We are aware that your service has been cooperating with the British to effect Abu Munthir’s removal to Tripoli’
“Our service has become aware that last weekend LIFG deputy Emir Abu Munthir and his spouse and children were being held in Hong Kong detention for immigration/passport violations. We are also aware that your service has been cooperating with the British to effect Abu Munthir’s removal to Tripoli, and that you had an aircraft available for this purpose in the Maldives.
Our understanding is that the Hong Kong special wing (SW) originally denied permission for your aircraft to land in Hong Kong to enable you to assume control of Abu Munthir and his family. However, we believe that the reason for the refusal was based on international concerns over having a Libyan-registered aircraft land in Hong Kong. Accordingly, if your government were to charter a foreign aircraft from a third country, the Hong Kong government may be able to coordinate with you to render Abu Munthir and his family into your custody.
If payment of a charter aircraft is an issue, our service would be willing to assist financially to help underwrite those costs. Please be advised that if we pursue that option, we must have assurances from your government that Abu Munthir and his family will be treated humanely and that his human rights will be respected; we must receive such assurances prior to any assistance being provided.
For your information, the Hong Kong special administrative region is governed by a variety of legal constraints regarding deportation and custody of aliens. Accordingly, we believe that you will need to provide significant detail on Abu Munthir (eg, his terrorist/criminal acts, why he is wanted, perhaps proof of citizenship). It is also our understanding that Hong Kong officials have insisted that prior to turning Abu Munthir over to your custody, they must receive clear assurances from your government that Abu Munthir and his family will be treated humanely and in accordance with human rights.”
The BBC has had talks with a self-confessed prostitute and drug user who was pictured posing with George Osborne in front of an alleged line of cocaine.
A member of the flagship Panorama investigative team met Natalie Rowe, 47, with a view to making a film about her links with the Chancellor and former Downing Street spin doctor Andy Coulson.
The meeting was part of a new BBC probe into claims about phone hacking on the News of the World when Mr Coulson was editor.
Embarrassing: A young Osborne with Natalie Rowe in 1994 and, next to the yellow vase, the alleged line of cocaine
Ms Rowe, who is said to have specialised in sado-masochism, has had similar discussions with Australian TV station ABC and American magazine Vanity Fair.
The BBC was investigating Mr Osborne’s support for Mr Coulson’s successful bid to become David Cameron’s head of communications after he was forced to quit as News of the World editor over the phone-hacking scandal. Mr Coulson’s paper published a strong denial by Mr Osborne of allegations that he had taken drugs with Ms Rowe.
Subsequently, Mr Osborne was instrumental in persuading Mr Cameron to recruit Mr Coulson as his spin doctor.
Ms Rowe is suing the News of the World after being told by police that her phone was hacked by the paper when claims were made of drug-taking by senior Conservatives. Mr Osborne has been told by police that his phone was also targeted by the News of the World as part of its investigation into his links with Ms Rowe.
Well-placed sources say Ms Rowe, who is represented by media lawyer Mark Lewis, is threatening to make explosive revelations about her former clients in the upper echelons of the Conservative Party.
Mr Osborne was severely embarrassed in 2005 by the publication of a picture of him as a 22 year-old Oxford student, smoking a cigarette with his arm draped around Ms Rowe. According to some claims, cocaine and rolled-up papers, allegedly for snorting the drug, could be seen in the picture taken at a party.
Mr Osborne confirmed he knew Ms Rowe, who ran an agency called Black Beauties supplying prostitutes to clients paying from £350 an hour.
He said he came into contact with her through a friend who had a relationship with her and went on to become a drug addict.
But he strenuously denied that he took cocaine with her, saying the allegations were ‘defamatory and completely untrue’.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘Panorama is continuing to look into the phone-hacking story and we have been pursuing a number of lines of inquiry, of which this was one element. However, there are no immediate plans for a programme.’
A spokesman for Ms Rowe said: ‘She declines to comment.’
About five million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico
US energy services giant Halliburton is suing BP for defamation and negligent misrepresentation over the disastrous 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Halliburton claims BP gave inaccurate information to the US company before it did work lining the well with cement.
An official inquiry found that faulty cementing contributed to the disaster, which killed 11 oil rig workers.
BP said it was aware of the lawsuit and, should it come to court, they would “vigorously contest the claims”.
The amount of damages Halliburton is seeking has not been disclosed.
‘Diverting attention’
Halliburton said in a statement that it has “filed claims against BP in Texas state court for negligent misrepresentation, business disparagement and defamation” related to the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
“Halliburton has learned that BP provided Halliburton inaccurate information about the actual location of hydrocarbon zones in the well.
“The actual location of the hydrocarbon zones is critical information required prior to performing cementing services and is necessary to achieve desired cement placement,” Halliburton said.
