Posts Tagged ‘UK’
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
Duncan Gardham; 11/3/10
US intelligence agencies misled allies, including Britain, about US mistreatment of suspected terrorists, the former head of MI5 has said. Eliza Manningham-Buller, who retired as head of Britain’s domestic spy agency in 2007 and is now a member of the House of Lords, said the Americans suppressed details of their harsh handling of some prisoners, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is accused of organising the September 11 attacks. “The Americans were very keen that people like us did not discover what they were doing,” she said on Tuesday at a lecture at the House of Lords organised by an academic group. Britain’s spy agencies have been heavily criticised for alleged collusion in the torture overseas of terrorism suspects, including people in US custody.
(more…)
Tags: Terrorism, UK, USA
Posted in Human Rights, Terrorism, USA | No Comments »
Friday, March 5th, 2010
Susannah Moran; 5/3/10
Former “child migrants” have launched a class action in New York against a number of religious orders and this could include up to 10,000 people now living in Australia, the US, Britain and Malta. Australian lawyer Adrian Joel has been working with New York law firm Sharma & Deyoung. Last week British Prime Minister Gordon Brown apologised to the children who were taken from their families in Malta and England and shipped to Australia and other Commonwealth countries. Many were exploited as child labour and sexually and physically abused while in care. “To all those former child migrants and their families, to those here with us today and those across the world, to each and every one I say today we are truly sorry,” Mr Brown said in the House of Commons. “We are sorry that the voices of these children were not always heard, their cries for help not always heeded.”
(more…)
Tags: Australia, Christianity, Human Rights, UK, USA
Posted in Australia, Health & Children, Human Rights | No Comments »
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
Angus Hohenboken; 25/2/10
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown apologised last night for Britain’s role in sending thousands of children to Australia to face psychological and physical abuse and forced labour. An estimated 150,000 youngsters, aged as young as three, were sent to Commonwealth countries under the Child Migrants Program in an attempt to give them a “better life”. But many ended up being abused, physically and sexually, in foster homes, state-run orphanages and religious institutions. It is estimated 7000 to 10,000 child migrants were sent to Australia from Britain, Ireland and Malta between 1920 and 1967. After being told their parents were dead, most were separated from their siblings. Last night, Mr Brown conceded that the scheme left many people emotionally scarred for life.
(more…)
Tags: Australia, Children, Migrants & Refugees, UK
Posted in Australia, Health & Children, Human Rights, War | No Comments »
Thursday, February 11th, 2010
11/2/10
A fromer Guantanamo Bay inmate was shackled and told he would “disappear” if he failed to cooperate with US interrogators, Britain revealed, in a move Washington warned may affect intelligence-sharing. The details of the “cruel, inhuman and degrading” treatment of Binyam Mohamed by US authorities were disclosed today after Britain lost a months-long court battle to halt publication of the once-secret information. The White House expressed its dismay at the court’s decision to release information that the CIA had passed to Britain, saying it could hamper future intelligence cooperation between London and Washington. “We’re deeply disappointed with the court’s judgment… because we shared this information in confidence and with certain expectations,” said Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for President Barack Obama.
(more…)
Tags: Guantanamo Bay, Terrorism, UK, USA
Posted in Human Rights, Iraq, Terrorism, USA | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
Christopher Hope; 10/2/10
Tens of thousands of secret documents could contradict evidence given by members of the Blair government to the inquiry into the Iraq war, its chairman, Sir John Chilcot, has suggested as the former prime minister lashed out at the hunt for a ‘’scandal” and a ”conspiracy” over his controversial decision to back the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Sir John disclosed that the panel was examining far more documents than previously thought. He said the papers would form the core of the inquiry and show ”what really went on” in the build-up to the start of the conflict. He said that the inquiry team would examine the documents ”over the next few months”, adding: ”That will enable us to see where the evidence joins together and where there are gaps.”
(more…)
Tags: Iraq, Terrorism, UK, USA
Posted in Human Rights, Iraq, Terrorism, USA | No Comments »
Thursday, February 4th, 2010
Paolo Totaro; 4/2/10
The British government has caved in to pressure from the Pope and churches by abandoning controversial reforms that would have forced religious groups to abide by anti-discrimination laws. The amendments drawn up by Labour would have effectively removed the right of churches and religious schools not to employ homosexuals. They drew unprecedented public criticism of another nation’s legislature by the Pope, who described them as a violation of ”natural justice”. But the proximity of a national election, which is due in May, and strong opposition to the changes, particularly in the House of Lords, has drained the beleaguered government’s resolve. The Minister for Equality, Harriet Harman, has battled for years to make churches and religious groups, including faith schools, abide by anti-discrimination legislation.
