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30 September 2005

Jean Charles de Menezes - Public meeting & Offical campaign launch

A quick update on the Justice4Jean Campaign which has moved the official launch of the campaign to Monday 10th October 2005, 6.30pm, New Theatre, London School of Economics, Houghton St, WC1 (nearest tube Holborn).

The following information about the event was issued earlier today:
Dear friends,

As you will be aware, Jean's parents and brother have travelled thousands of miles to come to this country to find out the truth about what happened to their son and to demand justice.

Please find below details of the first public meeting of the Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign. It had to be moved from Conway Hall on 3rd Oct due to pressing legal engagements for the family but it will now be taking place on 10th October at the LSE.

This is an opportunity to show your solidarity and support to Jean's parents and family. They need to know the people of London and this country are with them

Please forward this to all email lists you have and encourage your family, friends and co-workers to attend.

I hope you join us for this public meeting and bring messages of support for the family.

best wishes
Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign




Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign present

Public Meeting and Campaign Launch: Shoot First - Ask Questions later?


Monday 10th October 2005, 6.30pm
New Theatre, London School of Economics
Houghton St, WC1
(nearest tube Holborn)

Speakers include:

From Brazil: Jean’s parents Matozinhos Otone Da Silva and Maria Otone de Menezes and Jean’s brother Giovanni da Silva

Also:
  • Gareth Pierce - the Menezes family lawyer
  • Irene Khan - Secretary General of Amnesty International
  • Bianca Jagger
  • Prof Tariq Ramadan
  • Matthew Taylor MP
  • Benjamin Zephania (invited)
  • Frank Dobson MP (invited)
  • Salma Yaqoob


On 22nd July, Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by police at Stockwell tube. This meeting is the official campaign launch of the Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign. It is an opportunity for the people of London to show support for the Menezes family hear about the next steps for the campaign for truth and justice.



28 September 2005

Storming the Bastia, Marseille

Teargas and hooded paramilitary gendarmes of an anti-terrorist unit descending from five Puma helicopters herald the introduction by the French authorities of a rather novel approach to strikebreaking:
French army storms hijacked ferry in Mediterranean
By Reuters Wed Sep 28, 2005 11:54 AM BST


French soldiers stormed a car ferry in the Mediterranean Sea on Wednesday to recapture it from about 50 striking workers who had seized the vessel in protest at plans to privatise their ferry company.

...

Media said the workers who seized the ferry could face up to 20 years in prison, saying the law treats seizing the ferry in a manner similar to the hijacking of a plane. Police said they had detained the protesters for questioning.

...

Financial difficulties coupled with government plans to seek an injection of private capital into the 155-year-old company have led to a series of strikes since last year, bringing ferry traffic to a halt between mainland France and Corsica.

Three people were injured during scuffles between protesters and police at the Corsican port city of Bastia during the night. Workers are angry over sell-off plans that could lead to the loss of 400 jobs, and have blocked southern French oil ports.

Source: The Times

23 September 2005

Katrina & Rita: When the Levee Breaks (Reprise)

Once more the levees in New Orleans have been breached, once more...

When The Levee Breaks, Led Zeppelin, 'IV'
(Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant/Memphis Minnie)

If it keeps on raining, levee's going to break, (X2)
When the levee breaks I'll have no place to stay.

Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan, (X2)
Got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home,

Oh, well, oh, well, oh, well.

Don't it make you feel bad?
When you're tryin' to find your way home,
You don't know which way to go?
If you're goin' down South
They got no work to do,
If you don't know about Chicago.

Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
Now, cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.

All last night sat on the levee and moaned, (X2)
Thinkin' about my baby and my happy home.

Going, going to Chicago... Going to Chicago...

Sorry but I can't take you...

Going down...

going down now...

going down....

Stop War Offline

The day before a Stop War march in London which commences at 12pm Saturday 24 September in Hyde Park and the site redirects to :


Stop the War, 12pm Hyde Park, Saturday 24th September 2005.

Hurricane Rita: Prison Camp America

The Antagonist hopes readers are sitting very comfortably indeed prior to reading this...

Gov. Kathleen Blanco was asked yesterday about some of the 500,000 Louisiana residents in the path of Hurricane Rita that are choosing not to leave their homes, sit in 12 hours of traffic and die on the highways when the hurricane hits.

In response Governor Blanco said:
"If some people insist on not going … perhaps they should write their Social Security number on their arms in indelible ink."

Once more Governor Kathleen Blanco:
"If some people insist on not going … perhaps they should write their Social Security number on their arms in indelible ink."

The Antagonist can only surmise that all this talk of category 5 hurricanes means even the American government can't recruit enough tattooists to do the job properly.

London 7/7: The Dummy Dummy-Run

A couple of quotes via Team 8 Forum and a little more analysis of Peter Power's 7 July statement:
London bombs terror attack

"A week [before 7 July], [Shehzad Tanweer] had hired a red Nissan Micra for the journey, using his own name and credit card. The car was already overdue to be returned to the car hire company. Tanweer didn’t care, for he had no intention of returning it."

Source: Times Online, July 16, 2005


The 'dummy run' of the London bombers

"Two bottles of peroxide explosive encased in nails were found in a bag under the front passenger seat of a silver Nissan Micra which three of the bombers had used to travel to Luton on the day of the attacks."

Source: Daily Mail

Red Micra, silver Micra, whatever, eh? It was only a terrorist attack on London, right? What do facts matter?

They could have released CCTV footage from 7 July and ended all the speculation and debate in one fell swoop but no, nearly three months, 3,000 plus witness statements and 80,000 CCTV tapes later, out floats a bit of footage of a shopping trip to London of just three of the alleged 7 July bombers.

Why hasn't footage from 7 July been released? Does it exist? If it does exist why isn't it being released? If it doesn't exist, why not?

Who is the alleged fourth bomber missing from the Dummy Dummy-Run? Of course, none other than the alleged bus bomber, Hasib Hussain.

