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UK must pursue war crimes investigations

Monday, May 12th, 2008

Amnesty International UK today expressed disappointment that despite six months of investigation, the United Kingdom authorities have not been able to amass sufficient evidence to determine whether it is possible to mount a successful prosecution of a Sri Lankan commander suspected of torture, hostage taking and war crimes. Vinavaamoorthi Muraliitharan, commonly known as Colonel Karuna, is suspected of abducting hundreds of teenagers to serve as child soldiers, and of having tortured, taken as hostage and killed hundreds of civilians in Sri Lanka.

Colonel Karuna was a prominent leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), an armed opposition group fighting for an independent Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka. He left the LTTE to set up his own splinter group, the Tamileel Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal, or People’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (TMVP), which also has a political wing. Since March 2004, the group appears to have been operating with the support of the Sri Lankan Army to challenge the LTTE in eastern Sri Lanka.

Colonel Karuna was residing in the United Kingdom when he was taken into custody by British authorities in November last year on charges of immigration offences.

According to reports, Colonel Karuna was released from prison and transferred to an immigration detention centre late last night pending possible deportation.

Under international law, the UK must conduct prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigations of allegations of torture, hostage taking and war crimes, including child recruitment and the use of child soldiers.

However, Amnesty International understands that the fact that the UK does have jurisdiction over war crimes and crimes against humanity was not made clear to victims and prospective witnesses.

Kate Allen, Director of Amnesty International UK, said:

‘The police and the Crown Prosecution Service must make every effort to encourage anyone with information about any such crimes to come forward with evidence, by providing them with effective guarantees of their security.

‘Without such assurances witnesses may be reluctant to relay information about alleged crimes that the UK authorities are obliged to investigate.’

Colonel Karuna, like anyone suspected of a criminal offence, is entitled to be presumed innocent, until and unless his guilt can be proved beyond reasonable doubt in a fair trial. However, the organisation is aware of numerous allegations against him that merit thorough investigation.

Amnesty International urges the authorities to investigate thoroughly, promptly, impartially and independently all allegations of crimes committed by Colonel Karuna and his forces including:
· Torture committed after March 2004 when Colonel Karuna is believed to have allied himself with the state armed forces
· Hostage taking committed after 1988, including when he was a member of the LTTE
· War crimes and crimes against humanity including child recruitment.

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Bush Administration Sued for Allowing Use of Pesticides

Monday, May 12th, 2008

By Jo Hartley | Environmental and farm worker groups have now sued the Bush administration for allowing the continued use of four pesticides. They claim that the government brushed aside its own evidence that the chemicals are toxic to workers, children, and animals.

The suit challenged the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2006 decision to reauthorize the four pesticides used on fruit and vegetable fields in California.

A 1996 federal law required the EPA to reassess the safety of all pesticides used on foods. Based on this reassessment, the EPA was to decide whether to approve their use. The EPA found that four substances posed substantial risks to human health but they concluded that the cost savings to growers outweighed the dangers to humans.

These four pesticides reportedly put thousands of farm workers and their families at risk of serious illness.

EPA spokesman Tim Lyons stated that the agency would review the lawsuit and respond in court. However, they did say: “Our mission is to protect the environment and human health.”

California officials have officially classified one of the pesticides (ethoprop) as a carcinogen. The state requires manufacturers to disclose this risk on any product label but cannot outright ban the pesticide because it has the EPA’s approval. The suit said the pesticide, which is mainly used on potatoes, sugarcane, and tobacco, has been linked to fish deaths and has also begun to drift from fields into nearby rural communities.

Another pesticide (methidathion) has been listed as an air contaminant by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation due to the potential health hazards associated with it. This chemical is used on artichokes, oranges, almonds, peaches and olives in California.

The other two pesticides are methamidophos (used mostly on potatoes and cotton) and oxydemeton-methyl (used on broccoli, lettuce, cauliflower, corn, cabbage and Brussels sprouts). The suit stated that both have been associated with bird deaths. Methamidophos has been banned or severely restricted in several countries in recent years. Oxydemeton-methyl is now linked to birth defects.

The basis for the lawsuit is the EPA’s own findings about the risks associated with these four pesticides.

Federal law allows the agency latitude to approve the continued use of risky pesticides such as these based on offsetting benefits. The main benefit preventing the EPA ban of these chemicals is, not surprisingly, cost savings. However, the EPA has failed to address the specific dangers each pesticide poses to children. It has also not taken into adequate account the potential adverse effects on farm workers or to wildlife.

The suit is seeking a court order requiring the agency to re-evaluate once again the use of these pesticides. Plaintiffs in the suit include the United Farm Workers, the Teamsters, Pesticide Action Network North America, Beyond Pesticides and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

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Heckler at the Back

Monday, May 12th, 2008

SchNews | Campaigners in Nottingham have the world’s second largest seller of small-arms, Heckler and Koch, firmly in their sights. One would have thought that a city infamous for its gun crime would be a poor location for a warehouse full of guns. Not according to H&K, who do great business equipping war-mongers on any side.

