how nothing makes any sense. It revolves around a factory owned by the arms company Raytheon, which was set up in Derry soon after the IRA ceasefire. John Hume, who’d just won the Nobel Peace Prize was among those who announced the opening of the plant, welcoming it as a result of the ‘peace dividend’

‘Lucky’ is an Understatement

Something worse than yelling fire in a crowded theatre-

On the opening night, the theatre got a last-minute call saying that Mukhu Aliev, the Dagestani president, would attend. Mr Aliev arrived with his security detail and, just before the curtain rose, says Pelevine, someone thought to warn the bodyguards that the play involved actors dressed as terrorists running on to the stage. “Lucky you told us,” said one guard, “or we would have shot them dead immediately.”

Holy fuck! Having worked in the theatre I can imagine the kind of edgy confrontation the play was staging, [Natalia Pelevine’s play includes actors dressed as terrorists running through the audience to recreate the events.] but in ‘waronterror’ times (in fact I would suspect a lot of innovative staging is now limited by ‘waronterror’-ism, and that Mary Poppins better watch her step too) with a protected president in the city with recent history in the conflict, man you could easily be reading about actors shot dead. Whoever remembered to warn the bodyguards, if they ain’t stage manager, they should be. This was a Brandon Lee moment (in a phrase I coined on a film set and didn’t catch on but was meant to indicate a complex activity usually involving explosives/firearms/stunty prop stuff in a showbiz production that if not done properly could get someone hurt or killed so let’s just pause and make sure we have this right) after Brandon Lee (obviously) the really quite gifted son of Bruce Lee who died because of a firearm prop fuck up while filming The Crow (my understanding is the pressures put on by producers had some contribution to it, but still). Anyway back to Russia-

A British playwright says her play about the Moscow theatre siege has been banned by Russian authorities after one performance. The play, In Your Hands, seeks to recreate the horror of the 2002 theatre siege when Chechen rebels took more than 800 theatre-goers hostage in what was one of their worst attacks on Russian soil. More than 100 people died, many from the effects of the gas that the Russian authorities pumped into the building to disable the attackers and end the siege

Vichy Forces Fight Militia

Chancellor Hitler said-

“It’s going to take awhile, but it’s a necessary part of the development of a free society,” a “positive moment”

Excuse the broad strokes but that is how the Iraq fighting is being reported, the fighting which is the puppet government of the occupier attacking nationalist elements. Ok that’s simplified too but more valid than the bullshit raining down from the corporate media. The coverage invites the consumer to identify with the Maliki govt forces (and now as they are failing the US reinforcements). We’re being asked to cheer lead along the balkanisation of Iraq- Maliki being ordered to remove nationalist opposition ahead of ‘elections’, 5 years from now it will be separate ethnic regions, permanent US bases and a client regime being called a democracy.

And another thing (I really shouldn’t listen to the news) just how long have journalists known the UAE had forces in Afghanistan? After five years the BBC ‘reveals’ (in such glowing terms it really belongs in a b&w newsreel circa 1943) their deployment, what were they fucking invisible? Grrrrr.

As Taser Use Increases The RCMP Redact Details

I think maybe authoritarians think of Tasers as like remote controls… for humans. And as their use rolls out across the world by uniformed goons everywhere such lack of transparency is a big red FLAG! Our own trials here at the four month stage lack many specifics, something that should be remedied (*begins researching FOI procedure*). There is much more to the below article and it is worth reading in full (full version below the fold or click link), this is not how a police service should act in a democracy-

A joint investigation by The Canadian Press and CBC found the Mounties are now refusing to divulge key information that must be recorded each time they draw their electronic weapons. As a result, Canadians will know much less about who is being hit with the 50,000-volt guns, whether they were armed, why they were fired on and whether they were injured. Taser report forms obtained under the Access to Information Act show the Mounties have used the powerful weapons more than 4,000 times since introducing them seven years ago.

Information stripped from the forms includes details of several Taser cases the Mounties previously made public under the access law. In effect, the RCMP is reclassifying details of Taser use – including some telling facts that raised pointed questions about how often the stun guns are fired and why.

