http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=124485
Extract from a speech by David Cameron to the Foreign Policy Centre, 24 August 2005:
Are MI5 and MI6 equipped properly for this new terrorist era?
With a joint budget which is only one third of the DTI, there must be considerable doubts.
There are worrying indications that MI5, for example, did not have enough manpower to track one of the 7 July bombers, even though his name was clearly on the intelligence radar.
In America after 9/11 the White House established a Commission to look into the events of that tragic day. It asked tough questions and led to constructive reforms in intelligence and security.
Surely we can only benefit from a similar exercise here, which looks forward to the immense security challenges we face.
It would have the ability to question what has been done, and what requires to be done, to deal with the Jihadist terrorist threat.
~~
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Bristol Evening Post report on David Shayler's claims that 9 11 was the work of elements of the US government and that Blair worked for MI5
http://www.bilderberg.org/sis.htm#11
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144936&command=displayContent&sourceNode=144919&contentPK=
13175273&moduleName=InternalSearch&formname=sidebarsearch
The Bristol Evening Post, 13 September 2005, reported as follows:
9/11 'THE WORK OF SECURITY CHIEFS'
13 September 2005
Renegade spy David Shayler claims the 9/11 terrorist atrocities in America were the work of elements of the US government.
Mr Shayler, a former MI5 officer who was jailed for disclosing security secrets, believes there are some elements within the FBI, CIA and the US government who wanted "another Pearl Harbour" so they had public support for invasions in oil-producing countries.
Mr Shayler spoke to an audience of about 200 people at the Cube cinema in Kingsdown after a 45-minute film which questioned the official version of the terrorist attacks.
He said there was no evidence that a plane had hit the Pentagon, and claimed it was more likely to have been a missile.
He said the incident happened when America's major defence building was being redecorated so staff were at minimal risk.
Mr Shayler said: "It created a lot of anger without causing too much damage.
"There are many unanswered questions which need to be addressed."
He also discussed the possibility of the 7/7 London Tube bombings being set up by the Government or security agencies.
Mr Shayler believes Dr David Kelly was an MI6 agent who was murdered and he alleged that Tony Blair worked for MI5 before he became Labour leader.
Mr Shayler was jailed for six months at the Old Bailey in November 2002 for disclosing security secrets which breached the Official Secrets Act.
~~
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144936&command=displayContent&sourceNode=144919&contentPK=
13175273&moduleName=InternalSearch&formname=sidebarsearch
The Bristol Evening Post, 13 September 2005, reported as follows:
9/11 'THE WORK OF SECURITY CHIEFS'
13 September 2005
Renegade spy David Shayler claims the 9/11 terrorist atrocities in America were the work of elements of the US government.
Mr Shayler, a former MI5 officer who was jailed for disclosing security secrets, believes there are some elements within the FBI, CIA and the US government who wanted "another Pearl Harbour" so they had public support for invasions in oil-producing countries.
Mr Shayler spoke to an audience of about 200 people at the Cube cinema in Kingsdown after a 45-minute film which questioned the official version of the terrorist attacks.
He said there was no evidence that a plane had hit the Pentagon, and claimed it was more likely to have been a missile.
He said the incident happened when America's major defence building was being redecorated so staff were at minimal risk.
Mr Shayler said: "It created a lot of anger without causing too much damage.
"There are many unanswered questions which need to be addressed."
He also discussed the possibility of the 7/7 London Tube bombings being set up by the Government or security agencies.
Mr Shayler believes Dr David Kelly was an MI6 agent who was murdered and he alleged that Tony Blair worked for MI5 before he became Labour leader.
Mr Shayler was jailed for six months at the Old Bailey in November 2002 for disclosing security secrets which breached the Official Secrets Act.
~~
Shayler: 'Blair was an MI5 agent'.
http://www.bilderberg.org/sis.htm#agent
Tony Gosling, 15 October 2005, at bilderberg.org, wrote:
There has been much speculation as to how the most right wing and powerful elements in the Labour Party used to be such left wing radicals.
Did they have a change of heart?
Apparently not, according to Ex MI5 Counter-Terrorism Officer David Shayler.
It would also explain why the spooks have been so busy trying to blacken Shayler's name.
Ex MI5 anti-terrorism officer David Shayler, who spent three days with us in Bristol recently, when his car got brake failure while parked up at the University, said at his Cube cinema presentation that he had access to information contained in Blair's Security File while in 'the service'.
"Tony Blair worked for MI5 before he became Labour leader."- Evening Post.
The day after Shayler was arrested in France the Mail on Sunday came out with the Headline 'Shayler Could Bring Down Government'.
On the Monday, Shayler says, Blair Summoned the editor to Downing Street and asked him into the Garden (to avoid bugs) demanding to know what Shayler knew about him (Blair).
The editor wisely explained that due to a government injunction he could not tell Mr Blair anything that Shayler knew or he'd be breaking Blair's government's own injunction.
Blair, according to Shayler, had documents in his file which clearly meant he had been spying on his comrades in CND and The Labour Party before being made Party Leader - which explains his so-called radical left activities as a young man - he was a spy reporting back on Communist 'subversives' in CND and in the Labour Party!
Shayler says his secret state agent past would make Blair utterly unreliable to hold public office - particularly in the Labour party and would make him a puppet of the hawks in MI6.
The same hawks I guess who cooked up the dodgey dossier at our expense which has been used to kill nearly 150,000 Iraqis and open the gates of hell in the Middle East. (oh yes and boost the profits and margins of every single Western Arms business leaving not enough to pay our pensioners and treat people on the NHS properly)
~~
Tony Gosling, 15 October 2005, at bilderberg.org, wrote:
There has been much speculation as to how the most right wing and powerful elements in the Labour Party used to be such left wing radicals.
Did they have a change of heart?
Apparently not, according to Ex MI5 Counter-Terrorism Officer David Shayler.
It would also explain why the spooks have been so busy trying to blacken Shayler's name.
Ex MI5 anti-terrorism officer David Shayler, who spent three days with us in Bristol recently, when his car got brake failure while parked up at the University, said at his Cube cinema presentation that he had access to information contained in Blair's Security File while in 'the service'.
"Tony Blair worked for MI5 before he became Labour leader."- Evening Post.
The day after Shayler was arrested in France the Mail on Sunday came out with the Headline 'Shayler Could Bring Down Government'.
On the Monday, Shayler says, Blair Summoned the editor to Downing Street and asked him into the Garden (to avoid bugs) demanding to know what Shayler knew about him (Blair).
The editor wisely explained that due to a government injunction he could not tell Mr Blair anything that Shayler knew or he'd be breaking Blair's government's own injunction.
Blair, according to Shayler, had documents in his file which clearly meant he had been spying on his comrades in CND and The Labour Party before being made Party Leader - which explains his so-called radical left activities as a young man - he was a spy reporting back on Communist 'subversives' in CND and in the Labour Party!
Shayler says his secret state agent past would make Blair utterly unreliable to hold public office - particularly in the Labour party and would make him a puppet of the hawks in MI6.
The same hawks I guess who cooked up the dodgey dossier at our expense which has been used to kill nearly 150,000 Iraqis and open the gates of hell in the Middle East. (oh yes and boost the profits and margins of every single Western Arms business leaving not enough to pay our pensioners and treat people on the NHS properly)
~~
Tony Blair worked for the security services? And Straw, Mandelson, Hain...?
http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?id=3710
A quote from an article at The Truth Seeker, 18 October 2005:
Ex-MI5 officer David Shayler appeared at a public meeting in Bristol last week to promote his latest book. His address was covered in the local newspaper, the Bristol Evening Post, but thus far none of the national media have reported it.
This maybe because of what Shayler actually had to say. For a start he believes Dr David Kelly was an MI6 agent who was murdered and that Tony Blair worked for MI5 before he became Labour leader. Unfortunately, Shayler's exact words were not reported, making it difficult to assess the claim. Luckily, I found a recording of his words...
Shayler was speaking to 9/11 sceptics in Bristol. They showed a video, then he spoke and took questions. The topic moved from 9/11 to the July 7th bombings in London. Shayler suspects the British security services might have had a hand in 7/7. An audience member asked about MI5's possible complicity in 7/7, and, if so, whether Tony Blair's government was involved or were kept in the dark.
This was Shayler's response [my transcription]:
Yeah, I mean, I don't know how involved Blair is – it's a difficult question to answer. I mean, certainly I know, as I say, the intelligence services do things behind the backs of government, the cabinet and parliament – it's very easy in this country to do that, as there's no oversight of the services.
And, in some ways, they don't want the government to know, so, when they are sent out to deny these things, as Robin Cook was, they can do it looking honest, basically.
But I think the only way we can explain Blair's behaviour is that he is blackmailable by the intelligence services.
I know that the intelligence services have files on most of the Labour government because I saw some of the files while I was there.
In fact ... [inaudible audience interjections, laughter] ...Well, one of the things I want to tell you is that – I actually, I didn't see this myself, I must admit – but somebody who was reviewing Blair's file, this was when Blair was unknown really, in 1992, not particularly well known, told me that Blair was an MI5 agent.
In the 1980s he'd reported on members of CND and the so-called Trotskyists in the Labour Party...
~~
A quote from an article at The Truth Seeker, 18 October 2005:
Ex-MI5 officer David Shayler appeared at a public meeting in Bristol last week to promote his latest book. His address was covered in the local newspaper, the Bristol Evening Post, but thus far none of the national media have reported it.
This maybe because of what Shayler actually had to say. For a start he believes Dr David Kelly was an MI6 agent who was murdered and that Tony Blair worked for MI5 before he became Labour leader. Unfortunately, Shayler's exact words were not reported, making it difficult to assess the claim. Luckily, I found a recording of his words...
Shayler was speaking to 9/11 sceptics in Bristol. They showed a video, then he spoke and took questions. The topic moved from 9/11 to the July 7th bombings in London. Shayler suspects the British security services might have had a hand in 7/7. An audience member asked about MI5's possible complicity in 7/7, and, if so, whether Tony Blair's government was involved or were kept in the dark.
This was Shayler's response [my transcription]:
Yeah, I mean, I don't know how involved Blair is – it's a difficult question to answer. I mean, certainly I know, as I say, the intelligence services do things behind the backs of government, the cabinet and parliament – it's very easy in this country to do that, as there's no oversight of the services.
And, in some ways, they don't want the government to know, so, when they are sent out to deny these things, as Robin Cook was, they can do it looking honest, basically.
But I think the only way we can explain Blair's behaviour is that he is blackmailable by the intelligence services.
I know that the intelligence services have files on most of the Labour government because I saw some of the files while I was there.
In fact ... [inaudible audience interjections, laughter] ...Well, one of the things I want to tell you is that – I actually, I didn't see this myself, I must admit – but somebody who was reviewing Blair's file, this was when Blair was unknown really, in 1992, not particularly well known, told me that Blair was an MI5 agent.
In the 1980s he'd reported on members of CND and the so-called Trotskyists in the Labour Party...
~~
Bird flu and profits at Roche
~
Remember the scare about anthrax? And smallpox? And SARS?
Bird flu has been affecting the world for many years.
Bird flus have been troublesome for agriculture at least since 1878, when Italian poultry were hit with a disease labeled fowl plague. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/17/MNGRHF9FID1.DTL
Each year, for many decades, a relatively small number of people have caught bird flu from birds.
In 1995 Mexico stopped an outbreak of severe H5N2 flu. In 2002 Italy became the first country to eradicate bird flu using a marker vaccine and regular testing. http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4810
2,000,000 people die each year from tuberculosis.
Why is bird flu suddenly getting a lot of publicity in the media?
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9068-1833185,00.html
Widespread fears of a bird flu pandemic have helped spark a sales surge at Swiss drugs group Roche, which makes Tamiflu
Roche, which is the world's only manufacturer of Tamiflu, revealed this morning that group sales had surged to more than £11.1 billion in the third quarter, driven by "significant growth" in sales of the drug.
~~
The UK Government spent 32 million pounds buying smallpox vaccine from a firm whose boss was Paul Drayson.
Paul Drayson, had donated 50,000 pounds to the Labour Party just weeks before the contract was finalised.
~~
Remember the scare about anthrax? And smallpox? And SARS?
Bird flu has been affecting the world for many years.
Bird flus have been troublesome for agriculture at least since 1878, when Italian poultry were hit with a disease labeled fowl plague. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/17/MNGRHF9FID1.DTL
Each year, for many decades, a relatively small number of people have caught bird flu from birds.
