THE CIA is looking for a few good spies. Applicants for jobs with the clandestine service, advertised on the agency’s recruitment website, must cope with “fast-moving, ambiguous and unstructured situations” and must have “rock-solid judgment”.
It may also help if they know a good lawyer and can afford millions of dollars in legal fees to protect themselves from government investigators. A decision by the US Justice Department last week to proceed with investigations of alleged interrogation abuses has plunged the CIA into a legal and moral quagmire that threatens yet more trouble for President Obama’s administration.
The appointment of a special prosecutor to examine cases of alleged torture during interrogations of suspected terrorists has divided senior Obama aides and angered former agency officials, who warn that US intelligence gathering may be badly impaired if spies feel betrayed by the government.
The CIA officers who took part in terrorist interrogations believed their actions were “authorised by President George W Bush and approved by the Justice Department”, said Jeffrey Smith, a former legal counsel to the CIA. He added: “Prosecutions would set the dangerous precedent that criminal law can be used to settle policy differences.”
Another former official warned that CIA agents “now have to fight Al-Qaeda and the US government at the same time”. A third added that counter-terrorist agents were effectively being told “their ass is grass – this will accelerate an already high shortage of senior officers”.
Robert Grenier, a former CIA station chief in Pakistan, said the message to new recruits was “if they’re asked to do that mission and things go bad, the politicians are going to run for cover and they’re going to [be] facing the music alone”.
Leon Panetta, the CIA director appointed by Obama, is reported to have promised legal aid for agents caught up in the investigation ordered by Eric Holder, the attorney-general, so as to help to calm staff who think the agency is being made a scapegoat.
Obama spent much of last week on the golf course enjoying a family holiday on Martha’s Vineyard, while key members of his national security team were at loggerheads over how the long-running controversy over terrorist interrogations should be handled.
An ABC News report that Panetta and Holder had engaged in a “profanity-laced screaming match” over the interrogation issue was denied by a CIA spokesman. Yet several officials warned of a return to the interagency rivalries blamed for the intelligence breakdowns preceding the September 11 attacks.
Obama is trying to steer a precarious path between idealists who want Bush and Dick Cheney, his vice-president, in the dock for authorising torture and other abuses, and pragmatists who warn that prosecutions of former officials could rip America apart.
The president believes CIA officers should not be prosecuted for actions previously declared legal by their political masters. John Brennan, Obama’s adviser on counter-terrorism, said: “The president is a sophisticated thinker and understands the implications of these decisions and events, but sometimes you just cannot wipe the slate clean.”
Holder, a long-time Obama friend, is the first African-American attorney-general. He acknowledged his decision would be “controversial” but ultimately decided there was too much evidence of “inhumane” interrogations – in particular the widely condemned practice known as “waterboarding” – for them to be swept aside.
According to heavily edited sections of a previously classified 2004 report made public last week, interrogators threatened detainees with unloaded weapons and a power drill, staged mock executions and threatened violence to their family members. The report also questioned how necessary it was to subject Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind, to 183 instances of waterboarding.
It is a problem for Obama that any formal investigation and subsequent charges risk the public identification of CIA agents. This has been a sensitive issue ever since the Bush White House was accused of deliberately blowing the cover of Valerie Plame, a CIA agent married to Joseph Wilson – a critic of Bush’s policies.
Visiting CIA headquarters in April, Obama assured staff there was “nothing more important than protecting the identity of CIA officers”. Yet last week one former officer claimed the announcement of a special prosecutor had sparked a flurry of e-mails from disgusted agents saying: “Can you help me find a job? I’m tired of the second-guessing.”
Last week Fred Hitz, a former CIA inspector-general, predicted difficulty in recruiting talented people for clandestine jobs: “If an officer can’t be assured the orders he’s given . . . are going to be upheld and . . . [not] used against him at a future time, I don’t see how you’re going to get good people to do this work.”
Source:The times
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Sunday, August 30, 2009
Australian Prime Minister to apologise for care home abuse of British children
Thousands of Britons who suffered abuse in Australian orphanages and care homes are to receive an apology from Kevin Rudd, the Australian Prime Minister
Mr Rudd will follow his historic apology to Aborigines last year with a similar apology to child immigrants and Australian children who were place in state care during the last century.
Jenny Macklin, the Families and Indigenous Affairs Minister, announced the apology eight years after a 2001 Senate report on child immigration recommended the government of then Prime Minister John Howard express its regret for the sexual, emotional and physical abuse suffered by hundreds of thousands of children in institutions and foster care.
Ms Macklin said the level of abuse and neglect had been ''unacceptable'' and it was time to issue a formal apology, which would probably take place before the end of the year.
''Many former child migrants and other children who were in institutions, their families and the wider community have suffered from a system that did not adequately provide for, or protect children in its care,'' said Ms Macklin.
"This is a significant national step in the healing process for forgotten Australians and former child migrants," she added.
Between1922 and 1967 up to 10,000 children with an average age of eight years old, were taken from unmarried mothers, impoverished families and orphanages in Britain and sent as migrants to Australia to boost its population and labour force with ‘good white stock’.
With the support and encouragement of organisations such as the Salvation Army and Barnardos, children were removed from their familes - often told their parents had died - and sent thousands of miles away to a life of starvation, slave labour and sexual abuse.
As soon as they arrived at an insitution they were given a number which replaced their name, and dressed in rags - shoes became an almost unheard of luxury. They were uniformly fed rotting food - "maggoty, mouldy, weevilly," a former child migrant described it in a submission to the 2001 inquiry while another said "the freshest part of the food actually moved."
Beatings with straps, canes and even cricket bats were common as was sexual assault. In some Christian Brothers institutes, small boys were forced into bestial acts.
Many of the institutions farmed the children out to industrial laundries and local farms as slave labour and even into the 1970s, hundreds of children and babies as young as seven months old were used as guinea pigs for new vaccines that did not work or failed to pass safety tests in animals.
The 2001 inquiry found that the long term impact was almost uniformly negative; drug and alcohol abuse was common and many former inmates of the institutions found it impossible to hold down jobs or marriages.
The announcement that Mr Rudd will apologise for their years of hell has been welcomed by the Alliance for Forgotten Australians which represents those who suffered in state care.
Caroline Carrol, chairwoman of the AFA, said: "As children, many of us experienced horrors in the places that were supposed to care for us," she said.
"As adult survivors, we need acknowledgment of and an apology for the harm that was done to us.
"The apology is an excellent beginning to what we hope will be a comprehensive government response," she added.
One of Mr Rudd's first acts as Prime Minister after his election victory in November 2007 was formally to apologize to Aborigines for injustices suffered since British colonists arrived 200 years ago.
In particular, the apology was aimed at the generation of Stolen Children who had been removed from their Aboriginal mothers under former government policies of assimilating mixed-race children into white society.
That apology, which received international acclaim, revived interest in the non-indigenous children who also suffered without the protection of parents.
The latest apology, which may be delivered jointly by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull, follows both the 2001 Senate committee report and a second inquiry in 2004 which found abuse was also widespread among the 500,000 plus Australian children placed in care.
The government will table its formal response on the issue before the end of the year and has promised to consult further within the community on the path ahead.
Source:The times
Mr Rudd will follow his historic apology to Aborigines last year with a similar apology to child immigrants and Australian children who were place in state care during the last century.
Jenny Macklin, the Families and Indigenous Affairs Minister, announced the apology eight years after a 2001 Senate report on child immigration recommended the government of then Prime Minister John Howard express its regret for the sexual, emotional and physical abuse suffered by hundreds of thousands of children in institutions and foster care.
Ms Macklin said the level of abuse and neglect had been ''unacceptable'' and it was time to issue a formal apology, which would probably take place before the end of the year.
''Many former child migrants and other children who were in institutions, their families and the wider community have suffered from a system that did not adequately provide for, or protect children in its care,'' said Ms Macklin.
"This is a significant national step in the healing process for forgotten Australians and former child migrants," she added.
Between1922 and 1967 up to 10,000 children with an average age of eight years old, were taken from unmarried mothers, impoverished families and orphanages in Britain and sent as migrants to Australia to boost its population and labour force with ‘good white stock’.
With the support and encouragement of organisations such as the Salvation Army and Barnardos, children were removed from their familes - often told their parents had died - and sent thousands of miles away to a life of starvation, slave labour and sexual abuse.
As soon as they arrived at an insitution they were given a number which replaced their name, and dressed in rags - shoes became an almost unheard of luxury. They were uniformly fed rotting food - "maggoty, mouldy, weevilly," a former child migrant described it in a submission to the 2001 inquiry while another said "the freshest part of the food actually moved."
Beatings with straps, canes and even cricket bats were common as was sexual assault. In some Christian Brothers institutes, small boys were forced into bestial acts.
Many of the institutions farmed the children out to industrial laundries and local farms as slave labour and even into the 1970s, hundreds of children and babies as young as seven months old were used as guinea pigs for new vaccines that did not work or failed to pass safety tests in animals.
The 2001 inquiry found that the long term impact was almost uniformly negative; drug and alcohol abuse was common and many former inmates of the institutions found it impossible to hold down jobs or marriages.
The announcement that Mr Rudd will apologise for their years of hell has been welcomed by the Alliance for Forgotten Australians which represents those who suffered in state care.
Caroline Carrol, chairwoman of the AFA, said: "As children, many of us experienced horrors in the places that were supposed to care for us," she said.
"As adult survivors, we need acknowledgment of and an apology for the harm that was done to us.
"The apology is an excellent beginning to what we hope will be a comprehensive government response," she added.
One of Mr Rudd's first acts as Prime Minister after his election victory in November 2007 was formally to apologize to Aborigines for injustices suffered since British colonists arrived 200 years ago.
In particular, the apology was aimed at the generation of Stolen Children who had been removed from their Aboriginal mothers under former government policies of assimilating mixed-race children into white society.
That apology, which received international acclaim, revived interest in the non-indigenous children who also suffered without the protection of parents.
The latest apology, which may be delivered jointly by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull, follows both the 2001 Senate committee report and a second inquiry in 2004 which found abuse was also widespread among the 500,000 plus Australian children placed in care.
The government will table its formal response on the issue before the end of the year and has promised to consult further within the community on the path ahead.
Source:The times
Hamid Karzai in fiery row with US official
EXPLOSIVE details have emerged of an encounter between Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, and Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
At one point the Afghan president whipped off his distinctive karakul sheepskin hat and slammed it onto the table where the two men were having dinner, a day after the disputed August 20 election.
“For an Afghan man to do that, it’s a big gesture,” said a local businessman. “It’s like throwing down the gauntlet.”
The fiery meeting appears to have plunged American-Afghan relations to a post-Taliban low. Karzai used to enjoy “pally” video-conferencing with George Bush but President Barack Obama’s administration has not hidden its disdain for him.
It blames Karzai for running a government whose authority was eroded by corruption and mismanagement. His likely re-election will be tainted by allegations of vote-rigging.
When the two men clashed, Karzai’s campaign team had already claimed victory, fuelling accusations that the election was rigged. At that point there had been no official results.
When Holbrooke raised the possibility of a run-off, Karzai flew into a rage and accused Holbrooke of forcing a second round “against the interests of Afghanistan”.
“They were discussing different scenarios and one of them was the possibility of a run-off,” said a Karzai insider. “That’s when there was a misunderstanding. There were strong words from both men.”
American officials downplayed the row yesterday and said they believed Karzai’s agents leaked a selective version of the meeting to make it look as if he was resisting US pressure to force him to hold a second round when he was already the winner.
To win the elections in the first round Karzai needs more than 50%. Yesterday, with a third of results announced, he was leading his former foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, by 46% to 31%. But the Independent Election Commission is drip-releasing the figures and with a spectacularly low turnout in the war-torn south, home to most of Karzai’s supporters, it is still not certain he will achieve his target.
The allegations of massive fraud have left many Afghans wondering what sort of democracy the West wants in their country. Moreover, Abdullah has threatened not to accept the result if it is shown to have been rigged, raising the possibility of violence.
Holbrooke will be meeting his British, French and German counterparts in Paris on Wednesday. A French official said Holbrooke wanted a run-off in order to chasten Karzai and show him his power was limited and dependent on genuine popular support.
Soure:The times
At one point the Afghan president whipped off his distinctive karakul sheepskin hat and slammed it onto the table where the two men were having dinner, a day after the disputed August 20 election.
“For an Afghan man to do that, it’s a big gesture,” said a local businessman. “It’s like throwing down the gauntlet.”
The fiery meeting appears to have plunged American-Afghan relations to a post-Taliban low. Karzai used to enjoy “pally” video-conferencing with George Bush but President Barack Obama’s administration has not hidden its disdain for him.
It blames Karzai for running a government whose authority was eroded by corruption and mismanagement. His likely re-election will be tainted by allegations of vote-rigging.
When the two men clashed, Karzai’s campaign team had already claimed victory, fuelling accusations that the election was rigged. At that point there had been no official results.
When Holbrooke raised the possibility of a run-off, Karzai flew into a rage and accused Holbrooke of forcing a second round “against the interests of Afghanistan”.
“They were discussing different scenarios and one of them was the possibility of a run-off,” said a Karzai insider. “That’s when there was a misunderstanding. There were strong words from both men.”
American officials downplayed the row yesterday and said they believed Karzai’s agents leaked a selective version of the meeting to make it look as if he was resisting US pressure to force him to hold a second round when he was already the winner.
To win the elections in the first round Karzai needs more than 50%. Yesterday, with a third of results announced, he was leading his former foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, by 46% to 31%. But the Independent Election Commission is drip-releasing the figures and with a spectacularly low turnout in the war-torn south, home to most of Karzai’s supporters, it is still not certain he will achieve his target.
The allegations of massive fraud have left many Afghans wondering what sort of democracy the West wants in their country. Moreover, Abdullah has threatened not to accept the result if it is shown to have been rigged, raising the possibility of violence.
Holbrooke will be meeting his British, French and German counterparts in Paris on Wednesday. A French official said Holbrooke wanted a run-off in order to chasten Karzai and show him his power was limited and dependent on genuine popular support.
Soure:The times
Kidnap girl Jaycee Lee Dugard worked in abductors’ business
Jaycee Lee Dugard became so accustomed to life imprisoned in a secret garden in California that she helped run her kidnappers’ family business.
The 29-year-old became the “front” for a printing company owned by Phillip and Nancy Garrido and run from their home in Antioch, near San Francisco. The prisoner dealt with its clients in person and by phone and e-mail. One customer of the firm, which printed business cards, described her as its “design genius”.
Dugard was abducted as an 11-year-old from her home in South Lake Tahoe, in northeastern California, in June 1991. She reappeared last week when Garrido, a convicted rapist, walked into a police station to talk to his parole officer. He was accompanied by Dugard, the two daughters, aged 15 and 11, she bore him during her captivity, and by his wife.
Phillip and Nancy Garrido denied 29 charges including kidnap and rape in court in El Dorado county on Friday. The FBI has confirmed it is seeking evidence that Garrido, 58, murdered up to 10 women, including some prostitutes, in the San Francisco area in the late 1990s.
Dugard is said to be relishing her freedom and is planning a trip to Disneyland with her family. The first words she said when reunited with her mother, Terry Probyn, at a motel last week were, “Mom, I have kids.”
Source:The times
The 29-year-old became the “front” for a printing company owned by Phillip and Nancy Garrido and run from their home in Antioch, near San Francisco. The prisoner dealt with its clients in person and by phone and e-mail. One customer of the firm, which printed business cards, described her as its “design genius”.
Dugard was abducted as an 11-year-old from her home in South Lake Tahoe, in northeastern California, in June 1991. She reappeared last week when Garrido, a convicted rapist, walked into a police station to talk to his parole officer. He was accompanied by Dugard, the two daughters, aged 15 and 11, she bore him during her captivity, and by his wife.
Phillip and Nancy Garrido denied 29 charges including kidnap and rape in court in El Dorado county on Friday. The FBI has confirmed it is seeking evidence that Garrido, 58, murdered up to 10 women, including some prostitutes, in the San Francisco area in the late 1990s.
Dugard is said to be relishing her freedom and is planning a trip to Disneyland with her family. The first words she said when reunited with her mother, Terry Probyn, at a motel last week were, “Mom, I have kids.”
Source:The times
Farewell to Kennedy in funeral he helped plan
Barack Obama yesterday paid a poignant public farewell to Senator Edward Kennedy, the veteran Democratic powerbroker, whom he described as “the heir to a weighty legacy . . . a champion to those who had none”. After a sombre day of rare political unity in Washington, Kennedy was last night being buried in Arlington national cemetery, close to brothers John and Robert, after a moving funeral service in Boston at which the president led America’s mourning for the scion of one of its greatest political families.
His voice breaking as he paid tribute to “the baby of the family who became its patriarch”, Obama hailed Kennedy as “a force of nature” from an age “when adversaries still saw each other as patriots”.
He, three former presidents and politicians of all hues had gathered in Boston under dark clouds to mark the passing of a flawed but potent deal-maker whose life was marred by tragedy and self-inflicted folly, but who somehow survived to become a senatorial legend.
The president referred only obliquely to Kennedy’s troubled past when he spoke of a “string of events that would have broken a lesser man”.
Obama added that it would have been easy for Kennedy “to surrender to self-pity and regret, and retreat from private life. That was not Ted Kennedy”.
Beneath the vaulting arches of the Catholic Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Kennedy was also remembered as a Massachusetts hero, a loving father and grandfather and, in the minds of many of his colleagues, a final and irreplacea-ble link to the Camelot era of Kennedy greatness, when JFK was president.
Obama referred repeatedly to the burdens Kennedy had faced after the assassinations of his older brothers. It was because the senator had experienced so much suffering of his own that he was “more alive to the plight of others”, the president said.
“He was given the gift of time that his brothers were not . . . he became the greatest legislator of our time.”
Obama was joined by three former presidents — George W Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter — and a host of current and past politicians from both sides of the political aisle. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the California governor who is related to the Kennedys by marriage, led a strong contingent of Republican notables who included John McCain, the party’s former presidential candidate. Also in the church was Jack Nicholson, the actor.