“Halliburton remains confident that all the work it performed… was completed in accordance with BP’s specifications for its well construction plan and instructions, and that Halliburton is fully indemnified under the contract,” the company said.
But BP said: “We believe this lawsuit is the latest attempt by Halliburton to divert attention from its role in the Deepwater Horizon tragedy and its failure to meet its responsibilities, and to deflect all blame to BP.
“Investigations published so far have concluded that multiple parties contributed to the incident, including Halliburton.
“We have accepted responsibility for our role in the disaster, and are paying costs and compensation. In contrast Halliburton has refused to take any responsibility or accountability at all.”
Some 4.9 million barrels of oil had gushed out of the runaway underwater well before the leak was capped, causing severe environmental damage in the Gulf of Mexico.
Lady Eliza Manningham-Buller uses BBC lecture to criticise ‘unhelpful’ term, attack Iraq invasion and suggest al-Qaida talks
Richard Norton-Taylor
MI5's former director general Lady Eliza Manningham-Buller during her 2011 BBC Reith lecture. Photograph: Jeff Overs/BBC/PA
Lady Eliza Manningham-Buller, the former head of MI5, delivered a withering attack on the invasion of Iraq, decried the term “war on terror”, and held out the prospect of talks with al-Qaida.
Recording her first BBC Reith lecture on the theme, Securing Freedom, she made clear she believed the UK and US governments had not sufficiently understood the resentment that had been building up among Arab people, which was only compounded by the war against Iraq.
Before an audience which included Theresa May, the home secretary, she also said the 9/11 attacks were “a crime, not an act of war”. “So I never felt it helpful to refer to a war on terror”.
Young Arabs, she said, had no opportunity to choose their own rulers. “For them an external enemy was a unifying way to address some of their frustrations.”They were also united by the plight of Palestinians, a view that the west was exploiting their oil and supporting dictators. “It was wrong to say all terrorists belonged to al-Qaida,” added Manningham-Buller.
Pursuing a theme which some in the audience may have been astounded to hear from a former boss of MI5, she said terrorist campaigns – she mentioned Northern Ireland as an example – could not be solved militarily. She described the invasion of Iraq as a “distraction in the pursuit of al-Qaida”. She added: “Saddam Hussein was a ruthless dictator but neither he nor his regime had anything to do with 9/11.” The invasion, she said, “provided an arena for jihad”, spurring on UK citizens to resort to terror.
September 11 was a “monstrous crime” but it needed a considered response, an appreciation of the causes and roots of terrorism, she said later in answers to questions. She said she hoped there were those – she implied in western governments – who were considering having “talks with al-Qaida”.
Some way must be found of approaching them, she suggested, though she said she did not know how, at the moment, that could be done.
Manningham-Buller, who retired in 2007, attacked the invasion of Iraq in an interview with the Guardian in 2009. However, she has never before expressed such antipathy towards the prevailing policies and rhetoric of the government which she had to endure when she was in office. The lecture is to be broadcast on Radio 4 on 6 September, and entitled Terror.
A fundamentalist Christian who massacred 76 people in Norway had strong feelings against Turkey and Turks.
Bomb and terror suspect Anders Behring Breivik is pictured in a police car leaving the courthouse in Oslo, Norway, 25 July 2011, after the hearing to decide his further detention. Inset image from a manifesto attributed to Anders Behring Breivik (R) shows a Trojan horse decorated with a Turkish flag.
Bomb and terror suspect Anders Behring Breivik is pictured in a police car leaving the courthouse in Oslo, Norway, 25 July 2011, after the hearing to decide his further detention. Inset image from a manifesto attributed to Anders Behring Breivik (R) shows a Trojan horse decorated with a Turkish flag.
A book believed to have been written by Anders Behring Breivik, who admitted to having staged both the bombing of government buildings in Oslo on Friday and later killing dozens of teenagers at a Labor Party youth camp on the island of Utoya, has revealed that the terrorist was an ardent hater of Turkey.
In a 1,500-page manifesto titled “2083: A European Declaration of Independence,” Breivik made hundreds of references to the Ottoman Empire and Turkey, rambling on about hundreds of years of world history, reflecting a revisionist interpretation that sees history only as being a long-running conflict between Muslims and Christians. His manifesto, written in a fashion akin to a journal, also indicates that he has visited Turkey.
Norwegian police initially reported that the assailant killed 93 people but then it reduced the confirmed death toll on Monday to 76.
There are 237 references to Turks and Turkey in the manifesto, but this number does not take into account the many other references to Ottoman history (written mostly focusing on the state of religious minorities) and the Seljuk Empire. He accuses the Ottoman Turks of genocide of various minorities, including the Armenians, the Orthodox Greeks and the Assyrians.