We are told of the meticulous level of detail and planning that went into organising 7 July yet the only similarity between the Dummy Dummy-Run journey and the alleged journey of the alleged bombers on 7 July is the fact that the alleged bombers travelled by Thameslink train from Luton to Kings Cross.

The BBC reports the main points of the Dummy Dummy-Run as:

  • Sidique Khan and Tanweer meet Lindsay at Luton station around 0810 BST
  • The trio buy tickets and catch a train to King's Cross
  • The men arrive at King's Cross at 0855 BST and are also seen at Baker Street at midday
  • The bombers leave King's Cross at 1250 BST and arrive back in Luton at 1340 BST

Source: BBC

In the Dummy Dummy-Run the alleged bombers met at 8:10am at Luton Thameslink station so they obviously weren't meticulously rehearsing the catching of the 7:40am train that we are told they caught on 7 July. i.e. the same 7.40am train from Luton a) didn't run on the morning of 7 July and, b) couldn't have got them to Kings Cross in time to catch any of the trains affected that morning.

In the Dummy Dummy-Run the alleged bombers arrived at Kings Cross Thameslink at 8:55am, five minutes after the bombs supposedly went off on 7 July so they obviously weren't meticulously rehearsing simultaneous explosions on the Underground trains at precisely 8.50am.

So what exactly were these guys rehearsing? How to catch a random Thameslink train from Luton to Kings Cross perhaps?

No wonder the police are so keen to learn more of the activities of the alleged 7/7 bombers in London on the day of the Dummy Dummy-Run.

The Dummy Dummy-Run is little more than a distraction from the complete lack of evidence relating to the very real and actual events that resulted in the deaths of 56 people on 7 July. Why the big secrecy over evidence from the day itself?

The Antagonist wonders if the police have considered that the alleged bombers might have met up with Peter Power and a Visor Consultants crisis management team for a quick business brunch to go through a few last minute Powerpoint presentations.

Except it's unlikely that anyone might think that because Mr Power is to this day being used by the news media - even in relation to today's incident at Manchester airport - as an independent security consultant that has no special connection with the events of 7 July - and most certainly not a special connection like that of having organised and conducted a 1,000 man security rehearsal operation on the morning of 7 July rehearsing "simultaneous bombs going off precisely at the railway stations where it happened this [7 July] morning" and where "one scenario in particular, was very similar to real time events."

Is it too much to dream of a world where a news channel presenter would take a deep breath and introduce Power with, "I have with me in the studio Mr Peter Power, ex-Scotland Yard anti-terror operative and long time friend of Sir Ian Blair who is now Managing Director of Visor Consultants a crisis management company that was running a 1,000 man anti-terrorist security rehearsal operation in Central London on the morning of 7 July where, by his own admission, he was rehearsing, "simultaneous bombs going off precisely at the railway stations where it happened this [7 July] morning" and where "one scenario in particular, was very similar to real time events". Good morning Mr Power... Mr Power....Mr Power...?"

To some degree, Peter Power was very open with his initial comments aired on Radio 5 on the evening of 7 July when he first revealed that he had been conducting the operation. During the interview he did even sound a little alarmed that the simultaneous bombs of his long planned security rehearsal had actually occurred at the same time he was rehearsing them.

Perhaps this admission on the same day as the devastating events on the Underground was the open acknowledgement of an ex-anti-terror operative of forces at work in the midst of his operation that morning far greater than that of an ex-Scotland Yarder. If outside organisations were involved at that level Power would be powerless to say so and has perhaps encoded his level of involvement with the one highly visible event of that day - the diverted and exploded Number 30 bus - simply by not mentioning it. Power only ever refers to the train incidents in his original Radio 5 interview, never to the exploded bus and while not mentioning the bus Power also tells us in a later written statement that, "one scenario in particular, was very similar to real time events."

As the rumour, speculation and random footage loosely linked to 7 July continues to materialise while evidence from the day itself is either non-existent or highly questionable, still the question must be, "WHO BOMBED LONDON?"

21 September 2005

AlterNet: Blogs: Peek: Bush jr. arrested

AlterNet: Blogs: Peek: Bush jr. arrested:
"John Ellis Bush, known as 'Jebby,' was arrested Friday morning and charged with public intoxication and resisting arrest. Evidently Jebby was having too much fun there in Austin,' writes Spin Dentist, also noting that there's no truth to the rumor that the appropriately aged Jebby might now sign up for the military..."

Progressive U fills in a few background details:
"Several members of the Bush family have received considerable press converage for perceived or abusive use of alcohol and other substances, including George W. Bush's DUI, Jenna and Barbara Bush's underage drinking, and Jebby's sister Noelle arrest for forging a Xanax prescription."

Always nice to have an excuse to mention George Bush's cocaine parties, especially as they are all the rage these days.

London 7/7: TFL, TrackerNet Images & Evidence Removal

Following on from yesterday's post which included TrackerNet images from 7 July 2005, The Antagonist set about finding the original source of the TrackerNet images in order to link to them directly.

Imagine The Antagonist's surprise (can you feel the irony?) when it turned out that the very same TrackerNet schematics published below, those which are still referred to in the original Transport For London press release from whence they came, had disappeared from the Transport for London Image Gallery.

From the TFL press release:
Six images are available in the News Centre. The first three images show the sequence of train movements prior to and including the explosion at Aldgate. The remaining three show the sequence of train movements prior to and including the explosion at Edgware Road. [TFL]

So, in the true spirit of Freedom of Information, here they are again - still without timestamps because, to the best of The Antagonist's knowledge, we still don't know what time the trains actually left Kings Cross on the morning of 7 July.