In recognition of Kennedy’s often controversial interest in Irish affairs, Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, and Martin McGuinness, the deputy first minister of the Northern Ireland assembly, attended. Britain was represented by Sarah Brown, the prime minister’s wife, and Shaun Woodward, the Northern Ireland secretary.
For Obama, the occasion provided an opportunity to display his much-vaunted rhetorical skills, and most commentators judged his address to have been perfectly pitched.
It had been Kennedy’s early endorsement in last year’s presidential campaign that provided Obama with a crucial boost as he fought off Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries. Yet almost as if to prove that no hard feelings remain, the president sat next to Hillary, now his secretary of state, in the front row of mourners.
Obama avoided overtly partisan references and did not dwell on the healthcare issue that he and Kennedy championed, yet which has since became bitterly divisive. Instead the president talked simply and eloquently about “learning from our mistakes and growing from our failures”.
He also joked that when he once asked Kennedy how he had pulled off a voting majority for a difficult piece of legislation, the senator had “just patted me on the back and said, ‘luck of the Irish’.” The president concluded: “The greatest expectations were placed upon Ted Kennedy’s shoulders because of who he was, but he surpassed them all because of who he became. We do not weep for him today because of the prestige attached to his name or his office. We weep because we loved this kind and tender hero who persevered through pain and tragedy.”
Diagnosed with brain cancer 15 months ago, Kennedy had helped plan his own funeral before his death last Tuesday. He chose the Boston basilica because it was where he had often gone to pray after his daughter, Kara, was diagnosed with lung cancer aged 42 six years ago. She recovered and was yesterday among family members who gave readings.
Despite the forbidding weather , thousands of Kennedy’s former constituents turned out to watch a Cadillac hearse drive his flag-draped coffin to the basilica from the John F Kennedy presidential library. An honour guard of six military pallbearers carried the coffin into the church as Kennedy’s widow, Victoria, stood beneath a black umbrella, looking pale and tired.
Inside the church the flag was removed and replaced with a simple white shroud as the Rev Donald Mohan paid tribute to Kennedy’s “uniquely public life”. The two-hour service also featured performances by Yo-Yo Ma, the cellist, and Placido Domingo, the tenor.
There was laughter too, as Kennedy’s son, Ted Jr, recalled his father as a fearless adventurer whose energetic ideas for family holidays “left us injured and exhausted”. He also remembered the senator saying: “I don’t mind not being president. I just mind that someone else is.”
In a poignant address about his father's tenderness to him as a child when he had a leg amputated because of cancer, Ted Jr told the congregation: "He taught us that even our most profound losses are survivable."
Recounting how his father helped him climb an icy hill with his new prosthetic leg, he said: "He taught me that nothing is impossible."
In an oblique reference to the scandals that dogged his father, Ted added: “At times it hasn’t been easy to live with this name, but I’ve never been more proud of it than I am today.”
After the mass, Kennedy's flag-draped coffin was flown to Washington and the youngest of the Kennedy brothers was finally reunited with his slain brothers laid to rest in Arlington Natonal Cemetary as a lone bugle player brought the curtain down on a political dynasty .
Thousands of people again lined the routes taken by the funeral procession. Outside the US Capitol the crowds broke into loud applause as the funeral procession halted briefly for the senator's final visit to the imposing white national assembly.
The late senator was buried on a hilltop overlooking the capital, 100 feet from the grave of his brother, Robert Kennedy, assassinated in 1968, and close to the eternal flame marking the last resting place of president John F. Kennedy, shot dead in 1963.
As the sun set over his graveside, the senator's voice could be heard in the gathering dusk from beyond the grave when his recent letter to Pope Benedict XVI was read out.
"The disease is taking its toll on me," admitted Kennedy frankly in the July letter, saying he was "preparing for the next passage of life."
The Vatican said in its reply the pope "was saddened to know of your illness and asked me to assure you of his concern and his spiritual closeness."
Benedict asked that Kennedy "may be sustained in faith and hope and granted the precious grace of joyful surrender to the will of God."
A three-shot volley rang out, followed by the haunting sounds of the bugle player, as darkness fell leaving the eternal flame flickering in the night.
Thousands of people again lined the routes Saturday, mirroring scenes seen over the past three days in his home of Hyannis Port and then in Boston in an enormous outpouring of grief at Kennedy's death.
Outside the US Capitol the crowds broke into loud applause as the funeral procession halted briefly for the senator's final visit to the imposing white national assembly.
In unprecedented scenes, thousands of other ordinary by-passers had gathered solemnly on the lawns and roadsides nearby to pay their respects.
Outside the Senate which shook for almost five decades with the sound of Kennedy's voice, his widow, Vicki, and other family members stepped out of their cars to greet hundreds of Congress staffers and lawmakers.
Although many Americans disliked his leftist politics, the senator's passing has been a national event, signaling the end of a half-century era in which his legendary family was a highly influential force in the Democratic Party.
In uncanny echoes of JFK's funeral more than four decades ago, thousands of people lined the route from Washington's Lincoln Memorial over the Arlington Memorial Bridge Saturday, clapping as they paid their last respects.
And in a poignant moment, as the sun set over his graveside, the senator's voice could be heard in the gathering dusk from beyond the grave when his recent letter to Pope Benedict XVI was read out.
"The disease is taking its toll on me," admitted Kennedy frankly in the July letter, saying he was "preparing for the next passage of life."
The Vatican said in its reply the pope "was saddened to know of your illness and asked me to assure you of his concern and his spiritual closeness."
Benedict asked that Kennedy "may be sustained in faith and hope and granted the precious grace of joyful surrender to the will of God."
A three-shot volley rang out, followed by the haunting sounds of the bugle player, as darkness fell leaving the eternal flame flickering in the night.
Source:The times
His voice breaking as he paid tribute to “the baby of the family who became its patriarch”, Obama hailed Kennedy as “a force of nature” from an age “when adversaries still saw each other as patriots”.
He, three former presidents and politicians of all hues had gathered in Boston under dark clouds to mark the passing of a flawed but potent deal-maker whose life was marred by tragedy and self-inflicted folly, but who somehow survived to become a senatorial legend.
The president referred only obliquely to Kennedy’s troubled past when he spoke of a “string of events that would have broken a lesser man”.
Obama added that it would have been easy for Kennedy “to surrender to self-pity and regret, and retreat from private life. That was not Ted Kennedy”.
Beneath the vaulting arches of the Catholic Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Kennedy was also remembered as a Massachusetts hero, a loving father and grandfather and, in the minds of many of his colleagues, a final and irreplacea-ble link to the Camelot era of Kennedy greatness, when JFK was president.
Obama referred repeatedly to the burdens Kennedy had faced after the assassinations of his older brothers. It was because the senator had experienced so much suffering of his own that he was “more alive to the plight of others”, the president said.
“He was given the gift of time that his brothers were not . . . he became the greatest legislator of our time.”
Obama was joined by three former presidents — George W Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter — and a host of current and past politicians from both sides of the political aisle. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the California governor who is related to the Kennedys by marriage, led a strong contingent of Republican notables who included John McCain, the party’s former presidential candidate. Also in the church was Jack Nicholson, the actor.
In recognition of Kennedy’s often controversial interest in Irish affairs, Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, and Martin McGuinness, the deputy first minister of the Northern Ireland assembly, attended. Britain was represented by Sarah Brown, the prime minister’s wife, and Shaun Woodward, the Northern Ireland secretary.
For Obama, the occasion provided an opportunity to display his much-vaunted rhetorical skills, and most commentators judged his address to have been perfectly pitched.
It had been Kennedy’s early endorsement in last year’s presidential campaign that provided Obama with a crucial boost as he fought off Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries. Yet almost as if to prove that no hard feelings remain, the president sat next to Hillary, now his secretary of state, in the front row of mourners.
Obama avoided overtly partisan references and did not dwell on the healthcare issue that he and Kennedy championed, yet which has since became bitterly divisive. Instead the president talked simply and eloquently about “learning from our mistakes and growing from our failures”.
He also joked that when he once asked Kennedy how he had pulled off a voting majority for a difficult piece of legislation, the senator had “just patted me on the back and said, ‘luck of the Irish’.” The president concluded: “The greatest expectations were placed upon Ted Kennedy’s shoulders because of who he was, but he surpassed them all because of who he became. We do not weep for him today because of the prestige attached to his name or his office. We weep because we loved this kind and tender hero who persevered through pain and tragedy.”
Diagnosed with brain cancer 15 months ago, Kennedy had helped plan his own funeral before his death last Tuesday. He chose the Boston basilica because it was where he had often gone to pray after his daughter, Kara, was diagnosed with lung cancer aged 42 six years ago. She recovered and was yesterday among family members who gave readings.
Despite the forbidding weather , thousands of Kennedy’s former constituents turned out to watch a Cadillac hearse drive his flag-draped coffin to the basilica from the John F Kennedy presidential library. An honour guard of six military pallbearers carried the coffin into the church as Kennedy’s widow, Victoria, stood beneath a black umbrella, looking pale and tired.
Inside the church the flag was removed and replaced with a simple white shroud as the Rev Donald Mohan paid tribute to Kennedy’s “uniquely public life”. The two-hour service also featured performances by Yo-Yo Ma, the cellist, and Placido Domingo, the tenor.
There was laughter too, as Kennedy’s son, Ted Jr, recalled his father as a fearless adventurer whose energetic ideas for family holidays “left us injured and exhausted”. He also remembered the senator saying: “I don’t mind not being president. I just mind that someone else is.”
In a poignant address about his father's tenderness to him as a child when he had a leg amputated because of cancer, Ted Jr told the congregation: "He taught us that even our most profound losses are survivable."
Recounting how his father helped him climb an icy hill with his new prosthetic leg, he said: "He taught me that nothing is impossible."
In an oblique reference to the scandals that dogged his father, Ted added: “At times it hasn’t been easy to live with this name, but I’ve never been more proud of it than I am today.”
After the mass, Kennedy's flag-draped coffin was flown to Washington and the youngest of the Kennedy brothers was finally reunited with his slain brothers laid to rest in Arlington Natonal Cemetary as a lone bugle player brought the curtain down on a political dynasty .
Thousands of people again lined the routes taken by the funeral procession. Outside the US Capitol the crowds broke into loud applause as the funeral procession halted briefly for the senator's final visit to the imposing white national assembly.
The late senator was buried on a hilltop overlooking the capital, 100 feet from the grave of his brother, Robert Kennedy, assassinated in 1968, and close to the eternal flame marking the last resting place of president John F. Kennedy, shot dead in 1963.
As the sun set over his graveside, the senator's voice could be heard in the gathering dusk from beyond the grave when his recent letter to Pope Benedict XVI was read out.
"The disease is taking its toll on me," admitted Kennedy frankly in the July letter, saying he was "preparing for the next passage of life."
The Vatican said in its reply the pope "was saddened to know of your illness and asked me to assure you of his concern and his spiritual closeness."
Benedict asked that Kennedy "may be sustained in faith and hope and granted the precious grace of joyful surrender to the will of God."
A three-shot volley rang out, followed by the haunting sounds of the bugle player, as darkness fell leaving the eternal flame flickering in the night.
Thousands of people again lined the routes Saturday, mirroring scenes seen over the past three days in his home of Hyannis Port and then in Boston in an enormous outpouring of grief at Kennedy's death.
Outside the US Capitol the crowds broke into loud applause as the funeral procession halted briefly for the senator's final visit to the imposing white national assembly.
In unprecedented scenes, thousands of other ordinary by-passers had gathered solemnly on the lawns and roadsides nearby to pay their respects.
Outside the Senate which shook for almost five decades with the sound of Kennedy's voice, his widow, Vicki, and other family members stepped out of their cars to greet hundreds of Congress staffers and lawmakers.
Although many Americans disliked his leftist politics, the senator's passing has been a national event, signaling the end of a half-century era in which his legendary family was a highly influential force in the Democratic Party.
In uncanny echoes of JFK's funeral more than four decades ago, thousands of people lined the route from Washington's Lincoln Memorial over the Arlington Memorial Bridge Saturday, clapping as they paid their last respects.
And in a poignant moment, as the sun set over his graveside, the senator's voice could be heard in the gathering dusk from beyond the grave when his recent letter to Pope Benedict XVI was read out.
"The disease is taking its toll on me," admitted Kennedy frankly in the July letter, saying he was "preparing for the next passage of life."
The Vatican said in its reply the pope "was saddened to know of your illness and asked me to assure you of his concern and his spiritual closeness."
Benedict asked that Kennedy "may be sustained in faith and hope and granted the precious grace of joyful surrender to the will of God."
A three-shot volley rang out, followed by the haunting sounds of the bugle player, as darkness fell leaving the eternal flame flickering in the night.
Source:The times
Lockerbie bomber 'set free for oil'
The British government decided it was “in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom” to make Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, eligible for return to Libya, leaked ministerial letters reveal.
Gordon Brown’s government made the decision after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. These were resolved soon afterwards.
The letters were sent two years ago by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to Kenny MacAskill, his counterpart in Scotland, who has been widely criticised for taking the formal decision to permit Megrahi’s release.
The correspondence makes it plain that the key decision to include Megrahi in a deal with Libya to allow prisoners to return home was, in fact, taken in London for British national interests.
Edward Davey, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said: “This is the strongest evidence yet that the British government has been involved for a long time in talks over al-Megrahi in which commercial considerations have been central to their thinking.”
Two letters dated five months apart show that Straw initially intended to exclude Megrahi from a prisoner transfer agreement with Colonel Muammar Gadaffi, under which British and Libyan prisoners could serve out their sentences in their home country.
In a letter dated July 26, 2007, Straw said he favoured an option to leave out Megrahi by stipulating that any prisoners convicted before a specified date would not be considered for transfer.
Downing Street had also said Megrahi would not be included under the agreement.
Straw then switched his position as Libya used its deal with BP as a bargaining chip to insist the Lockerbie bomber was included.
The exploration deal for oil and gas, potentially worth up to £15 billion, was announced in May 2007. Six months later the agreement was still waiting to be ratified.
On December 19, 2007, Straw wrote to MacAskill announcing that the UK government was abandoning its attempt to exclude Megrahi from the prisoner transfer agreement, citing the national interest.
In a letter leaked by a Whitehall source, he wrote: “I had previously accepted the importance of the al-Megrahi issue to Scotland and said I would try to get an exclusion for him on the face of the agreement. I have not been able to secure an explicit exclusion.
“The wider negotiations with the Libyans are reaching a critical stage and, in view of the overwhelming interests for the United Kingdom, I have agreed that in this instance the [prisoner transfer agreement] should be in the standard form and not mention any individual.”
Within six weeks of the government climbdown, Libya had ratified the BP deal. The prisoner transfer agreement was finalised in May this year, leading to Libya formally applying for Megrahi to be transferred to its custody.
Saif Gadaffi, the colonel’s son, has insisted that negotiation over the release of Megrahi was linked with the BP oil deal: “The fight to get the [transfer] agreement lasted a long time and was very political, but I want to make clear that we didn’t mention Mr Megrahi.
“At all times we talked about the [prisoner transfer agreement]. It was obvious we were talking about him. We all knew that was what we were talking about.
“People should not get angry because we were talking about commerce or oil. We signed an oil deal at the same time. The commerce and oil deals were all with the [prisoner transfer agreement].”
His account is confirmed by other sources. Sir Richard Dalton, a former British ambassador to Libya and a board member of the Libyan British Business Council, said: “Nobody doubted Libya wanted BP and BP was confident its commitment would go through. But the timing of the final authority to spend real money was dependent on politics.”
Bob Monetti of New Jersey, whose son Rick was among the victims of the 1988 bombing, said: “It’s always been about business.”
BP denied that political factors were involved in the deal’s ratification or that it had stalled during negotiations over the prisoner transfer talks.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman denied there had been a U-turn, but said trade considerations had been a factor in negotiating the prisoner exchange deal. He said Straw had unsuccessfully tried to accommodate the wish of the Scottish government to exclude Megrahi from agreement.
The spokesman claimed the deal was ultimately “academic” because Megrahi had been released on compassionate grounds: “The negotiations on the [transfer agreement] were part of wider negotiations aimed at the normalisation of relations with Libya, which included a range of areas, including trade.
“The exclusion or inclusion of Megrahi would not serve any practical purpose because the Scottish executive always had a veto on whether to transfer him.”
A spokesman for Lord Mandelson said he had not changed his position that the release of Megrahi was not linked to trade deals.
Source:The times
Gordon Brown’s government made the decision after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. These were resolved soon afterwards.
The letters were sent two years ago by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to Kenny MacAskill, his counterpart in Scotland, who has been widely criticised for taking the formal decision to permit Megrahi’s release.
The correspondence makes it plain that the key decision to include Megrahi in a deal with Libya to allow prisoners to return home was, in fact, taken in London for British national interests.
Edward Davey, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said: “This is the strongest evidence yet that the British government has been involved for a long time in talks over al-Megrahi in which commercial considerations have been central to their thinking.”
Two letters dated five months apart show that Straw initially intended to exclude Megrahi from a prisoner transfer agreement with Colonel Muammar Gadaffi, under which British and Libyan prisoners could serve out their sentences in their home country.
In a letter dated July 26, 2007, Straw said he favoured an option to leave out Megrahi by stipulating that any prisoners convicted before a specified date would not be considered for transfer.
Downing Street had also said Megrahi would not be included under the agreement.
Straw then switched his position as Libya used its deal with BP as a bargaining chip to insist the Lockerbie bomber was included.
The exploration deal for oil and gas, potentially worth up to £15 billion, was announced in May 2007. Six months later the agreement was still waiting to be ratified.
On December 19, 2007, Straw wrote to MacAskill announcing that the UK government was abandoning its attempt to exclude Megrahi from the prisoner transfer agreement, citing the national interest.
In a letter leaked by a Whitehall source, he wrote: “I had previously accepted the importance of the al-Megrahi issue to Scotland and said I would try to get an exclusion for him on the face of the agreement. I have not been able to secure an explicit exclusion.