A Canadian Press analysis last November of 563 incidents between 2002 and 2005 found three in four suspects Tasered by the RCMP were unarmed. Several of those reports suggested a pattern of stun-gun use as a handy tool to keep drunk or rowdy suspects in line, rather than to defuse major threats. But the Mounties are now censoring Taser report forms to conceal related injuries, duration of shocks, whether the individual was armed, what police tried before resorting to the stun gun, and precise dates of firings.

An Exit What?

Exit polls, y’know the means by which elections can be judged ahead of final counts and can help expose fiddling, so consequently since the Bush era came about they are no longer published and/or published unadjusted by compliant media networks, not just in the US but in various elections across the world (ain’t globalisation cool?). Well one for the Spanish election says the lefty-ish PSOE have retained power. Korova was over there and reported the dynamic was depressingly familiar (perhaps that’s why they can win and exit polls are published, hmmm)-

The current period of pre-election campaigning had Zapatero’s PSOE virtually guaranteed of victory. They are roughly 5 percentage points ahead of the Popular Party, and it is inconceivable that this lead will be surrendered. However, from a progressive’s point of view, there is little to rejoice in these elections. Replace the PSOE with New Labour and the Popular Party with Cameron’s Conservatives, and you have an almost identical political situation. As in the UK, there is very little to choose between the two parties. It would make little difference who was in power, as both parties are beholden to the capitalist economic system. The only other party remotely capable of challenging these two, is Izquierda Unida (or United Left). Much like the Liberal Democrats, they hover around the fringes of the political debate. However, unlike the libs, IU is a viable left-wing alternative to the parties of the establishment. One hopes very much that IU increase their vote across Spain and begin to wield influence although, for the moment at least, this seems unlikely.

PS. Spain dropped its extradition request of former Gitmo inmates Jamil El-Banna (threatened with Gitmo to force him to work for MI5 then kidnapped by the CIA when he refused) and Omar Deghayes (more here) a few days ago, looks like being onside with the Bush gulag is not politically favourable, good-

Baltasar Garzón, the prominent judge who agreed to shelve the case against the two men, explained that he was doing so because of medical reports filed by the men’s lawyers at their last hearing in February. Two doctors, Jonathan Fluxman and Helen Bamber, had examined the men earlier in the month and had concluded that they were suffering from severe medical conditions caused by torture at the hands of their US captors and the inhumane conditions in which they were kept for five years.

Fuck Your Militarist Propaganda

Only a short time ago the government was making noises of a review of whether to encourage the military to wear uniforms while out in public, well it seems that review is ongoing but the government has already concluded to encourage uniforms. And just in time for stories of personnel getting some aggro for wearing uniforms off base of RAF Wittering. What is the source of these reports? The MOD, are they spinning some weekend drunken shouting into patrio-porn enabling militarism? Vietnam vets being spat on redux? No police record of abuse just reports via the government and the CO (officers!) that claim verbal abuse. ‘Churnalism‘ in service of the establishment. Up pops Gordon and before you know it we have the ‘Queen & country’ spiel, combined with the recent well staged Prince Harry media campaign. This is clearly a coordinated push to use the respect and sympathy we have for troops who have been used to support America’s imperialism (and keep memories alive of ours) to quash dissent towards these wars (and mention of the lies perpetrated) as the 5th anniversary approaches. But the worship of empty uniforms does not extend to Ben Griffin, he is still gagged, one report today said the gag had been extended but the link to that story comes up error ridden.

Gag bid against ex-SAS man
TeleText – Scotland,UK
At an earlier hearing an interim order granted to the MoD in relation to Ben Griffin was continued by consent pending further argument in the case. …

Link (not working as far as I can see, the above text is from the email alert I got)
So the fascistic fetishising of the military is about forcing us to identify with the agenda of the ruling class by means of our feelings for those in the military. When a soldier speaks truths that conflict with establishment narratives he has the entire legal might of the government’s apparatus gag him under threat of prison. Where is their respect for the service of that soldier? This country was manipulated to show solidarity with a Royal Prince who revelled in his role in killing people while an exceptional soldier (both in his professional abilities and in his character and personal morality) from a more humble background is attacked and silenced, hidden from view lest people start to…God, Queen & Country forbid…identify with something other than the elite’s simulacrum.