Proud owners of H&K weaponry include the brutal militias of Darfur – the Janjaweed. Funnily enough, despite the outcry against the massacres in Darfur, they obviously weren’t quite bad enough to stop selling weapons to the perpetrators. Even a recent arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against a senior Sudanese politician accused of selling H&K weapons to the Janjaweed hasn’t seemed to stem the flow of H&K guns to a militia accused by everyone including the US of committing genocide. (H&K guns also fill the arsenals of the US Dept of Homeland Security, US Navy Seals & the FBI amongst others).

H&K have a ‘strategic partnership’ with the world’s largest mercenary company Blackwater (see SchNEWS 572). H&K supply the guns to the Iraqi and Afghan puppet governments, and Blackwater provide the training (perhaps they also supply child-sized targets for their students).

There was a plan for H&K to produce special edition ‘Blackwater’ weapons – complete with the Blackwater logo on them. However, after Blackwater made the headlines for killing 17 innocent Iraqis (not the first time that Blackwater have killed innocent Iraqis, but the first time that it made the news in a major way), the plan was shelved.

Nearly 100 people showed up this Tuesday (6th) to march against H&K at their Nottingham facility, accompanied by large numbers of police who, in the words of one protester were ‘their usual sinister selves’. The FIT Team (See www.fitwatch.blogspot.com) made their (always unwelcome presence) and did what they do best – blatantly intimidate people all day with video cameras; following some people home.

Interestingly, local media also came under pressure; Trent FM, who had shown some enthusiasm about reporting the demo, received a word in their ear from both H&K’s press office as well as the police, warning hacks that it would be ‘irresponsible’ to publish the fact that H&K has a warehouse full of weapons in Nottingham, as it may prompt criminals to try and steal them.

In response the campaigners pointed out to the radio station that H&K’s address was published at Company House, as well as in several business directories. About the radio station being leaned on, the campaigners said that “If the security policy of H&K and Notts police relies on no-one finding out the company’s location, then clearly it is they who are irresponsible, not our campaign and not the media. A large warehouse stocked with high-power assault rifles and submachine guns with inadequate security to prevent a robbery is clearly a significant danger to the public, and publicisng such a danger is very much in the public interest.”

The H&K warehouse, located at Easter Park, Lenton Lane, Nottingham, is next to the ‘Trent Vineyard’, an evangelist church that held the funeral of Danielle Beccan, a 14 year old girl who was killed in a drive-by shooting. At her funeral service the then mayor of Nottingham said, “Guns have no place at all in our community – not in Nottingham, not in my city nor any other city in Britain.”

One campaigner told us “The arms trade relies on secrecy. Most people abhor the idea of factories and warehouse making and selling weapons around the world, and arms companies know this. By lifting the lid on the business, anti-arms protesters can make a put the pressure on the government/corporate killing machine to stop killing for profit.”

* http://nottsantimilitarism.wordpress.com

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Outrage in UK over staff blacklisting database

Monday, May 12th, 2008

By Niall Byrne | Last week the announcement that several UK retailers were collaborating on compiling a database of employees dismissed over suspicion of theft or fraud caused furore amongst the public, trade unions and civil liberties groups. The database is the brainchild of Action Against Business Crime (AABC), the national organisation for Business Crime Reduction Partnerships in the UK, and is due to go live later this month.

Employees who are dismissed for dishonesty or who resign before they can be dismissed will be added to the National Staff Dismissal Register (NSDR), which can be searched by prospective employers when conducing a background check on a job candidate.

Acts that can get an ex-employee put on the register include theft or attempted theft of money, merchandise or property, falsification or forgery of documents, fraud, causing a loss to the company or causing damage to company property.

Controversially, people added to the register will not have had to have been convicted or even charged in court with the alleged acts – the suspicion of the former employer is enough to have somebody included. Critics have suggested a person’s career prospects could be devastated by unproven accusations as a result.

The contentious database appears to have state blessing as AABC is a partnership between the British Retail Consortium and the Home Office.

The UK privacy watchdog Information Commissioners Office (ICO) has no problem with the database, arguing that companies will not be allowed to use an entry on the register as the sole reason to deny a job applicant employment. It also said people must be informed when they are being added to the database and have a right to appeal.

The ICO said it has worked closely with business technology firm Hicom Business Solutions, which is managing the database.

Employers will be able to search for job candidates by name, address, date of birth, national insurance number and previous employer.

The British Trade Unions Congress (TUC) has criticised the database plan.

“While criminal activity in the workplace can never be condoned, the TUC is concerned that this register could lead to people being excluded from the job market by an employer who falsely accuses them of misconduct or sacks them because they bear them a grudge,” commented TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber.

“The Criminal Records Bureau was set up to assist employers to make safe appointments when recruiting staff to work with vulnerable groups and already provides appropriately targeted and effectively regulated protection for employers.”

