The land of the Magna Carta doesn't fuck around with state secrets.
I find this particularly disturbing: "The document's contents were considered so explosive that much of the trial was held behind closed doors."
news.sky.com/skynews/art...4876,00.html
Duo Found Guilty Over Leaked Iraq Memo
Updated: 15:58, Wednesday May 09, 2007
A civil servant and an MP's researcher have been found guilty of breaching the Official Secrets Act.
They leaked an "extremely sensitive" memo about talks on Iraq between Tony Blair and President Bush.
Keogh (L) and O'Connor
Keogh (L) and O'Connor
Cabinet Office communications officer David Keogh passed the four-page document to Leo O'Connor, a researcher for anti-war Labour MP Anthony Clarke.
Keogh was found guilty on two charges and O'Connor on one.
The jury heard Keogh, 50, believed the memo exposed President Bush as a "madman".
He hoped it could be used to raise questions in the House of Commons.
He also wanted it to be passed on to US presidential candidate John Kerry.
O'Connor placed the memo in Mr Clarke's constituency papers and the MP handed it in to Downing Street.
An investigation was launched, leading to an Old Bailey trial.
The researcher told the jury he left the memo for his boss so that he would return it to the appropriate authorities.
Keogh, O'Connor and Mr Clarke had all been members of a now-defunct political dining club in Northampton, where they all lived.
The document's contents were considered so explosive that much of the trial was held behind closed doors.
I find this particularly disturbing: "The document's contents were considered so explosive that much of the trial was held behind closed doors."
news.sky.com/skynews/art...4876,00.html
Duo Found Guilty Over Leaked Iraq Memo
Updated: 15:58, Wednesday May 09, 2007
A civil servant and an MP's researcher have been found guilty of breaching the Official Secrets Act.
They leaked an "extremely sensitive" memo about talks on Iraq between Tony Blair and President Bush.
Keogh (L) and O'Connor
Keogh (L) and O'Connor
Cabinet Office communications officer David Keogh passed the four-page document to Leo O'Connor, a researcher for anti-war Labour MP Anthony Clarke.
Keogh was found guilty on two charges and O'Connor on one.
The jury heard Keogh, 50, believed the memo exposed President Bush as a "madman".
He hoped it could be used to raise questions in the House of Commons.
He also wanted it to be passed on to US presidential candidate John Kerry.
O'Connor placed the memo in Mr Clarke's constituency papers and the MP handed it in to Downing Street.
An investigation was launched, leading to an Old Bailey trial.
The researcher told the jury he left the memo for his boss so that he would return it to the appropriate authorities.
Keogh, O'Connor and Mr Clarke had all been members of a now-defunct political dining club in Northampton, where they all lived.
The document's contents were considered so explosive that much of the trial was held behind closed doors.
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Re: whistle blowers jailed in UK
Mon, May 14, 2007 - 10:50 AMSomehow I missed this, but the memo documented Bush suggesting that the US bomb Al Jazeera's offices in Qatar.
www.harpers.org/archive/20...eera-bombed
British Court Proceedings Establish Bush Threatened to Bomb Al Jazeera
BY Scott Horton
PUBLISHED April 19, 2007
The British Government began an Official Secrets Act prosecution today against two public servants for leaking a secret minute of discussions held between Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bush on April 16, 2004. In the course of the discussion, Bush complained bitterly about Iraq war coverage by the Al Jazeera network and suggested that the Al Jazeera international broadcast headquarters in Qatar be bombed in order to silence its coverage of the Iraq war. Blair patiently explained why such an act would be counterproductive, starting with the fact that Qatar was an allied state, that its ruler was a part owner and that allied involvement in such an operation would be difficult to disguise.
British Attorney General Lord Goldsmith blocked publication of the memo in the United Kingdom by threatening to prosecute any newspaper that printed it, though the Daily Mirror and several other publications reproduced the essence of the memorandum, as did publications in the United States.
At or about the time of the proposal that Bush put to Blair, Al Jazeera was the victim of a series of brutal attacks:
* its offices in Afghanistan were bombed by the U.S. in 2001;
* a Basra hotel occupied by Al Jazeera journalists was shelled by the U.S. in 2003;
* Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Ayoub was killed, also in 2003;
* numerous Al Jazeera reporters were imprisoned by U.S. forces in Iraq, and one was deported to and is now held in Guantánamo; many of these reporters have stated that they were tortured and abused while in captivity.
In April 2004, in the two weeks prior to the Bush-Blair summit, Al Jazeera provided live coverage of U.S. military operations in the town of Falluja. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld sharply attacked Al Jazeera the day before the Bush-Blair meeting, characterizing the reporting on Al Jazeera as "vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable . . . It's disgraceful what that station is doing."
Another journalist who provided direct, front-line coverage of the assault on Falluja was Associated Press photojournalist Bilal Hussein, who received the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage in 2004. Bilal Hussein was seized by U.S. Forces a year ago and remains in U.S. custody today without any charges.
By bringing the prosecution, the British Government confirms the accuracy of the prior reports about the meeting. The memorandum will itself be entered into evidence and shown to the jury. While the White House has suggested that Bush's remarks may have been made in jest, the surrounding facts—particularly the Rumsfeld statement—effectively eliminate this possibility, and make clear that he was actively seeking to enlist the British government in acts of violence against a news organization.
