Frank Freeman's Diary, March 2005

'Millions of doses of drugs to ward off a flu pandemic are to be stockpiled, the government is expected to announce.

'Ministers are acting amid concerns the bird flu outbreak which has killed over 40 people in Asia could combine with human flu and become highly infectious.

'The UK Influenza Pandemic Contingency Plan is also expected to include plans to ban mass gatherings [my emphasis] such as sports events [perhaps opposition gatherings will catch a cold, too], and arrangements for the NHS [National Health Service].'

'... [UK] Health Secretary John Reid said 16.6m doses of an anti-viral drug will be stockpiled at a cost of Ł200m for use in an outbreak which could kill 50,000. ...'

'MI5 drew up secret plans to round up and intern thousands of communist sympathisers in the event of a Cold War attack by Russia, official files show.

'Documents released to the National Archives reveal that the Ascot and Epsom racecourses would have been turned into mass holding centres. ...'

Entirely reasonable in the circs. But today it is the Anglo-Saxon power establishments who are the enemy. (Almost ipso facto of having won that selfsame Cold War.)

An international conference headed by Interpol is talking about the "threat of terrorist biological attacks". Law-enforcement establishments, as they stand (it says) would be incapable of dealing with such attacks.

I wonder what happened to those 250,000 pairs of handcuffs ordered by the Soviet putschists in 1991? They would now find eager customers for them in the West. Dozens of times over.

Condoleezza Rice looked fascistic as she called Syria an obstacle to peace in an interview with ITV's Trevor MacDonald.

The British Channel 4 News documentary "Torture: The Dirty Business" (1 March 05) dealt with how America has "outsourced" torture-interrogation by sending "Islamist terrorist suspects" to other countries. Syria, Egypt and Uzbekistan were dealt with in the programme.

Jack Cloonan, ex FBI Osama-bin-Laden unit, talked of a 2001 battle with the CIA over this re the arrest in Afghanistan of Ibn Sheikh al-Libri. The CIA won. [No surprise, as the old FBI was then in the first stage of being crushed. See The Purge of the FBI.) Al-Libri was apparently a subsequent source of the disinformation linking al-Qaeda with Saddam's Iraq.

Uzbekistan is an unsavory ally in the "War On Terror". Extreme torture/murder is widely practised by the authorities. The programme-makers were unable to interview an Uzbek dissident who said the government of Uzbekistan had invented a "Qaeda threat" in the country for its own purposes — apparently to please its Western patrons. Craig Murray, then British ambassador to Uzbekistan, said that the CIA and MI6 were the recipients of this disinformation. In 2004 he warned Britain that "information" extracted under torture was unreliable, but was told to butt out. Later that year Murray was later removed from his post.

More accurately, the power-mongers want the brand of lies that suits their imperial agenda.

Truthout editor's note: 'Republicans are demanding an apology for the following speech, which was delivered by U.S. Senator Robert Byrd. ... The allegation is that the Senator was calling the GOP majority in congress Nazis. ...

'[Introduction:] Senator Byrd delivered the remarks below warning the Senate and the American people about a procedural effort being considered by some Senators to shut down minority voices and opinions. Byrd believes that such an effort strikes at the very heart of the Senate — the freedom of speech and debate. ...

'... Many times in our history we have taken up arms to protect a minority against the tyrannical majority in other lands. We, unlike Nazi Germany or Mussolini's Italy, have never stopped being a nation of laws, not of men.

'But witness how men with motives and a majority can manipulate law to cruel and unjust ends. Historian Alan Bullock writes that Hitler's dictatorship rested on the constitutional foundation of a single law, the Enabling Law. Hitler needed a two-thirds vote to pass that law, and he cajoled his opposition in the Reichstag to support it. Bullock writes that "Hitler was prepared to promise anything to get his bill through, with the appearances of legality preserved intact." And he succeeded. ...'

What the good Senator omits to mention is that the Enabling Law was obtained under an atmosphere of terror created by the Reichstag Fire, with 100,000 Communists (the Nazis main extremist rival) and others in detention. But that would be too close to the knuckle of 9/11 ...

'Britain's Counter-Terrorism Minister warned the Muslim community last night that it must face the reality of being targeted by the police because of the threat from an extreme form of Islam.

'Hazel Blears provoked anger from Muslim leaders and the National Black Police Association (NPBA) for her "intemperate" comments. They said her statements only exacerbate feeling among law-abiding Muslims that they were being unfairly targeted by police and intelligence services.