7 July: TFL TrackerNet Images & Captions

Some additional information about the TrackerNet schematics:
Using Trakernet, a computerized system that monitors trains on some lines, controllers could see that as Train 204 traveled between Liverpool Street and approached Aldgate, it came to a sudden stop with pink lines on their screens indicating a power surge. [International Herald Tribune]

Pink Lines = Power surge.
The first bomb to detonate was on the Liverpool Street train soon after it left for Aldgate on the Circle line, seconds before the others. The blast tripped out the power system, visible in the control room. [WikiNews]

And:
The Edgware Road train, leaving for Paddington and also on the Circle, exploded opposite a train coming from the other direction, making people think at first that it was a derailment. [WikiNews]


TRACKERNET 1: Circle line Train #204-Eastbound Heading from Liverpool Street to Aldgate. Sequence of train movements prior to and including the explosion at Aldgate. [Source: TFL]

london bombs

TRACKERNET 2: Circle line Train #204-Eastbound Heading from Liverpool Street to Aldgate. Sequence of train movements prior to and including the explosion at Aldgate. [Source: TFL]

7 july

TRACKERNET 3: Circle line Train #204-Eastbound Heading from Liverpool Street to Aldgate. Sequence of train movements prior to and including the explosion at Aldgate. [Source: TFL]




TRACKERNET 4: Circle line Train #216-Westbound. Heading from Edgware Road to Paddington. Sequence of train movements prior to and including the explosion at Edgware Road. [Source: TFL]



TRACKERNET 5: Circle line Train #216-Westbound. Heading from Edgware Road to Paddington. Sequence of train movements prior to and including the explosion at Edgware Road. [Source: TFL]



TRACKERNET 6: Circle line Train #216-Westbound. Heading from Edgware Road to Paddington. Sequence of train movements prior to and including the explosion at Edgware Road. [Source: TFL]

20 September 2005

London 7/7: Blast Train Schematics

Interesting show on BBC1 tonight about derailed trains that The Antagonist is hoping might help make a little sense of the train schematics released for 7 July, as shown below.
Derailed, BBC1
Tue 20 Sep, 9:00 pm - 10:00 pm 60mins

A powerful and moving film looking at the continuing battle for justice in the aftermath of the October 1999 Ladbroke Grove rail disaster.

Thirty one people were killed and numerous more families were torn apart by the crash when two trains collided on the same piece of track. Were these lives lost for the sake of profit? This dramatised reconstruction of real events reveals some shocking truths and poses questions that the rail industry, government and big business will find awkward to swallow.

The film follows a group of the victims' parents who have engaged themselves in a long, emotional hunt to discover and expose the truth of what really happened in the lead-up to the tragedy. Their sad but remarkable story is a testament to the strength and determination of the individual. [BBC1]


London 7/7 Trackernet Schematics












17 September 2005

Tough on Terrorism, Tough on the Causes of Terrorism

... or Free Speech as it is otherwise known.

Is it just The Antagonist or does Mr Blair, President Minister of the United Kingdom, seem as though he's under rather a little too much pressure and getting a little confused?

The Clarke/Blair barrage of their 'I believe's being the will of the masses continues with more pointless and stupid laws that won't prevent the UK Government from conducting their terrorist activities, nor the odd suicide bomber from conducting theirs. Free speech however, is greatly under threat.

'Terrorism' has very kindly been defined by Mr Blair as:
"the killing of innocent people, erm, deliberately"

Well, that could include such things as the murder of an INNOCENT Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station all the way up to the killing of 25,000+ innocent Iraqis as supported, funded and conducted with the full approval of none other than Mr Tony Blair.

Ho ho ho. What a world of contradictions in which Tony B. and his ilk live.

The new crime is anything that can be vaguely construed to 'promote or encourage'' terrorism (e.g. US/UK foreign policy), something which starts a little closer to home for Mr Blair, as Mrs Blair let us know in June 2002 while speaking about Palestinians at a charity event in London, 18 June, 2002.
"As long as young people feel they have got no hope but to blow themselves up you are never going to make progress."

Sorry Tony, no more five-times-a-night for you, big-boy, until you change the Middle East policy.

The very next day, and before mis-describing Cherie's sentiments, hubby said:

"First of all, I hope that no-one mis-describes her sentiments, or mine, or anyone else's. Everybody in this situation feels nothing but the deepest sympathy for the people that have lost their lives in the latest terrorist attack.

Terrorism offers absolutely no future, no way out of this process whatever, but of course it is true that we need to make sure that there is hope for the future, and the hope lies in the political process taking the place of the extremists, the terrorists, the suicide bombers, and I am quite sure that is what Cherie was saying, it is what everyone who has looked at this problem knows is the case."


If Cherie didn't know that was what she was saying when she said it, The Antagonist has a funny feeling that she sure as hell did by the time Tony got round to pretending that terrorism isn't dropping bombs on the heads of thousands of innocents on the pretext of removing first one man, Osama Bin Laden - he who was receiving dialysis in an American military hospital in Rawapindi the night before 11 September, 2001, and then another man - mad or otherwise - whom the CIA appointed in Iraq in the sixties.

"Terrorism offers absolutely no future", apparently.

"Terrorism" (Tony Blair definition: "the killing of innocent people, erm, deliberately") does, however, seem to work quite well for Mr Blair's government and performs just as well as it ever did in being the single fastest way of transferring public money to the private enterprises and individuals who manufacture all the tools of terrorism used for the killing of innocent people.

And, if the 21 July London 'bombings' were anything to go by, the new face of terrorism, at least by those not afforded full state sponsorship, looks a little something like this:

Flour Power Terrorism hits the UK


In January of 2004, Jenny Tonge got herself in rather a lot of trouble, and was sacked by Charles Kennedy, for speaking freely (how, er, 'Liberal') and suggesting that there might be some reason why youngsters feel that undertaking a suicide bombing is the only viable option left to them:

"This particular brand of terrorism, the suicide bomber, is truly born out of desperation.

"Many, many people criticise, many, many people say it is just another form of terrorism, but I can understand and I am a fairly emotional person and I am a mother and a grandmother.

I think if I had to live in that situation, and I say this advisedly, I might just consider becoming one myself.

"And that is a terrible thing to say."