In 1995 Mexico stopped an outbreak of severe H5N2 flu. In 2002 Italy became the first country to eradicate bird flu using a marker vaccine and regular testing. http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4810
2,000,000 people die each year from tuberculosis.
Why is bird flu suddenly getting a lot of publicity in the media?
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9068-1833185,00.html
Widespread fears of a bird flu pandemic have helped spark a sales surge at Swiss drugs group Roche, which makes Tamiflu
Roche, which is the world's only manufacturer of Tamiflu, revealed this morning that group sales had surged to more than £11.1 billion in the third quarter, driven by "significant growth" in sales of the drug.
~~
The UK Government spent 32 million pounds buying smallpox vaccine from a firm whose boss was Paul Drayson.
Paul Drayson, had donated 50,000 pounds to the Labour Party just weeks before the contract was finalised.
~~
What they think about ID cards in the UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/4625971.stm
Should there be a national identity card system in the UK?
Quotes from the BBC website:
A stealth tax on the law abiding! ID cards will present no major threat to international terrorists or organised crime, as fakes and forgeries will appear within weeks of the first cards being issued. Sorry, the theory is good, but it won't work in the real world. And the only losers will be the law abiding public. Yet again!
Kevin, Tetbury, Glos
~
This will be labours poll tax. I will not be forced into paying for one of these cards.
Neil, Wrexham, Wales
~
It would be useful to have an ID card. I will use it to scrape the frost off my windscreen in the winter. When I think of any other useful purpose for an ID card, I will be back in contact!
Rod Watson, Winchester, Hants
~
I grew up under apartheid in South Africa. In the mid-sixties, the apartheid regime instituted ID cards for whites, myself included. The British will realise, as we did, that within months, Big Brother has arrived and will stay! Anything the government can do, in this technological age, is easily replicated by many, many others with the will and the drive. Resist ID cards with everything you have - or kiss Freedom goodbye, as we did in South Africa.
Jack Bybee, Tucson, AZ. USA
~
Anyone want to bet on how long it will take between the first ID card being issued and a reporter from The Sun managing to get a low paid data entry clerk to assist them in producing a fake?
Paul, Loughborough
~
How will the authorities be able to tell the difference between a terrorist or criminal and a law-abiding citizen who has lost his card, if their data corrupted? To be any use at all, ID cards mean detaining innocent people, suspecting law abiding citizens, and criminalising the forgetful or mentally ill. Can you imagine having to explain a mistake to a policeman who has a computer telling him 'the truth'? You'd sound just like a terrorist, trying to get away, and the ID card won't help the Police to tell the difference: only evidence of a crime will do that. They need more policemen for instead of ID cards.
Julius Beltrame, London, UK
~
As a university lecturer in the field of human rights I have deep concerns over the principle of introducing ID cards. However, I suspect that the alleged public support for the measure will quickly erode when each of us will be legally obliged to put our hands in our pockets to pay for a piece of plastic which, even supporters accept, cannot ensure the level of protection from national and international crime we are entitled to expect from our government.
Andrew, UK
~
One of the great freedoms in this country is the freedom to leave the house in shorts and a t-shirt with no wallet, no ID card. The introduction of these ID cards is a huge waste of time, a huge waste of money and undoubtedly, like many of the other computerised 'schemes' instituted by the government there will be years and years of ridiculous system failures necessitating more funding and ruining people's lives in the meantime.
Russell Harris, London
~
This scheme will go ahead regardless of cost. It's worth a fortune to those involved, i.e. companies, civil servants, ministers, advisors and its low risk, i.e. there will be no comeback against the private companies that end up running the scheme when data turns out to be inaccurate (which experience tells us will be 10-20%).
RB, York, UK
~
I work in the computing industry and have interests in security and socio-political issues. ID cards are a disaster waiting to happen; they impinge on the liberties of the individual; they would not solve the problems they purport to; they would introduce whole new types of fraud; they would be costly to introduce and maintain. The government says that this is a manifesto commitment and they must proceed.
It didn't stop them introducing top-up tuition fess when the 2001 manifesto said they legislate to prevent it, did it? I will not submit information to the database and I will not pay for a card I do not want and have actively protested against having. Which part of no is proving to be a problem, Mr Blair?
Darren Stephens, Whitby, UK
~
As an IT worker, the prospect of ID cards scares me. To say that the system will be foolproof is an utter misconception. Users will be able to access the system; I'm sure that someone, somewhere along the line, will offer information for sale. And, what happens when there's an error in the data? Look at how annoying it can be when there's an error in your credit rating and you are refused a loan; imagine what it would be like if there is incorrect information held and you are stopped by the police or at passport control?
Who will they believe your insistence that the data is wrong, or the database? Do you get seven days to provide the correct information? A terrorist could raze London to the ground in that time. If they are not compulsory, and don't have to be carried, what is the point? Use the initial money (and the inevitable overspend) for a better cause. I certainly don't want to invest my own hard earned cash in this new-age, New Labour totalitarian state.
Andrew, Newport, Gwent
~
As a former rescue IT project manager - somebody who spent his time putting right large scale IT projects that had previously gone wrong, I am quite certain that the ID cards scheme will be the largest public sector IT disaster in history. The pomposity of the politicians in dismissing the considered opinions of the LSE team is disgraceful.
By the time we have wasted more than £18bn, the present collection of politicos will have long since moved on and we the taxpayers will be left with the bill. And, by the way, I have no intention of taking one up - something that Stalin or Hitler would have loved is not for me - thanks.
John Shelton, London, UK
~
Will the IT project be completed within budget? No. Will ID cards prevent terrorism? No. Will the private data be abused? Yes. Is there anything that can be done to stop the scheme? No. Is there any point in discussing it? No, it is in the Labour Manifesto that you voted for.
Peter Barkas, Cambridge, England
~
The ID cards themselves seem to be a bit of a red herring. The real purpose of this bill is to get all the biometric data and put it on a central database. Perhaps the bill should be called the "Compulsory Fingerprinting Bill" - then we'd see how many people supported it. Especially given the apparent unreliability of the biometric data, it certainly scares me as to what uses this data might be put.
Steve, Newbury, UK
~
In a word no. They are to expensive, will not stop identity fraud and are likely to be used to be used to monitor people. Plus it equates government with technology and IT something that they constantly prove they have no control over. I expect the cards cost to spiral out of control and be scrapped after spending a few billion of the public's money.
Jon, Glasgow
~
Why don't we all just have a unique barcode tattooed on us at birth, complete with metal strip inserted. It'd cost less and is just as equally stupid and flawed as the proposed system.
Edd Almond, London, England
~
Wouldn't the cost pay for more police and wouldn't this protect us better?
Steven White, Manchester
~
What a waste of our money. Give us more hospitals, better transport, cleaner air...... but don't throw away our hard earned money on ID cards.
Karen Milliken, Glasgow, Scotland
~
Forget the ID cards for now and just get the passports working.
Peter, UK
~
I work in the industry. Nothing on a computer system is 100% safe. Also, anything can be forged (chip + pin has not stopped fraud on cards). Biometric passports are coming in, which means we will all have to travel to an office to get one and how many offices will be set up? The bottom line is that it could take up to 10 years for everyone who wants a passport to get a new biometric one. How do you force people who don't get a passport to get an ID card? There are huge problems with this scheme even before you start on civil liberties, terrorism, etc. Forget the ID cards for now and just get the passports working.
Peter, UK
~
Welcome to the world of 'Big Brother'. Who needs cards though, just electronically tag us like dogs.
Ian, Camberley
~
From what I've heard the contract was tendered and won some months ago - well before the election. So if you think the government is going to give up on this - forget it.
Bryan, Scotland, UK
~
Having watched the escalation of the cost of the Scottish parliament building and the problems with other computerised government systems I have as much confidence in this as I have in winning the national lottery two weeks running. Also as a single earning parent of three children with a wife to support at present costs I am going to be made to pay £500 for these cards simply for the privilege of living in run down, congested rip off Britain. Also if the US can't top terrorists what are ID cards going to achieve they are nothing but another tax.
Martyn Howie, Aberdeenshire
~
If you're still arguing about ID cards then you've completely missed the point. The real danger here is the national identity register. This database, without reasonable safeguards, will track all your ID card usage (NHS, benefits, etc) and will grow as the ID card usage creeps to track your whole life.
Paul Bristow, Basingstoke, England
~
The money can be spent in a much more effective way. Even if we don't pay in the form of a direct charge, we're all paying through our taxes. The technology is not accurate enough, so the system will be overwhelmed with inaccuracies which need to be followed up. White elephant!
Anon, UK
~
I have a number of objections to the ID card scheme. Firstly, it's another erosion of our civil liberties; secondly, if our personal information were to be sold on to private companies, we would be open to more junk mail (at least). My biggest concern, however, would be the security of our personal data. Government computer systems are notorious for being late in their implementation, over-budget and poorly constructed. I doubt anyone could convince me that my data was safe!
Sean Wheeler, Northampton, UK
~
ID cards are authoritarian and wrong. Furthermore, the Madrid bombings show that they do not even help against terrorism. When we take into consideration the digital rights management technology coming into PCs, RF chips in our shopping instead of barcodes, the tracking of cars for road pricing and ID card (not to mention CCTV), every aspect of our lives will be under constant scrutiny. Do those who say that the "innocent have nothing to hide" really understand the Orwellian and horrifying implications of this kind of future?
Gregg, Manchester, UK
~
The government has yet to present a clear reason for the introduction of these unwanted infringements upon civil liberties. It argues variously and seemingly as the mood suits that ID cards will assist in fighting terrorism (as it did so well in Spain), that they will assist in controlling immigration (although no immigrant will be required to have one until they have been in the country for 3 months) and that they will assist with identity theft (although the French government is unable to give any figures on the extent to which its own id cards do this job). In short, the proposal is ill thought-out, expensive, repressive and unwanted.
Stephen Richards, London
~
Just one question: What documentation will be required to prove our identity when we apply for one of these super-hi-tech ID cards? Or are the authorities just going to take our word for it? So in effect, these new ID cards will be just as easy to forge as the birth certificate or driving licence used to prove who we are when applying for them in the first place?
Anne, Haslemere, Surrey
~
This is a good time to invest in the IT company that will get the contract for these cards as the project is sure to go massively over budget and be scrapped with great loss to the taxpayer - but great profits to the IT folk involved. If you think I'm being too cynical, then please name ONE high profile governmental IT project which was successfully completed on schedule and within budget.
Max, UK
~
"Papers, please." The chilling sound of the UK becoming the kind of totalitarian state that our forebears fought against in the Second World War. By supporting the ID card scheme in its current implementation, you spit on the sacrifices made for us by a generation of heroes.
Matt Nailon, Bath, UK
~
I will not pay £300 for an ID card. I suppose one of Tony's cronies will get the contract and then be made a peer of the realm for their 'contribution to the country'!!!!
B. Clarkson, Halifax
~
Should there be a national identity card system in the UK?
Quotes from the BBC website:
A stealth tax on the law abiding! ID cards will present no major threat to international terrorists or organised crime, as fakes and forgeries will appear within weeks of the first cards being issued. Sorry, the theory is good, but it won't work in the real world. And the only losers will be the law abiding public. Yet again!
Kevin, Tetbury, Glos
~
This will be labours poll tax. I will not be forced into paying for one of these cards.
Neil, Wrexham, Wales
~
It would be useful to have an ID card. I will use it to scrape the frost off my windscreen in the winter. When I think of any other useful purpose for an ID card, I will be back in contact!
Rod Watson, Winchester, Hants
~
I grew up under apartheid in South Africa. In the mid-sixties, the apartheid regime instituted ID cards for whites, myself included. The British will realise, as we did, that within months, Big Brother has arrived and will stay! Anything the government can do, in this technological age, is easily replicated by many, many others with the will and the drive. Resist ID cards with everything you have - or kiss Freedom goodbye, as we did in South Africa.
Jack Bybee, Tucson, AZ. USA
~
Anyone want to bet on how long it will take between the first ID card being issued and a reporter from The Sun managing to get a low paid data entry clerk to assist them in producing a fake?
Paul, Loughborough
~
How will the authorities be able to tell the difference between a terrorist or criminal and a law-abiding citizen who has lost his card, if their data corrupted? To be any use at all, ID cards mean detaining innocent people, suspecting law abiding citizens, and criminalising the forgetful or mentally ill. Can you imagine having to explain a mistake to a policeman who has a computer telling him 'the truth'? You'd sound just like a terrorist, trying to get away, and the ID card won't help the Police to tell the difference: only evidence of a crime will do that. They need more policemen for instead of ID cards.
