Inquire into Iraq Detainees

The government has announced that it will not be investigating into what happened to detainees when they handed over to a third party:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2010/07/independent-inquiry-into-treatment-of-detainees/

This is a disgrace and a futile attempt to prevent justice being done...Cameron promised an Inquiry...what are the liberals going to do about preventing this massive cover up

Irrelevant

One is not trashing the raid...bin Laden is acknowledged by most experts as having been an irrelevance for many years now...ask any of the soldiers involved in the original occupation of Afghanistan way back in 2001...the Afghans were pleased to see them...even the Taliban were soon playing football against 'the invaders'...bin Laden was allowed to escape...because there were bigger fish to catch...Iraq...and then we ran with our tails between our legs from Basra...so the military wanted to prove itself...so back to Afghanistan...as part of our redemption...and then...more British blood and treasure spent...and for what...to train the Afghan army to fight...but who will they fight when we have gone...as we soon will...leaving Quizling Karzai...but soon we will at least be able to return all the asylum seekers back to their homelands...only now there will be Libya...and Syria...and Iran

Cricket

this comment gives me no pleasure at all but there are allegations in a Sunday newspaper about betting in cricket. If these allegations about bowling no balls then that to me would be the tip of the iceberg. In the first innings of the current test England were on the ropes, just like we were in the Battle of Britain, our backs against the wall, then miraculously England recovered, with a brilliant ninth wicket stand.

Then come these allegations, everything is tarnished, a dropped catch here, a dropped catch there, a misfield, all of a sudden nothing makes any sense. What people have to understand is that in the betting market you can 'buy' runs. For example, if somebody had bought England for £10 when they were 150-7 then England score 300 then the person who bought England would win £1,500, whereas if England had been all out for 200 then the person would owe £1,000 to the other side of the bet. Now this is big money, because we are not talking £10's here, we are talking serious money.

Now my concern is that yet again Pakistan figure in all this, a Pakistan which is meant to be striggling with terrorism, and don't mention the floods. So, there is something seriously going wrong.

There have been problems with betting previously in cricket, but it does not seem to go away, despite some major efforts, and it is sad when one of the greatest sports in the world is brought into disrepute, and it is sad, so very sad, that it would seem that all is not right.

Take an example, a team might well be involved in a match where the game is affected by rain, so the captains agree a run target, with easy bowling, and artificial targets, one team then 'wins' by declarations, and may take some of the honours, but is it fair on the other teams involved, and if betting is involved, or bonuses for success, then there is trouble.

It is no different in Grand Prix racing, we have seen, and heard, that teams may well have their favourite to win, and the second racer may be 'ordered' to allow the other driver to pass. Now this has happened, and again there are problems, because of betting.

These are sad days for those of us brought up on fair play, all illusions are shattered, it is a sign of the times, nobody would seem to be whiter than white. I have said before, and it still stands to this day, money makes pimps and whores of us all, a harsh comment I know, but we all follow orders at some time or another in our lives, and we have to ask, why?

Retail prices Index

firstly, the government must not pass any legislation, or allow, any company to alter the terms of pensions so that pensions can be linked to the Conumer Prices Index rather than the Retial Prices Index. If they do I will be very angry, and at last other serious commentators have understood what I understood as soon as it was announced. This must be dropped as a proposal, and the change to policy must be announced at the party conferences of the government of national unity, otherwise there will not be very much unity at all.

As for government bonds, which are trading at a premium to their redemption price I don't think that many fully understand the problem. Yes the income is there, the governments will probably not default, but there is a catch. Where a bond is above par, when it is redeemed, then the investor will lose their capital. Consider a bond trading at £115 for every £100 of bond, with an interest rate of 8% on the bond, with a rewdemption date of 2015.

Now then my lucky punters, you buy the bond, a hundred pounds, but it costs a hundred and fifteen pounds. For five years you get eight pounds, less tax of course, and then in 2015, you get from the government a huindred pounds, so you have lost fifteen pounds of your capital, gone, all gone. Furthermore, you can't get any relief from Capital Gains Tax on your 'investment' because gilts are exempt from CGT.