“The wider negotiations with the Libyans are reaching a critical stage and, in view of the overwhelming interests for the United Kingdom, I have agreed that in this instance the [prisoner transfer agreement] should be in the standard form and not mention any individual.”
Within six weeks of the government climbdown, Libya had ratified the BP deal. The prisoner transfer agreement was finalised in May this year, leading to Libya formally applying for Megrahi to be transferred to its custody.
Saif Gadaffi, the colonel’s son, has insisted that negotiation over the release of Megrahi was linked with the BP oil deal: “The fight to get the [transfer] agreement lasted a long time and was very political, but I want to make clear that we didn’t mention Mr Megrahi.
“At all times we talked about the [prisoner transfer agreement]. It was obvious we were talking about him. We all knew that was what we were talking about.
“People should not get angry because we were talking about commerce or oil. We signed an oil deal at the same time. The commerce and oil deals were all with the [prisoner transfer agreement].”
His account is confirmed by other sources. Sir Richard Dalton, a former British ambassador to Libya and a board member of the Libyan British Business Council, said: “Nobody doubted Libya wanted BP and BP was confident its commitment would go through. But the timing of the final authority to spend real money was dependent on politics.”
Bob Monetti of New Jersey, whose son Rick was among the victims of the 1988 bombing, said: “It’s always been about business.”
BP denied that political factors were involved in the deal’s ratification or that it had stalled during negotiations over the prisoner transfer talks.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman denied there had been a U-turn, but said trade considerations had been a factor in negotiating the prisoner exchange deal. He said Straw had unsuccessfully tried to accommodate the wish of the Scottish government to exclude Megrahi from agreement.
The spokesman claimed the deal was ultimately “academic” because Megrahi had been released on compassionate grounds: “The negotiations on the [transfer agreement] were part of wider negotiations aimed at the normalisation of relations with Libya, which included a range of areas, including trade.
“The exclusion or inclusion of Megrahi would not serve any practical purpose because the Scottish executive always had a veto on whether to transfer him.”
A spokesman for Lord Mandelson said he had not changed his position that the release of Megrahi was not linked to trade deals.
Source:The times
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Iranian boy who defied Tehran hardliners tells of prison rape ordeal
The 15-year-old boy sits weeping in a safehouse in central Iran, broken in body and spirit. Reza will not go outside — he is terrified of being left alone. He says he wants to end his life and it is not hard to understand why: for daring to wear the green wristband of Iran’s opposition he was locked up for 20 days, beaten, raped repeatedly and subjected to the Abu Ghraib-style sexual humiliations and abuse for which the Iranian regime denounced the United States.
“My life is over. I don’t think I can ever recover,” he said, as he recounted his experiences to The Times — on condition that his identity not be revealed. A doctor who is treating him, at great risk to herself, confirmed that he is suicidal, and bears the appalling injuries consistent with his story. The family is desperate, and is exploring ways of fleeing Iran.
Reza is living proof of the charges levelled by Mehdi Karoubi, one of the opposition’s leaders, that prison officials are systematically raping both male and female detainees to break their wills. The regime has accused Mr Karoubi of helping Iran’s enemies by spreading lies and has threatened to arrest him.
The boy’s treatment also shows just how far a regime that claims to champion Islamic values is prepared to go to suppress millions of its own citizens who claim that President Ahmadinejad’s re-election was rigged.
Reza’s ordeal began in mid-July when he was arrested with about 40 other teenagers during an opposition demonstration in a large provincial city. Most were too young even to have voted. They were taken to what he believes was a Basiji militia base where they were blindfolded, stripped to their underwear, whipped with cables and then locked in a steel shipping container. That first night Reza was singled out by three men in plain clothes who had masqueraded as prisoners. As the other boys watched, they pushed him to the ground. One held his head down, another sat on his back and the third urinated on him before raping him.
“They were telling us they were doing this for God, and who did we think we were that we could demonstrate,” Reza said. The men told the other boys they would receive the same treatment if they did not co-operate when interrogated the next day.
Reza was then taken outside, tied to a metal pole and left there all night. The next morning one of the men returned. He asked whether Reza had learnt his lesson. “I was angry. I spat in his face and began cursing him. He elbowed me in the face a couple of times and slapped me.” Twenty minutes later, he says, the man returned with a bag full of excrement, shoved it in Reza’s face and threatened to make him eat it.
Reza was later taken to an interrogation room where he told his questioner he had been raped. “I made a mistake. He sounded kind, but my eyes were blindfolded. He said he would go look into it and I was hopeful,” Reza said.
Instead, the interrogator ordered Reza to be tied up and raped him again, saying: “This time I’ll do it, so you’ll learn not to tell these tales anywhere else. You deserve what’s coming to you. You guys should be raped until you die.”
He was subjected to further brutal sexual abuse — and locked up for three days of solitary confinement.
Reza was then forced to sign a “confession” in which he said that foreign forces had told him and his friends to burn banks and state media buildings. He was told to identify as the ringleader a 16-year-old friend who had been so badly beaten that he was in hospital.
“I was shaking so much I couldn’t even hear what they were saying,” said Reza. “I just signed whatever they put in front of me without looking at it. I was scared they would rape me again.”
The next day Reza and other detainees were transferred to a police detention centre, where he was held for a further week.
On the third day, police officers entered the cell in the middle of the night, blindfolded him and led him to the toilet, where he was again raped. “My hands began shaking, my legs were weak and I couldn’t stand up properly. I fell down and smashed my head hard on the ground to try and kill myself. I started screaming and shouting for them to kill me. I just couldn’t bear it anymore. I hated myself,” he said, weeping at the memory.
The following morning he was summoned by a police commander, who asked why he had been screaming the previous night. When he explained, he was asked to identify his rapist. The boy said he had been blindfolded, so the chief commander hit him and accused him of lying. He was forced to sign a letter admitting he had made baseless accusations against the security forces.
Reza’s ordeal was far from over. He was taken with about 130 other prisoners to the city’s Revolutionary Court, where they were herded into a yard. The judge told them that he would hang those who had violently resisted the Islamic revolution and read out the names of ten teenagers, including Reza. The message was clear: if they continued to say they had been raped they would be executed.
The judge sent them to the city’s central prison, where Reza was handcuffed and held in a small cell with six other boys for ten more days. In the evenings officers beat the boys and taunted them with the words: “You want to cause a revolution?.
Periodically, the most senior officer would take the boys away, three at a time. “When they returned they would be very quiet and uneasy,” Reza said. When his turn came he and the others were led into a small room and ordered to strip and have sex with each other. “He told us that with this we would be cleansed — we would be so shattered that we would no longer be able to look at each other. This would help calm us down.”
After 20 days Reza’s family finally secured his release on bail of about £45,000 — and with a final warning that he should say nothing about his treatment. His brother said: “A friend of mine who is a guard in the prison where Reza was being held had told me he was ill. The night he was released he was crying uncontrollably; then he broke down and told my mother everything.”
The family persuaded a hospital doctor they knew to treat him, despite the danger to herself. She has treated his physical injuries and given him antibiotics and sedatives but cannot perform an internal examination. Reza is deeply traumatised, terrified of being returned to prison and barely sleeps.
The doctor told The Times that other detainees had suffered a similiar fate. “We have many cases in the hospital but we can’t report on them. They won’t let us open a file. They don’t want any paperwork,” she said.
Drewery Dyke, an Amnesty International Iran researcher, said that Reza’s case was “consistent with other reports we have received in terms of the severity of disregard for human dignity, the unrestricted abuse without any recourse to justice, the involvement even of judicial persons in rape abuse and the denial of the basic right to healthcare”.
Reza, at least, survived to tell the world his story. The 16-year-old friend he had to name as the ringleader has since died in hospital from his injuries.
• The identities of all people mentioned in the article have been withheld.
NATION IN TURMOIL
June 12 Presidential elections held after a campaign marked by huge rallies in support of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi
June 13 Mr Mousavi calls for vote counting to stop, saying there are “blatant violations”. Government says Mr Ahmadinejad won with 62.63 per cent of the vote. Angry crowds assemble in Tehran
June 14 Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gives his blessing to the disputed results
June 15 He agrees to investigate the election as tens of thousands of Mousavi supporters take to the streets in the largest protest since the 1979 revolution. At least eight are killed and 368 detained, says Amnesty International
June 16 Mass rallies continue while foreign media are banned from reporting on the streets of Tehran
June 19 State television says more than 450 are detained during clashes in Tehran. At least ten are killed, including Neda Saledi Agha Soltan, apparently shot by a militia sniper. Her murder is seen around the world on the internet
June 21 Mr Ahmadinejad accuses US and Britain of fuelling protests
June 23 Britain expels two Iranian diplomats after two of its diplomats are thrown out of Iran. Britain and US condemn beatings and arrests of demonstrators
July 22 Amnesty International says it has received the names of at least 30 killed during the demonstrations
August 1 Thirty people put on trial for alleged opposition “conspiracy”. Amnesty denounces the trials as “grossly unfair”
August 5 Mr Ahmadinejad is sworn in for second term
August 10 “Confessions” from defendants on trial, including a British Embassy employee and a French student, are said to prove a Western plot to topple the Iranian government
August 11 Former opposition candidate Mehdi Karoubi says detainees have been systematically raped and tortured in jails
August 14 Reformist MPs denounce government brutality and call for Ayatollah Khamenei’s qualifications for position of Supreme Leader to be investigated
August 20 Mr Karoubi says he is ready to present evidence of rape
Sources: Amnesty International, Reuters, Times database
“My life is over. I don’t think I can ever recover,” he said, as he recounted his experiences to The Times — on condition that his identity not be revealed. A doctor who is treating him, at great risk to herself, confirmed that he is suicidal, and bears the appalling injuries consistent with his story. The family is desperate, and is exploring ways of fleeing Iran.
Reza is living proof of the charges levelled by Mehdi Karoubi, one of the opposition’s leaders, that prison officials are systematically raping both male and female detainees to break their wills. The regime has accused Mr Karoubi of helping Iran’s enemies by spreading lies and has threatened to arrest him.
The boy’s treatment also shows just how far a regime that claims to champion Islamic values is prepared to go to suppress millions of its own citizens who claim that President Ahmadinejad’s re-election was rigged.
Reza’s ordeal began in mid-July when he was arrested with about 40 other teenagers during an opposition demonstration in a large provincial city. Most were too young even to have voted. They were taken to what he believes was a Basiji militia base where they were blindfolded, stripped to their underwear, whipped with cables and then locked in a steel shipping container. That first night Reza was singled out by three men in plain clothes who had masqueraded as prisoners. As the other boys watched, they pushed him to the ground. One held his head down, another sat on his back and the third urinated on him before raping him.
“They were telling us they were doing this for God, and who did we think we were that we could demonstrate,” Reza said. The men told the other boys they would receive the same treatment if they did not co-operate when interrogated the next day.
Reza was then taken outside, tied to a metal pole and left there all night. The next morning one of the men returned. He asked whether Reza had learnt his lesson. “I was angry. I spat in his face and began cursing him. He elbowed me in the face a couple of times and slapped me.” Twenty minutes later, he says, the man returned with a bag full of excrement, shoved it in Reza’s face and threatened to make him eat it.
Reza was later taken to an interrogation room where he told his questioner he had been raped. “I made a mistake. He sounded kind, but my eyes were blindfolded. He said he would go look into it and I was hopeful,” Reza said.
Instead, the interrogator ordered Reza to be tied up and raped him again, saying: “This time I’ll do it, so you’ll learn not to tell these tales anywhere else. You deserve what’s coming to you. You guys should be raped until you die.”
He was subjected to further brutal sexual abuse — and locked up for three days of solitary confinement.
Reza was then forced to sign a “confession” in which he said that foreign forces had told him and his friends to burn banks and state media buildings. He was told to identify as the ringleader a 16-year-old friend who had been so badly beaten that he was in hospital.
“I was shaking so much I couldn’t even hear what they were saying,” said Reza. “I just signed whatever they put in front of me without looking at it. I was scared they would rape me again.”
The next day Reza and other detainees were transferred to a police detention centre, where he was held for a further week.
On the third day, police officers entered the cell in the middle of the night, blindfolded him and led him to the toilet, where he was again raped. “My hands began shaking, my legs were weak and I couldn’t stand up properly. I fell down and smashed my head hard on the ground to try and kill myself. I started screaming and shouting for them to kill me. I just couldn’t bear it anymore. I hated myself,” he said, weeping at the memory.
The following morning he was summoned by a police commander, who asked why he had been screaming the previous night. When he explained, he was asked to identify his rapist. The boy said he had been blindfolded, so the chief commander hit him and accused him of lying. He was forced to sign a letter admitting he had made baseless accusations against the security forces.
Reza’s ordeal was far from over. He was taken with about 130 other prisoners to the city’s Revolutionary Court, where they were herded into a yard. The judge told them that he would hang those who had violently resisted the Islamic revolution and read out the names of ten teenagers, including Reza. The message was clear: if they continued to say they had been raped they would be executed.
The judge sent them to the city’s central prison, where Reza was handcuffed and held in a small cell with six other boys for ten more days. In the evenings officers beat the boys and taunted them with the words: “You want to cause a revolution?.
Periodically, the most senior officer would take the boys away, three at a time. “When they returned they would be very quiet and uneasy,” Reza said. When his turn came he and the others were led into a small room and ordered to strip and have sex with each other. “He told us that with this we would be cleansed — we would be so shattered that we would no longer be able to look at each other. This would help calm us down.”
After 20 days Reza’s family finally secured his release on bail of about £45,000 — and with a final warning that he should say nothing about his treatment. His brother said: “A friend of mine who is a guard in the prison where Reza was being held had told me he was ill. The night he was released he was crying uncontrollably; then he broke down and told my mother everything.”
The family persuaded a hospital doctor they knew to treat him, despite the danger to herself. She has treated his physical injuries and given him antibiotics and sedatives but cannot perform an internal examination. Reza is deeply traumatised, terrified of being returned to prison and barely sleeps.
The doctor told The Times that other detainees had suffered a similiar fate. “We have many cases in the hospital but we can’t report on them. They won’t let us open a file. They don’t want any paperwork,” she said.
Drewery Dyke, an Amnesty International Iran researcher, said that Reza’s case was “consistent with other reports we have received in terms of the severity of disregard for human dignity, the unrestricted abuse without any recourse to justice, the involvement even of judicial persons in rape abuse and the denial of the basic right to healthcare”.
Reza, at least, survived to tell the world his story. The 16-year-old friend he had to name as the ringleader has since died in hospital from his injuries.
• The identities of all people mentioned in the article have been withheld.
NATION IN TURMOIL
June 12 Presidential elections held after a campaign marked by huge rallies in support of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi
June 13 Mr Mousavi calls for vote counting to stop, saying there are “blatant violations”. Government says Mr Ahmadinejad won with 62.63 per cent of the vote. Angry crowds assemble in Tehran
June 14 Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gives his blessing to the disputed results
June 15 He agrees to investigate the election as tens of thousands of Mousavi supporters take to the streets in the largest protest since the 1979 revolution. At least eight are killed and 368 detained, says Amnesty International
June 16 Mass rallies continue while foreign media are banned from reporting on the streets of Tehran
June 19 State television says more than 450 are detained during clashes in Tehran. At least ten are killed, including Neda Saledi Agha Soltan, apparently shot by a militia sniper. Her murder is seen around the world on the internet
June 21 Mr Ahmadinejad accuses US and Britain of fuelling protests
June 23 Britain expels two Iranian diplomats after two of its diplomats are thrown out of Iran. Britain and US condemn beatings and arrests of demonstrators
July 22 Amnesty International says it has received the names of at least 30 killed during the demonstrations
August 1 Thirty people put on trial for alleged opposition “conspiracy”. Amnesty denounces the trials as “grossly unfair”
August 5 Mr Ahmadinejad is sworn in for second term
August 10 “Confessions” from defendants on trial, including a British Embassy employee and a French student, are said to prove a Western plot to topple the Iranian government
August 11 Former opposition candidate Mehdi Karoubi says detainees have been systematically raped and tortured in jails
August 14 Reformist MPs denounce government brutality and call for Ayatollah Khamenei’s qualifications for position of Supreme Leader to be investigated
August 20 Mr Karoubi says he is ready to present evidence of rape
Sources: Amnesty International, Reuters, Times database
Legitimacy concerns over Afghanistan elections
The Afghanistan elections were marred by widespread fraud and intimidation, according to electoral observers.
A report on Thursday's voting in the second-ever presidential elections has exposed incidents of violence and fraud at the polling booths.
Afghanistan's Free and Fair Election Foundation observed incidents of multiple and underage voting, illiterates being told who to vote for and election officials being ejected from some polling stations.
Election officials were also seen were pressuring people to vote for certain candidates, while individual voters were caught carrying boxes of ballot cards to polling sites to use for themselves.
About 26 Afghans were killed Taliban attacks aimed at destabilizing the elections, however this was far less than had been feared.
The Free and Fair Election Foundation, which had around 7,000 observers stationed around the country, claimed Taliban militants also cut off the ink-stained fingers of voters in Kandahar.
Two men, who had dipped their fingers in purple ink as a fraud prevention measure, were attacked shortly after leaving the polling booths.
The Taliban threats are being blamed for the relatively poor turn-out, which election officials have estimated could be as low as 40%, a dramatic fall from the 70% who voted in the country's first-ever elections in 2004.
President Hamid Karzai is expected to beat main rival Dr Abdullah Abdullah although both men have claimed victory.
If neither candidate gets 50 percent in the first round, they will go to a second round runoff. Initial preliminary results won’t be announced until Tuesday, and final results won’t be certified until mid-September.
UK forces in the country launched Operation Panther's Claw in the run up to the elections to try and safeguard voters from the Taliban.
The opera ration has been heralded as a success but also contributed to a sharp rise in British casualties leading the death-toll for UK servicemen to rise to 206 and raise questions over our army's continuing presence in the country.
