flash Intro Movie Down with murder inc Index News by country GOOGLE US DEFENSE

DOWN WITH MURDER INC.

Iraq quagmire

Deja Vu??? another leak ...another psyop...
Handy Lines from Andy Lines & co.

EXCLUSIVE: BUSH PLOT TO BOMB HIS ARAB ALLY

Madness of war memo

By Kevin Maguire And Andy Lines - 22 November 2005

PRESIDENT Bush planned to bomb Arab TV station al-Jazeera in friendly Qatar, a "Top Secret" No 10 memo reveals. But he was talked out of it at a White House summit by Tony Blair, who said it would provoke a worldwide backlash.

A source said: "There's no doubt what Bush wanted, and no doubt Blair didn't want him to do it." Al-Jazeera is accused by the US of fuelling the Iraqi insurgency.

The attack would have led to a massacre of innocents on the territory of a key ally, enraged the Middle East and almost certainly have sparked bloody retaliation.

A source said last night: "The memo is explosive and hugely damaging to Bush. "He made clear he wanted to bomb al-Jazeera in Qatar and elsewhere. Blair replied that would cause a big problem. "There's no doubt what Bush wanted to do - and no doubt Blair didn't want him to do it."

A Government official suggested that the Bush threat had been "humorous, not serious".

But another source declared: "Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair. That much is absolutely clear from the language used by both men."

Yesterday former Labour Defence Minister Peter Kilfoyle challenged Downing Street to publish the five-page transcript of the two leaders' conversation. He said: "It's frightening to think that such a powerful man as Bush can propose such cavalier actions. "I hope the Prime Minister insists this memo be published. It gives an insight into the mindset of those who were the architects of war."

Bush disclosed his plan to target al-Jazeera, a civilian station with a huge Mid-East following, at a White House face-to-face with Mr Blair on April 16 last year. At the time, the US was launching an all-out assault on insurgents in the Iraqi town of Fallujah. Al-Jazeera infuriated Washington and London by reporting from behind rebel lines and broadcasting pictures of dead soldiers, private contractors and Iraqi victims. The station, watched by millions, has also been used by bin Laden and al-Qaeda to broadcast atrocities and to threaten the West. Al-Jazeera's HQ is in the business district of Qatar's capital, Doha. Its single-storey buildings would have made an easy target for bombers. As it is sited away from residential areas, and more than 10 miles from the US's desert base in Qatar, there would have been no danger of "collateral damage".

Dozens of al-Jazeera staff at the HQ are not, as many believe, Islamic fanatics. Instead, most are respected and highly trained technicians and journalists.

To have wiped them out would have been equivalent to bombing the BBC in London and the most spectacular foreign policy disaster since the Iraq War itself.

The No 10 memo now raises fresh doubts over US claims that previous attacks against al-Jazeera staff were military errors. In 2001 the station's Kabul office was knocked out by two "smart" bombs. In 2003, al-Jazeera reporter Tareq Ayyoub was killed in a US missile strike on the station's Baghdad centre. The memo, which also included details of troop deployments, turned up in May last year at the Northampton constituency office of then Labour MP Tony Clarke.

Cabinet Office civil servant David Keogh, 49, is accused under the Official Secrets Act of passing it to Leo O'Connor, 42, who used to work for Mr Clarke. Both are bailed to appear at Bow Street court next week.

Mr Clarke, who lost at the election, returned the memo to No 10.

He said Mr O'Connor had behaved "perfectly correctly".

Neither Mr O'Connor or Mr Keogh were available. No 10 did not comment. mirror.co.uk

Warning on Jazeera bombing report

Wed Nov 23, 2005 LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has warned media organizations they are breaking the law if they publish details of a leaked document said to show U.S. President George W. Bush wanted to bomb Arabic television station Al Jazeera.

The government's top lawyer warned editors in a note after the Daily Mirror newspaper reported on Tuesday that a secret British government memo said British Prime Minister Tony Blair had talked Bush out of bombing the broadcaster in April last year.

Several British newspapers reported the attorney general's note on Wednesday and repeated the Mirror's allegations, which the White House said were "so outlandish" they did not merit a response. Blair's office declined to comment.

Al Jazeera, which has repeatedly denied U.S. accusations it sides with insurgents in Iraq, called on Britain and the United States to state quickly whether the report was accurate.