'Ms Blears's comments appear to conflict with the commitment by the police not to target suspects because of their race, a key recommendation of the 1999 inquiry by Sir William MacPherson into the murder of Stephen Lawrence, a black teenager.

'She said yesterday that Britain's 1.5 million Muslims should accept as a reality that people of Islamic appearance [!] are more likely to be stopped and searched.

'"At the moment the threat is more likely to come from those associated with a most extreme form of Islam or who are falsely hiding behind Islam," she told MPs.

'"It means that some of our counter-terrorism powers will be disproportionately experienced by people in the Muslim community. There is no getting away from the fact." ...'

The BBC's board of governors is to be replaced, after 78 years, with two bodies, including an executive board responsible for day-to-day decisions.

'A body to co-ordinate investigations into internet child pornography has been proposed by police chiefs.

'It comes as new figures, released by the children's charity NCH, show arrests and convictions in England and Wales have quadrupled in two years [from 549 in 2001 to 2000+ in 2003].

'The unit, dubbed the UK Internet Safety Centre, would be staffed by police, charity workers and computer experts.

'The Association of Police Chief Officers (Acpo) has submitted its plans for the Ł3m unit to the Home Office.'

'Tony Blair has refused to rule out using controversial new anti-terror laws against G8 protesters when Britain hosts the world leader summit in July.

'But [sic] the PM insisted he could not see why anyone wanted to protest against the gathering at Gleneagles [in Scotland].

'He said the new law, including control orders to place suspects under house arrest without trial, could be in place in time for the summit.'

'former Metropolitan Police chief Sir John Stevens says [between 100 and 200 and possibly more] Al-Qaeda "terrorists" are operating in Britain and the threat of attacks is real.

'he urged the government to press ahead with its controversial anti-terror legislation as quickly as possible.

'Sir John, writing in [that traditional arse-wipe] the News of the World, said militants trained by Osama bin Laden "fester" across the country.

'But the Liberal Democrats accused him of sending "mixed messages" adding to an already "complicated situation".'

'Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena has suggested US troops deliberately tried to kill her moments [sic after she was released by her kidnappers in Baghdad.

'Ms Sgrena, writing in her left-wing newspaper Il Manifesto, described how her car came "under a rain of fire". [She was injured, and one of her Italian Secret Service escorts killed, when US troops opened fire at a checkpoint.]

'At that moment, she said she recalled her captors words that some Americans "don't want you to go back".

'The US military, who said troops fired on the speeding car after it failed to stop, has opened a full investigation.'

'... As the Prevention of Terrorism Bill is set to be considered by the House of Lords, David Bickford — a former legal adviser to MI5 and MI6 — has said he believes suspected terrorists should be picked up and investigated.

'"If these suspected terrorists had been walking around in France or Italy, they'd have been arrested now on suspicion of association with a terrorist organisation," said Mr Bickford, who now advises foreign governments on terrorism. [Perhaps some historian will uncover praise by Mussolini or Hitler of the (contemporary) "British and French police states", too.]

'"But we don't have that system and I don't understand why not. I think the Home Secretary wants to hang on to his executive powers and not give them up to judges. so he's missing out on a golden opportunity to really protect us.

'"In fact, he's given us a mish-mash of legislation which terrorists can probably walk through quite easily."

'He said there was a need to respect the views of Lord Stevens former Commissioner of the [London] Metropolitan Police [see above, under 6 March], since he had studied the evidence and had kept Britain safe when he was in charge. ...'

This from a former (but can there ever be such a thing) servant of the Devil's Architects themselves.

But he is far too modest. Only when they're interning terrorists by the millions will we feel really safe; and secure ...

The Prevention of Terrorism bill has been defeated in the House of Lords. In favour of all control orders being issued by a judge, not the executive (Home Secretary).

The House of Lords has passed, by a large majority, another amendment to the above bill to make its provisions temporary, expiring in November 2005. The government may now withdraw the bill.

'The [UK] Government is to spend Ł340m over the next three years setting up dedicated policing teams in every neighbourhood. ...

'The cash will pay for 24,000 CSOs [community support officers, the proposed "amateur" auxiliary police] across all English and Welsh neighbourhoods by 2007/08.'

It will be a component of the card-carrying police state — which by that date will be well advanced. Something like, perhaps, the Maoist neighbourhood committees.