Amnesty On Ben Griffin, Avaaz On Gaza

Following the injunction granted on 28 February 2008 by the High Court of England and Wales to prevent Ben Griffin, a former member of the UK Special Forces (UKSF) Special Air Services (SAS), from making any further disclosures relating to the work of the SAS, Amnesty International’s Senior Adviser, Anne FitzGerald, said:‘Rather than seeking to silence people who might have credible evidence of alleged human rights violations, which may include war crimes, the UK authorities should be seeking to investigate those allegations.’

‘Amnesty International repeatedly makes calls for the UK to ensure that full and independent investigations are carried out wherever there are credible allegations that agents of the UK, including members of the armed forces, may have been responsible for grave violations of human rights law or for war crimes. Those calls all too often go unheeded: only last week Amnesty International repeated its call for such an investigation into the UK’s alleged involvement in the US-led programme of renditions and secret detention, following official confirmation, after years of denial, that rendition flights did indeed touch down in the UK territory of Diego Garcia.’

‘There can be no accountability without transparency: people – including former soldiers – who have information that may constitute evidence of war crimes or of grave human rights violations must be reassured that they can safely make that information public, without fear of punitive legal action against them. If the government of the UK succeeds in gagging Ben Griffin and burying any significant information he may possess, it risks preventing others from coming forward who may have evidence of serious violations.’

And AVAAZ have a petition should you feel it might have an effect on any parties involved-

The Gaza-Israel crisis is out of control. It’s come to this: bloody full-scale invasion, or a cease-fire. With rockets raining down on both sides, Israel launched a ground assault into the Gaza Strip this weekend. Over a hundred combatants and civilians from both sides lie dead. The next 48 hours are crucial — Israel’s cabinet will discuss a larger invasion Wednesday. But Hamas floated a Gaza ceasefire months ago, and 64% of Israelis support the idea.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/gaza_ceasefire_now/3.php?cl=58186486

Ben Griffin Banned Speech Video

This speech is from the World Against War rally the night before the UK government obtained an injunction gagging him and is in addition to the statement he had previously made. Then Stop the War posted the video and this statement-

“As of 1940hrs 29/02/08 I have been placed under an injunction preventing me from speaking publicly and publishing material gained as a result of my service in UKSF (SAS). I will be continuing to collect evidence and opinion on British Involvement in extraordinary rendition, torture, secret detentions, extra judicial detention, use of evidence gained through torture, breaches of the Geneva Conventions, breaches of International Law and failure to abide by our obligations as per UN Convention Against Torture. I am carrying on regardless ”
Ben Griffin, Former UK Special forces trooper

Text of Statement posted previously click here.

UK Court Gags Ben Griffin, SAS Torture Whistleblower

Ben Griffin who made this speech, excerpted here on the 27th has been silenced by the British establishment-

A former SAS soldier was served with a high court order yesterday preventing him from making fresh disclosures about how hundreds of Iraqis and Afghans captured by British and American special forces were rendered to prisons where they faced torture.

Ben Griffin could be jailed if he makes further disclosures about how people seized by special forces were allegedly mistreated and ended up in secret prisons in breach of the Geneva conventions and international law. Griffin, 29, left the British army in 2005 after three months in Baghdad, saying he disagreed with the “illegal” tactics of US troops.

This is disgraceful but not unsurprising for an administration guilty of war crimes and subservient to the Bush regime. I include below the full text of his statement and urge others to copy and paste the text as well-

This statement was prepared and read by Ben Griffin, ex-SAS soldier, at a press conference on Monday 25 February 2008.

Our government would have us believe that our involvement in the process known as Extraordinary Rendition is limited to two occasions on which planes carrying detainees landed to refuel on the British Indian Ocean Territory, Diego Garcia. David Miliband has stated that the British Government expects the Government of the United States to “seek permission to render detainees via UK territory and airspace, including Overseas Territories; that we will grant that permission only if we are satisfied that the rendition would accord with UK law and our international obligations; and how we understand our obligations under the UN Convention Against Torture¹.” (Taken from a statement given to the House of Commons by the Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Thursday 21 February 2008)

The use of British Territory and airspace pales into insignificance in light of the fact that it has been British soldiers detaining the victims of Extraordinary Rendition in the first place. Since the invasion of Afghanistan in the autumn of 2001 UKSF has operated within a joint US/UK Task Force. This Task Force has been responsible for the detention of hundreds if not thousands of individuals in Afghanistan and Iraq. Individuals detained by British soldiers within this Task force have ended up in Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp, Bagram Theatre Internment Facility, Balad Special Forces Base, Camp Nama BIAP and Abu Ghraib Prison.