There are lengthy analyses of the Ottoman Tanzimat (Reformation) era, the Declaration of Reforms (Islahat Fermanı) period, the period under Abdülhamid II and the Committee of Union and Process government and its ruling triumvirate — Enver, Talat and Cemal Paşa — as well as the early republican period. After a 40-page analysis of the Ottomans and the early republican era, on page 187, he concludes: “[Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan’s efforts to further re-Islamize Turkey are entirely consistent with a return to Turkey’s Ottoman past as the heartland of an empire established by jihad and governed by the Shariah. Indeed, both the current Erdoğan administration and the regime headed by the overtly pious Muslim [Necmettin] Erbakan a decade ago reflect the advanced state of Islam’s ‘sociopolitical reawakening’ in Turkey since 1950-1960, when the Menderes government, pandering to Muslim religious sentiments for electoral support, re-established the dervish orders and undertook an extensive campaign of mosque construction. Despite Frank Gaffney’s apparent failure to understand this continuum of related historical phenomena, I share his acute concerns. And ultimately, we agree that Turkey’s bid to join the EU should be rejected.”
Sèvres for Turkey
Starting on page 235, Breivik presents a history of the Battle of Vienna from a Christian perspective and again accuses Turks of Islamizing Bosnia and Kosovo. Starting on page 313, he expresses his hostility toward many international organizations, including the EU and the UN. On page 314, Breivik wrote: “The EU is deliberately destroying the cultural traditions of member states by flooding them with immigrants and eradicating native traditions. This is a gross violation of the rights of the indigenous peoples across an entire continent. Europe has some of the richest cultural traditions on the planet. To replace this with Shariah barbarism is a crime against humanity. The European Union is currently the principal (though not the only) motor behind the Islamization of Europe, perhaps the greatest betrayal in this civilization’s history. Appeasement of Islam and Muslims is so deeply immersed into the structural DNA of the EU that the only way to stop the Islamization of the continent is to get rid of the EU. All of it.”
The ‘Atatürk approach’ has already failed
Breivik says on page 723 that the “Atatürk approach” failed to modernize Muslims. “Many moderate cultural conservatives have suggested that banning the Shariah will solve all our problems and force the Muslims to integrate. Unfortunately, Islam is a lot more resilient than most people can comprehend. Any ‘Atatürk approach’ will not solve anything but only delay the inevitable. Turkey became secular after Mustafa Atatürk, by military force, implemented his harsh reforms 90 years ago. The result? The Shariah lay dormant for 70-80 years. As soon as it was practically possible (Turkey had to implement more human rights to appease the EU) the former ‘dormant’ devout Muslims resurfaced and the Islamist alliance won the last election. … The reason why Atatürk failed is because Islam is extremely resilient, in fact more resilient than most people can comprehend.”
Breivik also asserted that the Treaty of Sèvres should be applied to Turkey and equates supporting Turkey’s membership in the EU as supporting a global jihad. He also says Turkey and Albania should be kicked out of NATO. On top of that, he states that Europe should wage war on Turkey to re-Christianize Eastern and Western Anatolia and the northern part of Cyprus.
Iraq posed no threat when Tony Blair led the country into war in 2003, Britain’s former top spy admitted at the weekend.
Former MI5 boss Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller made the comment in an interview with the Radio Times before the broadcast of a series of BBC lectures this week.
It is not the first time that the former MI5 chief has spoken out about the conflict.
In evidence to the Chilcot inquiry in 2010 she said she had warned senior government figures that the war had the potential to increase radicalism at home and abroad.
The invasion of Iraq “undoubtedly” increased the terrorist threat in Britain, she said.
In her most recent interview, she said: “Iraq did not present a threat to the UK.
“The service advised that it [the war] was likely to increase the domestic threat and that it was a distraction from the pursuit of al-Qaida.”
She added that it was “for others to decide” whether the war was a mistake.
“Intelligence isn’t complete without the full picture and the full picture is all about doubt. Otherwise, you go the way of George Bush.”
Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German said: “It may well be that, in advance of Chilcot, which is due to publish its findings in the autumn, various people are distancing themselves from the decision to go to war.
“I’m glad she has said what she has as it is a vindication of the anti-war campaign but the decision to go to war was a failure not just of Blair but the whole Establishment including the security services and Parliament itself.
“There was no serious attempt by any of them to stop Blair. The only attempt came from the streets.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Ms Manningham-Buller defended MI5 against suggestions that it could have prevented the July 7 bombings.
“In intelligence, you can know of someone, without knowing exactly what they are going to do.
“The next time there is an attack, the same could be true – though I hope it won’t be.”
Regarding the likelihood of further bombings in Britain in the future, she said: “I assume there will be. This isn’t a ‘war’ you win in a military sense, and you can’t anticipate everything.”
We are aware that your service has been cooperating with the British to effect Abu Munthir’s removal to Tripoli’
