"British spy chief goes public for 1st time to defend role of secrecy" by John F Burns and Alan Cowell, New York Times / October 29, 2010
AmeriKa's chief flinger.
LONDON — At an appropriately hush-hush site, before a not-so-hush-hush audience of newspaper editors and television cameras, the head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service yesterday delivered what he said was the first public address by a serving chief of the agency in its 101-year history.
The speech, by Sir John Sawers, ranged from questions about Al Qaeda abroad to accountability at home, from nuclear proliferation in Iran to terrorism, and on to the fraught issue of torture in the pursuit of secret information. He praised Britain’s secret agents as “true heroes’’ in some of the world’s most dangerous places.
Related: Bonding With British Spies
Nothing like the movies, is it?
But Sawers, 55, whose organization is widely known as MI6, devoted much of his 30-minute address to the central role of secrecy in maintaining national security, a reaffirmation of traditional tradecraft in an era of leaks and pressure for ever greater disclosure.
“Secrecy is not a dirty word,’’ he said. “Secrecy is not there as a coverup. Secrecy plays a crucial part in keeping Britain safe and secure. If our operations and methods become public, they won’t work.’’
Yeah, here is why:
FRU
May Day Memories: British Patsies
May Day Memories: The U.S. Connection
Terror Expert: London Bomber Was Working For MI5
Israeli Connections to the London Tube Bombs
Btw, ever hear of Mr. Aswat or Mr. Khan, readers?
Yeah, if you knew everything the false flags and patsy plots wouldn't work and the wars would be no fun!
While he has not spoken publicly before about the work of MI6, he made two public appearances to give evidence at an official inquiry into the Iraq war, both about earlier assignments as a foreign policy adviser to former Prime Minister Tony Blair and as the British representative in Baghdad.
Related: British Put Blinkers on Blix
Yes, we READ SO LITTLE about THAT!
His appearance yesterday reinforced a trend among Britain’s spy bosses to shed the traditional cloak of their trade....
It is called a LIMITED HANGOUT and it is ALWAYS for PROPAGANDA PURPOSES!
He said secrecy was the key to some of the most crucial intelligence work.
And WE KNOW WHAT "WORK" they mean, don't we?
Yeah, if you knew everything the false flags and patsy plots wouldn't work and the wars would be no fun!
While he has not spoken publicly before about the work of MI6, he made two public appearances to give evidence at an official inquiry into the Iraq war, both about earlier assignments as a foreign policy adviser to former Prime Minister Tony Blair and as the British representative in Baghdad.
Related: British Put Blinkers on Blix
Yes, we READ SO LITTLE about THAT!
His appearance yesterday reinforced a trend among Britain’s spy bosses to shed the traditional cloak of their trade....
It is called a LIMITED HANGOUT and it is ALWAYS for PROPAGANDA PURPOSES!
He said secrecy was the key to some of the most crucial intelligence work.
And WE KNOW WHAT "WORK" they mean, don't we?
“We get inside terrorist organizations to see where the next threats are coming from,’’ he said. “We work to disrupt terrorist plots aimed against the UK and against our friends and allies.
Then ONE SHOULD NEVER EVER HAPPEN AGAIN!
Of course, THEY ARE the "terrorist" organizations, so....
“Our agents . . . take serious risks and make sacrifices to help our country. In return, we give them a solemn pledge: that we shall keep their role secret.’’
Actually, they seem a lot like ours.
******
The organization traces its roots to a decision by defense planners in 1909 to create a Secret Service Bureau. The body evolved through two world wars and the Cold War, feeding the plot lines and character lists of spy thrillers from James Bond to George Smiley....
Also see: 007’s Aston Martin is sold for $4.1m
And they called it a newspaper?
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So what has MI6 been up to (or not) lately?
What I call an Invisible Ink (article never appeared in my printed paper):
"British troops accused of abusing Iraqis" by New York Times / November 6, 2010
LONDON — A lawyer for 200 Iraqis demanding a public inquiry into what they have described as brutal mistreatment by British soldiers in a secret detention center near Basra told the High Court in London yesterday that the abuse amounted to “Britain’s Abu Ghraib.’’
They buttressed that assertion with video recordings that appeared to show British interrogators bullying, humiliating, and threatening a detainee.
The opening day of the hearing featured some of the most sensational accusations made against the British forces in years of inconclusive lawsuits and official inquiries.
At the heart of the latest court action is the contention that abuses began on March 20, 2003 — the day British forces entered Iraq — continued almost until the last British troops withdrew in 2009, and were encouraged by army training. At least nine detainees are said to have died as a result of the mistreatment.
A COLOSSAL WAR CRIME right from the START, and RIGHT UP to this VERY MINUTE!
Michael Fordham, the lawyer for the former detainees, said they had been subjected to beatings; starvation; sleep deprivation; electric shocks; prolonged periods of nakedness and sexual humiliation by female soldiers; sensory deprivation through the use of hoods, earmuffs, and blackened goggles; and exposure to pornographic DVDs....
Just like us, America.