(more…)
Tags: Christianity, Homosexuality, Human Rights, UK
Posted in Christianity, Homosexuality, Human Rights | No Comments »
Thursday, February 4th, 2010
4/2/10 ; http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/letters/index.php/ theaustralian/comments/blair_lacked_basis_for_war
As an expatriate Briton in Australia, I would like to comment on your editorial defending Tony Blair following his evidence to the Chilcot inquiry (“Blair has no case to answer”, 1/2). In the first place, the legality of the war on Iraq was, to say the least, dubious. Moreover, Blair specifically informed the House of Commons, and thus the British public, that the action was being undertaken on grounds relating to Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, namely Saddam Hussein’s failure to comply with the UN’s directives to dismantle the WMDs, and the perceived threat to Europe and the Middle East that they posed. When the supposed WMDs proved to be a mirage, Blair (and George W. Bush) switched ground to the “removal of a tyrant” argument.
(more…)
Tags: Iraq, Terrorism, UK, USA
Posted in Human Rights, Terrorism, USA, War | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
Paola Totaro; 3/2/10
Tony Blair not only misled the public about his decision to take Britain to war in Iraq but deliberately ordered that Cabinet critics be cut out of intelligence and military briefings in the lead-up, the Chilcot inquiry has been told. Clare Short, a former International Development minister and vehement critic of the Iraq war, has delivered a scathing description of the “presidential” style of Tony Blair’s leadership and described a Cabinet of yes men that were regarded as “his mates” while critics who were sidelined and “leaned on”. She said she believes the “machinery of government in Britain is now unsafe” and that from September 2002, she was deliberately cut out of briefings as Mr Blair had put a “block on communications” .
(more…)
Tags: Iraq, Terrorism, UK, USA
Posted in Human Rights, Iraq, Terrorism, USA | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
Paola Totro; 3/2/10
Pope Benedict has attacked Britain’s reform of human rights and equality legislation, saying religious employers should be allowed to discriminate against homosexuals. In an unprecedented move, the Pope commented directly on the laws of a Protestant state, claiming the proposed new human rights legislation threatens religious freedoms and violates ”natural law”. In a speech made during a visit to Rome by England and Wales’ 35 Catholic bishops, Pope Benedict urged Catholics in Britain to fight against the legislation with ”missionary zeal”.
(more…)
Tags: Christianity, Homosexuality, UK, USA military
Posted in Christianity, Homosexuality, Human Rights, USA | No Comments »
Sunday, January 31st, 2010
Helen Pidd; 30/1/10
They hail from the land of the free, the home of the brave, a place where it is said anyone can prosper regardless of colour, creed or religion. But dozens of Americans have tried in recent years to gain asylum in Britain by claiming they were persecuted in their homeland, according to figures released to The Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act. British Home Office statistics show that between 2004 and 2008, 45 Americans submitted asylum applications to the UK Border Agency, claiming they had fled the US and were unable to go back because they had a well-founded fear of persecution. Fifteen Canadians also applied. All were turned down. A US Government source said the American applications were most likely submitted by self-declared ”political refugees” claiming they faced discrimination under the last administration. The applications from the US peaked in 2008, the final year of George Bush’s presidency, when 15 Americans submitted asylum claims.
(more…)
Tags: Migrants & Refugees, UK, USA
Posted in Human Rights, Refugee & Migrant, USA | No Comments »
Saturday, January 30th, 2010
Robert Milliken; 30/1/10
From the air above Maralinga you can still see the sites where Britain tested nuclear weapons in the South Australian desert 54 years ago. At least one is still contaminated with plutonium. The township that once hummed with Australian and British servicemen and nuclear scientists is just a shell. But if the new owners have their way, this secret place, once an unlikely flashpoint of the Cold War, may soon have a fresh life. The new owners are really the old owners: the Maralinga-Trarutja Aborigines, who were pushed aside when their traditional lands became an atomic testing ground. Late last month dignitaries again flew in, this time to witness a ceremony marking the symbolic closure of one of Australia’s most bizarre stories.