'...Labour wants its new CSOs in place by 2007/8 and says local wardens and special constables will also play a role in the neighbourhood teams.

'Individual police forces will be left to decide how large or small each neighbourhood will be. ...'

Agents of MI6 (the Secret Intelligence Service, SIS) witnessed prisoner abuse by Americans at Guantanamo, and in Iraq and Afghanistan, a report by the UK parliamentary intelligence committee says.

The Commons and Lords are still playing ping-pong with the Prevention of Terrorism bill.

'Top military intelligence officials at the Abu Ghraib prison [in Iraq] came to an agreement with the CIA to hide certain detainees at the facility without officially registering them, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. Keeping such "ghost detainees" is a violation of international law.

'Army Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, who was second in command of the intelligence gathering effort at Abu Ghraib while the abuse was occurring, told military investigators that "other government agencies" and a secretive elite task force"routinely brought in detainees for short period of time" and that the detainees were held without an internment number, and their names were kept off the books.

'Guards who worked at the prison have said that ghost detainees were regularly locked in isolation cells on Tier 1A and that they were kept from international human rights organizations. ...'

Five of the ten men held without trial in Britain in Belmarsh prison have been moved to a secure immigrant unit. The men are Abu Qatada and four others known only by letters. Bail conditions are being discussed. The current terror legislation by which they are held expires on 14 March 05.

The "security" and "intelligence" boys and girls no doubt think it "pretty neat" (in irony terms) that this was done on the first anniversary of the Madrid train bombings (which killed 191). Seven of the "Islamic-terrorist" suspects for this atrocity conveniently blew themselves up to evade capture — thus also evading the full light of judicial investigation which their trials would have required.

... All this spurious discussion about whether curtailment of civil liberties is justified by the terror threat. The basis of the police-state movement is the monstrous and transparent lie of 9/11. By ignoring this lie, even such establishment "alternatives" as the Liberal Democrats (Mark Oaten!) are acquiescing and participating in it.

'... offering economic incentives to the Islamic state to give up its nuclear enrichment programme. ...

'President Bush announced the major change in US policy on Friday [11 March 05].

'He said the US would back European talks to resolve the stand-off over Iran's nuclear issue.

'His Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, announced the lifting of a decade-long block on Iran's membership of the World Trade Organization, and objections to Tehran obtaining parts for commercial planes. ...'

Which "major policy change" and "generous offers" I would place every bit as much confidence and any Nazi peace offer ever made.

'The Sunday Times says ministers are gearing up for an election dominated by matters of security.

'MI5 is to put all polling stations on terror alert, warning them to carry out explosives sweeps, the paper reports. [My emphasis.]'

(BBC Ceefax, p.148, reviews of British papers)

A carpet, provided by the Masters themselves, under which to sweep large-scale electoral fraud?

Poll booths to be put on alert
David Leppard, The Times, 13 March 05

'The security service MI5 is to issue a national alert to polling stations amid fears of a possible attack by Islamic terrorists during the general election.

'Spy chiefs want police to be placed outside polling stations where senior ministers will vote. Schools, community centres and church halls acting as polling stations will be advised to install CCTV and sweep for explosives. ...

'The advice to protect polling stations is being prepared by officers from the National Security Advice Centre, and MI5 unit set up last April to look into ways of protecting key government buildings from attack. They have been seconded to a secret Whitehall committee examining the prospects of an election attack.

'One senior government official said: "The committee is involved in preparing security advice for returning officers and that advice will be circulated to polling stations." ...

'However, a senior Whitehall official emphasised that there was no specific intelligence of an election plot. [Is he kidding??!!] ...'

On the related theme of vote-rigging (postal in this case), here's one I missed earlier ...

Labour fails to stall trial on postal vote-rigging claims
Dominic Kennedy and Jill Sherman, The Times, 22 Feb. 05

'The Labour Party was accused yesterday of seeking to delay trials into alleged widespread rigging of postal votes until after the general election to avoid political embarrassment.

'a judge refused Labour's request to adjourn England's first full election court for 30 years into an alleged organised fraud involving thousands of forged postal ballots. ...

'It comes after widespread allegations of postal fraud and voter intimidation in local elections last year. ...

'The trial in Birmingham opened yesterday amid scenes of confusion after the dramatic walkout by three Labour councillors ... Shah Jahan, Shafaq Ahmed and Ayaz Khan ...