Julius Beltrame, London, UK
~
As a university lecturer in the field of human rights I have deep concerns over the principle of introducing ID cards. However, I suspect that the alleged public support for the measure will quickly erode when each of us will be legally obliged to put our hands in our pockets to pay for a piece of plastic which, even supporters accept, cannot ensure the level of protection from national and international crime we are entitled to expect from our government.
Andrew, UK
~
One of the great freedoms in this country is the freedom to leave the house in shorts and a t-shirt with no wallet, no ID card. The introduction of these ID cards is a huge waste of time, a huge waste of money and undoubtedly, like many of the other computerised 'schemes' instituted by the government there will be years and years of ridiculous system failures necessitating more funding and ruining people's lives in the meantime.
Russell Harris, London
~
This scheme will go ahead regardless of cost. It's worth a fortune to those involved, i.e. companies, civil servants, ministers, advisors and its low risk, i.e. there will be no comeback against the private companies that end up running the scheme when data turns out to be inaccurate (which experience tells us will be 10-20%).
RB, York, UK
~
I work in the computing industry and have interests in security and socio-political issues. ID cards are a disaster waiting to happen; they impinge on the liberties of the individual; they would not solve the problems they purport to; they would introduce whole new types of fraud; they would be costly to introduce and maintain. The government says that this is a manifesto commitment and they must proceed.
It didn't stop them introducing top-up tuition fess when the 2001 manifesto said they legislate to prevent it, did it? I will not submit information to the database and I will not pay for a card I do not want and have actively protested against having. Which part of no is proving to be a problem, Mr Blair?
Darren Stephens, Whitby, UK
~
As an IT worker, the prospect of ID cards scares me. To say that the system will be foolproof is an utter misconception. Users will be able to access the system; I'm sure that someone, somewhere along the line, will offer information for sale. And, what happens when there's an error in the data? Look at how annoying it can be when there's an error in your credit rating and you are refused a loan; imagine what it would be like if there is incorrect information held and you are stopped by the police or at passport control?
Who will they believe your insistence that the data is wrong, or the database? Do you get seven days to provide the correct information? A terrorist could raze London to the ground in that time. If they are not compulsory, and don't have to be carried, what is the point? Use the initial money (and the inevitable overspend) for a better cause. I certainly don't want to invest my own hard earned cash in this new-age, New Labour totalitarian state.
Andrew, Newport, Gwent
~
As a former rescue IT project manager - somebody who spent his time putting right large scale IT projects that had previously gone wrong, I am quite certain that the ID cards scheme will be the largest public sector IT disaster in history. The pomposity of the politicians in dismissing the considered opinions of the LSE team is disgraceful.
By the time we have wasted more than £18bn, the present collection of politicos will have long since moved on and we the taxpayers will be left with the bill. And, by the way, I have no intention of taking one up - something that Stalin or Hitler would have loved is not for me - thanks.
John Shelton, London, UK
~
Will the IT project be completed within budget? No. Will ID cards prevent terrorism? No. Will the private data be abused? Yes. Is there anything that can be done to stop the scheme? No. Is there any point in discussing it? No, it is in the Labour Manifesto that you voted for.
Peter Barkas, Cambridge, England
~
The ID cards themselves seem to be a bit of a red herring. The real purpose of this bill is to get all the biometric data and put it on a central database. Perhaps the bill should be called the "Compulsory Fingerprinting Bill" - then we'd see how many people supported it. Especially given the apparent unreliability of the biometric data, it certainly scares me as to what uses this data might be put.
Steve, Newbury, UK
~
In a word no. They are to expensive, will not stop identity fraud and are likely to be used to be used to monitor people. Plus it equates government with technology and IT something that they constantly prove they have no control over. I expect the cards cost to spiral out of control and be scrapped after spending a few billion of the public's money.
Jon, Glasgow
~
Why don't we all just have a unique barcode tattooed on us at birth, complete with metal strip inserted. It'd cost less and is just as equally stupid and flawed as the proposed system.
Edd Almond, London, England
~
Wouldn't the cost pay for more police and wouldn't this protect us better?
Steven White, Manchester
~
What a waste of our money. Give us more hospitals, better transport, cleaner air...... but don't throw away our hard earned money on ID cards.
Karen Milliken, Glasgow, Scotland
~
Forget the ID cards for now and just get the passports working.
Peter, UK
~
I work in the industry. Nothing on a computer system is 100% safe. Also, anything can be forged (chip + pin has not stopped fraud on cards). Biometric passports are coming in, which means we will all have to travel to an office to get one and how many offices will be set up? The bottom line is that it could take up to 10 years for everyone who wants a passport to get a new biometric one. How do you force people who don't get a passport to get an ID card? There are huge problems with this scheme even before you start on civil liberties, terrorism, etc. Forget the ID cards for now and just get the passports working.
Peter, UK
~
Welcome to the world of 'Big Brother'. Who needs cards though, just electronically tag us like dogs.
Ian, Camberley
~
From what I've heard the contract was tendered and won some months ago - well before the election. So if you think the government is going to give up on this - forget it.
Bryan, Scotland, UK
~
Having watched the escalation of the cost of the Scottish parliament building and the problems with other computerised government systems I have as much confidence in this as I have in winning the national lottery two weeks running. Also as a single earning parent of three children with a wife to support at present costs I am going to be made to pay £500 for these cards simply for the privilege of living in run down, congested rip off Britain. Also if the US can't top terrorists what are ID cards going to achieve they are nothing but another tax.
Martyn Howie, Aberdeenshire
~
If you're still arguing about ID cards then you've completely missed the point. The real danger here is the national identity register. This database, without reasonable safeguards, will track all your ID card usage (NHS, benefits, etc) and will grow as the ID card usage creeps to track your whole life.
Paul Bristow, Basingstoke, England
~
The money can be spent in a much more effective way. Even if we don't pay in the form of a direct charge, we're all paying through our taxes. The technology is not accurate enough, so the system will be overwhelmed with inaccuracies which need to be followed up. White elephant!
Anon, UK
~
I have a number of objections to the ID card scheme. Firstly, it's another erosion of our civil liberties; secondly, if our personal information were to be sold on to private companies, we would be open to more junk mail (at least). My biggest concern, however, would be the security of our personal data. Government computer systems are notorious for being late in their implementation, over-budget and poorly constructed. I doubt anyone could convince me that my data was safe!
Sean Wheeler, Northampton, UK
~
ID cards are authoritarian and wrong. Furthermore, the Madrid bombings show that they do not even help against terrorism. When we take into consideration the digital rights management technology coming into PCs, RF chips in our shopping instead of barcodes, the tracking of cars for road pricing and ID card (not to mention CCTV), every aspect of our lives will be under constant scrutiny. Do those who say that the "innocent have nothing to hide" really understand the Orwellian and horrifying implications of this kind of future?
Gregg, Manchester, UK
~
The government has yet to present a clear reason for the introduction of these unwanted infringements upon civil liberties. It argues variously and seemingly as the mood suits that ID cards will assist in fighting terrorism (as it did so well in Spain), that they will assist in controlling immigration (although no immigrant will be required to have one until they have been in the country for 3 months) and that they will assist with identity theft (although the French government is unable to give any figures on the extent to which its own id cards do this job). In short, the proposal is ill thought-out, expensive, repressive and unwanted.
Stephen Richards, London
~
Just one question: What documentation will be required to prove our identity when we apply for one of these super-hi-tech ID cards? Or are the authorities just going to take our word for it? So in effect, these new ID cards will be just as easy to forge as the birth certificate or driving licence used to prove who we are when applying for them in the first place?
Anne, Haslemere, Surrey
~
This is a good time to invest in the IT company that will get the contract for these cards as the project is sure to go massively over budget and be scrapped with great loss to the taxpayer - but great profits to the IT folk involved. If you think I'm being too cynical, then please name ONE high profile governmental IT project which was successfully completed on schedule and within budget.
Max, UK
~
"Papers, please." The chilling sound of the UK becoming the kind of totalitarian state that our forebears fought against in the Second World War. By supporting the ID card scheme in its current implementation, you spit on the sacrifices made for us by a generation of heroes.
Matt Nailon, Bath, UK
~
I will not pay £300 for an ID card. I suppose one of Tony's cronies will get the contract and then be made a peer of the realm for their 'contribution to the country'!!!!
B. Clarkson, Halifax
~
Look at Lochside - The Conservatives got 0.7% of the vote.
~
Lochside Ward (Dumfries, South West Scotland) By-election: 13 October 2005
Votes for the Conservative Party - 6 votes
% of the vote - 0.7%
~
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/conservatives/comment/0,9236,1595474,00.html
Leader
19 October 19, 2005 The Guardian
Conservative MPs last night delivered the leadership election verdict that the party's enemies must have been praying for.
It is one that leaves the Tories' political credibility on a knife edge in tomorrow's second ballot. The central fact in yesterday's first round was the elimination of Kenneth Clarke, whose 38 votes were not enough to stay in the race. This was an extraordinarily reckless move by the MPs. A party that cannot win general elections and whose share of voter support stays stubbornly in the low 30s is taking its life in its hands by discarding the best known and most popular Tory politician of the day in this way. But Mr Clarke was not just the most popular Tory; he was and is the Tories' most effective parliamentarian. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown must have shared a celebratory drink together last night - if they are currently on speaking terms.
It was not just the fact of Mr Clarke's elimination that raises huge question marks about the real mood of the Tory party; it was also the manner of it. Mr Clarke appears to have lost because of a surge of late tactical support for the most rightwing candidate, Liam Fox....
~~
David Cameron is as undesirable as Tory Blair?
The Death of the UK Conservative Party?
UK: Clarke opposes Iraq war. Cameron supports Iraq war.
~~
Lochside Ward (Dumfries, South West Scotland) By-election: 13 October 2005
Votes for the Conservative Party - 6 votes
% of the vote - 0.7%
~
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/conservatives/comment/0,9236,1595474,00.html
Leader
19 October 19, 2005 The Guardian
Conservative MPs last night delivered the leadership election verdict that the party's enemies must have been praying for.
It is one that leaves the Tories' political credibility on a knife edge in tomorrow's second ballot. The central fact in yesterday's first round was the elimination of Kenneth Clarke, whose 38 votes were not enough to stay in the race. This was an extraordinarily reckless move by the MPs. A party that cannot win general elections and whose share of voter support stays stubbornly in the low 30s is taking its life in its hands by discarding the best known and most popular Tory politician of the day in this way. But Mr Clarke was not just the most popular Tory; he was and is the Tories' most effective parliamentarian. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown must have shared a celebratory drink together last night - if they are currently on speaking terms.
It was not just the fact of Mr Clarke's elimination that raises huge question marks about the real mood of the Tory party; it was also the manner of it. Mr Clarke appears to have lost because of a surge of late tactical support for the most rightwing candidate, Liam Fox....
~~
David Cameron is as undesirable as Tory Blair?
The Death of the UK Conservative Party?
UK: Clarke opposes Iraq war. Cameron supports Iraq war.
~~
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
The Death of the UK Conservative Party?
~
The UK Conservative Party is looking for a new leader. It has rejected its most popular candidate, the anti-Iraq-war Ken Clarke. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4352756.stm
It looks as if it is going to choose David Cameron, an Old Etonian toff who supports the Iraq War.
At University, Cameron belonged to the Bullingdon club, satirised by Evelyn Waugh as a bunch of hard-drinking aristocratic hooligans.
Contemporaries recall him boarding a bus in a tailcoat along with other members, including fellow Old Etonian Boris Johnson. 'Pot plants were hurled through the bus windows'.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1817795,00.html
'Daily Mail: Did Cameron Snort Cocaine Off the Inner Thighs of Teenage Maidens at Oxford?' http://5thnovember.blogspot.com/
The candidates for the Conservative Party leadership are David Cameron, David Davis and Liam Fox. Ken Clarke has been eliminated from the contest.
An extract from: http://5thnovember.blogspot.com/ :
David Davis is an ex-director of the heavily subsidised Tate & Lyle, where he masterminded the breaking of the dock union's old Dock Labour scheme. Even so, without the £127m of tax-payer subsidies last year, Tate & Lyle would have made a loss. Basher's leadership campaign is backed financially by Stanley Kalms of Dixons. Lord Kalm's is a major financier of the Conservative Party.
David Cameron is backed financially by Lord Harris of Carpet Right, and picks up the odd £27,000 a year from Urbium p.l.c., owners of establishments like Tiger Tiger where you can binge drink till all hours. Cheers!