(more…)
Tags: Aboriginal, Arms, Australia, Environment, UK
Posted in Aboriginal, Arms, Australia, Environment, Health & Children, Human Rights | No Comments »
Saturday, January 30th, 2010
Peter Wilson, 30/1/10
An unrepentant Tony Blair last night stood by his decision to invade Iraq in 2003, saying that even though no weapons of mass destruction were found he still believed he had done the right thing and he would do it again today in the same circumstance. The former British prime minister said that although the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US had not involved Iraq they had left him determined to not to take any risks with rogue states and WMDs. “The decision I took – and frankly would take again – was if there was any possibility that he (Saddam Hussein) could develop weapons of mass destruction we should stop him,” he said. “That was my view then and that is my view now.” Mr Blair used his long-awaited appearance before the Chilcot inquiry into Britain’s involvement in the war to meticulously defend his 2003 decisions and insist that the eventual discovery that Iraq did not have WMDs did not mean that the world would have been safe if Saddam had been left in power.
(more…)
Tags: Human Rights, Terrorism, UK, USA
Posted in Human Rights, Iraq, Terrorism, USA | No Comments »
Friday, January 29th, 2010
Ian McPhedran; 29/1/10
The Rudd Government has refused to help Australian veterans suing the British Government over radiation exposure during atomic bomb tests in the 1950s and ’60s. A group of survivors and their families are joining a class action after 800 British nuclear veterans were granted permission to sue the UK Ministry of Defence. Many of the soldiers were covered in radioactive fallout from the blasts while wearing just a hat, shorts and boots and were later treated for radiation sickness. They were never told of the risks involved and many were used as human guinea pigs to test deadly chemicals, including mustard gas.
(more…)
Tags: Arms, Australia, Nuclear, UK
Posted in Arms, Australia, Environment, Health & Children, Human Rights | No Comments »
Friday, January 29th, 2010
Henry Porter & Afua Hirsch; 29/1/10
It’s no coincidence that the four politicians who took us to war – Tony Blair, Jack Straw, Lord Falconer and Lord Goldsmith were all lawyers. Of course there were others involved, but let us be quite clear that each of these was in a position to stop the headlong rush to war by using the rule of law as an argument against the Bush regime. Only Lord Goldsmith attempted such a course, but he was flattened by Lord Falconer and Baroness (formerly Sally) Morgan and sidelined by No 10 until it was too late for Britain to withdraw.
(more…)
Tags: Iraq, UK, USA
Posted in Human Rights, Iraq, Terrorism, USA | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
Paola Totaro; 28/1/10
The British Justice Secretary, Jack Straw, has been humiliated by his former legal adviser who said his boss had twice overruled his entreaties against military action in Iraq while he was foreign secretary. In a tense day at the Chilcot inquiry, Sir Michael Wood, Mr Straw’s chief legal adviser at the time of the invasion, contradicted Mr Straw’s evidence that he had only ”very reluctantly” supported the military decision. Mr Straw had told the inquiry of his moral and political anguish before the invasion in 2003. But Sir Michael said that not only had Mr Straw told his US counterpart, Colin Powell, he was ”entirely comfortable” arguing for war, he had also told his legal adviser that he had often ignored legal advice from the Home Office without consequence. Sir Michael said that when he had voiced his view about the illegality of action, Mr Straw ”took the view that I was being very dogmatic and that international law was pretty vague and that he wasn’t used to people taking such a firm position”. ”When he had been at the Home Office, he had often been advised things were unlawful but he had gone ahead anyway and won in the courts.”
(more…)
Tags: Human Rights, Iraq, Terrorism, UK, USA
Posted in Human Rights, Iraq, Terrorism, USA | No Comments »
Monday, January 25th, 2010
Riyadh Mohammed; 25/1/10
Fraud charges have been laid against a British supplier. IRAQI officials have reacted with anger to news that the director of a British company that supplies bomb detectors to Iraq has been arrested on fraud charges, and the export of the devices has been banned. ”This company not only caused grave and massive losses of funds, but it has caused grave and massive losses of the lives of innocent Iraqi civilians, by the hundreds and thousands, from attacks that we thought we were immune to because we have this device,” said Ammar Tuma, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s security and defence committee. But the Ministry of the Interior has not withdrawn the devices from service, and police continue to use them at checkpoints throughout Baghdad.
(more…)
Tags: Arms, Iraq, Trade, UK
Posted in Aid / Trade, Arms, Iraq | No Comments »