'The judge disclosed that, three weeks ago, Labour applied at a preliminary hearing for the trials of alleged voterigging in Bordesley Green and Aston wards, where six Labour councillors were elected, to be adjourned until after May 5 [the projected approximate date of the next general election].

'The hearings arise from local elections last June, when Labour survived as the largest party on Britain's biggest council, Birmingham, despite expected hostility in Muslim areas to the Iraq war. The judge noted there had been an increase in postal voting from 20,000 to 70,000 throughout the city that year. In Bordesley Green ward, only 441 votes separated Labour from the People's Justice Party (PJP), a pro-Kashmir grouping. ...'

Perhaps the imperialist acolytes are now switching their attention to (the more "lucrative") voting in person.

And, to ratchet up the background atmosphere of terror, the driving spirit of the imperial-totalitarian movement ...

'Government plans to tackle a predicted bird flu pandemic have been attacked by a scientist who fears an outbreak could kill two million people in the UK. [My emphasis. My word, that is an impressive figure! But why not fifteen million? Bird flu is said to have an 80% fatality rate, according to improved estimates.]

'Professor Hugh Pennington, president of the Society for General Microbiology, criticised ministers' "optimism" and said a vaccine needs to be ordered now. ...'

'A "very great deal" remains to be done in bringing about police intelligence changes after the Soham murders, the chairman of the inquiry has warned.

'Sir Michael Bichard generally welcomed the [UK] Government's response, but said he still has concerns on progress.

'He said it is a "cause for concern" that the preparations for a national police IT intelligence system, due in 2007 [how it all (is supposed to) mesh in neatly in the police-state timetable!], had slipped back.'

Italy has announced that it will begin withdrawing its 3,000 troops in Iraq in September (2005).

Obviously this is a response to the killing by American troops of an Italian secret-service agent, who died protecting released journalist Giuliana Sgrena. (For this, see above, under 6 March 05.)

Djamel Beghal has been sentenced to 10 years in France for a "pre-9/11 plot" to blow up the US embassy in Paris. Other "conspirators" were given lesser terms. An Afghan connection was mentioned. Beghal was arrested in Dubai in July 2001. He later retracted his confession made in the United Arab Emirates, saying it had been made under torture.

Critics say that the confession is the only piece of evidence used to justify the convictions. There were no documents, taped conversations, nothing else.

On 12 July 2001 was the alleged meeting in Dubai between CIA regional head Larry Mitchell and Osama bin Laden. (See "The 2001 Lead-Up to the 9/11 Attacks".) Any connection here?

'... The plot ... was uncovered in July 2001 when the police in Dubai detained the group's leader, Djamel Beghal, on his way back to France from Afghanistan. ...'

The same direction, in fact, that bin Laden headed for that alleged meeting with Larry Mitchell.

Alexandra Richard in fact mentions Beghal's arrest, in late July, after the "Mitchell-Osama meeting" on the 12th. Follow the link to the English translation of her article in "The 2001 Lead-Up to 9/11".

'USA[:] Anthrax has been detected in post at military mail facilities at the Pentagon and another ready facility in the Virginia suburbs of Washington.'

Iraq's elected parliament has met for the first time, in Baghdad's heavily-fortified Green Zone, helicopter buzzing the skies overhead, but has as yet been unable to agree an executive government to replace the interim US puppet one.

'President George W Bush has nominated US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz as the head of the World Bank, a key development agency.

'Mr Wolfowitz has earned a reputation as a hawk during his time as Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's deputy, and was a strong advocate of the Iraq war. [BBC Newsnight called him "first among neocons".]

'Mr Wolfowitz said he was looking forward to being part of the Bank's "noble mission".

'The commanding officer of Britain's Special Boat Service has died after a training [diving] accident in Norway.

'The Ministry of Defence said a board of inquiry would investigate the death of Lt col Richard van der Horst.

'In line with standard policy relating to the special forces, the Ministry of Defence would only describe Lt Col van der Horst as a Royal Marines officer.

'Similar in status to the better known Special air Service [SAS], the SBS's most famous veteran is Lord Ashdown.'

'The [UK] government plans law changes to allow police to use fingerprint and DNA databases to identify British victims of December's tsunami.

'About 175 Britons are thought to have been caught up in the disaster, but are still unaccounted for.