Source:The times
A report on Thursday's voting in the second-ever presidential elections has exposed incidents of violence and fraud at the polling booths.
Afghanistan's Free and Fair Election Foundation observed incidents of multiple and underage voting, illiterates being told who to vote for and election officials being ejected from some polling stations.
Election officials were also seen were pressuring people to vote for certain candidates, while individual voters were caught carrying boxes of ballot cards to polling sites to use for themselves.
About 26 Afghans were killed Taliban attacks aimed at destabilizing the elections, however this was far less than had been feared.
The Free and Fair Election Foundation, which had around 7,000 observers stationed around the country, claimed Taliban militants also cut off the ink-stained fingers of voters in Kandahar.
Two men, who had dipped their fingers in purple ink as a fraud prevention measure, were attacked shortly after leaving the polling booths.
The Taliban threats are being blamed for the relatively poor turn-out, which election officials have estimated could be as low as 40%, a dramatic fall from the 70% who voted in the country's first-ever elections in 2004.
President Hamid Karzai is expected to beat main rival Dr Abdullah Abdullah although both men have claimed victory.
If neither candidate gets 50 percent in the first round, they will go to a second round runoff. Initial preliminary results won’t be announced until Tuesday, and final results won’t be certified until mid-September.
UK forces in the country launched Operation Panther's Claw in the run up to the elections to try and safeguard voters from the Taliban.
The opera ration has been heralded as a success but also contributed to a sharp rise in British casualties leading the death-toll for UK servicemen to rise to 206 and raise questions over our army's continuing presence in the country.
Source:The times
A mother keeps the memory of her son alive
Margaret Evison talks about life after her son died in Selly Oak earlier this year and how she set up a foundation in his name
As another two deaths were confirmed yesterday, more than 200 military families across the country are coming to terms with the loss of a son, husband or brother, killed in Afghanistan.
The mourning process will vary, with some days more painful than others, but the cruel sense of loss will remain.
Learning to come to terms with her grief, one mother has found comfort in a foundation she set up in memory of her son, Lieutenant Mark Evison, 26, who died three months ago after he was shot in Helmand province.
The Mark Evison Foundation aims to encourage young people to take on personal challenges – something that had been a distinguishing feature of Lieutenant Evison’s short life.
“Mark impressed everyone with his fun, his active, can-do attitude,” his mother said. “We want Mark’s name and values to live on and his death to have some specific, positive effect.”
Lieutenant Evison was shot under the right shoulder as he tried to extract his platoon from an ambush. He was flown back to Britain still alive but was pronounced brain dead at Selly Oak hospital in Birmingham.
Margaret Evison and her former husband made the decision to turn off his life support machine on May 12, three days after the shooting.
“It was very difficult,” she said. “We had the chance to be with him. I always hoped he would wake up. We’d been told there was a slight chance that would be the case and I’m an optimist. I just wanted to take him home.”
Ms Evison is now left with the memories, diaries and photographs of a young man who was not just a son but also a close friend.
“He was such good company so we had a lot of fun together, laughing and talking,” she said, speaking in the conservatory of her home in East Dulwich, southeast London.
When Lieutenant Evison came to visit, he and his mother would often go to the SeaCow, a local fish and chip shop, where they would have dinner, drink wine and talk about anything from the Army to family matters.
The young officer had enjoyed an active life. A talented cellist and pianist, he won a music scholarship to Charterhouse. He was also a keen sportsman, running the London Marathon at the age of 17 and playing a lot of rugby.After completing his A levels, he decided to travel to Australia to work as a jackaroo on a 300,000-acre sheep farm in New South Wales for a year.
He returned to Britain to go to Oxford Brookes University to study land economy. Upon graduation, he longed for more adventure and spent three weeks running 500 miles across Spain before deciding that he wanted to become the youngest person to trek to the South Pole.
“Mark wrote an article about his goal for his old school magazine and a man from San Francisco sent him £5,000. He used the money to go on a polar-training fortnight in Norway, living on the ice in an igloo,” his mother said.
Lieutenant Evison was unable to raise the £90,000 needed for a full expedition to the South Pole, so instead, aged 23, decided to become an army officer. “He took to the Army like a duck to water,” Ms Evison said.
“He was the sort of guy who was always cheerful and would always help other people and that was a really powerful combination.”
Lieutenant Evison commissioned into The Welsh Guards in December 2007 and deployed to Afghanistan earlier this year. His mother said she had been more worried about him getting injured on one of his two motorbikes than anything happening to him on the front line.
His premature death left a huge hole in her life, one that will never be filled but will hopefully become less painful with time. “I think about it a lot at the moment,” she said. “At some point that has to become easier because you have to think about it less. I am sure that will happen.”
Ms Evison also enjoys support from friends, family, neighbours and The Welsh Guards. “People ring me up and ask if I would like to go for a walk or for a meal. That keeps you from becoming too isolated. It forces you to get out.”
Above all, the Mark Evison Foundation will keep the memory of her son alive. It aims to give anyone aged 16 to 30 an award of up to £5,000 to help them pursue a dream, such as polar training in Norway. The foundation will also offer an annual award of £500 to sixth-form students at certain schools in southeast England who want to complete a specific challenge.
Money for the foundation, a registered charity, is raised through donations and sponsored events. About £70,000 has already been generated since the foundation was established at the end of May. Anyone wanting to know more details should go to:
markevisonfoundation.org
As another two deaths were confirmed yesterday, more than 200 military families across the country are coming to terms with the loss of a son, husband or brother, killed in Afghanistan.
The mourning process will vary, with some days more painful than others, but the cruel sense of loss will remain.
Learning to come to terms with her grief, one mother has found comfort in a foundation she set up in memory of her son, Lieutenant Mark Evison, 26, who died three months ago after he was shot in Helmand province.
The Mark Evison Foundation aims to encourage young people to take on personal challenges – something that had been a distinguishing feature of Lieutenant Evison’s short life.
“Mark impressed everyone with his fun, his active, can-do attitude,” his mother said. “We want Mark’s name and values to live on and his death to have some specific, positive effect.”
Lieutenant Evison was shot under the right shoulder as he tried to extract his platoon from an ambush. He was flown back to Britain still alive but was pronounced brain dead at Selly Oak hospital in Birmingham.
Margaret Evison and her former husband made the decision to turn off his life support machine on May 12, three days after the shooting.
“It was very difficult,” she said. “We had the chance to be with him. I always hoped he would wake up. We’d been told there was a slight chance that would be the case and I’m an optimist. I just wanted to take him home.”
Ms Evison is now left with the memories, diaries and photographs of a young man who was not just a son but also a close friend.
“He was such good company so we had a lot of fun together, laughing and talking,” she said, speaking in the conservatory of her home in East Dulwich, southeast London.
When Lieutenant Evison came to visit, he and his mother would often go to the SeaCow, a local fish and chip shop, where they would have dinner, drink wine and talk about anything from the Army to family matters.
The young officer had enjoyed an active life. A talented cellist and pianist, he won a music scholarship to Charterhouse. He was also a keen sportsman, running the London Marathon at the age of 17 and playing a lot of rugby.After completing his A levels, he decided to travel to Australia to work as a jackaroo on a 300,000-acre sheep farm in New South Wales for a year.
He returned to Britain to go to Oxford Brookes University to study land economy. Upon graduation, he longed for more adventure and spent three weeks running 500 miles across Spain before deciding that he wanted to become the youngest person to trek to the South Pole.
“Mark wrote an article about his goal for his old school magazine and a man from San Francisco sent him £5,000. He used the money to go on a polar-training fortnight in Norway, living on the ice in an igloo,” his mother said.
Lieutenant Evison was unable to raise the £90,000 needed for a full expedition to the South Pole, so instead, aged 23, decided to become an army officer. “He took to the Army like a duck to water,” Ms Evison said.
“He was the sort of guy who was always cheerful and would always help other people and that was a really powerful combination.”
Lieutenant Evison commissioned into The Welsh Guards in December 2007 and deployed to Afghanistan earlier this year. His mother said she had been more worried about him getting injured on one of his two motorbikes than anything happening to him on the front line.
His premature death left a huge hole in her life, one that will never be filled but will hopefully become less painful with time. “I think about it a lot at the moment,” she said. “At some point that has to become easier because you have to think about it less. I am sure that will happen.”
Ms Evison also enjoys support from friends, family, neighbours and The Welsh Guards. “People ring me up and ask if I would like to go for a walk or for a meal. That keeps you from becoming too isolated. It forces you to get out.”
Above all, the Mark Evison Foundation will keep the memory of her son alive. It aims to give anyone aged 16 to 30 an award of up to £5,000 to help them pursue a dream, such as polar training in Norway. The foundation will also offer an annual award of £500 to sixth-form students at certain schools in southeast England who want to complete a specific challenge.
Money for the foundation, a registered charity, is raised through donations and sponsored events. About £70,000 has already been generated since the foundation was established at the end of May. Anyone wanting to know more details should go to:
markevisonfoundation.org
US clinic offers British couples the chance to choose the sex of their child
A new clinic in Manhattan is appealing to British couples who want to pick the sex of their next child — a process that is banned in the United Kingdom.
Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), which can reveal the sex of an embryo, is prohibited in Britain except when it is used to screen for genetic diseases.
The United States relaxed its regulations on sex selection in 2001 and American medical centres report interest from British patients who find out about their “family balancing” services through online advertisements.
Jeffrey Steinberg opened his New York clinic in January. Half of the embryos at present undergoing tests in his laboratory belong to British parents and four couples are already booked in for next month.
“Britain is far more conservative than it used to be. They were the innovators but now they’ve got handcuffs on,” Dr Steinberg said. “From a business standpoint, it’s the best thing going. From a medical standpoint, it’s a travesty.”
As recent healthcare debates show, many Americans balk at government involvement in medicine. Robert Brzyski, chairman of the ethics committee at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said: “The tradition in the US has been to not interfere with the reproductive choices of American citizens.”
The Genetics and IVF Institute in Virginia was one of the first medical centres in America to offer family balancing. Between 10 and 15 per cent of the 400 pre-implantation diagnosis cycles that it oversees each year come from abroad. Gary Harton, its PGD scientific director, said: “The people that want to do it will come and find you.”
Such medical tourism has boosted business for American doctors: the bill for procedures, travel and hotels can add up to £20,000. Most countries impose restrictions because of concerns that elective sex selection may facilitate cultural biases for male heirs.
Although evidence suggests that British patients tend to pick sons and daughters in roughly even numbers, most US clinics will treat only those parents who already have a child of the other sex.
Britain’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority remains cautious, citing public opposition to sex selection. “In the US there is no official regulator to monitor clinics and no legal obligation to offer the counselling that is an important part of treatment,” a spokesman said. “Those who choose to go overseas for their treatment should make themselves aware of the laws and consider what impact there may be on any child that is subsequently born.”
The institute in Virginia takes pains to counter America’s reputation as the Wild West of reproductive technology. Patients go through counselling before the procedure and meticulous records are kept on the new babies. Mr Harton often reassures nervous British patients: “You’re no different to any other patient. You’re here to get what you want. To get a baby.”
Humans have tried to influence the sex of their children for centuries, since the Ancient Greeks tied off a testicle to have a son. But the only effective methods are PGD and Microsort, a technique that separates sperm bearing X or Y chromosomes before fertilisation. In PGD, a single cell is extracted from each IVF embryo before implantation. This is then analysed for the chromosomes that signify sex, allowing doctors to select the preferred embryo.
Stephen Wilkinson, a professor of bioethics at Keele University, believes that British regulations about the procedure should change. “The case for prohibition in the UK is not very strong,” he said. “The only people for whom there really is a ban are people who either can’t afford to circumvent the regulations or who don’t have the knowledge to do it.”
David Karabinus, a director at the Virginia institute, believes that elective sex selection will eventually be seen as just another form of reproductive medicine. “Just as there was an overreaction about IVF, there will be a gradual acceptance as we prove it’s safe. It’s there if people want it.”
Source:The times
Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), which can reveal the sex of an embryo, is prohibited in Britain except when it is used to screen for genetic diseases.
The United States relaxed its regulations on sex selection in 2001 and American medical centres report interest from British patients who find out about their “family balancing” services through online advertisements.
Jeffrey Steinberg opened his New York clinic in January. Half of the embryos at present undergoing tests in his laboratory belong to British parents and four couples are already booked in for next month.
“Britain is far more conservative than it used to be. They were the innovators but now they’ve got handcuffs on,” Dr Steinberg said. “From a business standpoint, it’s the best thing going. From a medical standpoint, it’s a travesty.”
As recent healthcare debates show, many Americans balk at government involvement in medicine. Robert Brzyski, chairman of the ethics committee at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said: “The tradition in the US has been to not interfere with the reproductive choices of American citizens.”
The Genetics and IVF Institute in Virginia was one of the first medical centres in America to offer family balancing. Between 10 and 15 per cent of the 400 pre-implantation diagnosis cycles that it oversees each year come from abroad. Gary Harton, its PGD scientific director, said: “The people that want to do it will come and find you.”
Such medical tourism has boosted business for American doctors: the bill for procedures, travel and hotels can add up to £20,000. Most countries impose restrictions because of concerns that elective sex selection may facilitate cultural biases for male heirs.
Although evidence suggests that British patients tend to pick sons and daughters in roughly even numbers, most US clinics will treat only those parents who already have a child of the other sex.
Britain’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority remains cautious, citing public opposition to sex selection. “In the US there is no official regulator to monitor clinics and no legal obligation to offer the counselling that is an important part of treatment,” a spokesman said. “Those who choose to go overseas for their treatment should make themselves aware of the laws and consider what impact there may be on any child that is subsequently born.”
The institute in Virginia takes pains to counter America’s reputation as the Wild West of reproductive technology. Patients go through counselling before the procedure and meticulous records are kept on the new babies. Mr Harton often reassures nervous British patients: “You’re no different to any other patient. You’re here to get what you want. To get a baby.”
Humans have tried to influence the sex of their children for centuries, since the Ancient Greeks tied off a testicle to have a son. But the only effective methods are PGD and Microsort, a technique that separates sperm bearing X or Y chromosomes before fertilisation. In PGD, a single cell is extracted from each IVF embryo before implantation. This is then analysed for the chromosomes that signify sex, allowing doctors to select the preferred embryo.
Stephen Wilkinson, a professor of bioethics at Keele University, believes that British regulations about the procedure should change. “The case for prohibition in the UK is not very strong,” he said. “The only people for whom there really is a ban are people who either can’t afford to circumvent the regulations or who don’t have the knowledge to do it.”
David Karabinus, a director at the Virginia institute, believes that elective sex selection will eventually be seen as just another form of reproductive medicine. “Just as there was an overreaction about IVF, there will be a gradual acceptance as we prove it’s safe. It’s there if people want it.”
Source:The times
Lord Mandelson steps in over Lockerbie
Lord Mandelson has stated any suggestion of a trade deal over the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi is 'offensive'.
The Government have been under pressure since this morning after allegations of alleged trade deal behind his release of the after claims made by Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam.
But the business secretary, who has previously met with Saif al-Islam, dismissed allegations that al-Megrahi's release was the result of a business deal with Libya, as he was released from hospital following a prostate operation this afternoon.
Saif al-Islam, has claimed that negotiations over al-Megrahi’s release had always been tied up with the oil and gas business. However Mandelson, who has met with Saif al-Islam twice this year, said: “It’s not only completely wrong to make such a suggestion it’s also quite offensive.
“As I have already stated, on both occasions Mr Gaddafi raised the issue of the Libyan prisoner in Scotland’s release as all representatives of the Libyan government do.”
“They had the same response from me as they would have had from any other member of the Government.
“The issue of the prisoner’s release was entirely a matter for the Scottish Justice Minister.
“That is how it was left, that is how it was well understood.”
He said it was a devolved matter and saying there was “no agreement between the Libyan government and the British government”.
He added: “It has been a matter entirely for the Scottish Justice Minister to exercise his discretion.”
He also condemned the hero’s welcome given to al-Megrahi in Libya saying it was ‘insensitive’ to the loved-ones of those who'd died in the 1988 tragedy.
As he left St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, west London, the Business Secretary praised the NHS and thanked the staff who had treated him.
Mandelson, who is also First Secretary of State said: “I have been treated really well in the hospital.
“Everything is now flowing extremely well.
“Actually I have had a jolly time. I am very proud to be an NHS patient.”
Source:The times
The Government have been under pressure since this morning after allegations of alleged trade deal behind his release of the after claims made by Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam.
But the business secretary, who has previously met with Saif al-Islam, dismissed allegations that al-Megrahi's release was the result of a business deal with Libya, as he was released from hospital following a prostate operation this afternoon.
Saif al-Islam, has claimed that negotiations over al-Megrahi’s release had always been tied up with the oil and gas business. However Mandelson, who has met with Saif al-Islam twice this year, said: “It’s not only completely wrong to make such a suggestion it’s also quite offensive.
“As I have already stated, on both occasions Mr Gaddafi raised the issue of the Libyan prisoner in Scotland’s release as all representatives of the Libyan government do.”
“They had the same response from me as they would have had from any other member of the Government.
“The issue of the prisoner’s release was entirely a matter for the Scottish Justice Minister.
“That is how it was left, that is how it was well understood.”
He said it was a devolved matter and saying there was “no agreement between the Libyan government and the British government”.
He added: “It has been a matter entirely for the Scottish Justice Minister to exercise his discretion.”
He also condemned the hero’s welcome given to al-Megrahi in Libya saying it was ‘insensitive’ to the loved-ones of those who'd died in the 1988 tragedy.
As he left St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, west London, the Business Secretary praised the NHS and thanked the staff who had treated him.
Mandelson, who is also First Secretary of State said: “I have been treated really well in the hospital.
“Everything is now flowing extremely well.
“Actually I have had a jolly time. I am very proud to be an NHS patient.”
Source:The times
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Manson disciple Lynette ‘Squeaky’ Fromme free after three decades
Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, the waifish, red-headed Charles Manson follower who once tried to assassinate President Ford, was granted her freedom yesterday after spending more than three decades behind bars.
