20 February 2010 Why is Spain, not the United States, undertaking a criminal investigation of US government officials for torture? Because, as the Convention Against Torture contemplated, countries all too frequently seek to cover up their own acts of torture, says David Cole. >>>>>
More than 300 apply for seat at Brown Iraq grilling
Mr Brown was chancellor at the time of the Iraq war
More than 300 people applied for seats at Gordon Brown's evidence to the Iraq Inquiry - but only one family who lost a relative was among them.
The 323 entries received for the PM's session on 5 March is considerably fewer than the 3,041 who applied to see his predecessor, Tony Blair.
Mr Brown's evidence is being split into two sessions - with 60 seats at each.
More than 150 extra seats will be available - people granted seats will be told in the next few days. >>>>>
Authorities were told of Iraqi prisoner abuse, officer tells Baha Mousa inquiry
25 February 2010
British army officer says he alerted Red Cross and commanders to prisoners being hooded and forced to kneel in the sun
A senior army officer revealed today that he alerted military commanders and the Red Cross to Iraqi prisoners being hooded and forced to kneel in the sun.
The officer, who can be identified only as S009, was commanding officer of the Queen's Dragoon Guards at the time of the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. He had the task of running an internment facility in Umm Qasr, southern Iraq.
He alerted the authorities, he said, because he found the prisoners' treatment unlawful and "morally objectionable". >>>>>
**From Monday 13 July 2009**
Soldier shouts abuse at Iraqi prisoners in video shown to Baha Mousa inquiry
13 Jul 2009:
Clip is part of key evidence at inquiry into death of hotel receptionist Baha Mousa while in British custody
British Army colonel so upset over Iraq abuse he went to top brass
26 February 2010
A senior British Army officer was so concerned about prisoners being hooded and forced to kneel in the sun days after the invasion of Iraq that he went outside the chain of command to complain, a public inquiry heard yesterday.
The former colonel, who is now retired from the Army and can only be identified as S009, was commanding officer of the Queen's Dragoon Guards at the time of the invasion in March 2003.
He was given the job of building and running a theatre internment facility (TIF) in Umm Qasr, southern Iraq, to hold prisoners of war. >>>>>
War spinners on the defensive
Next week an American journalist called David Finkel will be in Sydney publicising his remarkable book The Good Soldiers, the account of a year he spent with an American army unit during the ''surge'' offensive in Iraq. It's hard to imagine any such book coming out of Australia from our military involvement in either Iraq or Afghanistan.
For one thing, our media editors mostly don't think that long term and their owners wouldn't wear the costs. But even if one of them did, our Defence Department would go into lock-down mode at the thought of a journalist tracking military operations day by day.
Snip
The spin could be wobbling off its axis, however, as a result of last weekend's collapse of the Dutch coalition government over attempts by the main partner to change a decision to pull out the 1600 Dutch forces in August.
Snip
''You've got to admire the Kiwis,'' he said. ''It's the first time [Gulf War II] we haven't fought alongside them since the Maori wars. They stick by their principles. It's a politically correct thing to do to support your long-term ally, the United States, but at what cost morally? The British inquiry has proved that again, too.'' >>>>>
British government collude in MI5 torture cover up
Photo: Binyam Mohamed, who was held at Guantanamo Bay, steps from a plane at Northolt military base in west London
25 February, 2010
A British government attempt to interfere with a judgement highly critical of MI5 has heightened fears that the Bloody Sunday report by be doctored.
Derry MLA Martina Anderson says that interference with an investigation into allegations that MI5 colluded in the torture of a detainee, Binyam Mohamed, shows that the British government will seek to do whatever it takes to cover up its own wrongdoings.
"None of us should be under any illusion that they will treat the Saville report any differently, which is why the findings of the inquiry must be given to families at the same time as the British government," said Anderson.
"Otherwise, the British establishment, their government and their army, whose actions Saville was investigating, will have plenty of time to prepare their responses and their excuses and to edit, leak and spin the report to suit themselves," she said. >>>>>
Hope to have much more on the Baha Mousa inquiry, especially if the Spanish open up the investigation and possible trials of our own in-country enablers of torture, crimes against International Law and our own Laws, as well as Crimes against Humanity!
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