Some ill-informed types have suggested that Dr Fox's The Atlantic Bridge think-tank could be a conduit for Neo-Con dollars for the doctor's campaign. Guido hears that this bridge has collapsed - not a good omen. Pfizer, a company which takes billions out of the NHS and spends millions corrupting the political process, sponsored the bridge, now they don't. Coincidentally, he was the Health shadow, now he isn't.
~~
The UK Conservative Party is looking for a new leader. It has rejected its most popular candidate, the anti-Iraq-war Ken Clarke. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4352756.stm
It looks as if it is going to choose David Cameron, an Old Etonian toff who supports the Iraq War.
At University, Cameron belonged to the Bullingdon club, satirised by Evelyn Waugh as a bunch of hard-drinking aristocratic hooligans.
Contemporaries recall him boarding a bus in a tailcoat along with other members, including fellow Old Etonian Boris Johnson. 'Pot plants were hurled through the bus windows'.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1817795,00.html
'Daily Mail: Did Cameron Snort Cocaine Off the Inner Thighs of Teenage Maidens at Oxford?' http://5thnovember.blogspot.com/
The candidates for the Conservative Party leadership are David Cameron, David Davis and Liam Fox. Ken Clarke has been eliminated from the contest.
An extract from: http://5thnovember.blogspot.com/ :
David Davis is an ex-director of the heavily subsidised Tate & Lyle, where he masterminded the breaking of the dock union's old Dock Labour scheme. Even so, without the £127m of tax-payer subsidies last year, Tate & Lyle would have made a loss. Basher's leadership campaign is backed financially by Stanley Kalms of Dixons. Lord Kalm's is a major financier of the Conservative Party.
David Cameron is backed financially by Lord Harris of Carpet Right, and picks up the odd £27,000 a year from Urbium p.l.c., owners of establishments like Tiger Tiger where you can binge drink till all hours. Cheers!
Some ill-informed types have suggested that Dr Fox's The Atlantic Bridge think-tank could be a conduit for Neo-Con dollars for the doctor's campaign. Guido hears that this bridge has collapsed - not a good omen. Pfizer, a company which takes billions out of the NHS and spends millions corrupting the political process, sponsored the bridge, now they don't. Coincidentally, he was the Health shadow, now he isn't.
~~
Military 'had role in' Bali blasts
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0%2C5744%2C16898139%255E29277%2C00.html
The Australian, 12 October 2005, reported:
INDONESIAN police or military officers may have played a role in the 2002 Bali bombing, the country's former president, Abdurrahman Wahid has said.
In an interview with SBS's Dateline program, aired 12 October 2005, Mr Wahid says he has grave concerns about links between Indonesian authorities and terrorist groups.
While he believed terrorists were involved in planting one of the Kuta night club bombs, the second, which destroyed Bali's Sari Club, had been organised by authorities.
Asked who he thought planted the second bomb, Mr Wahid said: "Maybe the police ... or the armed forces."
"The orders to do this or that came from within our armed forces, not from the fundamentalist people," he says.
The program also claims a key figure behind the formation of terror group Jemaah Islamiah was an Indonesian spy.
Former terrorist Umar Abduh, who is now a researcher and writer, told Dateline Indonesian authorities had a hand in many terror groups.
"There is not a single Islamic group either in the movement or the political groups that is not controlled by (Indonesian) intelligence," he said.
Abduh has written a book on Teungku Fauzi Hasbi, a key figure in Jemaah Islamiah (JI) who had close contact with JI operations chief Hambali and lived next door to Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir.
He says Hasbi was a secret agent for Indonesia's military intelligence while at the same time a key player in creating JI.
Documents cited by SBS showed the Indonesian chief of military intelligence in 1990 authorised Hasbi to undertake a "special job".
A 1995 internal memo from the military intelligence headquarters in Jakarta included a request to use "Brother Fauzi Hasbi" to spy on Acehnese separatists in Indonesia, Malaysia and Sweden.
And a 2002 document assigned Hasbi the job of special agent for BIN, the Indonesian national intelligence agency.
Security analyst John Mempi told SBS that Hasbi, who was also known as Abu Jihad, had played a key role in JI in its early years.
"The first Jemaah Islamiah congress in Bogor was facilitated by Abu Jihad, after Abu Bakar Bashir returned from Malaysia," Mr Mempi said.
"We can see that Abu Jihad played an important role. He was later found to be an intelligence agent. So an intelligence agent has been facilitating the radical Islamic movement."
Hasbi was disembowelled in a mysterious murder in 2003 after he was exposed as a military agent and his son Lamkaruna Putra died in a plane crash last month.
Another convicted terrorist, Timsar Zubil, who set off three bombs in Sumatra in 1978, told the program intelligence agents had given his group a provocative name – Komando Jihad – and encouraged members to commit illegal acts.
"We may have deliberately been allowed to grow," he said.
Abduh also told the program his terrorist organisation, the Imron Movement, was incited to a range of violent action in the 1980s when the Indonesian military told the group that the assassination of several Muslim clerics was imminent.
Another terrorism expert, George Aditjondro, said a bombing in May this year that killed 23 people in the Christian village of Tentena, in central Sulawesi, had been organised by senior military and police officers.
"This is a strategy of depopulating an area and when an area has been depopulated – both becoming refugees or becoming paramilitary fighters – then that is the time when they can invest their money in major resource exploitation there," he said.
THE BALI BOMB AND THE MILITARY
Christian gangsters, the American-trained military and terror
MORE BOMBS IN BALI
Links between 'Moslem militants' and the security services.
Display of body parts
KOPASSUS terror in Indonesia
TERROR IN INDONESIA : THE CIA CONNECTION
Bombs Philippines Indonesia
~~
The Australian, 12 October 2005, reported:
INDONESIAN police or military officers may have played a role in the 2002 Bali bombing, the country's former president, Abdurrahman Wahid has said.
In an interview with SBS's Dateline program, aired 12 October 2005, Mr Wahid says he has grave concerns about links between Indonesian authorities and terrorist groups.
While he believed terrorists were involved in planting one of the Kuta night club bombs, the second, which destroyed Bali's Sari Club, had been organised by authorities.
Asked who he thought planted the second bomb, Mr Wahid said: "Maybe the police ... or the armed forces."
"The orders to do this or that came from within our armed forces, not from the fundamentalist people," he says.
The program also claims a key figure behind the formation of terror group Jemaah Islamiah was an Indonesian spy.
Former terrorist Umar Abduh, who is now a researcher and writer, told Dateline Indonesian authorities had a hand in many terror groups.
"There is not a single Islamic group either in the movement or the political groups that is not controlled by (Indonesian) intelligence," he said.
Abduh has written a book on Teungku Fauzi Hasbi, a key figure in Jemaah Islamiah (JI) who had close contact with JI operations chief Hambali and lived next door to Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir.
He says Hasbi was a secret agent for Indonesia's military intelligence while at the same time a key player in creating JI.
Documents cited by SBS showed the Indonesian chief of military intelligence in 1990 authorised Hasbi to undertake a "special job".
A 1995 internal memo from the military intelligence headquarters in Jakarta included a request to use "Brother Fauzi Hasbi" to spy on Acehnese separatists in Indonesia, Malaysia and Sweden.
And a 2002 document assigned Hasbi the job of special agent for BIN, the Indonesian national intelligence agency.
Security analyst John Mempi told SBS that Hasbi, who was also known as Abu Jihad, had played a key role in JI in its early years.
"The first Jemaah Islamiah congress in Bogor was facilitated by Abu Jihad, after Abu Bakar Bashir returned from Malaysia," Mr Mempi said.
"We can see that Abu Jihad played an important role. He was later found to be an intelligence agent. So an intelligence agent has been facilitating the radical Islamic movement."
Hasbi was disembowelled in a mysterious murder in 2003 after he was exposed as a military agent and his son Lamkaruna Putra died in a plane crash last month.
Another convicted terrorist, Timsar Zubil, who set off three bombs in Sumatra in 1978, told the program intelligence agents had given his group a provocative name – Komando Jihad – and encouraged members to commit illegal acts.
"We may have deliberately been allowed to grow," he said.
Abduh also told the program his terrorist organisation, the Imron Movement, was incited to a range of violent action in the 1980s when the Indonesian military told the group that the assassination of several Muslim clerics was imminent.
Another terrorism expert, George Aditjondro, said a bombing in May this year that killed 23 people in the Christian village of Tentena, in central Sulawesi, had been organised by senior military and police officers.
"This is a strategy of depopulating an area and when an area has been depopulated – both becoming refugees or becoming paramilitary fighters – then that is the time when they can invest their money in major resource exploitation there," he said.
THE BALI BOMB AND THE MILITARY
Christian gangsters, the American-trained military and terror
MORE BOMBS IN BALI
Links between 'Moslem militants' and the security services.
Display of body parts
KOPASSUS terror in Indonesia
TERROR IN INDONESIA : THE CIA CONNECTION
Bombs Philippines Indonesia
~~
In 12 provinces 99% vote in favour of Iraq's new constitution? Vote fraud?
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/17/international/middleeast/17cnd-ballot.html?emc=eta1
The New York Times, 17 October 2005, reported that Iraqi election officials were investigating what they described as "unusually high" vote totals in 12 provinces, where as many 99 percent of the voters were reported to have cast ballots in favor of Iraq's new constitution.
In a statement released this evening, the Independent Election Commission of Iraq said the results of the Oct. 15 referendum would have to be delayed by "a few days," because the apparently high totals in favor of the constitution required that election workers "recheck, compare and audit" the results.
The Sunnis, who widely opposed the new constitution, fear the new charter will pave the way for a breakup of Iraq and deprive them of oil resources in the north and the south of the country. The constitution will fail if two-thirds of voters in at least three provinces block it; Sunnis dominate 4 of Iraq's 18 provinces.
Members of the Iraqi election commission declined to speak about the announcement of the investigation. But an official with knowledge of the ballot counting said that the 12 provinces where the "yes" votes exceeded 90 percent all had populations that were either majority Shiite or Kurdish. Leaders from those communities strongly endorsed the proposed constitution. More than one of those provinces, the official said, reported that 99 percent of the ballots counted had been cast in favor of the constitution.
None of the provinces cited for a closer look had Sunni majorities.
"When you find consistently very, very high numbers, then that is cause for further checking," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the information. "Anything over 90 percent either way usually leads to further investigation."
~
The New York Times, 17 October 2005, reported that Iraqi election officials were investigating what they described as "unusually high" vote totals in 12 provinces, where as many 99 percent of the voters were reported to have cast ballots in favor of Iraq's new constitution.
In a statement released this evening, the Independent Election Commission of Iraq said the results of the Oct. 15 referendum would have to be delayed by "a few days," because the apparently high totals in favor of the constitution required that election workers "recheck, compare and audit" the results.
The Sunnis, who widely opposed the new constitution, fear the new charter will pave the way for a breakup of Iraq and deprive them of oil resources in the north and the south of the country. The constitution will fail if two-thirds of voters in at least three provinces block it; Sunnis dominate 4 of Iraq's 18 provinces.
Members of the Iraqi election commission declined to speak about the announcement of the investigation. But an official with knowledge of the ballot counting said that the 12 provinces where the "yes" votes exceeded 90 percent all had populations that were either majority Shiite or Kurdish. Leaders from those communities strongly endorsed the proposed constitution. More than one of those provinces, the official said, reported that 99 percent of the ballots counted had been cast in favor of the constitution.
None of the provinces cited for a closer look had Sunni majorities.
"When you find consistently very, very high numbers, then that is cause for further checking," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the information. "Anything over 90 percent either way usually leads to further investigation."
~
The carve-up of the Middle East; the unleashing of ethnic and sectarian tensions; Syria in danger.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1594802,00.html
David Hirst, at The Guardian, 18 October 2005, predicts that the carve-up of Iraq is likely to 'unleash an ethnic and sectarian crisis across the region.'
Hirst makes the following points:
1. The deals done after World War I led to there being Kurds in Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria.
The 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement was the secret Anglo-French deal that shaped the postwar settlement. It prevented the emergence of pan-Arab nationalism.
That nationalism was esentially Sunni.
Sykes-Picot 'drew arbitrary, colonial-style frontiers across pre-existing ethnic, sectarian, tribal or commercial links'.
2. Today, the Neocons favour "creative chaos" and "regime change".
The Arab world will be kept divided and weak.
Acording to Hirst: 'The adoption of a federal formula is seen by the Arab world not as a remedy for Iraq's inherent divisiveness, but, in conditions of rising intercommunal tensions and violence, as a stimulus to it.'
