Anatomy of International Murder and the Cover Up of War Crimes

(9 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

“Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive”



Sir Walter Scott quotes (Scottish Novelist, Poet, Historian and Biographer, 1771-1832)

What follows is a tale of international intrigue with spies, murder and a conspiracy to cover up the run up to an illegal war by two leaders of government, Tony Blair and George W. Bush.

Conspiracy Theory or War crime? You be the judge.

h/t to emptywheel at FDL

From London Evening Standard

A highly unusual ruling by Lord Hutton, who chaired the inquiry into Dr Kelly’s death, means medical records including the post-mortem report will remain classified until after all those with a direct interest in the case are dead, the Mail on Sunday reported.

   And a 30-year secrecy order has been placed on written records provided to Lord Hutton’s inquiry which were not produced in evidence.

   The Ministry of Justice said decisions on the evidence were a matter for Lord Hutton. But Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, who has conducted his own investigations into Dr Kelly’s death, described the order as “astonishing”.

   [snip]

   One of the doctors seeking a full inquest, former assistant coroner Michael Powers, told the Mail on Sunday he had seen a letter from the legal team of Oxfordshire County Council explaining the unusual restrictions placed by Lord Hutton on material relating to his inquiry.

   The letter states: “Lord Hutton made a request for the records provided to the inquiry, not produced in evidence, to be closed for 30 years, and that medical (including post-mortem) reports and photographs be closed for 70 years.”

In case you don’t remember who Dr, David Kelly was there is this synopsis from Larisa Alexandrovna from at-Largely

1. Dr. David Kelly worked for the Ministry of Defense/U.K. as an expert in bio-weapons. He was also one of the key UN weapons inspectors in Iraq.

2. He became concerned about the US/UK claims of WMD in Iraq in the build-up to the Iraq war in 2003. Much the same way that former US Ambassador Joseph Wilson became concerned about US claims of yellowcake uranium purchases by Iraq from Niger. Like Wilson, Dr. Kelly became an anonymous source for a journalist. In Kelly’s case, he met with BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan.

3. The MoD leaked Kelly’s identity (just like Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity was leaked) to the press.

4. A Parliamentary committee tasked with investigating the planted intelligence on Iraq asked Kelly to testify, which he did.

5. Several days after his testimony and while preparing for a trip with his wife, Dr. Kelly was found dead in a park nearby his home, which was ruled a suicide. On the day he “committed suicide” he had sent an email to New York Times reporter Judith Miller in which he said “many dark actors playing games.”

6. Leading physicians and first responders who arrived at the park and inspected Kelly’s body did not think he committed suicide, even going so far as to sue the British government to prove their case.

If he committed suicide, why are the records being sealed for 70 years? Possibly because it wasn’t suicide. Suicide has to be proven, it cannot be presumed it MUST be proven. the evidence from the scene indicates that the body may have been dumped

Both saw that the left sleeves of his jacket and shirt had been pulled up to just below the elbow and there was dried blood around his left wrist.

There was no gaping wound… there wasn’t a puddle of blood around,‘ said Hunt. ‘There was a little bit of blood on the nettles to the left of his left arm. But there was no real blood on the body of the shirt. The only other bit of blood I saw was on his clothing. It was the size of a 50p piece above the right knee on his trousers.’

Hunt found this very strange. ‘If you manage to cut a wrist and catch an artery you would get a spraying of blood, regardless of whether it’s an accident… Because of the nature of an arterial cut, you get a pumping action. I would certainly expect a lot more blood on his clothing, on his shirt. If you choose to cut your wrists, you don’t worry about getting blood on your clothes.

I didn’t see any blood on his right hand… If he used his right hand to cut his wrist, from an arterial wound you would expect some spray.’

Bartlett agreed: ‘I remember saying to one of the policemen it didn’t look like he died from that [the wrist wound] and suggesting he must have taken an overdose or something else.’

Bartlett recalls being called to one attempted suicide where the blood had spurted so high it hit the ceiling. ‘Even in this incident, the victim survived. It was like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the guy walked out alive. We have been to a vast amount of incidents where people who have slashed their wrists, intentionally or not. Most of them are taken down the hospital and given a few stitches then sent straight back home. But there is a lot of blood. It’s all over them.’

The surprise of the paramedics that there was not much blood is supported by a number of medical experts. A letter was written to the papers earlier this year questioning his death.

There were no fingerprints found on the knife and Dr. Kelly was not wearing gloves.

The British paper, The Daily Mail is demanding the truth from former Prime Minister Tony Blair when he appears next week before the Chilcot Inquiry

When Tony Blair finally appears before the Chilcot Inquiry on Friday, there will be many across the land who will be longing to see him at last brought before the bar of public opinion to account for his central role in launching the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Here is the man who planned it all well in advance, but told Parliament he was trying to avoid war.

The man who told us Saddam Hussein presented an increasing threat, when the Iraqi dictator possessed no weapons of mass destruction at all.

The man who said he put the British interest first, but who, eager and starry-eyed, followed George Bush wherever he wanted to go, even into the maddest corners.