'Fingerprints and DNA have been taken from bodies but cannot be checked against databases [criminal ones, presumably) because the disaster was not a criminal event.

'The government will propose changes to a bill to change this on Thursday [tomorrow, 17 March 05].'

'The system the CIA relies on to ensure that the suspected terrorists it transfers to other countries will not be tortured has been ineffective and virtually impossible to monitor, according to current and former intelligence officers and lawyers, as well as counterterrorism officials who have participated or reviewed the practice.

'to comply with anti-torture laws that bar sending people to countries where they are likely to be tortured, the CIA's office of general counsel requires a verbal assurance from each nation that detainees will be treated humanely, according to several recently retired CIA officers familiar with such transfers, known as renditions.

'But the effectiveness of the assurances and the legality of the rendition practice are increasingly being questioned by rights groups and others, as freed detainees have alleged that they were mistreated by interrogators after the CIA secretly delivered them to countries with well-documented records of abuse. ...

'After the 2001 attacks, Bush broadened the CIA's authority and, as a result, the agency has rendered more than 100 people from one country to another without legal proceedings and without providing access to the International Committee of the Red Cross, a right afforded all prisoners by the U.S. military. ...

'CIA director Porter J. Goss told Congress a month ago that the CIA has "an accountability program" to monitor rendered prisoners. But he acknowledged that "of course, once they're out of our control, there's only so much we can do." ...'

'Afghan President Hamid Karzai has announced that parliamentary elections will be delayed as Condoleezza Rice made her first visit to the country.

'President Karzai said the elections scheduled for May will take place in September due to "technical matters".

'Ms Rice, the US secretary of state, said the poll would show "the Afghan people's commitment to democracy".

'A bomb exploded in the southern city of Kandahar during her visit, killing five people and injuring another 32.'

'A second wave of job cuts at the BBC will hit around 1,500 posts in news and other programmes, it has emerged.

'The corporation's governors are thought to have approved the cuts at a meeting. They will lead to savings of Ł200m with the money reinvested in programmes.

'The corporation announced last week that 1,730 jobs will be cut in the first round. The new losses will hit news, sport, drama and new media.'

On BBC Newsnight Greg Palast, wearing silly Marlesque raincoat and trilby, claims not one, but two — contradictory — oil conspiracies ...

'The Bush administration made plans for war and for Iraq's oil before the 9/11 attacks, sparking a policy battle between neo-cons and Big Oil ...

'Two years ago today — when President George Bush announced US, British and Allied forces would begin to bomb Baghdad — protesters claimed [what was already obvious] the US had a secret plan for Iraq's oil once Saddam had been conquered.

'In fact there were two conflicting plans, setting off a hidden policy war between neo-conservatives at the Pentagon, on one side, versus a combination of "Big Oil" executives and US State Department "pragmatists".

'"Big Oil" appears to have won. The latest plan, obtained by Newsnight from the US State Department was, we learned, drafted with the help of American oil industry consultants.

'Insiders told Newsnight that planning began "within weeks" of Bush's first taking office in 2001, long before the September 11th attacks on the US.

'An Iraqi-born oil industry consultant, Falah Aljibury, says he took part in the secret meetings in California, Washington and the Middle East. He described the State Department plan for a forced coup d'etat.

'Mr Aljibury himself told Newsnight that he interviewed potential successors to Saddam Hussein on behalf of the Bush administration.

'[But] The industry favoured plan was pushed aside by a secret plan, drafted just before the invasion in 2003, which called for the sell-off of all of Iraq's oil fields. The new plan was crafted by neo-conservatives intent on using Iraq's oil to destroy the Opec cartel through massive increases in production above Opec quotas.

'The sell-off was given the green light in a secret meeting in London headed by Ahmed Chalabi shortly after the US entered Baghdad, according to Robert Ebel.

'Mr Ebel, a former Energy and CIA oil analyst [no such thing as former CIA], now a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told Newsnight he flew to the London meeting at the request of the State Department.

'Mr Aljibury, once Ronald Reagan's "back-channel" to Saddam, claims that plans to sell off Iraq's oil, pushed by the US-installed Governing council in 2003, helped instigate the insurgency and attacks on US and British occupying forces. ...

'Philip Carroll, the former CEO of Shell Oil USA who took control of Iraq's oil production for the US Government a month after the invasion, stalled the sell-off scheme.

