PLEASE PUBLISH THIS ON YOUR WEB-SITE/BLOG AND CIRCULATE AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE*
frodobaggins | 30.12.2005 19:28 | Analysis
UK Government are trying to supress with the threat of prosecution under
the Official Secrets Act. They detail our use of intelligence extracted
by torture, and legal advice the Foreign Office received on the subject,
and we need to get them out there as soon as possible before the
government act.
*If you could post them on your website, ASAP, it would be very much
appreciated.*
I attach our latest post on the subject.
http://www.blairwatch.co.uk/node/716
Thanks very much for your help, if you are outside the UK, then you are
not threatened by the use of the Official Secrets Act. UK bloggers
should be aware that there is the potential that we might get
threatened, but as the documents are already appearing all over the
internet, we think it unlikely at this stage.
Cheers
Dan [ringverse]
http://www.blairwatch.co.uk
-------------------------------------------------------------
_*Calling All Bloggers: These Documents need publishing *_
*
Background:*
The UK government has been quick to deny that we practice, or tolerate
the practice of Torture. So it is perhaps not suprising that they are
determined that you should not see the following documents:
* http://users.pandora.be/quarsan/craig/telegrams.pdf
*
* http://users.pandora.be/quarsan/craig/npaper.jpg*
Craig Murray was the UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, untill his complaints
and protest at the use of inteligence gained by torture got too much for
Jack Straw and the Foreign Office, who set about attempting to
unsuccessfully smear him, and to successfully remove him from office.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3750370.stm
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2005/04/timeline_of_cra.html
The Foreign Office has had the draft of Craig's book for clearance for
over 3 months now, and they are doing everything they can to try and
prevent him from publishing his side of the story. Their latest attempt
to cover their own backs was to inform him, the night before Christmas
Eve, that these two documents cannot be published, and that he was to
return or destroy all copies immediately.
*What are these documents?*
The first document is a series of Telegrams that Craig sent to the
Foreign Office, outlining his growing concern and disgust at our use of
intelligence passed to the UK by the Uzbek security services.
The second document is a copy of legal advice the Foreign Office sought,
to see if they were operating within the Law in accepting torture
intelligence, and according to Michael Wood the FCO legal adviser; it is
fine, as long as it is not used as evidence.
Faced with this heavy handed censorship by the FCO, in an attempt to
cover up our use of and complicity in torture, Craig has decided to
fight back, and has asked us all to publish this information, so it
cannot be suppressed.
/I am in discussion with the FCO over what I am and am not allowed to
publish in my book. The FCO is seeking to gut the book of all evidence
of complicity with the Uzbek regime.
With Bliar cornered on extraordinary rendition, they are particularly
anxious to suppress all evidence of our complicity in obtaining
intelligence from Uzbek torture.
In particular, they have demanded I do not publish the attached
documents, and that I hand over all copies of them.
The obvious answer to this is to post these documents as widely on the
web as possible. This is also potentially very valuable in establishing
that I am not attempting to make money from these documents - you don't
have to buy my book to see them, they are freely available. If you buy
the book, you are only paying for the added value of my thoughts.
This will only work if we can get the [documents] very widely posted,
including on sites in the US and elsewhere outside the UK … there is a
chance that those who … post this stuff will get threatened under the
Official Secrets Act.
In March 2003 I was summoned back to London from Tashkent specifically
for a meeting at which I was told to stop protesting. I was told
specifically that it was perfectly legal for us to obtain and to use
intelligence from the Uzbek torture chambers.
After this meeting Sir Michael Wood, the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office's legal adviser, wrote to confirm this position. This minute from
Michael Wood is perhaps the most important document that has become
public about extraordinary rendition. It is irrefutable evidence of the
government's use of torture material, and that I was attempting to stop
it. It is no wonder that the government is trying to suppress this.
Craig/
Compare and Contrast the government's public position on Torture, with
the information they were recieving at the time from their own
Ambassador, and the legal advice they were seeking.
We have archived a selection of government spin and lies on the use of
torture in these 4 pages:
http://www.blairwatch.co.uk/node/708
http://www.blairwatch.co.uk/node/709
http://www.blairwatch.co.uk/node/710
http://www.blairwatch.co.uk/node/711
and you can listen to Jack Straw and Tony Blair deny what you read in
these hitherto 'secret' documents here.
http://www.blairwatch.co.uk/down/strawhust.mp3
http://www.blairwatch.co.uk/down/blairrend.mp3
*What you can do:
*We have published the documents in full here, and ask that anyone who
can will do the same.
http://www.blairwatch.co.uk/node/715
http://www.blairwatch.co.uk/node/714
If you could publish, host and link to these documents on your own
webspace, then it will be harder for anybody to be prosecuted here in
the UK, and ensure that they get maximum coverage.
Craig Murray stood up for what many of us believe, and it cost him his
Job, his health, and his professional reputation. The least we can do
his stand by him as he defies the UK government's attempts at
censorship, and possible prosecution.
Craig's own post on the subject can be found here:
http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/archives/2005/12/damning_documen.html
Thanks for your help.
frodobaggins
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