Even the the head, Lord Brian Hutton, of the inquest that allegedly investigated Dr. Kelly’s death was a plant by Blair

Hutton was appointed, and his terms of reference agreed, within record time, just hours after Dr Kelly, the Government’s foremost weapons inspector, was found dead on Harrowdown Hill in Oxfordshire.

His task was to examine the circumstances surrounding the scientist’s death, including the political events that straddled the war, not least the claim that the Government’s case for war had been ‘sexed up’.

Lord Hutton was the ideal appointment for the Government. He had chaired only one inquiry before – into the diversion of a river in Northern Ireland.

Even more importantly, throughout his career he had shown himself to be sympathetic to the Government and critical of the media.

In 1973, he had represented the Ministry of Defence at the Bloody Sunday inquests. In 1991, he successfully led the campaign to overturn the decision to extradite the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

In 2002, he blocked the attempt by renegade MI5 officer David Shayler to use a public-interest defence to justify his revelations about the actions of the organisation.

Nobody is suggesting that Lord Hutton was anything other than independent but, in the words of Sir Humphrey in Yes Minister, you don’t choose a judge whom you can lean on; you choose one who doesn’t have to be leant on.

Worse, Tony Blair and his close circle decided from the outset that Hutton’s should be a ‘non-statutory inquiry’.

Take away the jargon and what that means is no witness could be compelled to appear, nobody could be required to tell the truth or charged with perjury if they didn’t, and the normal safeguards associated with a court process, such as proper cross-examination of witnesses, were entirely absent.

If Lord Hutton’s conduct of his inquiry into the battle between the Government and the BBC was deeply unsatisfactory, his examination of the death of Dr Kelly was pathetic

and where was tony when Dr. Kelly’s body was discovered? He was on a last minute arranged meeting with co-conspirator GWB in Washington, D.C. From emptywheel

One of the things that happened in one of Ari Fleischer’s last briefings (trying to look for it now) is that he was informed by reporters that Tony Blair would be coming for a visit-Fleischer, apparently, had not been told about what was apparently a last minute trip. Which had the effect of-just days after Plame’s identity was leaked and on the day Kelly was suicided-having Blair and Bush having a last minute visit together.

Just in case he needed to be out of town, you know.

Why aren’t any of these people behind bars? Why is GWB appearing in public service announcements to raise money for Haiti and not in Leavenworth or, better yet, Guantanamo? Oh, right, I forgot, we have to look forward. Bull

19 comments

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    • TMC on January 25, 2010 at 06:32
      Author

    I needed to remember that the world off this island has not stopped.

  1. http://lanl-the-rest-of-the-st

  2. seems quite normal to me…for murder in the first degree.  Financial crimes only require a 10-year black out.  Based on national security, of course!  What else?

    Everything is perfectly fine.  On the up-and-up.  Hunky dory.  No worries.

    Preznit O will be reassuring us soon enough.  Can’t wait, me-self.

    • banger on January 25, 2010 at 16:13

    That those in power use it. Power is different from the law. Laws, Constitutions, normal procedures, regulations are all bent or ignored because we lack a sense of virtue, frankly. It isn’t just the powerful it’s all of us to some degree.

    Whatever it is, it is too late. It’s over. We live in an emergent corporatist/militarist/imperialist/neo-feudal state. And that’s where it will remain. Old institutions will persist as they did in Rome but they will not be anything but pro-forma institutions.

    Our only chance is to make an alliance with the populist right in some areas — that might keep some of the more noxious policies away. Clearly we all need to rethink our positions — we need to spend a considerable amount of time doing that.  

  3. I recall Dr. Kelly’s death.  Personally, I would have no doubt that Dr. Kelly’s death was that of an assassination.

    Since Britain and the U.S. (Blair & Bush) were so closely aligned, it seems clear to me that they also, in addition to Iraq, pursued many of the “same” policies.  Afterall, Cheney had his secret assassination squad (stemming from his own Joint Special Operations Command).

    (March 11, 2009) Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh dropped a bombshell on Tuesday when he told an audience at the University of Minnesota that the military was running an “executive assassination ring” throughout the Bush years which reported directly to former Vice President Dick Cheney. . . . .

    ‘Cheney Is Linked to Concealment of C.I.A. Project’

    The New York Times has broken open a ‘bite-in’ story to better pave the way for more prosecution of Cheney, and such proceedings and evidence enables prosecution of Bush, too.

    The following story by Scott Shane, July 11, 2009

    ‘Cheney Is Linked to Concealment of C.I.A. Project’

    This may ultimately lead to the little known suspected murder squads that may originate from I.S.T.O., and J.S.O.C., Joint Special Operations Command. . . . .(see also:  Cheney Secret Program . . . .

    But this secret J.S.O.C. has gone into even greater operations, the same for which even Obama may not be aware of.  Yes, we have a “secret army.”

    The Secret US War in Pakistan

    By Jeremy Scahill, November 23, 2009

    At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, “snatch and grabs” of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help direct a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus. . . . .

    So, the above is simply to show, amongst others, the parallels in behaviors of the U.S. and the UK, or is this all part of the so-called “New World Order” (Bilderbergs, etc.)??????