Fromme — who is said to have got her nickname from Manson himself after the noise she made when she was pinched — was 26 when she pointed a semi-automatic .45 pistol at the President in 1975. The assassination attempt took place in Sacramento, California, as Ford was strolling from the State Capitol building to his hotel.
Fromme, dressed in a nun-like red robe, drew the weapon from a holster on her thigh and aimed it at the President as he shook hands with supporters. She was disarmed by Secret Service agents and members of the public before the President could be hurt — although it was later found that the gun had no bullet in the chamber. It did, however, contain a clip of ammunition.
Fromme’s motive was never clear, although it is thought that she was trying to gain attention to lobby for a new trial for Manson. Her release comes only days after the 40th anniversary of the notorious Manson murders, in which young female supporters of the failed 1960s pop star helped to commit atrocities on his orders. Victims included Roman Polanski’s heavily pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, who was stabbed 16 times. Her blood was then used to write the word “Pig” on the front door of her house; a reference to a Beatles’ lyric that Manson believed warned of a coming apocalypse.Nine others were murdered over the same weekend as part of a campaign that Manson named “Helter Skelter”, also after a Beatles song.
The killings sent Los Angeles into shock and provoked a great deal of soul-searching in America, largely because many of Manson’s followers came from well-educated, upper-middle-class homes. One devotee, Charles “Tex” Watson, had been a school football star.
Manson is serving a life term in Corcoran State Prison in California for the 1969 massacre, and is believed to be the most written-to prison inmate in America.
Fromme, now 60, was investigated but never charged with involvement with the murders, but she was convicted of attempting to stop other members of Manson’s “family” from testifying, as well as contempt of court when she refused to testify herself.
After the attempt to kill Ford, she became the first American to be sentenced under a special federal law concerning attempts on a US president’s life, enacted after the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy.
However, she managed to escape from a female prison in Alderson, West Virginia, in 1987 — to be closer to Manson, she said — prompting a huge search operation. She was eventually recaptured about two miles away and then sentenced to an additional 15 months in prison for the escape.
By the time she was released, at 8am yesterday, Fromme was being held at Federal Medical Centre Carswell in Fort Worth, a facility that specialises in providing medical and mental health services to female offenders.
She had been granted parole in July 2008 and was released after being awarded “good conduct time”.
Fromme was one of Manson’s earliest and most devoted followers. When the cult leader was put on trial, Fromme and other members of the family camped outside the courthouse and carved the letter “X” into their foreheads, as Manson himself had done.
Source:The times
Fromme — who is said to have got her nickname from Manson himself after the noise she made when she was pinched — was 26 when she pointed a semi-automatic .45 pistol at the President in 1975. The assassination attempt took place in Sacramento, California, as Ford was strolling from the State Capitol building to his hotel.
Fromme, dressed in a nun-like red robe, drew the weapon from a holster on her thigh and aimed it at the President as he shook hands with supporters. She was disarmed by Secret Service agents and members of the public before the President could be hurt — although it was later found that the gun had no bullet in the chamber. It did, however, contain a clip of ammunition.
Fromme’s motive was never clear, although it is thought that she was trying to gain attention to lobby for a new trial for Manson. Her release comes only days after the 40th anniversary of the notorious Manson murders, in which young female supporters of the failed 1960s pop star helped to commit atrocities on his orders. Victims included Roman Polanski’s heavily pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, who was stabbed 16 times. Her blood was then used to write the word “Pig” on the front door of her house; a reference to a Beatles’ lyric that Manson believed warned of a coming apocalypse.Nine others were murdered over the same weekend as part of a campaign that Manson named “Helter Skelter”, also after a Beatles song.
The killings sent Los Angeles into shock and provoked a great deal of soul-searching in America, largely because many of Manson’s followers came from well-educated, upper-middle-class homes. One devotee, Charles “Tex” Watson, had been a school football star.
Manson is serving a life term in Corcoran State Prison in California for the 1969 massacre, and is believed to be the most written-to prison inmate in America.
Fromme, now 60, was investigated but never charged with involvement with the murders, but she was convicted of attempting to stop other members of Manson’s “family” from testifying, as well as contempt of court when she refused to testify herself.
After the attempt to kill Ford, she became the first American to be sentenced under a special federal law concerning attempts on a US president’s life, enacted after the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy.
However, she managed to escape from a female prison in Alderson, West Virginia, in 1987 — to be closer to Manson, she said — prompting a huge search operation. She was eventually recaptured about two miles away and then sentenced to an additional 15 months in prison for the escape.
By the time she was released, at 8am yesterday, Fromme was being held at Federal Medical Centre Carswell in Fort Worth, a facility that specialises in providing medical and mental health services to female offenders.
She had been granted parole in July 2008 and was released after being awarded “good conduct time”.
Fromme was one of Manson’s earliest and most devoted followers. When the cult leader was put on trial, Fromme and other members of the family camped outside the courthouse and carved the letter “X” into their foreheads, as Manson himself had done.
Source:The times
War baby Daniel Rouxel's struggle for recognition of his French-German origins
Daniel Rouxel’s childhood was marked by his grandmother, who beat him and shut him in the hen coop; by his priest, who refused him Communion; and by the scorn and insults of his teacher.
A little blond boy, he was a pariah in the small French village where he grew up, and it was through the playground taunts of his classmates that he discovered why. “Fils de Boche!” they shouted, which translates loosely as “Son of Jerry!”
In occupied France during the Second World War, Mr Rouxel was the fruit of a love affair between a young Breton woman and the handsome German officer who stopped to help her to put her bicycle chain back on. His crime was to have served as an unwelcome reminder of a fact that everyone wanted to forget: that relations between French citizens and Hitler’s occupying army had often been close.
Detested by his neighbours, he was an embarrassment to the authorities, who airbrushed his parentage out of history with a birth certificate that described him as the child of “father unknown”.This month, the truth was restored. After a long campaign, Mr Rouxel, 66, won formal recognition of his origins, after an agreement between the French and German governments. In a ceremony at the German Consulate in Paris that left him in tears, officials certified that he was the son of Lieutenant Otto Ammon and awarded him a German passport.
“For the first time in my life, I officially have a dad,” he told The Times, in an interview at his small flat on the outskirts of Le Mans, northern France. “You can’t imagine how much it means to me. I’ve finally got the second half of my identity.”
At least 200,000 children are believed to have been fathered by German soldiers in France during the war, and about 300 have submitted a claim for dual Franco-German nationality. “It’s not so much the passport which is important as having the right to use your father’s name, like anyone else,” said Mr Rouxel, who has owned a bar in France for decades. “It will not wipe out the childhood wounds, but it will enable us to have a little peace of mind in our old age.”
Born in April 1943, he spent his first four years with foster parents, receiving weekend visits from his mother and his father, before his death from shrapnel wounds inflicted in a British bombing raid in 1945.
The suffering began when he was placed with his maternal grandmother in Mégrit, a village in Brittany “where everyone knew everything about everyone else”.
“I just wasn’t accepted,” he said. “Even to my grandmother, I was the fils de Boche. She refused to let me kiss her and sent me to sleep with the hens. And she’d beat me with her wooden stick. I think she just wanted to show to the rest of the population that she didn’t approve of me and of what my mother had done.”
No one approved. Parents told their children not to play with or speak to him. The priest singled him out as the only child in his age group unable to take Communion. The head of his primary school reminded the class that he was a Boche as he kicked him in the backside with a wooden shoe.
“I can understand all the feelings after the occupation ended, but I was just a child and you don’t take revenge on a child,” said Mr Rouxel.
The worst humiliation was inflicted by the deputy mayor of Mégrit one Sunday when Mr Rouxel was 6. “He was standing on a granite stone giving a speech when he called me up beside him and said, ‘What’s the difference between a swallow and a Jerry? The swallow takes its babies when it leaves France. The Jerry leaves his behind’.
“People clapped and I was left with only my tears and my shame. I ran away and spent the night under a bridge. The next morning I tried to drown myself but it didn’t work.”
Unable to cope with the opprobrium, his mother remained distant, offering little support or comfort. However, in Unterweissach, near Stuttgart, in southern Germany, his relatives were trying to trace the boy whose existence had been revealed by his father in a letter shortly before his death. “I was 12 when they made contact with my mother and invited me to see them in Germany. There I discovered all the affection and niceness which I had never known in France.”
The spitting image of Lieutenant Ammon, Mr Rouxel was given a welcome that inspired his fight to be officially recognised as his father’s son.
A black-and-white photograph of his father, in German army uniform, stands on his living room sideboard. Next to it are the French and German flags and a newspaper cutting relating Mr Rouxel’s fury when a TV presenter described him as the child of a Nazi.
“My father wasn’t a Nazi,” he said. “He was a cultivated man conscripted into the Wehrmacht who fell in love with a French woman.”
Sleeping with the enemy
— An estimated 200,000 children were born in France to German fathers between 1941 and 1945
— Organisations such as Amicale Nationale des Enfants de la Guerre and Coeurs sans Frontières aim to gain recognition for French “war children” and reunite them with relatives
— At least 10,000 children were born to German soldiers and local mothers in the Netherlands
— In Norway, German soldiers were encouraged to initiate relationships with local women, who were considered to be “racially pure” by the Nazis. The progeny of these unions were called Lebensborn (fount of life) and received preferential access to healthcare and rations. After liberation, these children suffered persecution from other Norwegians and in recent years have won compensation from the Government
— The Abba singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad’s father is a Norwegian war child, fathered by a German sergeant stationed in Norway. In 1945, she fled to Sweden with her mother and grandmother to avoid their being branded collaborators
— German soldiers were not alone in fathering children abroad — between 1945 and 1955, more than 100,000 children were born to single German mothers and occupying Allied soldier fathers
Source: Times database
A little blond boy, he was a pariah in the small French village where he grew up, and it was through the playground taunts of his classmates that he discovered why. “Fils de Boche!” they shouted, which translates loosely as “Son of Jerry!”
In occupied France during the Second World War, Mr Rouxel was the fruit of a love affair between a young Breton woman and the handsome German officer who stopped to help her to put her bicycle chain back on. His crime was to have served as an unwelcome reminder of a fact that everyone wanted to forget: that relations between French citizens and Hitler’s occupying army had often been close.
Detested by his neighbours, he was an embarrassment to the authorities, who airbrushed his parentage out of history with a birth certificate that described him as the child of “father unknown”.This month, the truth was restored. After a long campaign, Mr Rouxel, 66, won formal recognition of his origins, after an agreement between the French and German governments. In a ceremony at the German Consulate in Paris that left him in tears, officials certified that he was the son of Lieutenant Otto Ammon and awarded him a German passport.
“For the first time in my life, I officially have a dad,” he told The Times, in an interview at his small flat on the outskirts of Le Mans, northern France. “You can’t imagine how much it means to me. I’ve finally got the second half of my identity.”
At least 200,000 children are believed to have been fathered by German soldiers in France during the war, and about 300 have submitted a claim for dual Franco-German nationality. “It’s not so much the passport which is important as having the right to use your father’s name, like anyone else,” said Mr Rouxel, who has owned a bar in France for decades. “It will not wipe out the childhood wounds, but it will enable us to have a little peace of mind in our old age.”
Born in April 1943, he spent his first four years with foster parents, receiving weekend visits from his mother and his father, before his death from shrapnel wounds inflicted in a British bombing raid in 1945.
The suffering began when he was placed with his maternal grandmother in Mégrit, a village in Brittany “where everyone knew everything about everyone else”.
“I just wasn’t accepted,” he said. “Even to my grandmother, I was the fils de Boche. She refused to let me kiss her and sent me to sleep with the hens. And she’d beat me with her wooden stick. I think she just wanted to show to the rest of the population that she didn’t approve of me and of what my mother had done.”
No one approved. Parents told their children not to play with or speak to him. The priest singled him out as the only child in his age group unable to take Communion. The head of his primary school reminded the class that he was a Boche as he kicked him in the backside with a wooden shoe.
“I can understand all the feelings after the occupation ended, but I was just a child and you don’t take revenge on a child,” said Mr Rouxel.
The worst humiliation was inflicted by the deputy mayor of Mégrit one Sunday when Mr Rouxel was 6. “He was standing on a granite stone giving a speech when he called me up beside him and said, ‘What’s the difference between a swallow and a Jerry? The swallow takes its babies when it leaves France. The Jerry leaves his behind’.
“People clapped and I was left with only my tears and my shame. I ran away and spent the night under a bridge. The next morning I tried to drown myself but it didn’t work.”
Unable to cope with the opprobrium, his mother remained distant, offering little support or comfort. However, in Unterweissach, near Stuttgart, in southern Germany, his relatives were trying to trace the boy whose existence had been revealed by his father in a letter shortly before his death. “I was 12 when they made contact with my mother and invited me to see them in Germany. There I discovered all the affection and niceness which I had never known in France.”
The spitting image of Lieutenant Ammon, Mr Rouxel was given a welcome that inspired his fight to be officially recognised as his father’s son.
A black-and-white photograph of his father, in German army uniform, stands on his living room sideboard. Next to it are the French and German flags and a newspaper cutting relating Mr Rouxel’s fury when a TV presenter described him as the child of a Nazi.
“My father wasn’t a Nazi,” he said. “He was a cultivated man conscripted into the Wehrmacht who fell in love with a French woman.”
Sleeping with the enemy
— An estimated 200,000 children were born in France to German fathers between 1941 and 1945
— Organisations such as Amicale Nationale des Enfants de la Guerre and Coeurs sans Frontières aim to gain recognition for French “war children” and reunite them with relatives
— At least 10,000 children were born to German soldiers and local mothers in the Netherlands
— In Norway, German soldiers were encouraged to initiate relationships with local women, who were considered to be “racially pure” by the Nazis. The progeny of these unions were called Lebensborn (fount of life) and received preferential access to healthcare and rations. After liberation, these children suffered persecution from other Norwegians and in recent years have won compensation from the Government
— The Abba singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad’s father is a Norwegian war child, fathered by a German sergeant stationed in Norway. In 1945, she fled to Sweden with her mother and grandmother to avoid their being branded collaborators
— German soldiers were not alone in fathering children abroad — between 1945 and 1955, more than 100,000 children were born to single German mothers and occupying Allied soldier fathers
Source: Times database
US healthcare reforms cause outrage and fears of a 'socialist state'
The retired coal miner queuing in the midday sun has come to the town hall meeting with heavy political baggage. “I’ll keep my money and guns — you keep the change,” warns the badge pinned to Carl Anderson’s chest. In his hand is a banner that states simply: “Revolution is Brewing.”
He is here to protest against health reform. Mr Anderson, 70, has travelled 65 miles with seven of his friends and family to add his booming voice to the pensioners’ revolt that has shaken America in the past two weeks.
Convinced that President Obama wants to turn the country into a socialist state, starting with a nationalised health service, he hopes to hijack the political agenda.
Arlen Specter, the local Democratic Senator, is about to get an ear-bashing; his fourth in four days. Mr Anderson obliges: “I have no problem with my healthcare,” he says. “We have the best healthcare in the world. If there is anything I need, I get it.”Mr Obama’s $1 trillion (£600 billion) health reform Bill would end that, he fears. There will be rationing of treatment, and the old will bear the brunt. “They are going to start evaluating people at the age of 55,” Mr Anderson says.
Most of the roughly 1,000 people outside the community hall of Kittanning, a mining town in the Appalachian hills 50 miles north of Pittsburgh, seem to share Mr Anderson’s views, to judge by their banners. “Nobama,” says one, adorned with the skull and crossbones. “Obama lies, grandma dies,” proclaims another.
As has become the custom in the past two weeks, most do not get to air their views. The hall has 180 chairs. Inexplicably, the adjacent ice rink, which could accommodate 2,000, has been ruled out as an alternative.
By the time Mr Specter enters the hall, eight hours after the queue began to form, tempers are fraying. More than 20 police cars have swarmed to this town of 5,000 souls in case pensioners stranded outside get violent. There have been scuffles at such venues across America in recent days.
Mr Specter, a 79-year old former Republican who defected to the Democrats this year, struggles to speak above the boos and shouts of “liar”. He begins by trying to rebut rumours, circulated by libertarian groups via chain e-mails, blogs and talk-show hosts, that the reformed Medicare health insurance scheme would subsidise abortions.
He tells the audience that the cost of treatment is soaring and at this rate soon even a country as rich as the US will have to make hard choices. A health plan that cost $5,500 ten years ago will now cost $12,000 a year.
Asked what will happen if the system is not reformed, Mr Specter says bluntly: “The alternative is absolute disaster.” Several protesters storm out in disgust, shouting insults.Mr Specter acknowledges that Mr Obama may be going too far, too fast. “Change is awesome. Change brings uncertainty. I think a lot of people are afraid,” he says.
Mr Obama has not flinched so far. Last night he was holding his own town hall meeting at Bozeman, Montana, offering a passionate defence of his crammed agenda.
Mr Specter’s visit passes off without physical violence this time, but, with mid-term elections looming, he is left in no doubt about the mood of the country. “I shall be reporting to Washington what the temperature is,” he tells his tormentors as he winds up the debate. “About 235 fahrenheit” — well above boiling point already.
Source:The times
He is here to protest against health reform. Mr Anderson, 70, has travelled 65 miles with seven of his friends and family to add his booming voice to the pensioners’ revolt that has shaken America in the past two weeks.
Convinced that President Obama wants to turn the country into a socialist state, starting with a nationalised health service, he hopes to hijack the political agenda.
Arlen Specter, the local Democratic Senator, is about to get an ear-bashing; his fourth in four days. Mr Anderson obliges: “I have no problem with my healthcare,” he says. “We have the best healthcare in the world. If there is anything I need, I get it.”Mr Obama’s $1 trillion (£600 billion) health reform Bill would end that, he fears. There will be rationing of treatment, and the old will bear the brunt. “They are going to start evaluating people at the age of 55,” Mr Anderson says.