Prince Saud al-Faisal has said that if there is civil war in Iraq, then Iraq will be dismembered.
Hirst writes that Syria is in danger:
'Syrian Kurds now sense... weakness in their own, deeply troubled Ba'athist regime. If it collapses amid generalised chaos, many will push for secession and amalgamation with their brethren in north Iraq...
In Syria, 'a small minority, the Alawites, has in effect run the country for more than 40 years. It is a predominantly Sunni society, which, historically, represents an even greater anomaly than the Sunni minority rule, also in Ba'athist guise, that the majority Shias and Kurds dispensed with in Iraq. A Sunni majority restoration will become unstoppable if, with the eventual break-up of Iraq, its disempowered Sunnis turn to Syria, of which, but for Sykes-Picot, a great many would long have been citizens anyway.
'In the next most vulnerable region, the Gulf, historically persecuted Shia minorities (or majority in Bahrain), inspired by the triumph of their co-religionists in Iraq, will press their claims for equality with new vigour.
'But nervous Sunni regimes will be loath to cede too much, not least in Saudi Arabia where, like their terrorist alter ego in Iraq, the al-Qaida boss Abdul Musab al-Zarqawi, the more hidebound of the Wahhabi religious hierarchy still regard Shia Muslims as no better than heretics.'
David Hirst reported from the Middle East for the Guardian from 1963 to 2001
David Hirst, at The Guardian, 18 October 2005, predicts that the carve-up of Iraq is likely to 'unleash an ethnic and sectarian crisis across the region.'
Hirst makes the following points:
1. The deals done after World War I led to there being Kurds in Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria.
The 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement was the secret Anglo-French deal that shaped the postwar settlement. It prevented the emergence of pan-Arab nationalism.
That nationalism was esentially Sunni.
Sykes-Picot 'drew arbitrary, colonial-style frontiers across pre-existing ethnic, sectarian, tribal or commercial links'.
2. Today, the Neocons favour "creative chaos" and "regime change".
The Arab world will be kept divided and weak.
Acording to Hirst: 'The adoption of a federal formula is seen by the Arab world not as a remedy for Iraq's inherent divisiveness, but, in conditions of rising intercommunal tensions and violence, as a stimulus to it.'
Prince Saud al-Faisal has said that if there is civil war in Iraq, then Iraq will be dismembered.
Hirst writes that Syria is in danger:
'Syrian Kurds now sense... weakness in their own, deeply troubled Ba'athist regime. If it collapses amid generalised chaos, many will push for secession and amalgamation with their brethren in north Iraq...
In Syria, 'a small minority, the Alawites, has in effect run the country for more than 40 years. It is a predominantly Sunni society, which, historically, represents an even greater anomaly than the Sunni minority rule, also in Ba'athist guise, that the majority Shias and Kurds dispensed with in Iraq. A Sunni majority restoration will become unstoppable if, with the eventual break-up of Iraq, its disempowered Sunnis turn to Syria, of which, but for Sykes-Picot, a great many would long have been citizens anyway.
'In the next most vulnerable region, the Gulf, historically persecuted Shia minorities (or majority in Bahrain), inspired by the triumph of their co-religionists in Iraq, will press their claims for equality with new vigour.
'But nervous Sunni regimes will be loath to cede too much, not least in Saudi Arabia where, like their terrorist alter ego in Iraq, the al-Qaida boss Abdul Musab al-Zarqawi, the more hidebound of the Wahhabi religious hierarchy still regard Shia Muslims as no better than heretics.'
David Hirst reported from the Middle East for the Guardian from 1963 to 2001
Monday, October 17, 2005
Venezuela, Opus Dei, Bin Laden....
http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=46388
According to VHeadline.com Reporters , 15 October 2005:
INTELLIGENCE REPORT:
US "private military contractors" are already in-country to "deal with" Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez Frias...
Intelligence agencies are revealing that US private military contractors, active in Colombia "under various contract umbrellas, including counter-narcotics and counter-insurgency" are building up to yet another attempted coup d'etat against Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez.
Carefully described as "private military contractors" (a.k.a. hired mercenary killers), the PMCs are known already to have conducted several incursions across the Colombia-Venezuela border to link up with rebel units of the Venezuelan military operating along the border badlands between the two countries.
Senior officials at the US Pentagon have authorized the intruder operation as part of a plan to make it appear that Chavez is militarily assisting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
The US mercenaries have also established close links with right-wing Colombian paramilitaries (AUC) and their associated drug cartels to smuggle weapons into Venezuela.
Attached to the Pentagon's Joint Staff, a Colombian General is participating in a joint foreign military "interaction plan" sponsored by the US Defense Department in Washington D.C. to coordinate "force development" and "scenario simulation" invasive techniques at the behest of the US Joint Staff Command.
Intel sources also say that an Opus Dei (Roman Catholic) espionage and political assassination team operating in the United States is in the background of a case where a former Marine aide, Leandro Aragoncilla ... a US Vice Presidential staffer and FBI agent ... has been accused of espionage at the White House.
Aragoncilla was arrested recently on charges of illegally obtaining classified documents from US Vice President Dick Cheney's office and FBI computer which were passed to Philippine opposition figures linked to Opus Dei in the Philippines in preparation for a coup d'etat against that country's President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Opus Dei elements are known also to have played a major role in supporting the April 2002 coup d'etat against Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez Frias which continues a wider espionage and political black bag operation with support and logistics approved by highest levels within the Pentagon and the FBI.
A classified intelligence report leaked to this e-publication shows that the espionage ring has operating out of US Vice President Dick Cheney's office with the implicit approval from within the Bush administration.
Intel sources are also revealing more paper trails linking George H. W. Bush to the now defunct Al Taqwa ("Fear of God") bank operated on behalf of Osama Bin Laden, his family, and some of his closest business associates.
The network of Swiss-based terrorist financiers is also linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and prominent European fascist leaders. The Al Taqwa bank was headquartered in the Italian Swiss enclave Campione d'Italia and had offices in the Bahamas. It ceased operations after assets were blocked by a US Treasury Department order, its assets were frozen by the Swiss government, and its banking license was revoked by the Bahamas.
Al Taqwa subsequently changed its name to Nada Management Organization. Al Taqwa and a complex web of affiliate front companies and brass plates in Switzerland, the Bahamas, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Jersey, Isle of Man, Turkey, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, the United States (Delaware and Texas), Germany, Belgium, Albania, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Austria, Bahrain, Singapore, Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Liechtenstein were reportedly involved in funding terrorist operations around the world, including the procurement of nuclear material from the former Soviet Union through Baltic intermediaries.
According to a EUROPOL diagram obtained by WMR, these companies included Iksir Holding, SA (Italy), Asat Trust (Liechtenstein), Iksir Ltd. (Bahamas), Gulf Center (Italy), NASCO (Turkey), Nasreddin International Group (Liechtenstein), Akida Bank (Bahamas), MIGA (Switzerland), and Nasreddin Foundation (Liechtenstein).
According to intelligence sources in the United States and Europe, the Al Taqwa network intersected with tranches in Geneva and the Isle of Man that involve front companies associated with George H. W. Bush and Enron: Topaz Liberty, Bluelake World, and Potomac Capital.
Iranian fraudster and neocon Pentagon contact Manucher Ghorbanifar, Saudi billionaire Adnan Khashoggi and members of the Bin Laden family are reportedly linked to Geneva-based Potomac Capital ... a front company created by George H. W. Bush when he was CIA Director in 1976.
Interestingly, it was George W. Bush, who, in November 2001, cited Al Taqwa as part of Al Qaeda's money-laundering activities.
However, Bush's neocon allies at The Washington Times and World Net Daily quickly altered course and drew attention away from Al Taqwa's Saudi and Kuwaiti investors and began to erroneously link Al Taqwa to Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Further criminal investigations of Al Taqwa's principals were also quickly dropped.
Potomac Capital appeared on the radar screen of Federal investigators during the Iran-Contra investigation conducted in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Al Taqwa connection to weapons of mass destruction proliferation, Bin Laden, and George H. W. Bush and his business associates stands as another reason the George W. Bush administration leaked the CIA's Brewster Jennings & Associates counter-WMD network. The CIA counter-proliferation team was getting uncomfortably close to tying members of the Bush family and their business associates to the same financial networks that fund Osama Bin Laden and his "Al Qaeda" network.
Intel sources have also traced a possible second connection between the Swiss network connected to George H. W. Bush and other 9/11 hijackers.
The first connection concerned hijacker Fayyaz Ahmed and a US$50,000 check he received from a tranche connected to the Swiss network. The second is the listing of Ahmed Mesfer Ahmed Alghamdi as a shareholder of Al Taqwa on a Central Bank of the Bahamas document dated April 15, 2000. Ahmed Alghamdi and Hamza Alghamdi were two of the Saudi hijackers on board United Flight 175, which struck the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Saeed Alghamdi was one of the hijackers on board United Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania after being shot down by US military fighter planes (according to an NSA employee who was on duty in the National Security Operations Center on the morning of 9/11).
According to the FBI, the Alghamdi hijackers used a number of aliases. Ahmed Alghamdi used the names Ahmed Saeed Saleh Alghamdi, Ahmed Mohammed Alghamdi, Saeed Alghamdi, Ahmed Saleh, and Juan Poncho Bennett. Hamza Alghamdi used Saleh Alghamdi Hamzah. Saeed Alghamdi used Mohsalih Alghamdi, Mokhlidmazid Almotairi, Saeedayed Alghamdi, and Saeed H. Alghamdi. Other Alghamdis wanted by the FBI for involvement with "Al Qaeda" include Nora Alghamdi, Ali A. Alghamdi, Abdulrahman Alghamdi, Othman Alghamdi, Sadda Alghamdi and Tareqsaeed Alghamdi.
Now, more information has been gleaned from knowledgeable intelligence sources about the secret UNOCAL, Enron, and Taliban negotiations over the Central Asian Gas pipeline (CentGas). The source of the $10 billion was the Saudi Royal family and the recipient was Enron's LJM1 off-the-books partnership, also known as LJM Cayman, LP. LJM1 was primarily set up to finance the CentGas pipeline deal. Convicted Enron Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Andrew J. Fastow was the managing member of the LJM1 partners. In addition to Barclays, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was also allegedly used to transfer the $10 billion to the Enron account.
Two criminal investigations in New York are getting close to exposing a major Bush family and associates' international money-laundering operation that has spanned more than a generation and has been used to illegally fund US elections since the Nixon era.
According to CIA sources, most Bush family assets are tied up in off-shore accounts that are masked from investigators through the use of pass through companies and secretive interlocking board directorships.
The investigations of the secret Bush money tranches are coming to the fore as New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer focuses in on the scandal involving Maurice "Hank" Greenberg and the inflation of the worth of American Insurance Group (AIG) through shady affiliates, including AIG reinsurer Coral Re of Barbados.
Greenberg was the CEO of AIG but was forced to step down amid the Spitzer probe. AIG was founded from Asia Life/CV Starr, a Shanghai-based international import/export and insurance firm founded in 1919 by Cornelius V. Starr, an Office of Strategic Services (OSS) operative in Southeast Asia during World War II.
AIG's largest shareholder is Starr International Company (SICO), an off-shore corporation incorporated in Panama with headquarters in Bermuda.
Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel who prosecuted President Clinton, is the nephew of Cornelius Starr.
Greenberg inherited the CEO job and Chairmanship from Starr as well as the $3.5 billion Starr Foundation.
Another probe by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau is focused on long-time Bush backers Sam and Charles Wyly of Texas and a Bank of America off-shore account in the Isle of Man. According to intelligence sources, that probe is getting very close to an Isle of Man multi-billion dollar account controlled by the Bushes through an off-shore contrivance known as Five Star Trust.
Charles Wyly serves on the board of the University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO). Critics have charged that hundreds of millions of dollars of UTIMCO's $11 billion in public funds have been steered to investment funds run by Bush family friends and supporters. A number of UTIMCO's past and current directors are members of George W. Bush's "$100,000 Club." These include, in addition to Wyly, former UTIMCO chairman Tom Hicks, a vice chairman of Clear Channel and head of Muse, Tate & Furst, Inc.; L. Lowry Mays, the chairman of Clear Channel; former Texas Representative and current lobbyist Tom Loeffler (who received illegal laundered campaign contributions from the failed Vernon Savings & Loan); A. W. Riter, a former chairman of NCNB Bank in Tyler, Texas; A. R. "Tony" Sanchez, Chairman of Sanchez-O'Brien Oil & Gas, owner of the Texas border-based International Bank of Commerce and the failed Tesoro Savings & Loan; and Woody Hunt, Chairman of Hunt Building Company. Some of UTIMCO's investments were directed to firms with close ties to Bush "Pioneer" contributors Lee Bass (Bass Brothers Enterprises), Henry Kravis (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts), and Charles Wyly (Maverick Capital Fund), as well as George W. and H.W. Bush (The Carlyle Partners II Fund, managed by The Carlyle Group).