That it may be, but it is certainly far less terrible to say such a thing than it is to be responsible for the large-scale killing of innocent people like Mr Blair. The same large-scale killing of innocent people which he has on his mind, if not his conscience, as he admitted in a television interview yesterday.
"It's the killing of innocent people, um, deliberately... innocent civilians. When people go on a bus or the Underground or in a cafe, bar or restaurant and kill as many innocent people as they possibly can quite deliberately, I think in practical terms most reasonable people have no reasonable difficulty with this definition.

Dropping bombs from the skies for a few years in a never-ending pursuit of creation (what was), destruction (what is) and rebirth (what will be), apparently, is not terrorism. Those whose words 'promote or encourage' opposing acts of terrorism, apparently, is greater than the very real and actual terrorism of those whose terrorism allows them to dictate the laws of the country and the world.

With that paradigm, the luxury of those wielding the biggest and most destructive weapons of mass destruction and labelling individual acts of opposition as 'terrorism' is over.

With that paradigm, the luxury of those wielding the biggest and most destructive weapons of mass destruction to almost-invisibly kill innocents on a scale suicide bombers can only dream of is over.

With that paradigm, the transparency of the real terrorists, those who regularly kill innocent people, erm, deliberately, is now truly international.

13 September 2005

Home is where the heart is

Word has reached The Antagonist that Prince William has chosen a young people's homelessness charity as the first to which he will be a patron.

"Hello homeless person. I'm William from Buckingham Palace, the world's biggest and oldest DOSSHOUSE. It's a rather jolly place but sometimes the soups are a bit salty."

Whatever next?

Maybe he'll persuade his nan to give the fucking land back.

If The Antagonist has anything to do with brokering the deal, she can keep the swans.

[Fade to soft-focus shot of a scruffy looking queen staggering around the streets of WC1 (ho ho ho, WC One / One's WC, ho ho ho) clutching a bottle of cheap cider and trailing a bit of string attached to a scruffy looking swan.]

10 September 2005

How much do you value your rights?

So asks the BBC in light of Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, the head of Britain's security service, MI5, stating that the 60-or-so million people in this country who aren't fully-paid up members of Al Qaeda should have even more of their essential civil liberties removed in the continued war on an abstract noun. Of course, quite how one views these things is all about context and perspective so let's endeavour to introduce some of each of these qualities by having a look at a couple of 'highpoints' in the career of Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller.

Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, "was heavily involved in the Lockerbie investigation" after the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 above a small town in Scotland. For those that don't recall the events of 1988:

Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up as it flew over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988, when 12–16 oz of plastic explosive was detonated in its forward cargo hold, triggering a sequence of events that led to the rapid destruction of the aircraft. Winds of 100 knots scattered passengers and debris along an 88-mile corridor over an area of 845 square miles. Two hundred and seventy people from 21 countries died, including 11 people on the ground. [FreeDictionary]

Recently, a former Scottish police chief gave lawyers a signed statement stating that key evidence in the Lockerbie bombing trial was fabricated. "The officer, who was a member of the Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland, supports earlier claims by a former CIA agent that his CIA bosses "wrote the script" to incriminate Libya."

So, we can learn from this that Manningham-Buller had heavy involvement in an investigation into a devastating terrorist attack in the UK and that she didn't manage to expose that a key piece of evidence had been manufactured by the CIA. This suggests that Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller's heavy involvement in the investigation wasn't really much use in bringing the investigation to a judicious conclusion. Hardly grounds for promotion to the head of MI5, one would think. Or, if it is, there's a whole tranche of questions that need asking about the purpose of MI5. Only 20 years later does something vaguely resembling the truth of the Lockerbie bombing emerge and, still then, only when the conscience of an elderly ex-copper gets the better of him.

The question in relation to Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, her involvement in the rather redundant Lockerbie investigation and her recent comments must now be; should a person with such a dubious record of detecting the true causes of the terror around the world be tasked with removing the civil liberties of the population that she failed in the Lockerbie investigation 20 years ago?

While you're pondering that one, consider also the small matter of Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller's position as a senior liaison to the US intelligence community, working out of Washington, over the period of the first Persian Gulf War when the Bush klan first tried to rid the world, apparently, of Saddam Hussein.

"Why would this be an issue?" you might ask. Well, the CIA went to great lengths to empower Saddam Hussein back in the sixties so any offensives which the Bush father/son partnership, their administrations, and the CIA might wish to launch on the country and leadership that they themselves (and Don) engineered in the sixties, are immediately rendered far more questionable than the already incredibly questionable reasons for so doing.

To understand anything about Iraq, it is essential to understand that Iraq was described by Britain in 1947 as a, "stupendous source of strategic power, and one of the greatest material prizes in world history," and, “a vital prize for any power interested in world influence or domination.” It is also essential to understand that this "stupendous source of strategic power" passed from Ottoman rule to British hands during World War I and was then led by a British-appointed monarch whose job description was, "A king who will be content to reign but not govern.” This all worked very well until the British appointed monarch was overthrown by the restless locals in 1958 and replaced with a republic under Brigadier Abd al Karim Qasim.

Monarchy has never taken kindly to anyone that dares challenge their self-appointed divine right to rule, and being overthrown anywhere tends to stick in the craw of monarchy just a little. So, when the "vital prize for... world influence or domination" had been lost to a people's republic of neutralism and nationalism that had no use for monarchy or their interests, something had to be done by the conquering imperial forces to re-establish their global influence and domination.

Enter, stage left [hand path], one Saddam Hussein and the CIA.

In 1959 Baath party elements led by Saddam attempted to gun down Qasim, but failed. Saddam was wounded in the attempt (read: 'shot himself in the leg') and fled (hobbled?) to Syria and then Egypt - a considerable feat of border-crossing after having just attempted to assassinate the incumbent leader of the people's republic. Saddam was sentenced to death in absentia only returning to Iraq when his Baath party were in a position of power.