"If the report is correct then this would be both shocking and worrisome not only to Al Jazeera but to media organizations across the world," the Qatar-based station said in a statement.

The story would also be a shock for Qatar, a small Gulf state which cultivates good relations with Washington.

The Mirror said the memo came from Blair's Downing Street office and turned up in May last year at the local office of Tony Clarke, then a member of parliament for the town of Northampton. Clarke handed the document back to the government.

Leo O'Connor, who used to work for Clarke, and civil servant David Keogh were charged last Thursday under Britain's Official Secrets Act with making a "damaging disclosure of a document relating to international relations".

WHITE HOUSE SUMMIT

The Mirror said Bush told Blair at a White House summit on April 16 last year that he wanted to target Al Jazeera. The summit took place as U.S. forces in Iraq were launching a major assault on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

The paper quoted an unnamed government official suggesting Bush's threat was a joke but added another unidentified source saying the U.S. president was serious.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said: "We are not interested in dignifying something so outlandish and inconceivable with a response."

The attorney general told media that publishing the contents of a document which is known to have been unlawfully disclosed by a civil servant was a breach of the Official Secrets Act.

Kevin Maguire, the Mirror's associate editor, said government officials had given no indication of any legal problems with the story when contacted before publication. "We were astonished, 24 hours later, to be threatened with the Official Secrets Act and to be requested to give various undertakings to avoid being injuncted," he told BBC radio.

Al Jazeera said that, if true, the story would raise serious doubts about the U.S. administration's version of previous incidents involving the station's journalists and offices. In 2001, the station's Kabul office was hit by U.S. bombs and in 2003 Al Jazeera reporter Tareq Ayyoub was killed in a U.S. strike on its Baghdad office. The United States has denied deliberately targeting the station. - reuters

there are 2 memos: or are there?

the first was published in the Sunday Times more than 18 months ago. [Iraq in the Medium Term]

The Times reports charges being brought to David Keogh and former MP's researcher Leo O'Connor But the memo they are supposed to have leaked is not the Al Jazeera memo

Researcher on secrets charge

A FORMER MP's researcher charged with breaking the Official Secrets Act behaved "perfectly correctly" and is "incredibly unlucky" to have been caught up in the scandal, according to his one-time employer, writes Robert Winnett.

Leo O'Connor, 42, is alleged to have been passed a top secret document about the Iraq war by David Keogh, a 49-year-old Cabinet Office civil servant.

O'Connor gave the document to his boss, Tony Clarke, then a Labour MP and an opponent of the Iraq war, who called the police. O'Connor was charged with passing on official secrets. He was arrested in August 2004 [?] and charged last week, along with Keogh, who previously worked for the Foreign Office.

Clarke, who lost his seat in the last election, said last week O'Connor had acted properly and had remained in his employment until his electoral defeat. He added: "I remain 100% supportive of him and he is incredibly unlucky."

The document is said to be the transcript of a conversation between Tony Blair and President George Bush in spring 2004. It is believed to show Blair disagreed with Bush over their strategy on Iraq.

The men also revealed sensitive information on the situation in Iraq, including intelligence sources and details of future military movements.

Last week several media organisations claimed the information had also been leaked to The Sunday Times. However, the Metropolitan police, Crown Prosecution Service and Clarke said this was not the case.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1120147,00.html

now looky here at this BBC report : same thing

BBC story: Two charged 'over Iraq memo leak'

The memo suggests Foreign Office doubts over US tactics in Iraq

Two men have been charged under the Official Secrets Act following the leak of a secret government memo.

The document involved - the Foreign Office's Iraq in the Medium Term - referred to "heavy-handed" US tactics, a government source told the BBC.

Its contents were reported in the Sunday Times in May last year.

Ex-civil servant David Keogh and former MP's researcher Leo O'Connor, both from Northampton, will appear before Bow Street magistrates on 29 November.

Political researcher

Mr Keogh, 49, is a former Cabinet Office communications worker.

Mr O'Connor, 42, worked as a researcher for Tony Clarke, the former MP for Northampton South.

The pair received police bail.

Mr Keogh was charged with an offence under section three of the Official Secrets Act, Mr O'Connor under section five. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4447100.stm

The BBC reported that Keogh and O'Connor were being prosecuted over the Times leak [Iraq in the Medium Term], quoting a government source

The Sunday Times report and an associated confidential memo are claimed to be related to the recent UK Official Secrets Act ban on publication of a Blair-Bush memo in which Bush suggests bombing Al Jazeera headquarters in Qatar.