Most of the roughly 1,000 people outside the community hall of Kittanning, a mining town in the Appalachian hills 50 miles north of Pittsburgh, seem to share Mr Anderson’s views, to judge by their banners. “Nobama,” says one, adorned with the skull and crossbones. “Obama lies, grandma dies,” proclaims another.
As has become the custom in the past two weeks, most do not get to air their views. The hall has 180 chairs. Inexplicably, the adjacent ice rink, which could accommodate 2,000, has been ruled out as an alternative.
By the time Mr Specter enters the hall, eight hours after the queue began to form, tempers are fraying. More than 20 police cars have swarmed to this town of 5,000 souls in case pensioners stranded outside get violent. There have been scuffles at such venues across America in recent days.
Mr Specter, a 79-year old former Republican who defected to the Democrats this year, struggles to speak above the boos and shouts of “liar”. He begins by trying to rebut rumours, circulated by libertarian groups via chain e-mails, blogs and talk-show hosts, that the reformed Medicare health insurance scheme would subsidise abortions.
He tells the audience that the cost of treatment is soaring and at this rate soon even a country as rich as the US will have to make hard choices. A health plan that cost $5,500 ten years ago will now cost $12,000 a year.
Asked what will happen if the system is not reformed, Mr Specter says bluntly: “The alternative is absolute disaster.” Several protesters storm out in disgust, shouting insults.Mr Specter acknowledges that Mr Obama may be going too far, too fast. “Change is awesome. Change brings uncertainty. I think a lot of people are afraid,” he says.
Mr Obama has not flinched so far. Last night he was holding his own town hall meeting at Bozeman, Montana, offering a passionate defence of his crammed agenda.
Mr Specter’s visit passes off without physical violence this time, but, with mid-term elections looming, he is left in no doubt about the mood of the country. “I shall be reporting to Washington what the temperature is,” he tells his tormentors as he winds up the debate. “About 235 fahrenheit” — well above boiling point already.
Source:The times
Ransom demand made of missing ship's owners
A ransom demand has been made of the owners of the missing cargo ship which passed through the English Channel after being hijacked by pirates.
The whereabouts of Arctic Sea, carrying £1 million worth of timber and a 15-strong Russian crew, continues to remain a mystery.
It had been thought the ship was spotted off the coast of the Cape Verde islands yesterday, more than two weeks after it disappeared.
But reports from Russia claimed officials were unable to confirm whether the sighting was the missing ship.
The Russian maritime website, Sovfrakht, also reported the ship's tracking system was broadcasting signals from the Bay of Biscay at 8.30am today.
It is understood a ransom demand has been made of Solhart Management in Finland, which owns the Arctic Sea.
Finnish, Swedish and Maltese authorities have confirmed they are investigating offences of aggravated extortion and alleged hijacking in relation to the Maltese-flagged vessel.
A statement from the Finnish Police said: “The Finnish, Swedish and Maltese authorities have conducted investigations in close co-operation into the alleged offences relating to the cargo vessel Arctic Sea.
“The investigated offences are aggravated extortion and alleged hijacking but taking into consideration the general characteristics of the aggravated extortion and the related significant threats to life and health, any public communication on the case has not been possible.”
Yesterday French officials reported the Arctic Sea had been seen in the North Atlantic, some 520 miles from the islands, off the coast of Africa.
According to the Itar-Tass news agency in Russia Alexander Karpushin, the country's ambassador in Cape Verde, had been unable to clarify the situation.
He told the Vesti news channel: “I met with the country’s authorities, in particular with the chief of the general staff of Cape Verde’s armed forces, who did not confirm the information that the ship had been detected.”
Russian ports remain on alert to contact authorities if the ship docks for supplies or fuel. President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered all Russian navy ships in the Atlantic to search for the missing vessel.
On July 28 the ship made radio contact with the Dover Coastguard as it was about to enter the Strait of Dover from the North Sea, but Interpol later informed the authorities the ship had been hijacked several days earlier in the Baltic Sea.
The last official recorded positioning of the 4,000-tonne vessel was on July 30, off the coast of Brest, northern France. It was meant to arrive in Bejaia in northern Algeria on August 4.
It has been reported that up to 10 armed men boarded the Arctic Sea on July 24, before leaving on a high-speed inflatable boat having damaged communications equipment.
Source:The times
The whereabouts of Arctic Sea, carrying £1 million worth of timber and a 15-strong Russian crew, continues to remain a mystery.
It had been thought the ship was spotted off the coast of the Cape Verde islands yesterday, more than two weeks after it disappeared.
But reports from Russia claimed officials were unable to confirm whether the sighting was the missing ship.
The Russian maritime website, Sovfrakht, also reported the ship's tracking system was broadcasting signals from the Bay of Biscay at 8.30am today.
It is understood a ransom demand has been made of Solhart Management in Finland, which owns the Arctic Sea.
Finnish, Swedish and Maltese authorities have confirmed they are investigating offences of aggravated extortion and alleged hijacking in relation to the Maltese-flagged vessel.
A statement from the Finnish Police said: “The Finnish, Swedish and Maltese authorities have conducted investigations in close co-operation into the alleged offences relating to the cargo vessel Arctic Sea.
“The investigated offences are aggravated extortion and alleged hijacking but taking into consideration the general characteristics of the aggravated extortion and the related significant threats to life and health, any public communication on the case has not been possible.”
Yesterday French officials reported the Arctic Sea had been seen in the North Atlantic, some 520 miles from the islands, off the coast of Africa.
According to the Itar-Tass news agency in Russia Alexander Karpushin, the country's ambassador in Cape Verde, had been unable to clarify the situation.
He told the Vesti news channel: “I met with the country’s authorities, in particular with the chief of the general staff of Cape Verde’s armed forces, who did not confirm the information that the ship had been detected.”
Russian ports remain on alert to contact authorities if the ship docks for supplies or fuel. President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered all Russian navy ships in the Atlantic to search for the missing vessel.
On July 28 the ship made radio contact with the Dover Coastguard as it was about to enter the Strait of Dover from the North Sea, but Interpol later informed the authorities the ship had been hijacked several days earlier in the Baltic Sea.
The last official recorded positioning of the 4,000-tonne vessel was on July 30, off the coast of Brest, northern France. It was meant to arrive in Bejaia in northern Algeria on August 4.
It has been reported that up to 10 armed men boarded the Arctic Sea on July 24, before leaving on a high-speed inflatable boat having damaged communications equipment.
Source:The times
Suicide bomb at NATO HQ in Kabul kills seven
A suicide car bomb has exploded outside the gates of the NATO headquarters in Afghanistan, killing seven and wounding almost 100.
The attack in the capital city of Kabul comes just five days before the country's presidential elections.
This morning's explosion is the first major attack in the city since February, when the Taliban struck at three government buildings simultaneously, claiming 20 lives.
It is believed the bomber evaded three police checkpoints to detonate the bomb 30 yards from the main gate of the international military base, close to the US embassy and presidential palace, at 8.30am local time.
The blast shattered windows and shook buildings in the Wazir Akbar Khan district, home to major foreign embassies and organisations. The Afghan Defence Ministry has confirmed at least seven people were killed and 91 have been injured.
Among the injured was Awa Alam Nuristani, a member of parliament and President Hamid Karzai’s campaign manager for women, who was taken to hospital for treatment.
Brigadier General Eric Tremblay, the spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, confirmed soldiers and civilians had been wounded but would not confirm how many.
The president condemned the attacks, saying in a statement: “The enemies of Afghanistan, by conducting such attacks, are trying to create fear among the people as we get close to the election but people still realise the importance of going to ballot boxes to cast their votes."
Pre-election polls suggest President Karzai has a lead over closest rival Abdullah Abdullah, but it is not great enough to avoid a second round run-off between the two.
A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack, following warnings that militants aimed to disrupt the election process.
Source:The times
The attack in the capital city of Kabul comes just five days before the country's presidential elections.
This morning's explosion is the first major attack in the city since February, when the Taliban struck at three government buildings simultaneously, claiming 20 lives.
It is believed the bomber evaded three police checkpoints to detonate the bomb 30 yards from the main gate of the international military base, close to the US embassy and presidential palace, at 8.30am local time.
The blast shattered windows and shook buildings in the Wazir Akbar Khan district, home to major foreign embassies and organisations. The Afghan Defence Ministry has confirmed at least seven people were killed and 91 have been injured.
Among the injured was Awa Alam Nuristani, a member of parliament and President Hamid Karzai’s campaign manager for women, who was taken to hospital for treatment.
Brigadier General Eric Tremblay, the spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, confirmed soldiers and civilians had been wounded but would not confirm how many.
The president condemned the attacks, saying in a statement: “The enemies of Afghanistan, by conducting such attacks, are trying to create fear among the people as we get close to the election but people still realise the importance of going to ballot boxes to cast their votes."
Pre-election polls suggest President Karzai has a lead over closest rival Abdullah Abdullah, but it is not great enough to avoid a second round run-off between the two.
A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack, following warnings that militants aimed to disrupt the election process.
Source:The times
Police tackle protestors at BNP festival
Police have arrested several anti-fascist protestors as hundreds of people gathered to disrupt a BNP festival.
Demonstrators aimed to block roads to prevent speakers getting to the far-right party's Red, White and Blue event in the village of Codnor, Derbyshire, and "kettle" the rally.
Kettling, also known as containment or corralling, is sometimes used by police and involves a large cordon to contain a crowd in a limited area.
The protests have been led by campaign group Unite Against Fascism, the Midlands TUC and the Amber Valley Campaign Against Racism and Facism, who arranged to bus anti-facist supporters to the village.Derbyshire police confirmed they had made a small number of arrests but the protestors claimed they successfully blocked two road routes to the festival site, which is on private farmland.
“Those arrests were of protesters who had been acting unlawfully,” a spokeswoman said. Last year around 30 protesters were arrested after clashes with police
The main body of demonstrators, which is being monitored by police CCTV cameras, gathered in Codnor’s Market Place and at other approved meeting points. The crowd is expected to march to Codnor Denby Lane later.
Protesters said this morning that they had “occupied and blocked” two key road junctions in the village, before being dispersed by officers. Up to 200 people have refused to move from a road junction close to the festival site. A further 150 blocked the lane between Codnor and Denby between 8.40am and 10am. Several protestors were arrested before the road was cleared.
“We’ve managed to completely seal off the BNP event for over an hour,” said a protester at the Denby blockade. “Lots of Nazis travelling to the BNP rally have been turned away. The police have now pushed us out of the way, but we’re still here demonstrating.”
Organisers say up to 800 people have already gathered in the market place and more are expected to arrive by coach before the protest march begins.
The annual BNP rally, which began on Friday and continues until tomorrow, is now in its 10th year.
An open letter posted on the Unite Against Facism website claimed the event aimed to “build up a hardened neo-Nazi core at the centre of the organisation”.
The letter, which is signed by former London mayor Ken Livingstone and trade union leaders, added: “We condemn the BNP and its festival of race hate, and we urge people to reject this party’s poisonous and anti-democratic agenda.”
The BNP’s deputy leader, Simon Darby, insisted the party was not interested in trouble.
He said: “It’s not in our interests to cause trouble. We’re up there with our wives, girlfriends and children. We just want to have a good time, but these protesters want to latch trouble on to us.”
Yesterday American white supremacist Preston Wiginton was stopped by UK Border Agency officials at Heathrow Airport and sent back to New York, as he attempted to make his way to the festival.
Source:The times
Demonstrators aimed to block roads to prevent speakers getting to the far-right party's Red, White and Blue event in the village of Codnor, Derbyshire, and "kettle" the rally.
Kettling, also known as containment or corralling, is sometimes used by police and involves a large cordon to contain a crowd in a limited area.
The protests have been led by campaign group Unite Against Fascism, the Midlands TUC and the Amber Valley Campaign Against Racism and Facism, who arranged to bus anti-facist supporters to the village.Derbyshire police confirmed they had made a small number of arrests but the protestors claimed they successfully blocked two road routes to the festival site, which is on private farmland.
“Those arrests were of protesters who had been acting unlawfully,” a spokeswoman said. Last year around 30 protesters were arrested after clashes with police
The main body of demonstrators, which is being monitored by police CCTV cameras, gathered in Codnor’s Market Place and at other approved meeting points. The crowd is expected to march to Codnor Denby Lane later.
Protesters said this morning that they had “occupied and blocked” two key road junctions in the village, before being dispersed by officers. Up to 200 people have refused to move from a road junction close to the festival site. A further 150 blocked the lane between Codnor and Denby between 8.40am and 10am. Several protestors were arrested before the road was cleared.
“We’ve managed to completely seal off the BNP event for over an hour,” said a protester at the Denby blockade. “Lots of Nazis travelling to the BNP rally have been turned away. The police have now pushed us out of the way, but we’re still here demonstrating.”
Organisers say up to 800 people have already gathered in the market place and more are expected to arrive by coach before the protest march begins.
The annual BNP rally, which began on Friday and continues until tomorrow, is now in its 10th year.
An open letter posted on the Unite Against Facism website claimed the event aimed to “build up a hardened neo-Nazi core at the centre of the organisation”.
The letter, which is signed by former London mayor Ken Livingstone and trade union leaders, added: “We condemn the BNP and its festival of race hate, and we urge people to reject this party’s poisonous and anti-democratic agenda.”
The BNP’s deputy leader, Simon Darby, insisted the party was not interested in trouble.
He said: “It’s not in our interests to cause trouble. We’re up there with our wives, girlfriends and children. We just want to have a good time, but these protesters want to latch trouble on to us.”
Yesterday American white supremacist Preston Wiginton was stopped by UK Border Agency officials at Heathrow Airport and sent back to New York, as he attempted to make his way to the festival.
Source:The times
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Militant behind Jakarta bombings thought dead
Indonesian authorities claim to have killed the top Islamic militant behind last month's Jarkata hotel bombings.
Noordin Mohammad Top was reportedly shot dead by police following an 18-hour siege in Central Java.
Top is a prime suspect in last month’s near simultaneous suicide attacks on Jakarta’s JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, which killed nine people and wounded 53.
Police said the stand-off at a house in Temanggung district was part of anti-terror operation following the arrest on Friday of several suspected militants loyal to Top and the seizure of 500kg of explosives.
Officers surrounded the remote building for 18 hours before blowing open one the doors and entering.
After an exchange of gunfire and explosions, police emerged laughing and shaking hands with each other.
One body was brought out and put in a wooden coffin, while two more were carried out in body bags.
Neighbour Kosidah Basuki said: “At the beginning, we didn’t believe that it was a terrorist or even Noordin, but now we do.”
Police are still awaiting confirmation that Top, who is originally from Malaysia, was among the dead.
Indonesian intelligence officials claim Top was a leader of the Jemaah Islamiah militant network, blamed for a series of bomb attacks in Indonesia since 2002.
He is believed to have planned previous bomb attacks on the JW Marriott in Jakarta in 2003, on the Australian Embassy in Jakarta in 2004 and in Bali in 2005.
Andi Wijayanto, a security expert at the University of Indonesia, said getting Top would be“a significant blow to the group as its leader has been killed and its logistics have been hurt”.
In a separate incident, police said they had killed two suspected militants in a raid on a house in the Bekasi area, near the capital.
Police said the two men had been shot because they were about to detonate hand-held bombs.
Source:The times
Noordin Mohammad Top was reportedly shot dead by police following an 18-hour siege in Central Java.
Top is a prime suspect in last month’s near simultaneous suicide attacks on Jakarta’s JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, which killed nine people and wounded 53.
Police said the stand-off at a house in Temanggung district was part of anti-terror operation following the arrest on Friday of several suspected militants loyal to Top and the seizure of 500kg of explosives.
Officers surrounded the remote building for 18 hours before blowing open one the doors and entering.
After an exchange of gunfire and explosions, police emerged laughing and shaking hands with each other.
One body was brought out and put in a wooden coffin, while two more were carried out in body bags.
Neighbour Kosidah Basuki said: “At the beginning, we didn’t believe that it was a terrorist or even Noordin, but now we do.”
Police are still awaiting confirmation that Top, who is originally from Malaysia, was among the dead.
Indonesian intelligence officials claim Top was a leader of the Jemaah Islamiah militant network, blamed for a series of bomb attacks in Indonesia since 2002.
He is believed to have planned previous bomb attacks on the JW Marriott in Jakarta in 2003, on the Australian Embassy in Jakarta in 2004 and in Bali in 2005.
Andi Wijayanto, a security expert at the University of Indonesia, said getting Top would be“a significant blow to the group as its leader has been killed and its logistics have been hurt”.
In a separate incident, police said they had killed two suspected militants in a raid on a house in the Bekasi area, near the capital.
Police said the two men had been shot because they were about to detonate hand-held bombs.
Source:The times
Colombia under fire from neighbours over US ‘military aggression’
It is the cocaine deal that threatens to divide a continent. President Uribe of Colombia has brought stability to his country by crushing the Farc guerrilla movement, but much of his drug eradication effort has been a failure.
The Latin American leader has now asked Washington to step in, inviting US forces into Colombian military bases to run operations against the country’s still-thriving narcotics industry.
He is to sign a plan with the United States allowing it to use seven Colombian military bases to counter trafficking and the paramilitary activity it finances. The deal suits Washington, which wants to use Colombia, one of its few remaining allies in Latin America, as a regional operations hub.
The plan has aggravated tensions in a region already riven ideologically, pitting Colombia against leftist governments who accuse the United States of planning military aggression against its enemies and undermining efforts to rebuild ties on the continent.
President Chávez of Venezuela has been particularly rattled, breaking off diplomatic relations with Colombia and warning that the move was a step towards all-out regional war.
With almost all of his Latin American counterparts signalling alarm at the plan, President Uribe embarked on a whirlwind tour of regional capitals this week in an attempt to reassure them that it was not a threat to their sovereignty and was aimed only at combating the drugs trade, which raises millions of dollars for Colombian paramilitary groups.