Bearing in mind the Lockerbie investigation-debacle and the recent history of Iraq that has been shaped by British and, more recently, American conquering forces who largely engineered Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, the involvement of Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller in both the Lockerbie investigation and the Iraq invasions of Bush Snr and Jnr, provides a high degree of insight into the nature of the person who now suggests citizens of the UK should be subjugated further by still greater losses of essential liberties.

Oh, how great this democracy of ours. How much do you value your rights?

Justice4Jean: Jean Charles de Menezes @ TUC Fringe

Shoot first, ask questions later - TUC fringe meeting, Monday 12 September
When: 6pm, Monday 12th September
Where: Brighthelm Centre, North Road, Brighton, BN1 6GB

Taken from the Justice4Jean web site, which appears to have staggered online without the requisite levels of publicity that you might think would surround a campaign for justice when an innocent man is executed by unknown 'authorities' on a London tube train:
Shoot first, ask questions later - TUC fringe meeting, Monday 12 September

On 22nd July, Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by police at Stockwell tube as a result of the so-called “shoot-to-kill” policy. His family is seeking justice and the truth about why Jean Charles was killed.

This meeting is the first chance to hear Jean Charles’ family and their lawyers give a full account of the catalogue of errors surrounding Jean Charles’ death. The meeting will also provide an opportunity for the trade union movement and people committed to human rights to discuss how they can support the family’s campaign.

Speakers include:

Bob Crow - RMT general secretary
Alessando Pereira - Jean Charles’ cousin
Vivian Figeurido - Jean Charles’ cousin
Gareth Pierce - human rights solicitor
Asad Rehman - Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign and Newham Monitoring Project

6pm
Monday 12th September
Brighthelm Centre
North Road
Brighton, BN1 6GB

Please arrive promptly

For more information:
email - justice4jean@hotmail.co.uk
tel - 07734087950

The Antagonist will be very interested to learn quite what Bob Crow and the RMT have to say, especially given the recent RMT response to the rather simple question, "What time did the trains leave Kings Cross on 7 July, 2005?"

Let's hope Mr Crow sees a little more point in asking questions about the summary execution of Jean Charles de Menezes on a tube train in Stockwell Station than his representatives do about the day of the London bombs.

07 September 2005

Charles Clarke gets excited by Suicide Bombers (again)

The Antagonist was tickled, somewhat, by the grand performance Charles Clarke architected in front of Euro MEPs in Strasbourg today.

The poor man worked himself up into such a frenzy he looked like he was going to spontaneously combust and explode in a not entirely dissimilar way to the suicide-bombers that consistently get him so excited.

You don't have to be called George Bush....

... to be an insensitive idiot, you could be called Barbara Bush too:

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this - this is working very well for them."

05 September 2005

Bra Wars - The Mammaries Land

"Peter Mandelson, the European Union trade commissioner, raised the prospect of a deal in the EU "bra wars" yesterday in time for the arrival of Tony Blair in China.

Mr Blair, along with Mr Mandelson ... will lead a Union delegation at the annual EU-China summit today."


Of course! What better way of countering a Bra War than with a massive pair of tits?

04 September 2005

John Humphrys: The BBC & the Further Death of Journalistic Integrity

On 17 August The Antagonist posted an article about the lies that were told and exposed in relation to the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes when statements given as part of the IPCC investigation were leaked to ITV News.

In the comments on that article
, and having made a point of endeavouring to listen in, The Antagonist remarked upon the distinctly notable absence of the 8.10 interview from Radio 4's today programme the morning after news of the leak, as well as the perhaps coincidental absence from the show that morning of the show's only presenter with sufficient integrity to warrant such a distinguished position on Radio 4's flagship news programme, John Humphrys.

Since that day, The Antagonist has been telling anyone who will listen that the BBC's increasingly more pronounced role as little more than the mouthpiece of MI5 government would result in the ousting of individuals with any degree of journalistic integrity from any positions of prominence. More specifically, The Antagonist has espoused the notion that John Humphrys' time of endeavouring to maintain journalistic integrity in a media climate that no longer allows such a luxury would, somehow, be drawing to a close in the very near future.

Lo-and-behold, what has been doing the rounds the last couple of days if not stories about Michael Grade's launch of an investigation into a speech which John Humphrys gave, some two months ago, to the Commercial Directors' Forum where Humphry's dared speak words much closer to the truth than the news media can allow?

A couple of links:

The Independent: BBC launches inquiry into Humphrys speech

The Observer: 'Stitched up' Humphrys faces BBC probe

And a few links, for good measure, from the Times Online web site, including a link to a video [ASX file] and a full text transcript of John Humphry's speech to the Commercial Directors Forum:

Radio's king of rude launches another salvo at Labour 'liars', 03 Sep 2005
John Humphrys has ridiculed senior Labour politicians and implied that all ministers are liars.

The Humphrys verdict on 'boring' Brown and Blair, 02 Sep 2005
John Humphrys has ridiculed senior Labour politicians and implied all ministers are liars in a filmed speech.

The presenter famous for being blunt refuses to be silenced, 03 Sep 2005
Humphrys has made his fortune by not only talking about politicians but also by being rude to them.

Humphrys on Blair, Brown and Campbell: text, 02 Sep 2005
Full text of John Humphrys speaking to Commercial Directors' Forum, June 8.

John Humphrys would not be the first journalist to be hoisted by the petard of truth-seeking in journalism but, if Grade has any impact on Humphrys' esteemed position, the Today programme will be left with nothing more than a gaggle of presenters happy to share cosy evenings with the same politicians they are tasked with grilling in the public interest, a sycophantic trait to which Humphrys, to his considerable credit, did not succumb.

The first casualty of war is truth. If Grade's McCarthyistic witch-hunt against Humphrys succeeds, the lid on the coffin of British journalism will be one nail closer to being forever-sealed.

MI6 of the Best

DAILY MIRROR EXCLUSIVE: WEB OF SPIES
121 British 'secret agents' are named on the internet
By Nick Sommerlad, 30 August 2005


SCORES of British spies fear their cover is blown after they were named by a US website. It listed 121 alleged secret agents - including former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown. Some are understood to be serving intelligence officers based around the world.