The two memos appear to be different. The [Iraq in the Medium Term] memo does not mention Al Jazeera.

The original Mirror story links the two researchers who are reported above as leaking the [Iraq in the Medium Term] memo

to a memo NO HAS EVER SEEN involving Bush / Blair bombing Al Jazeera [see above]

The second memo [the 'al jazeera' memo] led to the bringing of charges to whom exactly ???

this is a deliberate attempt at confusion as a diversion tactic in an act of statist protectionism

But it's much more than that: it is a device to show that AlJazeera - with all its modernisation is still a threat to US UK empirical ambition even when they have ex CENTCOM soldiers in their operation & Sir David Frost at the helm...

The changing face of Al Jazeera

Fintan Dunne reports: Al-Jazeerah, MI6, Moon & the NWO

The Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace (IIFWP) is backed by Korean CIA agent, Rev. Sun Myung Moon, head of the cultish Unification Church.

Back in June 2002, UPI chief John O'Sullivan spoke at an IIFWP symposium in Washington D.C. He opened his remarks by referring to Imad Musa, from the Washington Bureau of Al Jazeera -a previous speaker.

"I should say how much I appreciated the remarks of the gentleman from Al Jazeera. I'm sorry he told us the story about the BBC because I had hoped to refer to him as the only member of Al Jazeera who hadn't been a former employee of the World Service of the BBC, thus subtly hinting that Al Jazeera is really an MI6 operation," said UPI's O'Sullivan. Al-Jazeera --the CNN of the Arab world-- has been allowed free rein to broadcast the conflict from near the US Centcom command in Quatar.

Yet the station has been kept clear of the most sensitive military operations.

So those comments by UPI's John O'Sullivan spund like a macabre inside joke.

CNN is counterpointed by al-Jazeera. Both are agents of the G8 NWO. Both stations are assets of intelligence services. Both are fanning the flames of conflict in their respective audiences. This is how war is fomented.

So, before you swallow the story of Bush's plan to bomb al-Jazeera, consider this: Blair's people have always resorted under pressure to the argument that Tony is a restraining influence on GWB.

Now, with Tony under pressure, along comes a "leak" which shows, (surprise, surprise) Tony being a restraining influence on GWB. - breakfornews

Bear this in mind as well

US military plants stories in Iraqi media - LA Times

WASHINGTON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. military has secretly paid Iraqi newspapers to run dozens of pro-American articles written by a special military unit, The Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday. The newspaper also reported that the "Information Operations Task Force" in Baghdad has bought an Iraqi newspaper and taken control of a radio station, and was using them to disseminate pro-American views as well.

It said it based the story on interviews with U.S. military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity and with Iraqi newspaper employees, as well as documents it obtained.

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said he could not say whether the story was true but some of what it described was "troubling" and he had asked military officials in Iraq for information.

"This article raises some questions as to whether or not some of the practices that are described in there are consistent with the principles of this department," he said.

The Times reported the program began this year. Records and interviews indicated that the articles were written in English, translated into Arabic and then given to Baghdad newspapers to print in return for payment.

A defense contractor, the Washington-based Lincoln Group, had helped translate the stories and was using staff or subcontractors posing as freelance journalists or advertising executives to bring them to Iraqi media outlets.

Laurie Adler, a Lincoln Group spokeswoman, referred inquiries to a U.S. military officer in Iraq who could not be reached immediately. The Times depicted the stories as "basically factual," but said they omitted information that might not reflect well upon the United States or the U.S.-backed Iraqi government. The stories "trumpet the work of U.S. and Iraqi troops, denounce insurgents and tout U.S.-led efforts to rebuild the country," the Times said.

None of the newspapers that published the stories revealed their connection to the U.S. military, although some identified the articles as "advertising," or took other steps to distinguish them from normal news, the Times reported.

Earlier this year, the Bush administration came under criticism after federal agencies distributed video packages to American TV stations that could be broadcast as news stories.

The Government Accountability Office, an arm of Congress, has said those efforts could be seen as a form of "covert propaganda".

(Additional reporting by Kevin Krolicki in Los Angeles) alertnet.org

 

Captain Wardrobes

Down with Murder inc.