Texas money laundering is the tip of an Bush family financial iceberg that extends below the surface to shady financial deals around the globe. However, investigators who dare venture into Texas will have their jobs cut out for them. The Bushes have been major recipients of campaign cash from senior partners the largest law firms in Texas -- Vinson & Elkins, Baker Botts (law firm of James Baker III), Andrews Kurth (the law firm of contentious US District Judge Priscilla Owen), Jenkins & Gilchrist, Haynes Boone and Bracewell & Patterson -- that have also been involved in defending those Texas companies and principals who have benefited from massive illegal financial flows.
~~
According to VHeadline.com Reporters , 15 October 2005:
INTELLIGENCE REPORT:
US "private military contractors" are already in-country to "deal with" Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez Frias...
Intelligence agencies are revealing that US private military contractors, active in Colombia "under various contract umbrellas, including counter-narcotics and counter-insurgency" are building up to yet another attempted coup d'etat against Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez.
Carefully described as "private military contractors" (a.k.a. hired mercenary killers), the PMCs are known already to have conducted several incursions across the Colombia-Venezuela border to link up with rebel units of the Venezuelan military operating along the border badlands between the two countries.
Senior officials at the US Pentagon have authorized the intruder operation as part of a plan to make it appear that Chavez is militarily assisting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
The US mercenaries have also established close links with right-wing Colombian paramilitaries (AUC) and their associated drug cartels to smuggle weapons into Venezuela.
Attached to the Pentagon's Joint Staff, a Colombian General is participating in a joint foreign military "interaction plan" sponsored by the US Defense Department in Washington D.C. to coordinate "force development" and "scenario simulation" invasive techniques at the behest of the US Joint Staff Command.
Intel sources also say that an Opus Dei (Roman Catholic) espionage and political assassination team operating in the United States is in the background of a case where a former Marine aide, Leandro Aragoncilla ... a US Vice Presidential staffer and FBI agent ... has been accused of espionage at the White House.
Aragoncilla was arrested recently on charges of illegally obtaining classified documents from US Vice President Dick Cheney's office and FBI computer which were passed to Philippine opposition figures linked to Opus Dei in the Philippines in preparation for a coup d'etat against that country's President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Opus Dei elements are known also to have played a major role in supporting the April 2002 coup d'etat against Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez Frias which continues a wider espionage and political black bag operation with support and logistics approved by highest levels within the Pentagon and the FBI.
A classified intelligence report leaked to this e-publication shows that the espionage ring has operating out of US Vice President Dick Cheney's office with the implicit approval from within the Bush administration.
Intel sources are also revealing more paper trails linking George H. W. Bush to the now defunct Al Taqwa ("Fear of God") bank operated on behalf of Osama Bin Laden, his family, and some of his closest business associates.
The network of Swiss-based terrorist financiers is also linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and prominent European fascist leaders. The Al Taqwa bank was headquartered in the Italian Swiss enclave Campione d'Italia and had offices in the Bahamas. It ceased operations after assets were blocked by a US Treasury Department order, its assets were frozen by the Swiss government, and its banking license was revoked by the Bahamas.
Al Taqwa subsequently changed its name to Nada Management Organization. Al Taqwa and a complex web of affiliate front companies and brass plates in Switzerland, the Bahamas, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Jersey, Isle of Man, Turkey, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, the United States (Delaware and Texas), Germany, Belgium, Albania, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Austria, Bahrain, Singapore, Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Liechtenstein were reportedly involved in funding terrorist operations around the world, including the procurement of nuclear material from the former Soviet Union through Baltic intermediaries.
According to a EUROPOL diagram obtained by WMR, these companies included Iksir Holding, SA (Italy), Asat Trust (Liechtenstein), Iksir Ltd. (Bahamas), Gulf Center (Italy), NASCO (Turkey), Nasreddin International Group (Liechtenstein), Akida Bank (Bahamas), MIGA (Switzerland), and Nasreddin Foundation (Liechtenstein).
According to intelligence sources in the United States and Europe, the Al Taqwa network intersected with tranches in Geneva and the Isle of Man that involve front companies associated with George H. W. Bush and Enron: Topaz Liberty, Bluelake World, and Potomac Capital.
Iranian fraudster and neocon Pentagon contact Manucher Ghorbanifar, Saudi billionaire Adnan Khashoggi and members of the Bin Laden family are reportedly linked to Geneva-based Potomac Capital ... a front company created by George H. W. Bush when he was CIA Director in 1976.
Interestingly, it was George W. Bush, who, in November 2001, cited Al Taqwa as part of Al Qaeda's money-laundering activities.
However, Bush's neocon allies at The Washington Times and World Net Daily quickly altered course and drew attention away from Al Taqwa's Saudi and Kuwaiti investors and began to erroneously link Al Taqwa to Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Further criminal investigations of Al Taqwa's principals were also quickly dropped.
Potomac Capital appeared on the radar screen of Federal investigators during the Iran-Contra investigation conducted in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Al Taqwa connection to weapons of mass destruction proliferation, Bin Laden, and George H. W. Bush and his business associates stands as another reason the George W. Bush administration leaked the CIA's Brewster Jennings & Associates counter-WMD network. The CIA counter-proliferation team was getting uncomfortably close to tying members of the Bush family and their business associates to the same financial networks that fund Osama Bin Laden and his "Al Qaeda" network.
Intel sources have also traced a possible second connection between the Swiss network connected to George H. W. Bush and other 9/11 hijackers.
The first connection concerned hijacker Fayyaz Ahmed and a US$50,000 check he received from a tranche connected to the Swiss network. The second is the listing of Ahmed Mesfer Ahmed Alghamdi as a shareholder of Al Taqwa on a Central Bank of the Bahamas document dated April 15, 2000. Ahmed Alghamdi and Hamza Alghamdi were two of the Saudi hijackers on board United Flight 175, which struck the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Saeed Alghamdi was one of the hijackers on board United Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania after being shot down by US military fighter planes (according to an NSA employee who was on duty in the National Security Operations Center on the morning of 9/11).
According to the FBI, the Alghamdi hijackers used a number of aliases. Ahmed Alghamdi used the names Ahmed Saeed Saleh Alghamdi, Ahmed Mohammed Alghamdi, Saeed Alghamdi, Ahmed Saleh, and Juan Poncho Bennett. Hamza Alghamdi used Saleh Alghamdi Hamzah. Saeed Alghamdi used Mohsalih Alghamdi, Mokhlidmazid Almotairi, Saeedayed Alghamdi, and Saeed H. Alghamdi. Other Alghamdis wanted by the FBI for involvement with "Al Qaeda" include Nora Alghamdi, Ali A. Alghamdi, Abdulrahman Alghamdi, Othman Alghamdi, Sadda Alghamdi and Tareqsaeed Alghamdi.
Now, more information has been gleaned from knowledgeable intelligence sources about the secret UNOCAL, Enron, and Taliban negotiations over the Central Asian Gas pipeline (CentGas). The source of the $10 billion was the Saudi Royal family and the recipient was Enron's LJM1 off-the-books partnership, also known as LJM Cayman, LP. LJM1 was primarily set up to finance the CentGas pipeline deal. Convicted Enron Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Andrew J. Fastow was the managing member of the LJM1 partners. In addition to Barclays, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was also allegedly used to transfer the $10 billion to the Enron account.
Two criminal investigations in New York are getting close to exposing a major Bush family and associates' international money-laundering operation that has spanned more than a generation and has been used to illegally fund US elections since the Nixon era.
According to CIA sources, most Bush family assets are tied up in off-shore accounts that are masked from investigators through the use of pass through companies and secretive interlocking board directorships.
The investigations of the secret Bush money tranches are coming to the fore as New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer focuses in on the scandal involving Maurice "Hank" Greenberg and the inflation of the worth of American Insurance Group (AIG) through shady affiliates, including AIG reinsurer Coral Re of Barbados.
Greenberg was the CEO of AIG but was forced to step down amid the Spitzer probe. AIG was founded from Asia Life/CV Starr, a Shanghai-based international import/export and insurance firm founded in 1919 by Cornelius V. Starr, an Office of Strategic Services (OSS) operative in Southeast Asia during World War II.
AIG's largest shareholder is Starr International Company (SICO), an off-shore corporation incorporated in Panama with headquarters in Bermuda.
Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel who prosecuted President Clinton, is the nephew of Cornelius Starr.
Greenberg inherited the CEO job and Chairmanship from Starr as well as the $3.5 billion Starr Foundation.
Another probe by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau is focused on long-time Bush backers Sam and Charles Wyly of Texas and a Bank of America off-shore account in the Isle of Man. According to intelligence sources, that probe is getting very close to an Isle of Man multi-billion dollar account controlled by the Bushes through an off-shore contrivance known as Five Star Trust.
Charles Wyly serves on the board of the University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO). Critics have charged that hundreds of millions of dollars of UTIMCO's $11 billion in public funds have been steered to investment funds run by Bush family friends and supporters. A number of UTIMCO's past and current directors are members of George W. Bush's "$100,000 Club." These include, in addition to Wyly, former UTIMCO chairman Tom Hicks, a vice chairman of Clear Channel and head of Muse, Tate & Furst, Inc.; L. Lowry Mays, the chairman of Clear Channel; former Texas Representative and current lobbyist Tom Loeffler (who received illegal laundered campaign contributions from the failed Vernon Savings & Loan); A. W. Riter, a former chairman of NCNB Bank in Tyler, Texas; A. R. "Tony" Sanchez, Chairman of Sanchez-O'Brien Oil & Gas, owner of the Texas border-based International Bank of Commerce and the failed Tesoro Savings & Loan; and Woody Hunt, Chairman of Hunt Building Company. Some of UTIMCO's investments were directed to firms with close ties to Bush "Pioneer" contributors Lee Bass (Bass Brothers Enterprises), Henry Kravis (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts), and Charles Wyly (Maverick Capital Fund), as well as George W. and H.W. Bush (The Carlyle Partners II Fund, managed by The Carlyle Group).
Texas money laundering is the tip of an Bush family financial iceberg that extends below the surface to shady financial deals around the globe. However, investigators who dare venture into Texas will have their jobs cut out for them. The Bushes have been major recipients of campaign cash from senior partners the largest law firms in Texas -- Vinson & Elkins, Baker Botts (law firm of James Baker III), Andrews Kurth (the law firm of contentious US District Judge Priscilla Owen), Jenkins & Gilchrist, Haynes Boone and Bracewell & Patterson -- that have also been involved in defending those Texas companies and principals who have benefited from massive illegal financial flows.
~~
The provinces of Anbar, Ninevah, Diyala, Salahuddin and Kirkuk all rejected the constitution?
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/12920119.htm
According to Liz Sly at the Chicago Tribune, 16 October 2005, Sunni leaders are disputing reports of the constitution's likely passage.
In London, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters that early indications suggested that the constitution had "probably passed."
Sunni Arab leaders suspect the vote has been fixed.
"We think that this statement by Condoleezza Rice is astonishing because it is trying to mask the big rejection that this draft has faced all over Iraq," said a statement by the National Dialogue Council, a Sunni group that was a leading campaigner for a "no" vote.
Election officials said the official count of the ballots won't begin until Monday, and that an official result is still days away.
Addressing reporters in Baghdad, Saleh Mutlaq, a leader of the National Dialogue Council, said he suspected Rice's remarks were intended as a "signal" to Iraqi election officials to declare a favorable outcome of the voting, in which Iraqis voted "yes" or "no" on the question: Do you approve of the draft constitution?
"We would like to warn of the dangers of fixing these results and passing this constitution by force," he said. "This would create a backlash that cannot be contained, including civil disobedience."
For the constitution to fail, it would have to be rejected either by a simple majority of all voters or by a two-thirds majority in three provinces.
The National Dialogue Council issued what it claimed were figures showing that two-thirds of the voters had rejected the poll in five provinces, giving them the numbers they need to block the constitution. The provinces of Anbar, Ninevah, Diyala, Salahuddin and Kirkuk all rejected the constitution with more than 70 percent voting "no," the Council said.