...

Lawyers are looking at ways of taking the list off the net.

...

The site, which we are not naming, has long been a thorn in the side of the intelligence community for publishing secrets. This month it named another 74 alleged MI6 agents - on top of 116 in 1999.

The Antagonist isn't nearly quite so coy as the Daily Mirror with information that has been in the public domain for some time and points curious readers to John Young's excellent Cryptome and the lists of MI6 agents: one [13 May 1999], two [21 August 2005], and three [28 August 2005].

In case there was any doubt as to the authenticity of these lists, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office HM Diplomatic Service's Overseas Reference List of August 2005 lists many of the named officials, confirms their 2005 positions and stations, and is available as a PDF or Word document for ease of consumption.

Cryptome also has some nice photos from the ranch protest in Crawford, Texas, including this one of Bush holding hands with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah as they walk at his ranch in Crawford, Texas April 25, 2005.

Crown Prince Abdullah became King on Aug. 1, 2005, upon the death of his half brother, King Fahd. Fahd was 84. Abdullah is 81 and essentially has been the kingdom's leader since 1995, when Fahd was sidelined by a stroke. (AP Photo/Mandatory Credit:Christopher Morris/VII).

If you look very closely at the photo above, you can almost see the strings of Bush, Abdullah and company being operated by the Great Puppetmaster in the sky.

02 September 2005

Katrina & the Waves - On Revolutions in the U.S. & Abroad

"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it."

- Abraham Lincoln

Young. Old. Black. White. Christian. Muslim. No homes. No clothes. No food. No Water. The promised-land of the free and the American way of life is in very dire trouble indeed.

Hurricane Katrina has left America in the midst of a desperate crisis on a multitude of levels as the disaster, listed for some time as one of the top disaster threats faced by the United States, has finally happened.

Once again, it is the innocent who suffer at the hands of State and Federal administrations who knew long in advance about the magnitude of the threat. They choose instead to spend tax dollars on killing more innocents in Iraq, simultaneously tossing the lives of millions of Americans to the mercy of imminent flooding. In this there is a message encoded for the American people from those who profess to protect them.

Hurricane Katrina has stripped millions of Americans of everything but their bodies and their lives. Martial Law has been imposed and thousands of enforcers have been sent to prevent those with no food, no water, and only the clothes they were swept away in from salvaging what little water, food and clothing they can pick out from the devastation.

Death tolls, much like the actual death tolls in Iraq, are conspicuously absent from the reports of the world's media, the majority of whom would rather focus on portraying the fundamental desperation of the basic human need for food, water and shelter as horrendous acts of 'looting' and 'crime'.

This media set-up, of course, paved the way nicely for Gee Dubya's sickly, staged condemnation of the 'lawlessness' that is nothing more than human attempts at survival when faced with horrific odds against that survival. Add to those horrific odds a government more interested in continuing to over-stretch its war efforts around the world than allowing its own people to eat and drink and, just maybe, a brief glimpse can be gained of what people attempting survival in the wake of Katrina are going through.

The global superpower that manifests itself all over the world as a conquering imperial force of destruction cannot use the considerable resources it ploughs into global domination to save its own people in their time of need.

The victims of Hurricane Katrina are, quite understandably, very, very unhappy at being left without food and water for four days in a way that 'disenfranchised' doesn't quite cover. They join the ever growing anti-Bush, anti-war throng of those that have lost faith in their government to act in the interests of the people it serves.

"No government power can be abused long. Mankind will not bear it."

- Samuel Johnson

Undeterred by this, the message sent by Bush and his kaballistic administration to the people of New Orleans, the people of America, and the people of the world via his Katrina rhetoric, is clear: "Do not dare endeavour to help yourselves. We are the providers for your appetites, your moral and sensual needs, and you must wait, dying, watching your children and loved ones dying around you, until we come."

Those in New Orleans who follow orders to flock to the great dome of salvation are rewarded with tens of thousands more hungry, thirsty people to contend with and nowhere near enough food and water to go round. In their efforts to centralise control and distribution of essential resources, the authorities are contributing to a dramatic worsening of an already catastrophic situation.

Aside from the immediate challenges posed by the recovery operation, the words of Mr Bush are falling on the deaf ears of a starving population. Those that hear him still aren't buying it. On a grander scale, the people of America aren't buying it, and the watching peoples of the world aren't buying it either.

Bush and the U.S. Administration however are 'buying it', and they're buying it big-style on a daily basis to the tune of $187 million for the invasion, continued occupation and globally managed heist of Iraq and its geological and human resources.

As Bush appears on the world's television screens forcing platitudes through an angst-filled smile, almost as fake as the presidency he stole and the administration behind which he hides, rest assured that it is not empathy with the pain and suffering of those Americans whose lives have been devastated by Katrina, but instead the angst of knowing that his deluded vision of an omnipotent and omnipresent America is just that, a deluded vision.

With the arrival of Katrina on American shores and America's ongoing failure to remedy the situation, Bush's vision has been emasculated and exposed by nothing more than a whim of Mother Nature.

No bombs. No terrorists. Not even any Muslims to blame. Perhaps Al Qaeda will rush-release a badly-dubbed tape of a New Orleans Muslim claiming that the Winnowing Winds of Allah were sent to bring devastation to the infidels and that the chief infidel would last be seen pleading with the people to maintain their unnatural dependence on the state that sends its troops to ensure suffering victims endure their suffering still further while waiting for help that isn't arriving.

The Bush adminstration has for five years failed the American people and in the aftermath of Katrina it is failing on a scale that will not be tolerated for very long. More and more rapidly, and in ever greater numbers than before, the people of America are recognising that it might be time to bring a bit of freedom and democracy to their own country before attempting to export it anywhere else.

The people know it and the administration knows it and the fear fills the face of the President.