Colombia says that the accord, expected to be signed within weeks, would allow US troops access to seven bases in the world’s top cocaineproducing nations and increase the number of permanent personnel from the current 300 to about 1,400.
The tour produced limited success, with only the conservative President GarcÃa of Peru pledging unqualified support for the plan.
President Lula da Silva of Brazil, who had previously voiced serious concern, appeared to have been partially reassured, telling Mr Uribe on Thursday that Bogotá’s plans were a sovereign matter provided that operations were restricted to Colombian territory.
However, the Foreign Minister, Celso Amorim, said after a meeting between the two leaders that Brazil had suggested that it be discussed at a regional Unasur defence summit in Ecuador on Monday, where some countries have vowed to campaign against the move.
Brazil had sought unspecified guarantees from Colombia and wanted more talks with the United States, Mr Amorim said.
Chile and Paraguay adopted similar positions while Uruguay and Bolivia — whose left-wing leader, Evo Morales, is one of the most vocal foes of the US in the region — remained strongly opposed. An Argentine government source said that President Fernández had told Mr Uribe that the plan was “worrying”.
President Morales, who has already thrown the US Drug Enforcement Agency out of Bolivia, said that he would urge his counterparts at the Ecuadorian summit to reject the bases plan, calling them “an attack not only on the governments but also democracy in Latin America”.
Mr Uribe did not visit Ecuador or Venezuela, both of which have a tense relationship with Washington and Bogotá.
Ecuador has yet to restore diplomatic relations with its neighbour after a Colombian cross-border raid last year that almost plunged the region into conflict, while Venezuela recently withdrew its envoys from Colombia and cut off trade over what it claims are aggressions against its socialist Government.
President Chávez, a fiery leftist leader, said on Thursday that Venezuela planned to buy “at least three battalions” of Russian tanks to defend his oil-exporting country. “Sadly we have to arm ourselves ... ready for war to defend the homeland against aggression from the North American empire,” he said, claiming that the “Yankee” imperialists planned to provoke conflict between Venezuela and Colombia.
Mr Chávez has also frozen trade deals and denied Colombian energy companies access to Venezuela’s oil-rich Orinoco region, citing the US plan and a recent accusation from Bogotá that Venezuela had supplied rocket launchers to the Farc. He says that the launchers, discovered in a guerrilla camp, were stolen from a Venezuelan military post 14 years ago, charging Colombia with trumping up the accusation to distract from the US military plan and justify aggression.
The only way to defuse the situation was for Colombia to discard the military plan, Mr Chávez said. Fidel Castro, the former Cuban leader, a close ally, backed his position, claiming that the plan amounted to “seven daggers in the heart of Latin America”.
Source:The times
The Latin American leader has now asked Washington to step in, inviting US forces into Colombian military bases to run operations against the country’s still-thriving narcotics industry.
He is to sign a plan with the United States allowing it to use seven Colombian military bases to counter trafficking and the paramilitary activity it finances. The deal suits Washington, which wants to use Colombia, one of its few remaining allies in Latin America, as a regional operations hub.
The plan has aggravated tensions in a region already riven ideologically, pitting Colombia against leftist governments who accuse the United States of planning military aggression against its enemies and undermining efforts to rebuild ties on the continent.
President Chávez of Venezuela has been particularly rattled, breaking off diplomatic relations with Colombia and warning that the move was a step towards all-out regional war.
With almost all of his Latin American counterparts signalling alarm at the plan, President Uribe embarked on a whirlwind tour of regional capitals this week in an attempt to reassure them that it was not a threat to their sovereignty and was aimed only at combating the drugs trade, which raises millions of dollars for Colombian paramilitary groups.
Colombia says that the accord, expected to be signed within weeks, would allow US troops access to seven bases in the world’s top cocaineproducing nations and increase the number of permanent personnel from the current 300 to about 1,400.
The tour produced limited success, with only the conservative President GarcÃa of Peru pledging unqualified support for the plan.
President Lula da Silva of Brazil, who had previously voiced serious concern, appeared to have been partially reassured, telling Mr Uribe on Thursday that Bogotá’s plans were a sovereign matter provided that operations were restricted to Colombian territory.
However, the Foreign Minister, Celso Amorim, said after a meeting between the two leaders that Brazil had suggested that it be discussed at a regional Unasur defence summit in Ecuador on Monday, where some countries have vowed to campaign against the move.
Brazil had sought unspecified guarantees from Colombia and wanted more talks with the United States, Mr Amorim said.
Chile and Paraguay adopted similar positions while Uruguay and Bolivia — whose left-wing leader, Evo Morales, is one of the most vocal foes of the US in the region — remained strongly opposed. An Argentine government source said that President Fernández had told Mr Uribe that the plan was “worrying”.
President Morales, who has already thrown the US Drug Enforcement Agency out of Bolivia, said that he would urge his counterparts at the Ecuadorian summit to reject the bases plan, calling them “an attack not only on the governments but also democracy in Latin America”.
Mr Uribe did not visit Ecuador or Venezuela, both of which have a tense relationship with Washington and Bogotá.
Ecuador has yet to restore diplomatic relations with its neighbour after a Colombian cross-border raid last year that almost plunged the region into conflict, while Venezuela recently withdrew its envoys from Colombia and cut off trade over what it claims are aggressions against its socialist Government.
President Chávez, a fiery leftist leader, said on Thursday that Venezuela planned to buy “at least three battalions” of Russian tanks to defend his oil-exporting country. “Sadly we have to arm ourselves ... ready for war to defend the homeland against aggression from the North American empire,” he said, claiming that the “Yankee” imperialists planned to provoke conflict between Venezuela and Colombia.
Mr Chávez has also frozen trade deals and denied Colombian energy companies access to Venezuela’s oil-rich Orinoco region, citing the US plan and a recent accusation from Bogotá that Venezuela had supplied rocket launchers to the Farc. He says that the launchers, discovered in a guerrilla camp, were stolen from a Venezuelan military post 14 years ago, charging Colombia with trumping up the accusation to distract from the US military plan and justify aggression.
The only way to defuse the situation was for Colombia to discard the military plan, Mr Chávez said. Fidel Castro, the former Cuban leader, a close ally, backed his position, claiming that the plan amounted to “seven daggers in the heart of Latin America”.
Source:The times
Taleban commander Baitullah Mehsud killed in US missile strike
Baitullah Mehsud, the leading Taleban commander in Pakistan, has been killed in a CIA missile strike. His death deals a heavy blow to the Islamic insurgency, which presents the greatest threat to the country’s survival.
Mehsud, 35, and one of his two wives died when a missile fired by a US drone struck her father’s house in the tribal region of South Waziristan, according to several Pakistani officials and a Taleban commander.
The former bodybuilder, who suffered from a kidney ailment, was being treated with an intravenous drip on the roof of the compound at the time of the attack on Wednesday, a senior Pakistani intelligence official told The Times.
Another local intelligence official, based near South Waziristan, said: “I’m 100 per cent sure Baitullah is killed. Don’t check his fate any more as he is now under the soil.” Kafayat Ullah, a Taleban commander, confirmed that Mehsud and his wife had been killed but declined to give details.
Other Taleban sources said that he had been buried in a village close to his home town of Makeen, after which his tribesmen had gathered at an undisclosed location to choose a new leader.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, said that authorities would travel to the site to verify the death of a man blamed for a string of recent terrorist attacks on Pakistan, including the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the former Prime Minister, “According to my intelligence this news is correct, but we are investigating,” he said. “To be 100 per cent sure, we are going for ground verification.” The United States — which called Mehsud a key al-Qaeda “facilitator” and had a $5 million reward on his head — said that it could not confirm his death but that there was a “growing consensus among credible observers that he is indeed dead”.
Robert Gibbs, a White House spokesman, said: “Baitullah Mehsud is somebody who has well earned his label as a murderous thug. If he is dead, without a doubt the people of Pakistan will be safer as a result.”
The Taleban was already on the backfoot after taking control of the northwestern region of Swat in April, only to be driven out by the army. How great a setback Mehsud’s death proves to be will depend on how his followers respond and to what extent the Government and the army exploit his death and the power vacuum that it leaves, analysts say.
“The Taleban movement survived the death of its leaders in the past, so it is too early to say that it is a decisive blow,” Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pakistani ambassador and now a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington, said.
Many regional experts doubt that his death will help Western troops fighting the Taleban in Afghanistan as he had focused mainly on Pakistan’s Government and security forces. It could improve the Government’s chances of establishing its writ in South Waziristan and limiting the Taleban’s ability to organise suicide attacks across the country.
Hasan Askari Rizvi, a political and security analyst, said: “This presents an opportunity for Pakistan’s Government to assert itself in the tribal areas. The Taleban will be weak and there will be internal problems. For the next couple of months, they won’t be in a position to do anything because Baitullah had such firm control.”
Although semi-literate and holding no religious title, Mehsud transformed himself into Pakistan’s most powerful militant leader and one of the world’s most feared terrorists in the space of a few years. He declared himself leader of the Pakistan Taleban in late 2007, grouping about 13 factions in the northwest and turning the region into the main operations hub for al-Qaeda.
Since then he has been blamed for a series of suicide attacks, including the one that killed Bhutto, the wife of the current President, Asif Ali Zardari, in December 2007.
Those who met Mehsud said that he fitted the mould of a classic Pashtun tribal leader — ruthless and shrewd — but possessed additional qualities. He was softly spoken, deeply religious and maintained an unusually low profile, having learnt the hard lessons of other militant leaders who grew too enamoured of the spotlight.
Last year he held a rare news conference in South Waziristan to discuss his fight against the United States. “It is the top desire of my life to obtain martyrdom,” he said.
Among his estimated 20,000 followers, he had a reputation as a fearless fighter. He never slept in one place for long and travelled with a small entourage to avoid drone strikes.
Increasingly frequent and accurate US drone operations over the past two months had severely limited his movements and ability to carry out attacks, say Pakistani officials.
They said that he had not been seen in public for weeks and only narrowly escaped in June when a US missile hit the funeral of another senior Taleban commander. Mehsud had left a few minutes earlier.
Source:The times
Mehsud, 35, and one of his two wives died when a missile fired by a US drone struck her father’s house in the tribal region of South Waziristan, according to several Pakistani officials and a Taleban commander.
The former bodybuilder, who suffered from a kidney ailment, was being treated with an intravenous drip on the roof of the compound at the time of the attack on Wednesday, a senior Pakistani intelligence official told The Times.
Another local intelligence official, based near South Waziristan, said: “I’m 100 per cent sure Baitullah is killed. Don’t check his fate any more as he is now under the soil.” Kafayat Ullah, a Taleban commander, confirmed that Mehsud and his wife had been killed but declined to give details.
Other Taleban sources said that he had been buried in a village close to his home town of Makeen, after which his tribesmen had gathered at an undisclosed location to choose a new leader.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, said that authorities would travel to the site to verify the death of a man blamed for a string of recent terrorist attacks on Pakistan, including the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the former Prime Minister, “According to my intelligence this news is correct, but we are investigating,” he said. “To be 100 per cent sure, we are going for ground verification.” The United States — which called Mehsud a key al-Qaeda “facilitator” and had a $5 million reward on his head — said that it could not confirm his death but that there was a “growing consensus among credible observers that he is indeed dead”.
Robert Gibbs, a White House spokesman, said: “Baitullah Mehsud is somebody who has well earned his label as a murderous thug. If he is dead, without a doubt the people of Pakistan will be safer as a result.”
The Taleban was already on the backfoot after taking control of the northwestern region of Swat in April, only to be driven out by the army. How great a setback Mehsud’s death proves to be will depend on how his followers respond and to what extent the Government and the army exploit his death and the power vacuum that it leaves, analysts say.
“The Taleban movement survived the death of its leaders in the past, so it is too early to say that it is a decisive blow,” Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pakistani ambassador and now a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington, said.
Many regional experts doubt that his death will help Western troops fighting the Taleban in Afghanistan as he had focused mainly on Pakistan’s Government and security forces. It could improve the Government’s chances of establishing its writ in South Waziristan and limiting the Taleban’s ability to organise suicide attacks across the country.
Hasan Askari Rizvi, a political and security analyst, said: “This presents an opportunity for Pakistan’s Government to assert itself in the tribal areas. The Taleban will be weak and there will be internal problems. For the next couple of months, they won’t be in a position to do anything because Baitullah had such firm control.”
Although semi-literate and holding no religious title, Mehsud transformed himself into Pakistan’s most powerful militant leader and one of the world’s most feared terrorists in the space of a few years. He declared himself leader of the Pakistan Taleban in late 2007, grouping about 13 factions in the northwest and turning the region into the main operations hub for al-Qaeda.
Since then he has been blamed for a series of suicide attacks, including the one that killed Bhutto, the wife of the current President, Asif Ali Zardari, in December 2007.
Those who met Mehsud said that he fitted the mould of a classic Pashtun tribal leader — ruthless and shrewd — but possessed additional qualities. He was softly spoken, deeply religious and maintained an unusually low profile, having learnt the hard lessons of other militant leaders who grew too enamoured of the spotlight.
Last year he held a rare news conference in South Waziristan to discuss his fight against the United States. “It is the top desire of my life to obtain martyrdom,” he said.
Among his estimated 20,000 followers, he had a reputation as a fearless fighter. He never slept in one place for long and travelled with a small entourage to avoid drone strikes.
Increasingly frequent and accurate US drone operations over the past two months had severely limited his movements and ability to carry out attacks, say Pakistani officials.
They said that he had not been seen in public for weeks and only narrowly escaped in June when a US missile hit the funeral of another senior Taleban commander. Mehsud had left a few minutes earlier.
Source:The times
General Sir David Richards: Afghanistan will take 40 years
Britain’s mission in Afghanistan could last for up to 40 years, the next head of the Army warns today in an exclusive interview with The Times.
General Sir David Richards, who becomes Chief of the General Staff on August 28, said: “The Army’s role will evolve, but the whole process might take as long as 30 to 40 years.”
He emphasised that British troop involvement, currently 9,000-strong, should only be needed for the medium term, but insisted that there was “absolutely no chance” of Nato pulling out. “I believe that the UK will be committed to Afghanistan in some manner — development, governance, security sector reform — for the next 30 to 40 years,” he said.
Three paratroopers from the Special Forces Support Group were killed yesterday when their Jackal armoured vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb north of Lashkar Gah.
Their deaths raised the total number of servicemen and women who have died in Afghanistan to 195 since 2001. Four US Marines were also killed in a separate incident. Across the border in Pakistan, officials said that the leader of the Taleban in the country had been killed in a missile strike but analysts said that his death would have little impact on the battlefields of Afghanistan.
Liam Fox, the Shadow Defence Secretary, said that 30 to 40 years in Afghanistan was “unaffordable”.
“Any idea of maintaining military involvement for that length of time is not a runner. It would require a total rethink of our foreign and security policy,” he said. The military campaign in Afghanistan has already cost British taxpayers more than £5 billion.
General Richards said: “We need now to focus on the expansion of the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police. Just as in Iraq, it is our route out militarily, but the Afghan people and our opponents need to know that this does not mean our abandoning the region. We made this mistake once. Our opponents are banking on us doing it again, and we must prove them wrong,”
Of the Taleban, he said: “We can and are outfighting them.”
Source:The times
General Sir David Richards, who becomes Chief of the General Staff on August 28, said: “The Army’s role will evolve, but the whole process might take as long as 30 to 40 years.”
He emphasised that British troop involvement, currently 9,000-strong, should only be needed for the medium term, but insisted that there was “absolutely no chance” of Nato pulling out. “I believe that the UK will be committed to Afghanistan in some manner — development, governance, security sector reform — for the next 30 to 40 years,” he said.
Three paratroopers from the Special Forces Support Group were killed yesterday when their Jackal armoured vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb north of Lashkar Gah.
Their deaths raised the total number of servicemen and women who have died in Afghanistan to 195 since 2001. Four US Marines were also killed in a separate incident. Across the border in Pakistan, officials said that the leader of the Taleban in the country had been killed in a missile strike but analysts said that his death would have little impact on the battlefields of Afghanistan.
Liam Fox, the Shadow Defence Secretary, said that 30 to 40 years in Afghanistan was “unaffordable”.
“Any idea of maintaining military involvement for that length of time is not a runner. It would require a total rethink of our foreign and security policy,” he said. The military campaign in Afghanistan has already cost British taxpayers more than £5 billion.
General Richards said: “We need now to focus on the expansion of the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police. Just as in Iraq, it is our route out militarily, but the Afghan people and our opponents need to know that this does not mean our abandoning the region. We made this mistake once. Our opponents are banking on us doing it again, and we must prove them wrong,”
Of the Taleban, he said: “We can and are outfighting them.”
Source:The times
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
White House U-turn on Ahmadinejad as president sworn in amid protests
The White House performed an embarrassing retreat tonight, withdrawing its description of President Ahmadinejad as Iran’s “elected leader” on the day that he was sworn in for his second term.
“Let me correct a little bit what I said yesterday,” Robert Gibbs, President Obama’s spokesman, said as thousands of Iranian riot police beat back protesters outside the inauguration ceremony in Tehran. “Whether any election was fair...we’ll let (the Iranian people) decide about that.”
Hillary Clinton made further amends for an error that reflected the West’s dilemma as it seeks to engage with Iran’s new government over its nuclear programme. The US Secretary of State expressed admiration for the opposition’s “continuing resistance” to what was widely regarded as a fraudulent election and the brutal crackdown that followed.
Although Mr Ahmadinejad claims to have been swept back into office with a resounding 63 per cent of the vote, today’s ceremony was hardly a joyful occasion.
State-sponsored Press TV said 5,000 police and basiji militiamen had to ring the Majlis (parliament) to protect it from irate citizens. Some dignitaries were flown in by helicopter. Opposition leaders and around 50 moderate MPs boycotted the event. Ambassadors from Britain and some other Western countries attended, but their governments pointedly withheld their customary letters of congratulation.
Mr Ahmadinejad called the June 12 vote an “unprecedented epic”, but his speech was, by his own bellicose standards, relatively subdued. The ceremony itself was “lacklustre, sombre, perfunctory,” said one of those present. “It was almost like they just wanted to get it out of the way.”