Paul Kenny, general secretary of GMB, a major union for shop workers, commented: “The fact that the elite who run the companies that run the stores would even contemplate going down this road with the connivance of government shows how far public policy has drifted away from norms of fairness and due process. There will be an enormous kick back against this and as a major union for shop workers GMB will lead the charge.

“There is every scope for people to be stitched up and getting them on a register like this is tantamount to ensuring they’ll never work again,” he added. “Employers faced with employees stealing from them have the same recourse as everybody else to the courts. This lynch mob register should not be used by reputable employers.”

GMB threatened to take action against employers that used the NSDR.

The NSDR is supported by major UK retailers such as Harrods, HMV, Mothercare and Selfridges, as well as human resources company, Reed Managed Services.

AABC said the database is necessary to reduce the £497m sterling it estimates is lost to UK businesses each year due to employee theft and fraud.

Opinions voiced on British online publications and blogs last week overwhelmingly condemned the NSDR. Some commentators have suggested the database could end up with those companies that use it being sued for defamation.

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Blackwater back to Iraq

Monday, May 12th, 2008

Outrage over the killings prompted the Iraqi government to demand Blackwater’s ouster from the country. But after an intense public and private lobbying campaign, Blackwater appears to be back to business as usual.

The State Department has just renewed its contract to provide security for US diplomats in Iraq for at least another year.

Threats by the Iraqi government to strip Western contractors of their immunity from Iraqi law have gone nowhere.

The chief reason for the company’s survival?

State Department officials say they do not believe they have any alternative to Blackwater, which supplies about 800 guards to the department to guard diplomats in Baghdad.

Officials say only three companies in the world currently meet their requirements for protective services in Iraq, and the other two don’t have the capability to take on Blackwater’s role in Baghdad.

The State Department did not even open talks with the other two firms, DynCorp International and Triple Canopy, to see if they could take over from Blackwater after the shooting in September.

We cannot operate without private security firms in Iraq,” said Patrick Kennedy, under secretary of state for management. “If the contractors were removed, we would have to leave Iraq.”

Still, serious legal risks remain for Blackwater and at least some of its current and former personnel.

A federal grand jury continues to consider evidence in the Baghdad shooting.

Although the company is not likely to face any criminal charges, people involved in the case say that some Blackwater guards involved in the shooting are cooperating with the FBI as it pursues evidence against other guards.

Separately, a former Blackwater guard is under criminal investigation for the December 2006 shooting death of an Iraqi guard for the vice president of Iraq, and may soon face federal charges.

In a third case, two former Blackwater personnel have pleaded guilty to weapons-related charges, but earlier this year both received sentences that included no jail time in return for their cooperation with federal prosecutors in a broader investigation.

A committee of the House of Representatives has also asked the Internal Revenue Service to launch an inquiry into whether Blackwater has designated its guards as independent contractors rather than employees to in order to avoid paying and withholding federal taxes.

The State Department renewed the security contract for only one year - just long enough to take the company into the start of the next administration. And Blackwater’s political connections to the Bush administration may not serve it well if the Democrats take the White House in November.

Given the furor that surrounded Blackwater after the September shooting in Baghdad, critics say the decision to renew the company’s contract in Iraq is a sign of the Bush administration’s inability to curb its reliance on outside contractors in the war. –IRNA

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First US aid plane lands in Burma

Monday, May 12th, 2008

BBC News | The first US aid flight to Burma following the devastating cyclone nine days ago has landed in Rangoon after a journey from an air base in Thailand. Permission for the aircraft to land in Rangoon was granted after a week of talks with Burma’s military rulers.

Experts have warned that aid entering the country is vastly inadequate for the scale of the disaster.

They say help has reached less than one third of those in need - and say many thousands of people are still missing.

On Sunday, Burmese TV said the death toll had risen to 28,458, while 33,416 were missing.

Aid agencies, however, estimate that 100,000 have died and warn that this figure could rise to 1.5 million without provision of clean water and sanitation.

Nine days after Cyclone Nargis struck Burma’s low-lying Irrawaddy Delta region, survivors are beginning to gather in makeshift camps around the edges of the disaster zone.

The UN, which has launched a $187m (£96m) appeal for aid, says people urgently need food, water, shelter and medical aid.

Many are said to be dehydrated or suffering from injuries that have not been treated.

Fresh video footage has emerged that shows the extent of the suffering, including the corpses of children lined up in a makeshift morgue.

But there are some signs that Burma’s military leaders may be relaxing their stance on accepting foreign aid.

Firstly, the US plane was given permission to land. It was carrying 12,700kg of supplies including mosquito nets, blankets and water.

And three aircraft from medical relief agency Medecins Sans Frontieres are due in the country later.

A number of other flights arrived over the weekend and some supplies were trucked across the border.

But many foreign experts are still waiting for visas to enter the country and on Sunday, the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) said that the amount of aid getting to victims was “nowhere near the scale required”.