:-(
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I guess that''s why the Brits want to make all this go away:
"UK agrees to settle with ex-Guantanamo detainees" by PAISLEY DODDS
Britain has agreed to pay hefty settlements to a group of former Guantanamo Bay detainees who sued the government for alleged complicity in their torture -- one of the first big pay-outs stemming from the US-led war on terrorism.
After months of legal wrangling, Britain's spy agencies chose to settle the lawsuit to avoid a pricey and prolonged court case in which open testimony from secret agents could have jeopardized national security, a British government official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Tuesday....
And REALLY MAKE the BRITISH GOVERNMENT LOOK BAD!!
British spies have not been accused of torturing detainees themselves, but former detainees have alleged that British officials violated international law by knowing about the abuse and doing nothing to stop it.
Then the whole world is guilty when it comes to Israel-Palestine.
In interviews last week, former U.S. President George Bush boasted that he authorized some techniques -- which others have labeled torture -- for the interrogation of suspected terrorists, and that the methods yielded intelligence that saved lives.
Then WHY ISN'T HE UNDER ARREST somewhere?
Related: Bush's Selective Amnesia on Iraq
Yeah, he's still shoveling s***.
Britain has long opposed some of the interrogation techniques that Bush administration officials authorized in the so-called war on terror after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001....
But they sat there and watched?
The most detailed account of abuse came from former detainee Binyam Mohamed, who alleged that Britain was aware that the CIA sent him to be interrogated in Morocco, where his genitals were sliced with a scalpel....
A British court ruled that Mohamed was subjected to "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" by U.S. authorities and ordered the release of a previously secret summary of CIA documents on the treatment of Mohamed.
Under long-standing conventions, nations don't disclose intelligence shared by their allies, and the court's ruling drove a wedge between U.S. and British intelligence officials. It also raised questions on the sanctity of intelligence sharing agreements if courts would be able to expose private exchanges in the future.
The payout now also raises the question of whether other detainees outside of Britain could look to the settlement as a way of pushing pending lawsuits forward even if the British government has made no admission of guilt.
"It does send out a very strong signal and it is going to cause difficulties with other countries, particularly the United States," said human rights lawyer Philippe Sands....
Of Sands Memos fame?
The settlement paves the way for a planned independent inquiry which is due to examine how much the government knew about the treatment of detainees by allies....
Translation: A cover-up commission.
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Related: UK to settle with former Guantanamo detainees (By John F. Burns and Alan Cowell, New York Times)
I no longer read the Globe's web site updates when they are NYT PoS, readers.
Let the cover-ups begin:
"British spy eludes torture allegations; Won’t be charged in detainees case" by David Stringer, Associated Press / November 18, 2010
LONDON — A British spy will not be prosecuted over allegations he colluded in the torture of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed, the country’s chief prosecutor said yesterday.
Keir Starmer, Britain’s director of public prosecutions, said a police inquiry which began in March 2009 had not produced evidence to support criminal charges against an officer with domestic spy agency MI5.
They never do.
That's why you are here isn't it, reader?
He is one of two British intelligence officers to be investigated by police over claims that security officials were complicit in the mistreatment of detainees held by allies overseas. An inquiry continues into the conduct of a member of the overseas intelligence service, known as MI6.
Jonathan Evans, head of MI5, said he was delighted the inquiry had cleared his officer....
Yeah, I'll bet!
Mohamed, who was held in Pakistan and Guantanamo, says he was sent by US officials to Morocco, where he was interrogated and brutally tortured.
I think having your scrotum sliced qualifies as torture, yeah!
The MI5 officer questioned the detainee in Pakistan on May 17, 2002, when Mohamed alleges he told Witness B he had been tortured.
Britain says it was unaware of his mistreatment.
I was always told ignorance is no excuse when it came to the law.
An Ethiopian who moved to Britain as a teenager, Mohamed had charges against him dropped by the United States in 2008.
He was released from Guantanamo and returned to Britain in February 2009.
Yup, NOTHING about the SLICE JOB in this article -- all on an INNOCENT MAN!
And Obama has the nerve to babble about human rights to others?
Starmer said, however, that a “wider investigation into other potential criminal conduct arising’’ from Mohamed’s allegations was ongoing. Scotland Yard declined to comment on the progress of an inquiry into the MI6 officer, but has previously said the investigation is not specifically linked to the alleged torture of Mohamed.
Britain’s government confirmed Tuesday that it had reached an out-of-court settlement with a group of former Guantanamo detainees — including Mohamed — who were suing the country for alleged collusion in their torture.
The UK made no admission of guilt but said it had agreed to a deal, as it could not afford to have more than 100 intelligence officials tied up with a costly and lengthy series of lawsuits likely to last up to 5 years.
Yeah, they need to be ought there framing innocent Muslims!
Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain has ordered a retired judge to lead a 12-month investigation into the country’s conduct in the so-called war on terror. Foreign Secretary William Hague said the study was necessary to “clear the stain from our reputation as a country.’’
Sorry, but TOO LATE!
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Actually their spies are a LOT like ours, AmeriKa!