     

  4. but, I see Momcat has it covered.

    If anyone thought that he wasn’t murdered, this clinches it.  You simply don’t seal away the records for 70 YEARS, so that by the time they are public nobody cares UNLESS it was murder.

    And, in this case, it was probably a sanctioned murder BY the British government since THEY are the people working so hard to keep this from the public.

  5. Why aren’t any of these people behind bars? Why is GWB appearing in public service announcements to raise money for Haiti and not in Leavenworth or, better yet, Guantanamo? Oh, right, I forgot, we have to look forward. Bull

    WHY AREN’T THESE CRIMINALS BEHIND BARS?  

    Well, maybe, things are a-brewing, just, maybe!  You know, just opening the “can of worms” would bring forth sooo, sooo much (at least we would hope).

    Why I believe Blair should stand trial – and even face charges for war crimes

    By General Sir Michael Rose

    Last updated at 11:36 AM on 29th November 2009

    The inquiry into the Iraq War is not a court and no one is on trial. So said Sir John Chilcot, chairman of the inquiry, in his opening statement. He added that he was not there to determine the guilt or innocence of those responsible for the invasion of Iraq. . . . .

    The war in Iraq represents a clear breach of these three basic requirements: the UN believed there was no justification for going to war in March 2003, as we had not reached the point of ‘last resort’; there was no threat whatsoever from Iraq in the absence of chemical weapons; and the woeful failure to commit proper resources to the post-war situation meant Iraq inevitably descended into a spiral of disorder, violence and chaos from which it has still not recovered.

    Everyone  –  even a Prime Minister  –  must be presumed innocent until he is proven guilty. However, it is not a sustainable defence for Blair to say that he felt he was doing the ‘right thing’ when he committed this country to the invasion of Iraq, or that he was himself misled by the intelligence. . . . .

    That is why I believe that, if justice is to prevail, and faith in democracy is to be restored in this country, Tony Blair and those officials responsible for the disasters of the Iraq war should appear in a court of law which could lead to them being indicted for war crimes.

    We owe this much at least to those many brave and courageous people who have died or been injured in Iraq as well as to their families.

    As with the shooting of Admiral Byng, putting Blair before a court of law to answer for his actions would surely encourage future prime ministers not to wage costly and unnecessary wars in times to come. . . . .

    From The Sunday Times January 17, 2010

    Revealed: Jack Straw’s secret warning to Tony Blair on Iraq

    Michael Smith

    The document begins in a way that now appears eerily prophetic: “The rewards from your visit to Crawford will be few … there is at present no majority inside the PLP [parliamentary Labour party] for any military action against Iraq.”

    Straw said Iraq posed no greater threat to the UK than it had done previously. The letter said there was “no credible evidence” linking Iraq to Al-Qaeda and that the “threat from Iraq has not worsened as a result of 11 September”. . . . .

    The inquiry burst into life last week during tense questioning of Alastair Campbell. Blair’s former communications director rejected evidence from Sir Christopher Meyer, former UK ambassador in Washington, that Blair agreed to regime change at the Crawford summit. Campbell claimed the agreement came later in a series of private letters to Bush.

    Philippe Sands QC, an expert on the legality of the war, said: “Mr Campbell sought to persuade Chilcot that there was no early decision [on war]: the Straw letter is plainly inconsistent with Mr Campbell’s narrative.” . . .

    And, now, for something new and ACTION we can all join in on:

    Professor Francis Boyle Seeks International Criminal Court Prosecution of Bush Administration To Deter Obama War Crimes

    Jeff Farias recently interviewed Professor Francis A. Boyle of the University of Illinois College of Law in Champaign, USA. For their criminal policy & practice of “extraordinary rendition” & torture perpetrated upon about 100 human beings, Professor Boyle has filed a complaint with the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague against:

    George W. Bush,

    Richard Cheney,

    Donald Rumsfeld,

    George Tenet,

    Condoleezza Rice, &

    Alberto Gonzales

    Professor Boyle wrote: …Also, most regretfully, the new Obama administration has publicly stated that it will continue the Accused’s policy and practice of “extraordinary rendition,” which is really their euphemism for enforced disappearances of human beings and consequent torture by other States. Hence the Highest Level Officials of the Obama administration fully intend to commit their own Crimes against Humanity under the I.C.C. Rome Statute – unless you stop them! Your opening an investigation of my Complaint will undoubtedly deter the Obama administration from engaging in any more “extraordinary renditions” – enforced disappearances of human beings and having them tortured by other States. . . . .

    We can help Professor Boyle — YES WE CAN!

    Add

    And you imagine if each of circulate this and get people to join this courageous man?  This is the BEST OPPORTUNITY to get our voices heard for the LAWS, IMHO!  

  6. I am so sickened by what is going on, as I am sure you are, as well.  The lives of so many seem to be at the behest of those, once again, deciding who shall live and who shall die.  The latest news is terrible.  Over 1,000 flights with aid HAVE NOT been able to land and deliver the goods.  

    Hope you’re holding up well, in spite of horrific circumstances!  

    Yes, I’ve had the same f..king problem — forget to put on my damned glasses!  Man, do they help!

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