The US military says about 11,000 servicemen and four ships are in the region for an annual military exercise and could be harnessed to help.

But the junta is sticking to its line - foreign aid is acceptable, foreign aid workers are not.

“Aid from any nations [is] accepted, and delivery of relief goods can be handled by local organisations,” said minister for economic development, Soe Tha.

But he admitted in the New Light of Myanmar newspaper that some areas were still cut off.

“Supplies were dropped in flooded areas where the helicopters could not land,” he said.

UK Foreign Minister David Miliband said the military government’s attitude was helping to create a “humanitarian catastrophe of genuinely epic proportions”.

Aid agencies warn of serious logistical hurdles getting supplies to affected areas.

Roads and bridges have been washed away, and heavy rain is forecast for the coming week, further complicating relief efforts.

On Sunday, a Red Cross boat carrying rice and drinking water for 1,000 people in Bogalay town hit a submerged tree and sank.

Michael Annear, the IFRC’s disaster manager in Rangoon, described the sinking as “a big blow”.

The European Union is to hold an emergency meeting on getting aid to Burma on Tuesday - while Asean (The Association of South-East Asian Nations) says it will discuss the issue next Monday.

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Planets by the Dozen

Monday, May 12th, 2008

By Dr. Tony Phillips | You know the planets of our solar system, each a unique world with its own distinctive appearance, size, and chemistry. Mars, with its bitter-cold, rusty red sands; Venus, a fiery world shrouded in thick clouds of sulfuric acid; sideways Uranus and its strange vertical rings. The variety is breathtaking.

Now imagine the variety that must exist in hundreds of solar systems. There may be worlds out there that make Venus seem hospitable and Uranus positively upright. Only 20 years ago, astronomers were unsure whether any such worlds existed beyond our own solar system. Now, they’ve found more than 280 of them, each with its own planetary “personality,” each a fascinating example of what a world can be.

Yet the heyday of planetary discovery is only just beginning. This fall, astronomers will start a massive search for new planets by observing about 11,000 nearby stars over 6 years. This number dwarfs the roughly 3,000 stars that astronomers have searched to date for the presence of planets. Scientists estimate that the NASA-funded project, called MARVELS (Multi-object Apache Point Observatory Radial Velocity Exoplanet Large-area Survey), will find at least 150 new planets—perhaps many more.

“We’re looking in particular for giant planets like Jupiter,” says Jian Ge, principal investigator for MARVELS and an astronomer at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Ge likens big planets to “beacons of a lighthouse” signaling the presence of entire solar systems. “Once we find a big planet around a star, we know that smaller planets could be there, too.”

MARVELS will do much more than just catalogue a few hundred more planets. By surveying the Jupiter-like planets around such a large number of stars, MARVELS aims to give astronomers the data they need to test competing theories for how planetary systems form and evolve.

To look at so many stars, MARVELS will use a telescope that can separately image 60 stars at a time, and this number will eventually be increased to 120 stars. The telescope, which will be housed at the Apache Point Observatory in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico, has a 2.5 meter primary mirror and a wide field of view that covers 7 square degrees of the sky—an area that would appear 35 times larger than the Moon.

An array of 60 fiber-optic threads will carry light from the telescope’s focal plane to highly sensitive interferometers. These instruments can detect tiny changes in the frequency of a star’s light. How does this help find planets? Ge explains: When a star is tugged to and fro by the gravity of an orbiting planet, the star’s light is shifted to and fro in frequency–an effect called the Doppler shift. The powerful gravity of Jupiter-sized planets exerts a big tug on the parent star, making them relatively easy to find using the Doppler shift method.

If Ge and his colleagues see a star’s frequency slowly increasing and decreasing in a repeating cycle over days, weeks, or months, it’s a good bet that a planet is there.

Scientists are keen to learn what kinds of stars have orbiting gas giants. One theory for how these planets form predicts that stars rich in heavy elements such as silicon, oxygen, and nickel should be more likely to have Jupiter-like planets. Imagine a planet-forming disk surrounding such a star: The disk, like the star itself, would be rich in heavy elements. Those heavier elements would form rocky chunks in the disk, and these dense chunks would collide and merge to create a “planet seed” with strong enough gravity to gather gas around itself and grow into a behemoth.

So if MARVELS finds more gas giants around stars containing heavier elements, the survey would support this theory. But some gas giants might not need these heavy elements to form. Another theory suggests that Jupiter-like planets can arise simply because a disturbance in the planet-forming disk starts the gravitational collapse of a region of gas and dust—no seed required.

By examining a large number of stars with a variety of heavy element fractions, MARVELS may be able to distinguish between these two ideas.

Data from MARVELS will also shed light on other questions about planet formation, such as how often the orbits of gas giants migrate closer to their stars, and how planets sometimes end up with highly eccentric orbits instead of the nearly circular orbits predicted by theory. By surveying an unprecedented number of stars, MARVELS could deliver the data scientists need to find patterns about the conditions most favorable for planet creation, knowledge that can guide future, detailed observations of individual stars.