Throughout history, men far greater than George Walker Bush have spoken words of knowledge, wisdom and insight that resonate more loudly today than any of the monotonous monologues that Bush and his team of charlatans scriptwriters could hope to invent. One such man is Malcolm X whose words Bush may not have heard but which have certainly been listened to at some level in the corridors of power:
"I believe there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those doing the oppressing. I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the system of exploitation. I believe that there will be that kind of clash, but I dont think it will be based on the colour of the skin."

- Malcolm X
Tony Blair appears to have noticed too.

London 21/7: The Bombers Had No Bombs

Following on from this post about the Number 30 bus that exploded on 7 July, and the release of the worst Al Qaeda video effort yet, The Antagonist thinks now is an opportune place in space and time to draw attention to a couple of things.

Firstly, the hydrogen peroxide explosion on the M25 earlier in the week, demonstrating precisely what a hydrogen peroxide explosion looks like and, secondly, Romeo Romeo's comment on this blog about the 21 July 'suicide bombers' that didn't have any bombs.

Romeo Romeo said...
21st July bombers had no bombs

This is about as much information as I have seen regarding the "BOMBS" from the 21st July events. I have not seen this information posted or discussed anywhere else yet so you consider yourself honoured Mr Antagonist.

As Mr Issac's Italian lawyer had stated shortly after his arrest in Italy that the "BOMBS" were not capable of destruction and were in fact only detonators in an inert substrate; as indeed was orginally reported by the BBC in the first hour or two after the events.

Looking at the statements below we can deduce:

a) the "BOMB" substrate, i.e. the primary explosive consisted of:
- Flour
- Hair Lotion
- Nails
- Nuts
- Bolts

b) the "BOMB" featured a battery with wires attached to the detonator substrate.

c) the detonator substrate consisted of TATP, a homemade explosive.

Whilst having no formal qualifications in explosives chemistry or demolitions, my 'scientific intuition' tells me that flour and hair lotion are not suitable for use in bombs as they do not feature any explosive properties at all, ever.

So as was originally reported, briefly by the BBC, these were not bombs as such, merely detonantors embedded in a mix of flour and a tub of Stu-Stu-Studio Line.

The only people who could possibly have been hurt are the "SUICIDE BOMBERS" themselves, and then only if they got caught in the tube doors when they were closing or perhaps gave themselves a papercut when reading the Metro. Maybe if they were wearing flowing robes they could have got caught in the escalator, whichever way - the "bombs" would not have hurt them.

THESE WERE NOT SUICIDE BOMBERS, THEY COULD NEVER HAVE BEEN.

HAMDI ISSAC, JUDGES: WAS INVOLVED IN PREPARATION OF BOMBS

(AGI) - Rome, Italy, Aug.17
Hamdi Issac's support to the setting up of the - failed - London bombings of 21 July was "significant", reports the ruling of the judges panel which authorised today his extradition to the UK. "The arrested - points out the Court - not only attended meetings aimed at planning the event, and was also involved in the preparation of the actual bombs, following Muktar's orders, placing the detonator". Besides, Issac "chose the place and the means of public transport where the explosion was supposed to occur". Regarding the bomb preparation method, the Ethiopian - wrote the judges - said that it consisted in "using plastic containers, putting flour, hair lotion, nails, nuts and bolts and attach everything to a primitive device featuring a battery, which included a powder to act as a detonator once it had been manually attached to some electric wires". Issac has always said the bombs were not made to injur people, but to be a "demonstrative act".

The European arrest warrant, reports the Court, "includes a preliminary appraisal of the bombs found in the four places chosen for the explosions of 21 July, which states that TATP or HMTD explosive material was used for the detonation mechanism. Both these materials are peroxide-based". The requesting judge pointed out that "the contained material has explosive properties. A sample of the white powder found on the detonator of the non-exploded bombs, found in the gardens of Little Wormwood Scrubs, was identified as TATP, which, as HMTD, is often used for bombings, since they are easy to prepare, using widely marketed products". (AGI)

So now you know.

01 September 2005

London 7/7: Number 30 Bus Explosion - Photos & Questions

Update: For detailed and in depth analysis of the events that occurred in London on 7th July 2005, please see the web site of J7: The July 7th Truth Campaign. Please also sign the J7 RELEASE THE EVIDENCE Petition which calls on the British government to release the evidence that will conclusively prove or disprove, beyond reasonable doubt, the official story of what happened on 7/7.

For a full analysis of the simultaneous anti-terror rehearsal drill referred to in this post, the drill that was being conducted by Peter Power and Visor Consultants on 7/7 please see here.
"there could have been had [sic] a power surge which could have had quite catastrophic casualty levels.
We have always been aware of that on the Underground."


Source
: Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone
March 1st 2006 [PDF source]




The mystic, P. D. Ouspensky, wrote that:
"[in] real art nothing is accidental. It is mathematics. Everything in it can be calculated, everything can be known beforehand.

The artist knows and understands what he wants to convey and his work cannot produce one impression on one man and another impression on another, presuming, of course, [they are] people on one level.... At the same time the same work of art will produce different impressions on people of different levels. And people from lower levels will never receive from it what people of higher levels receive.

An eye-witness to the Number 30 bus explosion in Tavistock square is quoted on the BBC web site:
I reached Euston station by Silverlink county at close to 9am, walked to Euston square tube to find police blocking it. So went back to Euston central again to access Euston underground, cops evacuating there too, saying Liverpool St possible explosion. So took no 59 bus to reach Holborn.

As the bus passed a bit after Tavistock square park, we heard an explosion - something like a big bang , sort of muffled inside a metal container.

We looked back from the upper deck - saw a huge metal scrap thing on the road, with a few fumes coming out, someone was on the road trying to pull something out of it.

All of us panicked and hurried to get out of bus, people losing it completely. I am lucky to be writing this. This was the first time I smelt death so near.

Krishnakumar Nair, Wembley, Middlesex [Source: BBC]

Who on earth would want to be pulling something out of, 'a huge metal scrap thing on the road, with a few fumes coming out,' that had apparently just been involved in an explosion?