So, yes you have some income, yes your bonds are 'guaranteed' but you try this one and I wonder how long you will stay out of jail, especially with Quantitaive easing, and the effect on inflation, so that even the hundred pounds in five years time is not worth the same as the hundred pounds of bond you bought in the first place.

You have to ask yourself why the government does not link Index Linked Gilts to the CPI, rather than the CPI, maybe because they could see the lawyers just waiting for their days in court.

The government must announce that the changes to allow pension funds to change from RPI to CPI must not go forward. They really must not.

Justice

great interview with General Sir Mike Jackson (Retired) on the Today programme this morning. Surely his position, as well the other Chiefs of Staff, on taking orders to be part of the invasion of Iraq becomes more untenable with every passing disclosure. It is well known that I have a very close family member who is now under a High Court Injunction preventing his freedom of speech.

Now then it is becoming apparent that where he led others have followed in speaking without permission, as an example look at McChrystal and see what has happened to him, and now senior state officials are saying that the military must not give any interviews without permission, and referral of their answers before being printed. In other words censorship.

Now this is how wars are lost, when the truth is suppressed, because it is unpleasant, or is defeatist. Now Jackson must take responsibility for the events surrounding Baha Mousa because from his own words the law is precious, and certainly nobody should be above the law, and the chain of command goes right to the very top.

It is my strong belief that nobody can hide behind the claim that international law is vague on this or that. There was no justification for the war in Iraq, and especially the failure to protect the local population once the war was over.

Do I need to go on and on and on about what I consider to be the illegality of the Iraq situation, well yes I think I do, and one day there will be trials in the International Court, because without the rule of law we are all lost, there can be just wars, there can be but without the rule of law there will be anarchy, because might does not make right, even though some may hide behind their understanding of what they have done, they cannot hide behind I took legal advice and I was following orders. At least one person, on looking into the same laws as the senior officers came down to their view that the war was illegal, and were given an honourable discharge, whilst one would have expected him to be charged and jailed for refusing orders. Some people can live with their consciences, others will eventually wish that they had not followed orders.

There must be trials for the politicians and senior officers, without these trials justice will never be served. There must be justice.

The War

I too am totally amazed at what the public are being sold as being the exit 'strategy'. I mean seriously we have been in Afghanistan since 2001, I mean seriously 2001, and every year it seems to get worse, not better. What concerns me most of all is that no allied troops can trust the soldiers they train, they dare not turn their backs to them when they go on armed patrols.

As for Panthers Claw, it was only after yours truly asked where were the Afghans during the campaign that they were sudeenly mentioned. As for the surge this is the exit strategy, go in kill some people, say we have victory, and now withdraw. We keep hearing of our losses, how many Afghan soldiers or police have died since our general election, how many Afghan civilians, they cannot all be Taliban, have been killed or injured since our general election.

I have still had no satisfactory reference by any of the media as to why there were so few deaths between when the general election was called and when it was held. I don't know Andrew, I get just so angry, and in the meantime Chilcot continues, and surely the media must be taking in all that has come out since Chilcot came back to his hearings, especially after he took his 'evidence' in America. Nobody is picking up the contradictions from evidence given by the likes of Blair, Blair, Straw, and Hoon. I thought that I could begin to wind down, but it seems it is actually getting worse, not better.

I really did hope that somehow my 'job' was done, only it seems not. The economy is a disaster, the environment is a disaster, the war in Iraq was and still is a disaster, the occupation of Afghanistan is totally unsustainable, and Pakistan is in civil war, with India waiting in the wings. The one good thing which can be said is that all the factions in the area of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India continue to live in peace and harmony in our country, and long may that tolerance continue.

McChrystal out of Afghanistan

As we listen to the budget the news from 'the front' in Afghanistan is appalling. The whole way forward was based on the surge under the American General McChrystal. He only went and gave an interview to a magazine and the views he expressed in his interview have led to his recall to explain his comments.

The whole expedition is a massive error, this is and always was going to end in tears, and our soldiers have been killed and injured, and they have killed and injured for what? To keep terror off the streets of our country, or for the careers of the generals and the officers concerned.

It is time that not only were the generals recalled, it is time to bring the boys home. We left Iraq with our tails between our legs, and no amounts of parades, or church ceremonies will alter that. It is the same with Afghanistan, get out now, we can't afford it in so many ways.