Although there is still no official count of the ballots, political parties are entitled to post monitors in polling stations and they dispatch their own tally of the results to their party leaders. Ballots are first counted at the polling stations, the results are recorded, and then the boxes are dispatched to Baghdad's fortified Green Zone for an official tally, which will begin Monday.
In Anbar either the threat of violence or calls for a boycott by local leaders appeared to have kept voters away. More than 60 polling places did not open.
~~
According to Liz Sly at the Chicago Tribune, 16 October 2005, Sunni leaders are disputing reports of the constitution's likely passage.
In London, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters that early indications suggested that the constitution had "probably passed."
Sunni Arab leaders suspect the vote has been fixed.
"We think that this statement by Condoleezza Rice is astonishing because it is trying to mask the big rejection that this draft has faced all over Iraq," said a statement by the National Dialogue Council, a Sunni group that was a leading campaigner for a "no" vote.
Election officials said the official count of the ballots won't begin until Monday, and that an official result is still days away.
Addressing reporters in Baghdad, Saleh Mutlaq, a leader of the National Dialogue Council, said he suspected Rice's remarks were intended as a "signal" to Iraqi election officials to declare a favorable outcome of the voting, in which Iraqis voted "yes" or "no" on the question: Do you approve of the draft constitution?
"We would like to warn of the dangers of fixing these results and passing this constitution by force," he said. "This would create a backlash that cannot be contained, including civil disobedience."
For the constitution to fail, it would have to be rejected either by a simple majority of all voters or by a two-thirds majority in three provinces.
The National Dialogue Council issued what it claimed were figures showing that two-thirds of the voters had rejected the poll in five provinces, giving them the numbers they need to block the constitution. The provinces of Anbar, Ninevah, Diyala, Salahuddin and Kirkuk all rejected the constitution with more than 70 percent voting "no," the Council said.
Although there is still no official count of the ballots, political parties are entitled to post monitors in polling stations and they dispatch their own tally of the results to their party leaders. Ballots are first counted at the polling stations, the results are recorded, and then the boxes are dispatched to Baghdad's fortified Green Zone for an official tally, which will begin Monday.
In Anbar either the threat of violence or calls for a boycott by local leaders appeared to have kept voters away. More than 60 polling places did not open.
~~
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Poll on UK Tory party leadership
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=2096992005
Poll in Scotland on Sunday
Who do you think should be leader of the Conservative Party?
David Davis
8.2%
Liam Fox
9.0%
Kenneth Clarke
48.6%
David Cameron
24.7%
Malcolm Rifkind
9.4%
477 votes
~~
Poll in Scotland on Sunday
Who do you think should be leader of the Conservative Party?
David Davis
8.2%
Liam Fox
9.0%
Kenneth Clarke
48.6%
David Cameron
24.7%
Malcolm Rifkind
9.4%
477 votes
~~
Friday, October 14, 2005
'Americans disguised as Arabs try to set off bomb'.
http://iraqwar.mirror-world.ru/article/66432
14 October 2005.
Quds Press reports:
Iraqis apprehend two Americans disguised as Arabs trying to detonate a car bomb in a residential neighborhood of western Baghdad’s al-Ghazaliyah district on Tuesday.
A number of Iraqis apprehended two Americans disguised in Arab dress as they tried to blow up a booby-trapped car in the middle of a residential area in western Baghdad on Tuesday.
Residents of western Baghdad’s al-Ghazaliyah district told Quds Press that the people had apprehended the Americans as they left their Caprice car near a residential neighborhood in al-Ghazaliyah on Tuesday afternoon (11 October 2005).
Local people found they looked suspicious so they detained the men before they could get away. That was when they discovered that they were Americans and called the Iraqi puppet police. Five minutes after the arrival of the Iraqi puppet police on the scene a large force of US troops showed up and surrounded the area.
They put the two Americans in one of their Humvees and drove away at high speed to the astonishment of the residents of the area.
Quds Press spoke by telephone with a member of the al-Ghazaliyah puppet police who confirmed the incident, saying that the two men were non-Arab foreigners but declined to be more precise about their nationality.
Quds Press pointed out that about a month ago, the Iraqi puppet police in the southern Iraqi city of al-Basrah arrested two Britons whom they accused of attempting to cause an explosion in the city.
The Britons were taken into custody by the Iraqi puppet police only to be broken out of prison by an assault of British occupation troops. That incident has created a tense relationship between the British and the local puppet authorities in al-Basrah, Quds Press noted.
~~
14 October 2005.
Quds Press reports:
Iraqis apprehend two Americans disguised as Arabs trying to detonate a car bomb in a residential neighborhood of western Baghdad’s al-Ghazaliyah district on Tuesday.
A number of Iraqis apprehended two Americans disguised in Arab dress as they tried to blow up a booby-trapped car in the middle of a residential area in western Baghdad on Tuesday.
Residents of western Baghdad’s al-Ghazaliyah district told Quds Press that the people had apprehended the Americans as they left their Caprice car near a residential neighborhood in al-Ghazaliyah on Tuesday afternoon (11 October 2005).
Local people found they looked suspicious so they detained the men before they could get away. That was when they discovered that they were Americans and called the Iraqi puppet police. Five minutes after the arrival of the Iraqi puppet police on the scene a large force of US troops showed up and surrounded the area.
They put the two Americans in one of their Humvees and drove away at high speed to the astonishment of the residents of the area.
Quds Press spoke by telephone with a member of the al-Ghazaliyah puppet police who confirmed the incident, saying that the two men were non-Arab foreigners but declined to be more precise about their nationality.
Quds Press pointed out that about a month ago, the Iraqi puppet police in the southern Iraqi city of al-Basrah arrested two Britons whom they accused of attempting to cause an explosion in the city.
The Britons were taken into custody by the Iraqi puppet police only to be broken out of prison by an assault of British occupation troops. That incident has created a tense relationship between the British and the local puppet authorities in al-Basrah, Quds Press noted.
~~
UK judge's Railtrack ruling 'a whitewash'.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=365360&in_page_id=1770
The Daily Mail, 14th October 2005, reports:
1. Railtrack private shareholders have lost their High Court battle with the Government over what they saw as the "killing off" of the company by former Transport Secretary Stephen Byers.
2. The judge in the High Court was Mr Justice Lindsay.
3. The Railtrack shareholders' main claimant Geoffrey Weir described the judgement as "a complete whitewash" which gave the Government "carte blanche to act as they please in future".
4. The shareholders had claimed at least £157 million.
5. In evidence, Mr Byers had said he had given wrong evidence to a House of Commons select committee as to the timing of discussions to put Railtrack into administration.
6. On Friday, the judge said: "I cannot proceed on the basis that he (Mr Byers) is a proven liar".
~~~
The biggest terrorist attack in Britain was the Lockerbie bomb, which many people suspect was the work of elements of the CIA.
The 1989 incident killed 270 people.
It seems that the judges in the Lockerbie bomb trial were either
1. tricked
2. or intimidated
3. or bribed.
Police chief- Lockerbie evidence was faked
According to the newspaper 'Scotland on Sunday' , 28 August 2005, a Scottish Police chief has revealed that the Lockerbie evidence was faked.
The former police chief has given lawyers a signed statement claiming that evidence in the Lockerbie bombing trial was fabricated.
The officer has testified that the CIA planted the fragment of circuit board crucial in convicting Al Megrahi.
The Sunday Herald 08/04/2001 : "THE United Nations has savaged the Crown Office's handling of the Lockerbie trial claiming the outcome was rigged through the unfair suppression of evidence; it was politically influenced by the USA; and the court had no grounds to return a guilty verdict. Dr Hans Kochler, who was handpicked by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to act as the international observer during the trial in Holland, hinted that the trial was rigged, claimed the guilty verdict handed down in February to Abdelbasset Ali Mohamed Al Megrahi was "arbitrary" and "irrational" and gave his tacit support for an acquittal at the planned appeal."
~
http://jakartass.blogspot.com/
Thursday, October 13, 2005
The following comes from jakartass.blogspot:
Bagir has been suspended...
Bagir Manan, 64, is the country's Chief Justice.
In April 2003, ex-dictator Suharto's half brother, Probosutedjo, now 75, was sentenced to four years imprisonment for embezzlement of reforestation funds, which cost the state some Rp.100 billion in losses.
Naturally, given the status of the convicted man, the case has gone to appeal.
Where this all gets interesting is that Harini R. Wiyoso, one of his lawyers, has admitted that she gave US$500,000 to Supreme Court staff to pass on to Bagir, and another $100,000 for other officials and judges...
~~
The Daily Mail, 14th October 2005, reports:
1. Railtrack private shareholders have lost their High Court battle with the Government over what they saw as the "killing off" of the company by former Transport Secretary Stephen Byers.
2. The judge in the High Court was Mr Justice Lindsay.
3. The Railtrack shareholders' main claimant Geoffrey Weir described the judgement as "a complete whitewash" which gave the Government "carte blanche to act as they please in future".
4. The shareholders had claimed at least £157 million.
5. In evidence, Mr Byers had said he had given wrong evidence to a House of Commons select committee as to the timing of discussions to put Railtrack into administration.
6. On Friday, the judge said: "I cannot proceed on the basis that he (Mr Byers) is a proven liar".
~~~
The biggest terrorist attack in Britain was the Lockerbie bomb, which many people suspect was the work of elements of the CIA.
The 1989 incident killed 270 people.
It seems that the judges in the Lockerbie bomb trial were either
1. tricked
2. or intimidated
3. or bribed.
Police chief- Lockerbie evidence was faked
According to the newspaper 'Scotland on Sunday' , 28 August 2005, a Scottish Police chief has revealed that the Lockerbie evidence was faked.
The former police chief has given lawyers a signed statement claiming that evidence in the Lockerbie bombing trial was fabricated.
The officer has testified that the CIA planted the fragment of circuit board crucial in convicting Al Megrahi.
The Sunday Herald 08/04/2001 : "THE United Nations has savaged the Crown Office's handling of the Lockerbie trial claiming the outcome was rigged through the unfair suppression of evidence; it was politically influenced by the USA; and the court had no grounds to return a guilty verdict. Dr Hans Kochler, who was handpicked by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to act as the international observer during the trial in Holland, hinted that the trial was rigged, claimed the guilty verdict handed down in February to Abdelbasset Ali Mohamed Al Megrahi was "arbitrary" and "irrational" and gave his tacit support for an acquittal at the planned appeal."
~
http://jakartass.blogspot.com/
Thursday, October 13, 2005
The following comes from jakartass.blogspot:
Bagir has been suspended...
Bagir Manan, 64, is the country's Chief Justice.
In April 2003, ex-dictator Suharto's half brother, Probosutedjo, now 75, was sentenced to four years imprisonment for embezzlement of reforestation funds, which cost the state some Rp.100 billion in losses.
Naturally, given the status of the convicted man, the case has gone to appeal.
Where this all gets interesting is that Harini R. Wiyoso, one of his lawyers, has admitted that she gave US$500,000 to Supreme Court staff to pass on to Bagir, and another $100,000 for other officials and judges...
~~
Much of the Iraqi government exists only on paper.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article319606.ece
Extract from an article by The Independent's Patrick Cockburn, 14 October 2005:
The only part of Iraq that is prospering is Kurdistan, because it has security. Even prostitutes from Baghdad have migrated to Sulaymaniyah on the grounds that the capital is too dangerous to work in. For all the billions of dollars supposedly spent on reconstruction in the rest of Iraq there are very few building sites to be seen outside the three Kurdish provinces where businessmen throng the hotels...
"The Iraqis are suffering from corruption, terrorism and occupation," says the veteran opposition leader Mahmoud Othman. "Every year it is getting worse."
...Insurgents are tightening their grip in Sunni-dominated districts in south and west Baghdad.
...In theory Iraqi army and security forces are being built up towards the 200,000 level but when Kurdish intelligence counted a unit entering Kirkuk they found most of the soldiers were not there. Its men stayed home or never existed while commanders pocketed the salaries of these "ghost battalions".
Much of the Iraqi government exists only on paper. It is more of a racket than an administration. Its officials turn up only on pay day.
Elaborate bureaucratic procedures exist simply so a bribe has to be paid to avoid them...
A set of milestones were devised - the turning over of sovereignty to Iraq, the elections, the constitution - whose primary purpose was to give a spurious sense of progress to American voters. Not surprisingly they show increasing anger at being duped.