Whilst the government has stated its desire that the Guantanamo Bay detention camp be closed, it has remained silent over these other secretive prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan. These secretive prisons are part of a global network in which individuals face torture and are held indefinately without charge. All of this is in direct contravention of the Geneva Conventions, International Law and the UN Convention Against Torture.

Early involvement of UKSF in the process of Extraordinary Rendition centres around operations carried out in Afghanistan in late 2001. Of note is an incident at the Qalai Janghi fortress, near Mazar-i-Sharif. UKSF fought alongside their US counterparts to put down a bloody revolt by captured Taliban fighters. The surviving Taliban fighters were then rendered to Guantanamo Bay.

After the invasion of Iraq in 2003 this joint US/UK task force appeared. Its primary mission was to kill or capture high value targets. Individuals detained by this Task Force often included non-combatants caught up in the search for high value targets. The use of secret detention centres within Iraq has negated the need to use Guantanamo Bay whilst allowing similar practice to go unnoticed.

I have here an account taken from an interpreter interviewed by the organisation Human Rights Watch (http://hrw.org/reports/2006/us0706/2.htm). He was based at the detention and interrogation facility within Camp Nama at Baghdad International Airport during 2004. This facility was used to interrogate individuals captured by the joint US/UK Task Force. In it are the details of numerous breaches of the Geneva Convention and accounts of torture. These breaches were not the actions of rogue elements the abuse was systematic and sanctioned through the chain of command. This account is corroborated by an investigation carried out by NYT reporters into Camp Nama and the US/UK Task Force, which appeared in the New York Times on March 19 2006. Throughout my time in Iraq I was in no doubt that individuals detained by UKSF and handed over to our American colleagues would be tortured. During my time as member of the US/UK Task Force, three soldiers recounted to me an incident in which they had witnessed the brutal interrogation of two detainees. Partial drowning and an electric cattle prod were used during this interrogation and this amounted to torture. It was the widely held assumption that this would be the fate of any individuals handed over to our America colleagues. My commanding officer at the time expressed his concern to the whole squadron that we were becoming “the secret police of Baghdad”.

As UK soldiers within this Task Force a policy that we would detain individuals but not arrest them was continually enforced. Since it was commonly assumed by my colleagues that anyone we detained would subsequently be tortured this policy of detention and not arrest was regarded as a clumsy legal tool used to distance British soldiers from the whole process.

During the many operations conducted to apprehend high value targets numerous non-combatants were detained and interrogated in direct contravention of the Geneva Convention regarding the treatment of civilians in occupied territories. I have no doubt in my mind that non-combatants I personally detained were handed over to the Americans and subsequently tortured.

The joint US/UK Task Force has broken International Law, contravened The Geneva Conventions and disregarded the UN Convention Against Torture. British soldiers are intimately involved in the actions of this Task Force. Jack Straw, Margaret Beckett David Miliband, Geoff Hoon, Des Browne, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown. In their respective positions over the last five years they must know that British soldiers have been operating within this joint US/UK task force. They must have been briefed on the actions of this unit.

As the occupiers of Iraq we have a duty to uphold the law, to abide by the Geneva Conventions and the UN Convention Against Torture. We are also responsible for securing the borders of Iraq on all counts we have failed. The British Army once had a reputation for playing by the rules. That reputation has been tarnished over the last seven years. We have accepted illegality as the norm. I have no doubt that over the coming months and years increasing amounts of information concerning the actions of British soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan will be become public.

Whilst the majority of British Forces have been withdrawn from Iraq, UKSF remain within the US/UK Task Force.

¹Torture, according to the United Nations Convention Against Torture, is “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession.”

Ben Griffin
25 February 2008

www.stopwar.org.uk