'Mr Carroll told us he made it clear to Paul Bremer, the US occupation chief who arrived in Iraq in May 2003, that: "There was to be no privatisation of Iraqi oil resources or facilities while I was involved. ...'

in other words, the neocons are convenient tools for the job who can get the blame for conspiracies. The higher-level power wielders, such as CIA figures and Paul Bremer (protege of Henry Kissinger, the possible godfather of the petroleum faction), reap the rewards. They know that no scheme for "free oil" will work until the other top players in OPEC, Iran and Saudi Arabia, are converted into puppet states too.

'ITALY[:] A small plane from the civil defence agency has crashed into a building near the Tuscany coast killing two people on board, reports say.'

Condoleezza Rice has reached Japan. There she apparently concerned herself mainly with North Korea, urging it to rejoin six-party talks on the country's "nuclear weapons". (North Korea is insulted by her earlier description of the state as "an outpost of tyranny".)

Rice also managed a swipe at China, saying she hopes it will move toward democracy, or something. She is due to visit Peking later.

It's ironic that China has made significant progress away from totalitarianism; while America, and its Anglo-Saxon camp-followers, are heading in the opposite direction. (Though they have as yet a fair way to go before they reach even as repressive a condition as present-day China.)

Sir Richard Dearlove, then head of MI6, told Tony Blair that the Bush administration was wrapping facts around its policy for invading Iraq, according to the BBC's Panorama programme tonight.

(ITV Teletext, p.307)

The BBC is again (but it's but it's by no means exclusive to them) excusing the real policy-mongers at the expense of their front-men. Cf. above, under 17 March 05, for BBC Newsnight's Greg Palast on the "Great Neocon Conspiracy Cock-Up".

MI6 chief told PM: Americans "fixed" case for war
Nick Fielding, (London), 20 March 05

'The head of MI6 told Tony Blair that the case for war against Iraq was being "fixed" by the Americans to suit the policy, according to a BBC documentary that will reignite its battle with the government.

'Blair followed the US lead by failing to reveal publicly doubts about the quality of intelligence that he had requested to support the case for war, the programme claims.

'Sir Richard Dearlove, head of MI6, briefed Blair and select group of ministers on America's determination to press ahead with the war nine months before hostilities began.

'After attending a briefing in Washington, he told the meeting that war was "inevitable". Dearlove said "the facts and intelligence" were being "fixed round the policy" by George W Bush's administration.

'The allegations against Blair just weeks before a general election are likely to reopen the feud between the government and the BBC that came to a head over the death of Dr David Kelly, the former weapons inspector. It led to the resignations of Gavyn Davies, it chairman, and Greg Dyke, its director-general. ...'

The BBC Panorama programme "Iraq, Tony and the truth", 20 March 05. Introduction, with link to transcript of programme.

... The Empire, in the viper-in-bosom form of the new director-general, Strikes Back:-

The BBC is to cut 2,050 jobs. The cuts, "including 424 announced in December, take the total job losses at the BBC to 3,786, saving Ł355m a year.

'They are part of director general Mark Thompson's plan to streamline the BBC ...

'The National Union of Journalists said the cuts would "rip the heart out" of the corporation.'

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has announced a plan to make the UN Security Council more representative, by expanding it.

Which, unless the Great-Power vetoes are removed — and of this, there was no chance, even before the 9/11 victory of force-politics — will be as useless as anything else produced by that organization.

'(CNN) — The Supreme Court Monday [today] rejected the appeal of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person publicly charged in the United States in connection with the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

'The justices announced their decision Monday after meeting privately Friday to discuss the case.

'Moussaoui, an admitted member of al Qaeda [yeah ...?], the Muslim [!] terrorist group linked to the September 11 attacks. had asked the court to rule on whether his right to a fair trial hinges on obtaining testimony from other al Qaeda detainees who, he believes, would exonerate him.

'The trial, originally scheduled for September 2002 [!!, has been indefinitely delayed as a dispute over witness access moved through the U.S. courts. ...'

'Moussaoui's trial is stalled in a dispute over access to key detainees in custody — Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the architect of the attacks, Ramzi Binalshibh, a coordinator of the plot, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, a financier of the hijackers.

'The government considers these military prisoners, which it holds in undisclosed locations in other countries [my emphasis], "enemy combatants" out of reach of the U.S. courts. [The raising of these phantoms would menace the whole imperial lie of 9/11.]