~~~
Extract from an article by The Independent's Patrick Cockburn, 14 October 2005:
The only part of Iraq that is prospering is Kurdistan, because it has security. Even prostitutes from Baghdad have migrated to Sulaymaniyah on the grounds that the capital is too dangerous to work in. For all the billions of dollars supposedly spent on reconstruction in the rest of Iraq there are very few building sites to be seen outside the three Kurdish provinces where businessmen throng the hotels...
"The Iraqis are suffering from corruption, terrorism and occupation," says the veteran opposition leader Mahmoud Othman. "Every year it is getting worse."
...Insurgents are tightening their grip in Sunni-dominated districts in south and west Baghdad.
...In theory Iraqi army and security forces are being built up towards the 200,000 level but when Kurdish intelligence counted a unit entering Kirkuk they found most of the soldiers were not there. Its men stayed home or never existed while commanders pocketed the salaries of these "ghost battalions".
Much of the Iraqi government exists only on paper. It is more of a racket than an administration. Its officials turn up only on pay day.
Elaborate bureaucratic procedures exist simply so a bribe has to be paid to avoid them...
A set of milestones were devised - the turning over of sovereignty to Iraq, the elections, the constitution - whose primary purpose was to give a spurious sense of progress to American voters. Not surprisingly they show increasing anger at being duped.
~~~
Boycott Botswana
http://www.survival-international.org/news.php?id=1076&PHPSESSID=54ce13ed5de81bf0c5bcc2fc2796bc3a
Bushman child and two adults shot by police.
6 Oct 2005
The shots that killed democracy.
• Bushman child and two adults shot by Botswana police.
• Family walk for days across desert to bring news to outside world.
• Bushmen told that the government does not care if they starve to death.
Three Bushmen, including one child, have been shot and wounded in recent days by Botswana police during incidents designed to intimidate the Bushmen still surviving inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and force them out once and for all.
Kekailwe (aged 7) was shot in the stomach as the police arrested his father when he refused to let them search his hut without a warrant.
In a separate incident, Kesodilo Ntwayamoga was shot from behind in each leg as he stood with both hands raised.
Witnesses confirmed that police were trying to force him to admit to hunting.
In the third incident, Mokgakalaga Gaoberekwe was shot in the jaw on 24 September as he and others attempted to enter the Game Reserve to take water and food to their families. He is badly wounded and still recovering in hospital.
The Bushman party, including several babies and children, was attacked by heavily armed police and soldiers under the personal command of Sydney Pilane, the attorney acting for the government in the high court case in which the Bushmen are claiming rights to their ancestral land.
The police fired teargas and bullets at the unarmed Bushmen. Many were beaten and imprisoned for several days.
The group included the 2005 alternative Nobel prize-winner, Roy Sesana, who was unaware that he and his Bushman organization had won the award.
The Bushmen have now been charged with 'unlawful assembly'.
Police have been trying to prevent Bushmen returning to their reserve.
The Bushmen already in the reserve are forbidden to hunt and gather, have had their water supply cut off, and are now threatened with starvation after the government claimed their goats were diseased (a claim rubbished by a group of eminent international vets).
Officials forcibly removed all goats from the reserve earlier this week.
Today, a small group of Bushmen emerged after evading the police who had surrounded their huts and walking for three days through the drought-stricken desert.
Kangotla Kanyo said today, ‘The others and I came out of the reserve to tell the outside world that we are really suffering with thirst and hunger.
The police are camped at our settlement and we are not allowed to gather or dig anything to eat.
The policeman called Dibuile told us, ‘If you die, the government doesn't care. This is the time to show you that you are nothing.
The police said that 'we have to suffer thirst and hunger so that we will leave the reserve.'
Officials told the Bushmen in 2002 that they had to abandon their land because diamonds had been discovered there.
All Botswana's diamond mines are run by De Beers, which retains rights to a large deposit in the reserve.
Stephen Corry, Survival's director, said today, 'Botswana's President Mogae has drawn a veil across the great sand-face of the Kalahari so that his henchmen can bully the Bushmen in secrecy. But the veil has not muffled the shots which spilled the blood of a child and two unarmed men guilty of wanting to live in peace on their ancient land. These shots - ordered by a lawyer - have killed all pretence of a democratic Botswana. People who care about the Bushmen should not support this regime by buying De Beers's diamonds or by holidaying there. These diamonds are bought with the blood of the Bushmen.'
http://www.survival-international.org/news.php?id=1083
~~
Bushman child and two adults shot by police.
6 Oct 2005
The shots that killed democracy.
• Bushman child and two adults shot by Botswana police.
• Family walk for days across desert to bring news to outside world.
• Bushmen told that the government does not care if they starve to death.
Three Bushmen, including one child, have been shot and wounded in recent days by Botswana police during incidents designed to intimidate the Bushmen still surviving inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and force them out once and for all.
Kekailwe (aged 7) was shot in the stomach as the police arrested his father when he refused to let them search his hut without a warrant.
In a separate incident, Kesodilo Ntwayamoga was shot from behind in each leg as he stood with both hands raised.
Witnesses confirmed that police were trying to force him to admit to hunting.
In the third incident, Mokgakalaga Gaoberekwe was shot in the jaw on 24 September as he and others attempted to enter the Game Reserve to take water and food to their families. He is badly wounded and still recovering in hospital.
The Bushman party, including several babies and children, was attacked by heavily armed police and soldiers under the personal command of Sydney Pilane, the attorney acting for the government in the high court case in which the Bushmen are claiming rights to their ancestral land.
The police fired teargas and bullets at the unarmed Bushmen. Many were beaten and imprisoned for several days.
The group included the 2005 alternative Nobel prize-winner, Roy Sesana, who was unaware that he and his Bushman organization had won the award.
The Bushmen have now been charged with 'unlawful assembly'.
Police have been trying to prevent Bushmen returning to their reserve.
The Bushmen already in the reserve are forbidden to hunt and gather, have had their water supply cut off, and are now threatened with starvation after the government claimed their goats were diseased (a claim rubbished by a group of eminent international vets).
Officials forcibly removed all goats from the reserve earlier this week.
Today, a small group of Bushmen emerged after evading the police who had surrounded their huts and walking for three days through the drought-stricken desert.
Kangotla Kanyo said today, ‘The others and I came out of the reserve to tell the outside world that we are really suffering with thirst and hunger.
The police are camped at our settlement and we are not allowed to gather or dig anything to eat.
The policeman called Dibuile told us, ‘If you die, the government doesn't care. This is the time to show you that you are nothing.
The police said that 'we have to suffer thirst and hunger so that we will leave the reserve.'
Officials told the Bushmen in 2002 that they had to abandon their land because diamonds had been discovered there.
All Botswana's diamond mines are run by De Beers, which retains rights to a large deposit in the reserve.
Stephen Corry, Survival's director, said today, 'Botswana's President Mogae has drawn a veil across the great sand-face of the Kalahari so that his henchmen can bully the Bushmen in secrecy. But the veil has not muffled the shots which spilled the blood of a child and two unarmed men guilty of wanting to live in peace on their ancient land. These shots - ordered by a lawyer - have killed all pretence of a democratic Botswana. People who care about the Bushmen should not support this regime by buying De Beers's diamonds or by holidaying there. These diamonds are bought with the blood of the Bushmen.'
http://www.survival-international.org/news.php?id=1083
~~
UK: Clarke opposes Iraq war. Cameron supports Iraq war.
~
In the UK there is a leadership contest in the opposition Conservative (Tory) Party.
Opposing the Iraq war - Ken Clarke
Supporting the Iraq war - David Cameron, David Davis, Liam Fox.
The media have tended to promote David Cameron or David Davis or Liam Fox.
~
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1877682005
In the first speech of his leadership campaign, Kenneth Clarke said the "disastrous" decision to invade Iraq was a catastrophic error that has made Britain a foremost target for Islamic extremists.
Clarke made it clear that he did not believe the Iraq war was just, and that "the reasons given to parliament for joining the invasion were bogus".
He said new anti-terror laws risk radicalising British Muslims.
Mr Clarke made caustic references to George Bush, the US president. "I share the late Robin Cook's suspicions that the Bush administration hope to pull out most of their troops in whatever way they can before next year's US mid-term elections," he said.
He warned that "US military tactics are alienating moderate Iraqi opinion", adding that Mr Blair should be a "candid friend" to the United States.
David Cameron said that he did support the war in Iraq.
Clarke's campaign was focused on positive issues, such as the need for better quality of life.
He gave a speech calling for tax breaks for childcare.
David Davis and Liam Fox are both pro-war, and will fight as centre-right candidates.
~
In the UK there is a leadership contest in the opposition Conservative (Tory) Party.
Opposing the Iraq war - Ken Clarke
Supporting the Iraq war - David Cameron, David Davis, Liam Fox.
The media have tended to promote David Cameron or David Davis or Liam Fox.
~
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1877682005
In the first speech of his leadership campaign, Kenneth Clarke said the "disastrous" decision to invade Iraq was a catastrophic error that has made Britain a foremost target for Islamic extremists.
Clarke made it clear that he did not believe the Iraq war was just, and that "the reasons given to parliament for joining the invasion were bogus".
He said new anti-terror laws risk radicalising British Muslims.
Mr Clarke made caustic references to George Bush, the US president. "I share the late Robin Cook's suspicions that the Bush administration hope to pull out most of their troops in whatever way they can before next year's US mid-term elections," he said.
He warned that "US military tactics are alienating moderate Iraqi opinion", adding that Mr Blair should be a "candid friend" to the United States.
David Cameron said that he did support the war in Iraq.
Clarke's campaign was focused on positive issues, such as the need for better quality of life.
He gave a speech calling for tax breaks for childcare.
David Davis and Liam Fox are both pro-war, and will fight as centre-right candidates.
~
Refco: World's hedge funds face crisis as Refco suspends trading
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,16518,1592055,00.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2005/10/14/cnrefco14.xml&menuId=242&sSheet=/money/2005/10/14/ixcitytop.html
14 October 2004.
The World's hedge funds face a crisis.
The leading global broker Refco has suspended trading. It admits 'liquidity problem'.
It is said to be on the brink of collapse after running out of money in a key division.
Accounts irregularities at the firm have been discovered.
Fraud charges have been issued against its former chief executive Phillip Bennett.
Mr Bennett has been charged with defrauding investors by using a hedge fund to hide $430m (£250m) of debts owed to the firm.
There is a 15-day trading moratorium on Refco's subsidiary, Refco Capital Markets.
Refco, which has debts of $642m, 'is preventing a possible mass exodus of funds which could further jeopardise its trading position'.
Refco has lost three quarters of its stock market value in less than a week.
Kevin Starke, an analyst at Weeden & Co, said: "This company is in serious jeopardy. The fact that the bonds are trading at just above 52.25 cents on the dollar suggests that bankruptcy is at least a 50-50 possibility. It's very possible they have have to sell a unit or at least renegotiate their bank loans."
Investors may take legal action against the investment banks which brought the company to market - Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Credit Suisse First Boston.
On August 16, Refco announced the completion of its flotation in New York. At an issue price of $22 a share (£12.50), the company was valued at $3.4bn. Refco announced this year that in the three months to the end of February, Refco's volume in the foreign exchange market alone was $111bn.
~~
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2005/10/14/cnrefco14.xml&menuId=242&sSheet=/money/2005/10/14/ixcitytop.html
14 October 2004.
The World's hedge funds face a crisis.
The leading global broker Refco has suspended trading. It admits 'liquidity problem'.
It is said to be on the brink of collapse after running out of money in a key division.
Accounts irregularities at the firm have been discovered.
Fraud charges have been issued against its former chief executive Phillip Bennett.
Mr Bennett has been charged with defrauding investors by using a hedge fund to hide $430m (£250m) of debts owed to the firm.
There is a 15-day trading moratorium on Refco's subsidiary, Refco Capital Markets.
Refco, which has debts of $642m, 'is preventing a possible mass exodus of funds which could further jeopardise its trading position'.
Refco has lost three quarters of its stock market value in less than a week.
Kevin Starke, an analyst at Weeden & Co, said: "This company is in serious jeopardy. The fact that the bonds are trading at just above 52.25 cents on the dollar suggests that bankruptcy is at least a 50-50 possibility. It's very possible they have have to sell a unit or at least renegotiate their bank loans."
Investors may take legal action against the investment banks which brought the company to market - Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Credit Suisse First Boston.
On August 16, Refco announced the completion of its flotation in New York. At an issue price of $22 a share (£12.50), the company was valued at $3.4bn. Refco announced this year that in the three months to the end of February, Refco's volume in the foreign exchange market alone was $111bn.
~~
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