Follow-up observations might eventually use space telescopes powerful enough to make out the rough appearance of those many worlds. The planets we know may only hint at the marvels waiting … out there.

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Spy Chief Presents New Peace Plan

Monday, May 12th, 2008

By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani | Palestinian resistance factions signed on to an Egyptian ceasefire proposal last month aimed at bringing a measure of calm to the hapless Gaza Strip. In a bid to secure Tel Aviv’s endorsement of the plan, intelligence chief Omar Suleiman is expected to travel to Israel later this month.

“The head of intelligence will travel there after upcoming holiday celebrations in Israel,” Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said last week, without providing a specific date. During this week and next, Israel will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its establishment.

Ever since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip last June, the territory has been subject to a series of devastating Israeli military operations, ostensibly launched in retaliation for Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli border towns. Despite having won a majority in 2006 Palestinian legislative elections, Hamas is described by both Washington and Tel Aviv as a “terrorist organisation.”

In April, Egyptian mediators persuaded Palestinian resistance factions to accept a proposal for ‘tahdia’, or “calming” of hostilities, with Israel.

The initiative calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities by both sides. It further calls for the reopening of border crossings into and out of the Gaza Strip, which has been hermetically sealed by a year-long, Israel-enforced embargo.

According to official sources, this would include the contentious Rafah terminal, the sole transit point along Egypt’s 14 km border with the besieged territory.

Under the terms of the proposal, however, the ceasefire would initially apply only to the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip. If the truce holds, it would be extended to the West Bank — governed by the western-backed Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas — after a period of six months.

At a meeting with Suleiman in Cairo in mid-April, Hamas officials gave the initiative their cautious support. While in Cairo days later, Abbas similarly declared Fatah’s official support for the Egyptian proposal.

In the last days of April, a dozen smaller Palestinian resistance groups — after a round of separate meetings with Suleiman — also conditionally signed on to the ceasefire plan.

“The factions clearly see tahdia as within their interests,” Abdelaziz Shadi, professor of political science and coordinator of the Israeli studies programme at Cairo University told IPS. “Palestinian consensus on the issue has bolstered Egypt’s position as mediator.”

Suleiman, a long-time arbitrator in Israeli-Palestinian affairs, is now mandated with pitching the proposal to Tel Aviv. While in Israel, he is expected to hold talks with several top officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Ehud Barak.

The initiative has so far met with little enthusiasm from Israeli officialdom. According to reports in the Hebrew press, security officials insist Egypt eradicate all alleged cross-border arms smuggling and guarantee the release of a kidnapped Israeli soldier before terms of the proposal are even considered.

According to Shadi, Israel believes that its intransigence on the issue “will improve its bargaining position in future final-status negotiations.”

Egyptian ceasefire efforts run alongside on-again off-again peace talks between Olmert and Abbas, launched following last November’s Annapolis summit in the U.S. Having made virtually no headway to date, these negotiations have severely damaged the credibility of both Abbas and the entire U.S.-backed “peace process.”

One Egyptian official recently quoted in the state press noted that Cairo’s mediation efforts “are almost meaningless if not coupled with a change in the situation on the ground in Gaza and some political progress.”

Nevertheless, observers note that Hamas’ stated support for a cessation of hostilities with Israel represents a “historic concession” by the Islamist group.

“Until now, Hamas has eschewed any form of negotiation — direct or indirect –with Israel, the establishment of which it does not recognise,” Hatem al-Buluk, independent journalist and an authority on Israel-Palestine issues, told IPS.

According to Abdel-Halim Kandil, political analyst and former editor-in-chief of independent daily al-Karama, the shift can be attributed to both military and political considerations.

“A ceasefire would allow Hamas to recoup its military strength,” Kandil told IPS. “It would also show the international community that the group is able to pursue negotiations — even if indirectly — with Israel.”

Nevertheless, Kandil is pessimistic as to Suleiman’s chances of success with his Israeli counterparts.

“It will be a tough sell,” he said. “And even if Tel Aviv signs on, the ceasefire won’t last. Israel rarely adheres to ceasefires for more than a week.”

In mid-March, the Israeli military assassinated four Islamic Jihad leaders in the West Bank, breaking a week-long, Egypt-brokered ceasefire. The following day, resistance factions resumed firing short-range rockets into southern Israel.

Successful or not, Kandil noted, Egypt’s ongoing attempts at mediation have underlined Hamas’ central role in the equation.

“All sides now realise that the group cannot simply be isolated and ignored,” explained Kandil. “Either directly or indirectly, they have no choice but to engage Hamas.”

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Soldiers need loans to eat, report reveals

Monday, May 12th, 2008

By Jonathan Owen and Brian Brady | A highly sensitive internal report into the state of the British Army has revealed that many soldiers are living in poverty. Some are so poor that they are unable to eat and are forced to rely on emergency food voucher schemes set up by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Some of Britain’s most senior military figures reacted angrily yesterday to the revelations in the report, criticising the Government’s treatment of its fighting forces.