'In what it calls an effort to both preserve its prosecution and protect national security, the government offered the trial court written summaries [!] of the detainees' interrogations. ...'

'A judge has condemned the postal voting system as "an open invitation to fraud" as the country prepares for a forthcoming general election.

'Richard Mawrey QC is sitting as election commissioner hearing allegations of fraud during last year's local elections in Birmingham.

'He is hearing petitions lodged against Birmingham Labour councillors accused of abusing the postal ballot system.

'A proposed reform of mental health laws could lead to people with only mild conditions being locked up and forcibly treated, MPs and peers have warned.

'The joint House of Commons and House of Lords Committee said the draft Mental Health Bill made it too easy to force a person into compulsory treatment.

'It said the legislation could be used as a form of social control and would erode civil liberties.

Probably it will be a component (as in the communist states) of the upcoming police state.

'The Iraq war amounted to a "crime of aggression", the former deputy legal adviser to the Foreign Office has said.

'Elizabeth Wilmhurst made the claim before [the] war in her resignation letter, obtained by the BBC News website.

'But part of the letter has not been released. A report on Channel 4 claims it shows the attorney general changed his mind on the legality of the war. ...'

Explosion/fire at a British Petroleum (BP) refinery in Texas has destroyed a third of it. They don't think terrorism is to blame. refinery is third-largest in USA, supplying 3% of its petrol.

Uprising in Kyrghyzstan removes the 15-year president. Country strategic to both Russia and (now!) America.

'Britain faces a threat more significant than anything since the Cold War and the Nazis, the new [London] Metropolitan Police Commissioner has warned.

'Sir Ian Blair said potential terrorists would see the forthcoming general election as "a real opportunity to launch an attack on the UK". [And how right he is ....!]

'"We must be aware that al-Qaeda will see the opportunity this year for a worldwide statement", he said.'

Al-Qaeda is nothing more or less than the upcoming Anglo-Saxon totalitarian imperialism seen in the mirror.

And Ian Blair, an agent of this new force, is doing his bit to queer the election in favour of it.

Unlike Soviet Communism and (to some extent) German Nazism, the American-led Third Form grows in the bed of the (right wing of the) existing power establishment.

The UK government is to invite international observers to monitor the forthcoming general election.

'Record numbers of electors are applying for postal votes for the General Election, it has been reported.

'A survey by The Guardian of 55 councils covering 135 constituencies found applications to vote by post had risen in all cases, tripling in some areas.

'The increase comes as demand grows for changes in the postal voting system, recently described by a High Court judge as "an open invitation to fraud". [See above, under 22 March 05.]'

On the contrary, it's the polling stations (where most voters will still vote) that are the real worry. This is where MI5 may terrorize the results.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has been cleared of wrongdoing in the arms-for-food scandal, but criticised for maintaining adequate supervision. The former US government official who made the report said the evidence was inadequate.

Thus at least tarring him with the brush of uncertainty. A result better-than-nothing for the US imperialists, in whose path the UN is a stumbling-block.

'The Iraqi parliament's second-only session broke up in acrimony as MPs lashed out at political leaders for their failure to form a government. ...'

This is better news for the petro-cabal. A failure to produce an independent government will be a pretext to keep US troops (and for the moment, the present puppet government) in place.

Diplomats have protested at the appointment of John Bolton as US ambassador to the UN. Bolton is a hard-right critic of the UN.

'A new centre to tackle paedophiles who operate online is to be set up, Home Secretary Charles Clarke has announced.

'It will be the first organisation in the world to see police, child welfare groups and telecommunications industry working together to snare web perverts. [It will have about 100 staff, drawn from these classes.]

'The Centre for Child Protection on the Internet will start work next April as part of the new serious Organised Crime Agency [SOCA], the so-called "British FBI".'

'Paul Wolfowitz has been confirmed as the new head of the World Bank a day after winning crucial European support.

'The US deputy defence secretary's nomination had proved controversial, given his key role in the Iraq war and lack of development experience.

'Despite the early opposition, the directors of the Bank, representing 184 countries, unanimously approved him as the organisation's 10th president. [How's that for democracy in action! (puke)]

'President George W Bush has welcomed a study that says US intelligence agencies know "disturbingly little" about enemy weapons programmes.

'Describing the report as "extremely significant", he said US intelligence US intelligence would have to face the threats of the 21st century.

'The study makes recommendations for new director of US intelligence John Negroponte, who heads 15 spy agencies.