Here are a few pictures from the BBC web site. See if you can spot the squaddies and organisers 'players' moving about in this sequence of events.

Photo 1



Photo 2



Photo 3




Your starters for ten, confer all you like: The 'players' with pale blue shirts, closely cropped hair and easily identifiable brightly-coloured rucksacks, one of whom is rather busy on the phone (blue rucksack, photos 2 and 3, remaining fairly motionless and not overtly helping anyone), and the other of whom can't wait to get in and coordinate the recovery process (yellow rucksack, photos 2 and 3, running, looking around and not overtly helping anyone). Who are all the people on the top deck seemingly undamaged by a blast that blew the back half of the bus and the roof clean off the bus? Who is the person on the top deck making a phone call despite still being on the top deck of a bus that exploded some moments previously? Oh, and lest we forget, Kingstar-the-controlled -demolition-company van is there in all it's glory too.


While you're examining the photos above wondering quite what a real Hydrogen Peroxide explosion might look like, just such a Hydrogen Peroxide explosion occurred on the M25 only a couple of days ago. It looked a little something like this.


Which doesn't look at all similar to this.



If what happened to the lorry in the real Hydrogen Peroxide explosion photo had happened to the Number 30 bus in Tavistock Square on 7 July, The Antagonist suggests that there probably wouldn't be quite so many people left standing on the top deck, or even alive anywhere in the vicinity, much less standing around up there making phone calls.

Anyone care to hazard a guess at who all the non-uniform folk all over the crime scene of a terrorist attack in London might be?


A major terrorist attack in Central London, the exploded bus has been cleared of survivors and injured but there is still no police cordon to be seen. At the stage of the day this photo would have been taken, the whole world had been alerted to the notion of bombs in London but this, apparently, wasn't sufficient reason for the police to establish a cordon around the area to preserve the integrity of any evidence. Then again, maybe that was the point. Or, maybe, the incident response plans Peter Power penned need some further refinement and revision.

Last, but not least.


Who are these people? None of them look like they have just survived a bomb blast, no debris, no blood, no cuts, nothing. The lady in blue to the top right of the first photo seems to be rather amused by something considering a terrorist attack has just occurred. The Antagonist doesn't recall anyone that survived the incidents on the trains looking quite that amused after their ordeals.

The cluster of people in the lower photo (a close up from the top photo as the eagle-eyed reader will already have noticed) appear to be anxiously looking about for someone or something, particularly the grey-haired man who seems rather more keen than the others as he cranes his neck left to see over the heads of everyone in the first photo and then to the right in the close-up. He looks very concerned about something but he definitely doesn't look like he's just stepped out of a bomb blast. His face is disconcertingly familiar too.


In the words of P.D. Ouspensky:

This is real, objective art.... An objective work of art.... affects the emotional and not only the intellectual side of man.

Precisely.

Lockerbie & Libya - CIA Planted Evidence

Hang on to your hats folks.... remember all that Lockerbie/Libya stuff from a while back? Well it wasn't Libya that did it and all those who said so at the time, and a whole bunch of conspiracy theorists, were right!

THE CIA MANUFACTURED THE EVIDENCE TO IMPLICATE LIBYA

Yes, really! So says a retired senior Scottish police chief who testified that the CIA planted the fragment of circuit board crucial in convicting a Libyan for the 1989 mass murder of 270 people.

Does anyone have the energy to muster even a degree of surprise any more?

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND -- (OfficialWire) -- 08/29/05 -- A retired Scottish "police officer has come forward to provide a signed statement corroborating the belief that vital evidence used to convict Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi for mass murder in 2001 was fabricated.

...

While the identity of the retired officer has not yet been made public, it is known that he was a member of the Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland (ACPOS), and therefore achieved the rank of assistant chief constable at least.

In 2003, a retired CIA officer made a statement to Al-Megrahi's lawyers in which he said evidence against their client had been planted.

It has long been rumored that the key piece of evidence, a fragment of circuit board from a timing device that implicated Libya, had been planted by U.S. agents for political reasons.

In September 2003, the UN Security Council lifted sanctions against Libya, which allowed the release of up to $2.7 billion to the families of the 270 people killed. Libya paid each family $8 million in compensation and was scheduled to pay a further $2 million to each of the victims' families. But because the U.S. State Department refused to remove Libya from a list of states thought to support international terrorism Libyan officials, in April 2005, refused to make the final payment for each family.

Perhaps Libya will now seek to recover the initial $2.1 billion paid since it appears they were fit up for the job. [Baou.com]

Who? What? When? Why? How?

Newly unsealed court papers charge that Tarik A. Hamdi, an Iraqi-born American citizen and a former resident of Herndon, Virginia (a suburb of Washington, DC, and a hotbed of intelligence-connected groups), and a direct and key American contact for Osama bin Laden, is now a member of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry in Ankara, Turkey.
...
Hamdi, former CIA counter-terrorism chief Vince Cannistraro, and Pakistani journalist (and ISI "favorite") Rahimullah Yusufszai were among the few go-betweens with bin Laden who set up interviews with bin Laden for American journalists, such as John Miller (now a Commanding Officer in the Los Angeles Police Department's Counter-Terrorism Bureau). During this period, Cannistraro, Miller and Yusufszai worked for ABC News. Hamdi also had a working relationship with recently deceased ABC anchorman Peter Jennings, who tapped Hamdi as a Middle East expert more than once.

As noted by Chaim Kupferberg, "Cannistraro, a former CIA counterterrorism chief, provided covert aid to the Afghani mujahadeen in the late 80s, as well as supervised CIA operations with the contras.

He was also a point man in the notoriously circumspect investigation at Lockerbie." [OnlineJournal]

Six degrees of separation seem to have been reduced to just three.

The Antagonist wonders what degree of involvement the CIA had in London on 7/7 and during the rest of July. Until we find out, The Antagonist very much hopes that the retired police chief who testified that the CIA planted the Lockerbie evidence isn't partial to walking in the woods.