The disturbing findings outlined in the briefing team report written for Sir Richard Dannatt, the Chief of the General Staff, include an admission that many junior officers are being forced to leave the Army because they simply cannot afford to stay on.

Pressure from an undermanned army is “having a serious impact on retention in infantry battalions”, with nearly half of all soldiers unable to take all their annual leave as they try to cover the gaps.

The analysis, described by General Dannatt as “a comprehensive and accurate portrayal of the views and concerns of the Army at large”, states: “More and more single-income soldiers in the UK are now close to the UK government definition of poverty.” It reveals that “a number of soldiers were not eating properly because they had run out of money by the end of the month”. Commanders are attempting to tackle the problem through “Hungry Soldier” schemes, under which destitute soldiers are given loans to enable them to eat.

The scheme symbolises a change from the tradition of soldiers getting three square meals a day for free. Now hard-up soldiers have to fill out a form which entitles them to a voucher. The cost is deducted from their future wages, adding to the problems of soldiers on low pay.

The controversial Pay as You Dine (PAYD) regime, which requires soldiers not on active duty to pay for their meals, has seen commanding officers inundated with complaints from soldiers unhappy at the quality of food that they get and the amount of paperwork involved.

Senior officers warn in the report that “there is a duty of care issue” and add that the “core meal” provided to soldiers on duty “is often not the healthy option”. The confusion of which soldiers even qualify for free meals while on duty is revealed in the admission that “in some areas the soldier has to pay and then claim back and in others the duty meal is included in the contract”.

General Dannatt has vowed to take action. He said, “I am determined that PAYD must be made to work to both the financial and physical well-being of those who are fed.”

Despite numerous assurances by the Government to look after wounded soldiers, the report warns of deep resentment over a cap on the amount of compensation that wounded soldiers receive. It outlines the “deep frustration” at the inadequate amount being spent on accommodation.

The level of accidental deaths also comes under fire. “Ten potentially avoidable accident fatalities in operational theatres in one year [2007] is not acceptable,” said General Dannatt.

He added: “I am concerned at the comments from the chain of command, some elements of which clearly believe that they will lose influence over their soldiers and that this will impact on unit cohesion.” He also described improvements to equipment as being of “little use” because there is not enough for soldiers to be trained in using it until they are deployed.

Army chiefs and politicians claimed the document proved the Government was failing to meet its responsibilities towards Britain’s servicemen and women, laid out in the Military Covenant. They say it is a damning indictment of an army that is losing its edge and close to breaking point as it struggles to keep pace with fighting a war on two fronts.

Patrick Mercer, a Tory MP and former army colonel, said the report reinforced widespread anxieties over conditions for the troops and that many top-ranking officers are breaking ranks to express their fears. “I’ve been talking to some very senior officers recently, all of whom privately have said to me that the Army is running on empty; the money has run out,” Mr Mercer said. “The manpower situation is in crisis, and the so-called Military Covenant is abused at every turn. The thing that really worries them is the manpower situation and the fact that the MoD seems to be in denial about it.”

Colonel Bob Stewart, a former commander of British forces in Bosnia, said the Army was struggling with overstretch and undermanning. He added: “It’s inevitable that the British Army is actually woefully imbalanced … badly equipped, particularly for training, and quite honestly I’m afraid to say it is losing its edge as a top-rate army in the world because it cannot maintain it.”

Major General Julian Thompson, who led 3 Commando Brigade in the Falklands war, said: “There are certain ministers that may be very honest and care and want things done, but the problem is whether they are being given support from the very top, and I sense that they are not. We all know where the money comes from, the Treasury and the Prime Minister.”

Major General Patrick Cordingley, who led the Desert Rats into Iraq during the first Gulf War, said the report raised serious questions about the Army’s ability to meet its commitments. He said: “I would be very concerned about the strain on the armed forces remaining at this level of deployment in both Afghanistan and Iraq. It cannot be sustained for longer than perhaps another two years.”

An MoD spokesman yesterday tried to gloss over the report, which was based on months of interviews with thousands of soldiers and their families between July 2007 and January 2008. He attempted to play down the degree of poverty among soldiers, many of whom earn £16,000 a year, and added: “Briefing team reports contain the unedited views of individual soldiers, some of which reflect widespread opinion, while others are isolated views. The reports are published widely and the feedback given by lower ranks in the Army helps CGS to stay firmly in touch with life across the Army.”

But there is a growing dissent being expressed on military websites. Pay remains a major issue for both soldiers and officers. One describes the pay as “appalling, disgusting and pathetic”.

Douglas Young of the British Armed Forces Federation said: “People are leaving the armed forces for financial reasons. There’s no question about that.”

Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Nick Harvey said, “Junior ranks in the armed forces have terrible salaries when you compare them to people starting out in the police service or fire service. How on earth are you supposed to recruit and retain people unless you offer a decent salary?”

To read the full report, click here

The IoS Military Covenant campaign

Our aims

We want soldiers to have the right to expect any war to be lawful, to have adequate resources, the right to be properly cared for in the event of injury, and the right to know that, in the event of their death, their families will be properly looked after.

The Covenant

“Soldiers will be called upon to make personal sacrifices – including the ultimate sacrifice – in the service of the nation … In return, British soldiers must always be able to expect fair treatment, to be valued and respected as individuals.

“The chain of command, from the Government downwards, is responsible for articulating and sustaining the morality and justice of the cause in question … Only on this basis of absolute confidence in the justice and morality of the cause can British soldiers be expected to be prepared to give their lives…”

What the big guns say…

Colonel Bob Stewart, former UN commander, Bosnia: “The British Army is imbalanced and is losing its edge as a top-rate army in the world”

Maj-Gen Patrick Cordingley, Commander, first Gulf War: “It saddens me how little the junior ranks are paid when you consider what they are asked to do”

Lord Bramall, former chief of defence staff: “Each year they strive to put a quart set of requirements into a pint pot of funding”

Colonel Clive Fairweather: Former SAS deputy commander: “I really do think the Army is heading for the rocks and I don’t say this lightly”

Have Your Say: Soldiers need loans to eat, report reveals
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The Prosecution of George W. Bush

Monday, May 12th, 2008

By Vincent Bugliosi | There is direct evidence that President George W. Bush did not honorably lead this nation, but deliberately misled it into a war he wanted. Bush and his administration knowingly lied to Congress and to the American public — lies that have cost the lives of more than 4,000 young American soldiers and close to $1 trillion.

A Monumental Lie

In his first nationally televised address on the Iraqi crisis on October 7, 2002, six days after receiving the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), a classified CIA report, President Bush told millions of Americans the exact opposite of what the CIA was telling him -a monumental lie to the nation and the world.

On the evening of October 7, 2002, the very latest CIA intelligence was that Hussein was not an imminent threat to the U.S. This same information was delivered to the Bush administration as early as October 1, 2002, in the NIE, including input from the CIA and 15 other U.S. intelligence agencies. In addition, CIA director George Tenet briefed Bush in the Oval Office on the morning of October 7th.

According to the October 1, 2002 NIE, “Baghdad for now appears to be drawing a line short of conducting terrorist attacks with conventional or CBW [chemical and biological warfare] against the United States, fearing that exposure of Iraqi involvement would provide Washington a stronger case for making war.” The report concluded that Hussein was not planning to use any weapons of mass destruction; further, Hussein would only use weapons of mass destruction he was believed to have if he were first attacked, that is, he would only use them in self-defense.

Preparing its declassified version of the NIE for Congress, which became known as the White Paper, the Bush administration edited the classified NIE document in ways that significantly changed its inference and meaning, making the threat seem imminent and ominous.

In the original NIE report, members of the U.S. intelligence community vigorously disagreed with the CIA’s bloated and inaccurate conclusions. All such opposing commentary was eliminated from the declassified White Paper prepared for Congress and the American people.

The Manning Memo

On January 31, 2003, Bush met in the Oval Office with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. In a memo summarizing the meeting discussion, Blair’s chief foreign policy advisor David Manning wrote that Bush and Blair expressed their doubts that any chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons would ever be found in Iraq, and that there was tension between Bush and Blair over finding some justification for the war that would be acceptable to other nations. Bush was so worried about the failure of the UN inspectors to find hard evidence against Hussein that he talked about three possible ways, Manning wrote, to “provoke a confrontation” with Hussein. One way, Bush said, was to fly “U2 reconnaissance aircraft with fighter cover over Iraq, [falsely] painted in UN colors. If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach” of UN resolutions and that would justify war. Bush was calculating to create a war, not prevent one.

Denying Blix’s Findings

Hans Blix, the United Nation’s chief weapons inspector in Iraq, in his March 7, 2003, address to the UN Security Council, said that as of that date, less than 3 weeks before Bush invaded Iraq, that Iraq had capitulated to all demands for professional, no-notice weapons inspections all over Iraq and agreed to increased aerial surveillance by the U.S. over the “no-fly” zones. Iraq had directed the UN inspectors to sites where illicit weapons had been destroyed and had begun to demolish its Al Samoud 2 missiles, as requested by the UN. Blix added that “no evidence of proscribed activities have so far been found” by his inspectors and “no underground facilities for chemical or biological production or storage were found so far.” He said that for his inspectors to absolutely confirm that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) “will not take years, nor weeks, but months.”

Mohamed ElBaradei, the chief UN nuclear inspector in Iraq and director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the UN Security Council that, “we have to date found no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapon program in Iraq.”

The UN inspectors were making substantial progress and Hussein was giving them unlimited access. Why was Bush in such an incredible rush to go to war?