The opposition had called for massive protests outside the building, but the security forces moved into Baharestan Square before dawn, and in such huge numbers that the demonstrators stood little chance.
Police and militiamen shut shops, closed subway stations and cut off mobile phones. They moved instantly to stop groups from forming, using batons and tear gas. “Their presence was really massive. There was every colour of uniform you could imagine - some I’d never seen before,” said one witness. “You could walk around but if you stopped you got hit.”
Last night the entire city centre was flooded with security forces to prevent further demonstrations.
Inside the parliament around 50 of the 290 MPs’ seats were empty as Mr Ahmadinejad pledged, as part of the oath of office, not to be autocratic.
Also conspicuous by their absence were the defeated presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karoubi and Mohsen Rezaie, the former presidents Mohammad Khatami and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and any relative of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.
Simon Gass, the British ambassador, and other European envoys watched from the gallery as Mr Ahmadinejad promised to continue his fight against “oppressive powers” during his second term, and mocked their refusal to congratulate him.
“You should know that nobody in Iran is awaiting your congratulations. Iranians value neither your scowling and bullying, not your smiles and greetings,” he declared to applause. He accused the West of championing democracy only when it produced the result it wanted.
The President called for national unity, but warned that his government would not tolerate “disrespect, interference or insults”.
Hours before he spoke the regime arrested two more prominent opposition figures - a newspaper editor and Mr Mousavi’s former website director - as part of its continuing battle to crush dissent.
Source:The times
“Let me correct a little bit what I said yesterday,” Robert Gibbs, President Obama’s spokesman, said as thousands of Iranian riot police beat back protesters outside the inauguration ceremony in Tehran. “Whether any election was fair...we’ll let (the Iranian people) decide about that.”
Hillary Clinton made further amends for an error that reflected the West’s dilemma as it seeks to engage with Iran’s new government over its nuclear programme. The US Secretary of State expressed admiration for the opposition’s “continuing resistance” to what was widely regarded as a fraudulent election and the brutal crackdown that followed.
Although Mr Ahmadinejad claims to have been swept back into office with a resounding 63 per cent of the vote, today’s ceremony was hardly a joyful occasion.
State-sponsored Press TV said 5,000 police and basiji militiamen had to ring the Majlis (parliament) to protect it from irate citizens. Some dignitaries were flown in by helicopter. Opposition leaders and around 50 moderate MPs boycotted the event. Ambassadors from Britain and some other Western countries attended, but their governments pointedly withheld their customary letters of congratulation.
Mr Ahmadinejad called the June 12 vote an “unprecedented epic”, but his speech was, by his own bellicose standards, relatively subdued. The ceremony itself was “lacklustre, sombre, perfunctory,” said one of those present. “It was almost like they just wanted to get it out of the way.”
The opposition had called for massive protests outside the building, but the security forces moved into Baharestan Square before dawn, and in such huge numbers that the demonstrators stood little chance.
Police and militiamen shut shops, closed subway stations and cut off mobile phones. They moved instantly to stop groups from forming, using batons and tear gas. “Their presence was really massive. There was every colour of uniform you could imagine - some I’d never seen before,” said one witness. “You could walk around but if you stopped you got hit.”
Last night the entire city centre was flooded with security forces to prevent further demonstrations.
Inside the parliament around 50 of the 290 MPs’ seats were empty as Mr Ahmadinejad pledged, as part of the oath of office, not to be autocratic.
Also conspicuous by their absence were the defeated presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karoubi and Mohsen Rezaie, the former presidents Mohammad Khatami and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and any relative of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.
Simon Gass, the British ambassador, and other European envoys watched from the gallery as Mr Ahmadinejad promised to continue his fight against “oppressive powers” during his second term, and mocked their refusal to congratulate him.
“You should know that nobody in Iran is awaiting your congratulations. Iranians value neither your scowling and bullying, not your smiles and greetings,” he declared to applause. He accused the West of championing democracy only when it produced the result it wanted.
The President called for national unity, but warned that his government would not tolerate “disrespect, interference or insults”.
Hours before he spoke the regime arrested two more prominent opposition figures - a newspaper editor and Mr Mousavi’s former website director - as part of its continuing battle to crush dissent.
Source:The times
Tearful reporters recount their surprise at Bill Clinton freedom bid
Two American journalists freed by North Korea after months of detention told today how they had had no idea that they were about to be released until they were taken to a meeting with Bill Clinton.
Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, were speaking after flying into California's Burbank Airport with the former US president, who flew into Pyongyang on a surprise rescue mission yesterday and met North Korea's "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il.
The two women are reporters for an American cable television venture co-founded by Mr Clinton’s former vice president, Al Gore, and were arrested in March after crossing illegally into the North from China for a report on the trafficking of women. Both where sentenced to 12 years hard labour.
Ms Ling raised her arms in the air as the two women descended from the plane for a tearful reunion with their families inside the airport hangar. Mr Clinton was received with a round of applause and an embrace from his former deputy.
Taking to the microphone for a homecoming declaration, Ms Ling said: "Thirteen hours ago, Euna Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea. We feared at any moment that we could be sent to a hard labour camp.
"Then suddenly we were told we were being sent to a meeting. We were taken to a location and when we walked in through the doors we saw, standing before us, President Bill Clinton.
"We were shocked. But we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end. And now we stand here, home and free."
Ms Ling thanked all those, known and unknown, who had campaigned for their release. "We could feel your love all the way in North Korea," she said. "It is what kept us going in the darkest hours."
During Mr Clinton's visit, the White House had insisted that it was a private initiative by the former president, but President Obama welcomed the release of the two journalists and extended praise to both Mr Clinton and Mr Gore.
Speaking on the White House lawn just before leaving on a trip to Indiana, Mr Obama said the administration is "extraordinarily relieved” that the pair has been set free. He said he had spoken to their families once the two were safely aboard a plane out of Pyongyang and said he also spoke with the former president.
He added: "The reunion we’ve all seen on television, I think, is a source of happiness not only for the families but also for the entire country."
US officials have insisted however that North Korea was not promised any rewards for their release and there was no link to nuclear non-proliferation talks – a point reinforced by Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State, on a visit to Nairobi.
"We have always considered that a totally separate issue from our efforts to re-engage the North Koreans and have them return to the six-party talks and work for a commitment for the full, verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula," she said.
"The future of our relationships with the North Koreans is really up to them. They have a choice," she added
In a statement released by his New York office as the plane touched down, however, Mr Clinton made it clear that he had been asked to visit North Korea not just by Mr Gore and the reporters' families but by the White House.
Yesterday's encounter in Pyongyang marked the highest-level contact between the United States and the reclusive communist state since Mr Clinton was president nearly a decade ago.
In photographs of the meeting released by North Korean media, Mr Kim was smiling and looked in reasonable health after speculation he was seriously ill after a suspected stroke last year.
"Regardless of what the US administration says, the Clinton and Kim meeting signals the start of direct bargaining ... It’s a matter of time when US-North bilateral talks begin," South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo daily said in an editorial.
Source:The times
Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, were speaking after flying into California's Burbank Airport with the former US president, who flew into Pyongyang on a surprise rescue mission yesterday and met North Korea's "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il.
The two women are reporters for an American cable television venture co-founded by Mr Clinton’s former vice president, Al Gore, and were arrested in March after crossing illegally into the North from China for a report on the trafficking of women. Both where sentenced to 12 years hard labour.
Ms Ling raised her arms in the air as the two women descended from the plane for a tearful reunion with their families inside the airport hangar. Mr Clinton was received with a round of applause and an embrace from his former deputy.
Taking to the microphone for a homecoming declaration, Ms Ling said: "Thirteen hours ago, Euna Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea. We feared at any moment that we could be sent to a hard labour camp.
"Then suddenly we were told we were being sent to a meeting. We were taken to a location and when we walked in through the doors we saw, standing before us, President Bill Clinton.
"We were shocked. But we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end. And now we stand here, home and free."
Ms Ling thanked all those, known and unknown, who had campaigned for their release. "We could feel your love all the way in North Korea," she said. "It is what kept us going in the darkest hours."
During Mr Clinton's visit, the White House had insisted that it was a private initiative by the former president, but President Obama welcomed the release of the two journalists and extended praise to both Mr Clinton and Mr Gore.
Speaking on the White House lawn just before leaving on a trip to Indiana, Mr Obama said the administration is "extraordinarily relieved” that the pair has been set free. He said he had spoken to their families once the two were safely aboard a plane out of Pyongyang and said he also spoke with the former president.
He added: "The reunion we’ve all seen on television, I think, is a source of happiness not only for the families but also for the entire country."
US officials have insisted however that North Korea was not promised any rewards for their release and there was no link to nuclear non-proliferation talks – a point reinforced by Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State, on a visit to Nairobi.
"We have always considered that a totally separate issue from our efforts to re-engage the North Koreans and have them return to the six-party talks and work for a commitment for the full, verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula," she said.
"The future of our relationships with the North Koreans is really up to them. They have a choice," she added
In a statement released by his New York office as the plane touched down, however, Mr Clinton made it clear that he had been asked to visit North Korea not just by Mr Gore and the reporters' families but by the White House.
Yesterday's encounter in Pyongyang marked the highest-level contact between the United States and the reclusive communist state since Mr Clinton was president nearly a decade ago.
In photographs of the meeting released by North Korean media, Mr Kim was smiling and looked in reasonable health after speculation he was seriously ill after a suspected stroke last year.
"Regardless of what the US administration says, the Clinton and Kim meeting signals the start of direct bargaining ... It’s a matter of time when US-North bilateral talks begin," South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo daily said in an editorial.
Source:The times
Ridgback armour secrecy deprives British troops of Afghanistan vehicles
Secrecy sounding the armour on new vehicles destined for British troops in Afghanistan is preventing them from being flown into the conflict zone.
The cladding on the Ridgbacks has been classified as so secret that only British transport aircraft are allowed to ferry them to the troops in Helmand province, defence sources said today.
As a consequence, the much-needed vehicles have been queuing up in Dubai, with long delays before sufficient UK transport aircraft can be found to take them to Afghanistan.
The four-wheeled Ridgback which is a smaller version of the six-wheeled Mastiff armoured vehicle, was bought from the Americans, partly to replace the Snatch Land Rover. Thirty-seven service personnel have been killed in the Land Rovers, which proved to be no match for the increasingly powerful roadside bombs.
During the time it has taken to deliver the Ridgbacks to Helmand, eight soldiers have been killed from explosions in Helmand. Two of them are known to have been travelling in ageing armoured tracked vehicles.
Under normal arrangements, all previous armoured vehicles bought to provide extra protection for the troops in Helmand have been flown by a mixture of British and civilian chartered aircraft. The most heavily used aircraft have been Russian-made Antonov planes - the giants in the air transport business.
However, the new American-designed Ridgbacks have been given a secrecy classification of “UK Eyes only” which automatically bars the use of foreign-owned transport aircraft to carry them to Afghanistan.
The RAF has been forced to use only the British-owned C17 Globemaster fleet, consisting of six aircraft, which can take two Ridgbacks at a time. But the Ministry of Defence said the C17s were already working at full stretch, taking all heavy supplies to Afghanistan.
At any given time only four out of six C17s are operational, and some of the aircraft have had to be used to complete the final withdrawal of kit and stores from Iraq as part of Operation Brockdale - codename for the pull-out from Basra.
Nine Ridgbacks had been waiting for three weeks in Dubai - the normal stopping-off point for trips to Afghanistan - since they arrived there on July 16. An MoD spokesman said five of the 19-tonne vehicles were now in Afghanistan and the remaining four would be there by Friday.
The vehicles have been used by the Army in Afghanistan since June. A total of 157 have been ordered.
July was the bloodiest month for British forces in Afghanistan since the mission began eight years ago, with 22 soldiers killed and more than 50 wounded in action.
serviceman from the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, attached to The Light Dragoons, who died while on a vehicle patrol in Babaji in Helmand yesterday morning is expected to be named by the MoD today.
The soldier was part of British forces holding territory won in Operation Panther’s Claw, a UK-led offensive to drive the Taleban out of central Helmand. His vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device.
The Ridgback is the British version of the American 4x4 Cougar produced by Force Protection Industries Incorporated in South Carolina. The company also makes the Mastiff.
The vehicle can carry 12 troops and can run on flat tyres at 55mph. It is described as a mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle. It has a shaped hull and protected cabin made out of composite armour systems. The troops sit on specially armoured seats.
Ridgbacks are armed with a heavy machinegun, a 7.62mm general-purpose machinegun and a grenade-launcher.
Fifty more Ridgebacks are expected to arrive at Al-Minhad air base in Dubai in November.
Liam Fox, Shadow Defence Secretary, said: “As our troops are being targeted by Taleban roadside bombs, to have these military vehicles parked in the desert doing nothing is a crass betrayal of our Armed Forces’ bravery. If we have trouble moving nine Ridgbacks, how much more trouble are we going to have to move the 50 which will arrive in November?”
“This Government needs to ask our allies to help us get these much-needed vehicles into theatre. But because these are classified as ‘UK Eyes only’, so far the Ministry of Defence hasn’t let our coalition partners help us transport the equipment we need to keep our troops safe,” Dr Fox said.
He has written to Bob Ainsworth, the Defence Secretary, to ask for clarification on the planned transport of the further Ridgbacks.
An MOD spokesperson said: “These \ vehicles were never destined for use by 19 Light Brigade \ who do not have enough trained drivers to operate them.
“This is because the vehicles were only delivered to the Army in May, a month after the brigade deployed. They are being shipped in time for the arrival of their successor formation, 11 Light Brigade, which has spent all summer training on the new vehicles,” the MoD said.
The spokesperson added: “These are complex pieces of equipment that will operate in an extremely demanding and dangerous environment. We will not put lives at risk by asking soldiers to drive these vehicles without the necessary training.”
Source:The times
The cladding on the Ridgbacks has been classified as so secret that only British transport aircraft are allowed to ferry them to the troops in Helmand province, defence sources said today.
As a consequence, the much-needed vehicles have been queuing up in Dubai, with long delays before sufficient UK transport aircraft can be found to take them to Afghanistan.
The four-wheeled Ridgback which is a smaller version of the six-wheeled Mastiff armoured vehicle, was bought from the Americans, partly to replace the Snatch Land Rover. Thirty-seven service personnel have been killed in the Land Rovers, which proved to be no match for the increasingly powerful roadside bombs.
During the time it has taken to deliver the Ridgbacks to Helmand, eight soldiers have been killed from explosions in Helmand. Two of them are known to have been travelling in ageing armoured tracked vehicles.
Under normal arrangements, all previous armoured vehicles bought to provide extra protection for the troops in Helmand have been flown by a mixture of British and civilian chartered aircraft. The most heavily used aircraft have been Russian-made Antonov planes - the giants in the air transport business.
However, the new American-designed Ridgbacks have been given a secrecy classification of “UK Eyes only” which automatically bars the use of foreign-owned transport aircraft to carry them to Afghanistan.
The RAF has been forced to use only the British-owned C17 Globemaster fleet, consisting of six aircraft, which can take two Ridgbacks at a time. But the Ministry of Defence said the C17s were already working at full stretch, taking all heavy supplies to Afghanistan.
At any given time only four out of six C17s are operational, and some of the aircraft have had to be used to complete the final withdrawal of kit and stores from Iraq as part of Operation Brockdale - codename for the pull-out from Basra.
Nine Ridgbacks had been waiting for three weeks in Dubai - the normal stopping-off point for trips to Afghanistan - since they arrived there on July 16. An MoD spokesman said five of the 19-tonne vehicles were now in Afghanistan and the remaining four would be there by Friday.
The vehicles have been used by the Army in Afghanistan since June. A total of 157 have been ordered.
July was the bloodiest month for British forces in Afghanistan since the mission began eight years ago, with 22 soldiers killed and more than 50 wounded in action.
serviceman from the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, attached to The Light Dragoons, who died while on a vehicle patrol in Babaji in Helmand yesterday morning is expected to be named by the MoD today.
The soldier was part of British forces holding territory won in Operation Panther’s Claw, a UK-led offensive to drive the Taleban out of central Helmand. His vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device.
The Ridgback is the British version of the American 4x4 Cougar produced by Force Protection Industries Incorporated in South Carolina. The company also makes the Mastiff.
The vehicle can carry 12 troops and can run on flat tyres at 55mph. It is described as a mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle. It has a shaped hull and protected cabin made out of composite armour systems. The troops sit on specially armoured seats.
Ridgbacks are armed with a heavy machinegun, a 7.62mm general-purpose machinegun and a grenade-launcher.
Fifty more Ridgebacks are expected to arrive at Al-Minhad air base in Dubai in November.
Liam Fox, Shadow Defence Secretary, said: “As our troops are being targeted by Taleban roadside bombs, to have these military vehicles parked in the desert doing nothing is a crass betrayal of our Armed Forces’ bravery. If we have trouble moving nine Ridgbacks, how much more trouble are we going to have to move the 50 which will arrive in November?”
“This Government needs to ask our allies to help us get these much-needed vehicles into theatre. But because these are classified as ‘UK Eyes only’, so far the Ministry of Defence hasn’t let our coalition partners help us transport the equipment we need to keep our troops safe,” Dr Fox said.
He has written to Bob Ainsworth, the Defence Secretary, to ask for clarification on the planned transport of the further Ridgbacks.
An MOD spokesperson said: “These \ vehicles were never destined for use by 19 Light Brigade \ who do not have enough trained drivers to operate them.
“This is because the vehicles were only delivered to the Army in May, a month after the brigade deployed. They are being shipped in time for the arrival of their successor formation, 11 Light Brigade, which has spent all summer training on the new vehicles,” the MoD said.
The spokesperson added: “These are complex pieces of equipment that will operate in an extremely demanding and dangerous environment. We will not put lives at risk by asking soldiers to drive these vehicles without the necessary training.”
Source:The times
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