Hussein Disarms, so Bush … Goes to War

When it became clear that the whole purpose of Bush’s prewar campaign — to get Hussein to disarm — was being (or already had been) met, Bush and his people came up with a demand they had never once made before — that Hussein resign and leave Iraq. On March 17, 2003, Bush said in a speech to the nation that, “Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours. Their refusal to do so will result in military conflict.” Military conflict — the lives of thousands of young Americans on the line — because Bush trumped up a new line in the sand?

The Niger Allegation

One of the most notorious instances of the Bush administration using thoroughly discredited information to frighten the American public was the 16 words in Bush’s January 28, 2003 State of the Union speech: “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” The Niger allegation was false, and the Bush administration knew it was false.

Joseph C. Wilson IV, the former ambassador to Iraq, was sent to Niger by the CIA in February 2002 to investigate a supposed memo that documented the sale of uranium yellowcake (a form of lightly processed ore) to Iraq by Niger in the late 1990s. Wilson reported back to the CIA that it was “highly doubtful” such a transaction had ever taken place.

On March 7, 2003, Mohamed ElBaradei told the UN Security Council that “based on thorough analysis” his agency concluded that the “documents which formed the basis for the report of recent uranium transactions between Iraq and Niger are in fact not authentic.” Indeed, author Craig Unger uncovered at least 14 instances prior to the 2003 State of the Union address in which analysts at the CIA, the State Department, or other government agencies that had examined the Niger documents “raised serious doubts about their legitimacy — only to be rebuffed by Bush administration officials who wanted to use them.”

On October 5 and 6, 2002, the CIA sent memos to the National Security Council, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, and to the White House Situation Room stating that the Niger information was no good.

On January 24, 2003, four days before the president’s State of the Union address, the CIA’s National Intelligence Council, which oversees all federal agencies that deal with intelligence, sent a memo to the White House stating that “the Niger story is baseless and should be laid to rest.”

The 9/11 Lie

The Bush administration put undue pressure on U.S. intelligence agencies to provide it with conclusions that would help them in their quest for war. Bush’s former counterterrorism chief, Richard Clarke, said that on September 12, 2001, one day after 9/11, “The President in a very intimidating way left us — me and my staff — with the clear indication that he wanted us to come back with the word that there was an Iraqi hand behind 9/11.”

Bush said on October 7, 2002, “We know that Iraq and the Al Qaeda terrorist network share a common enemy — the United States of America. We know that Iraq and Al Qaeda have had high level contacts that go back a decade,” and that “Iraq has trained Al Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gasses.” Of Hussein, he said on November 1, 2002, “We know he’s got ties with Al Qaeda.”

Even after Bush admitted on September 17, 2003, that he had “no evidence” that Saddam Hussein was involved with 9/11, he audaciously continued, in the months and years that followed, to clearly suggest, without stating it outright, that Hussein was involved in 9/11.

On March 20, 2006, Bush said, “I was very careful never to say that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack on America.”

Vincent Bugliosi received his law degree in 1964. In his career at the L.A. County District Attorney’s office, he successfully prosecuted 105 out of 106 felony jury trials, including 21 murder convictions without a single loss. His most famous trial, the Charles Manson case, became the basis of his classic, Helter Skelter, the biggest selling true-crime book in publishing history. The Prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder is available May 27.

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The Lucrative Art of War

Monday, May 12th, 2008

New York Times | Congress is finally moving to shut one of the more egregious forms of Iraq war profiteering: defense contractors using offshore shell companies to avoid paying their fair share of payroll taxes. The practice is widespread and Congressional investigators have been dispatched to one of the prime tax refuges, the Cayman Islands, to seek a firsthand estimate of how much the Treasury is being shorted.

No one will be surprised to hear that one of the suspected prime offenders is KBR, the Texas-based defense contractor, formerly a part of the Halliburton conglomerate allied with Vice President Dick Cheney. According to a report in The Boston Globe, KBR, which has landed billions in Iraq contracts, has used two Cayman shell companies to avoid paying hundreds of millions in payroll, Medicare and unemployment taxes.

Unfortunately right now there is nothing illegal about this. The House has approved legislation to plug the dodge by treating foreign subsidiaries of defense contractors as what they are — American employers required to pay taxes. The Senate must quickly follow suit and not buy the contractors’ line that listing American workers at offshore companies is a cost saving passed on patriotically to the war effort. No less insulting, the Cayman dodge has been blocking Americans from the protection of labor and anti-discrimination laws.

The House has taken on another shamefully common abuse: voting to deny future government contracts to any company that fails to pay its corporate taxes, including an estimated 25,000 defense contractors keeping billions due the Treasury. The Senate should approve that legislation as well.

Companies enriched by taxpayers in the war boom should not be able to compound their profits by not paying their fair share of taxes. Congress must do far more to bring them to a full accounting.

Have Your Say: The Lucrative Art of War
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