Scottish Socialist Voice
Issue 310
9th August 2007
—front page—
Time for peace
For 62 years the spectre of nuclear
annihilation has hung over the people of the world.
Since that first bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima
on 6 August 1945, these abhorrent Weapons of Mass Destruction
have been stock piled so high by successive governments here
and abroad, that there are now enough to destroy the world over
and over again.
One UK Trident missile alone is seven times stronger than the
And the
The American nuclear bandwagon is also on the role again with
their son of Star Wars defence system - a system that could
re-ignite a Cold War between themselves and
Prime Minister Brown and President Bush tell us that nuclear
weapons are purely for defence and to keep the peace - while
they send more troops to
They warn countries like
The warmongering of the likes of Brown and Bush has the capability
of push the human race to the
We must, for the sake of peace, and the future, rid ourselves
of these destroyers of worlds, before they lead us down the
road of total destruction.
—page two—
Brown looks to quick election... while McConnell looks as if he’s out the door
by Ken Ferguson
Speculation on a possible
Press leaks suggest that what has been rather distastefully
labelled a ‘shock and awe’ media blitz aimed at consolidating
the opinion poll lead generated by Brown’s premiership should
be rapidly followed by a snap general election.
Certainly the blitz part is well in hand with Brown busily
making high profile announcements, which while low in real
substance, appear to break sharply with Blair.
Super casinos are axed; English 24 hour drinking on hold
and Cannabis classification is to be ‘re-examined’.
The latter is supported by a parade of cabinet ministers
all confessing to puffing in their reckless youth and all
saying it was only once and they didn’t like it.
Alongside this we are assured that the dope they smoked
was entirely different from today’s stuff, which is much
more powerful and thus very dangerous.
All these announcements share a common feature.
All are aimed at one market - the Daily Mail readers of
middle
Clearly the Brown conjuring trick is to create the illusion
that things have changed, while concealing the reality that
he is probably more right wing than Blair.
Bolstered by a dose of ‘son of the manse’ rhetoric, New
Brown is being sold to a public tired of Blairism.
However, as always, it’s on
No amount of media froth about how he wore a suit and not
jeans when he met George W can conceal the central fact
that Brown is every bit as spineless in crawling to the
bloodstained Bush as was his former boss.
Sure it’s all dressed up in fancy talk about shared visions,
common democratic heritage, peace and freedom and Winston
Churchill.
But in
Against such a background the temptation to call an election
before he is found out must be disturbing Gordon’s sleep
just a bit.
One factor which Brown is likely to be more aware of than
Blair is the situation in
Anyone looking at the once mighty Labour Party ejected from
office in May’s Holyrood election cannot but be struck by
the dazed and disbelieving aura surrounding the former governing
party.
On issue after issue all they have to offer is sour criticism.
Into this depressing stew we now have the added ingredient
of a possible leadership election to replace the hapless
‘greatest small leader’ Jack McConnell.
Faced with a buoyant SNP making predictions of big gains
in a
Their central problem is that if the number of MSPs available
is depleted the pool of serious contenders looks positively
parched.
So far the key names in play are Wendy Alexander - described
by one former Labour minister as an ‘intellectual giant’
- and former Health Minister Andy Kerr, whose rejected policies
played a key role in the Labour defeat.
The best that can be said of both is that they are closely
associated with the three New Labour led regimes just ditched
by the voters.
If Ms Alexander could never be accused of having the common
touch she has at least avoided the rather thuggish profile
of Kerr.
It seems likely that, as usual,
Out on the road with the ‘real’ Edinburgh Festival
“The People’s Festival is local, varied,
and goes to places other festivals wouldn’t dream of going.”
So says bestselling crime writer Ian Rankin, whose support
for the event is so strong, he has even given permission
for extracts from the final, as yet unpublished, Rebus to
be read for the first time in public.
People’s Festival spokesman Colin Fox welcomed this ringing
endorsement of a programme he believes has something for
everyone.
The festival kicks off on Sunday with a Rebus walking tour,
led by
On Tuesday, the festival moves inside, literally, to Saughton
Prison, with comedian Raymond Mearns and the Lynsey Dolan
Band providing the entertainment.
Wednesday sees a public debate on whether
Debaters include Richard Demarco, Mark Ballard and, schedule
permitting, actress Elaine C Smith.
“This,” notes Colin, “will be the first public forum in
The debate opens at 7.45pm in the ‘Out of the Blue’ Arts
Centre in
On Thursday, for just two quid, you can catch four top comics,
courtesy of The Stand Comedy Club, at the BMC Club in Gorgie
- with A L Kennedy, Vladimir McTavish, Mrs Barbara Nice
and Francesca Martinez.
Finally, on Friday, catch the world premiere of Marilyn
Painted Pictures, a unique new drama about Marilyn Munroe
by award winning local playwright Celia Grainger.
Curtain up at 7pm in Dalkeith Arts Centre.
n For all listings, see www.edinburghpeoplesfestival.org, or contact Colin on 0131 666 1792 or 07790581883
Bosses happy with their lot
Researchers from
Experts did not reveal to what extent this was related to
pay levels, but with the exception of hairdressers, who
were second, the rest of the top ten happiest were senior
managers.
Of the less exalted jobs, journalists and media professionals
were in 50th position, legal professions at 44, with teaching
climbing the popularity league from 54th in 1999 to 11th
now.
Survey expert Professor Michael Rose said:
“Individual job satisfaction is made up of a range of factors
including material rewards, such as pay and conditions of
employment, and symbolic rewards, such as prestige.”
Clearly we need a further survey.
—page three—
UNIONISTS PREPARE ANTI
REFERENDUM BARRAGE TO GREET
The wounded and confused pro-British
forces in Scottish politics are preparing a barrage of fear and
confusion on the eve of the Scottish Executive’s publication of
a white paper on independence.
Ignore the bluster and predictions of an easy unionist victory
in any independence referendum - the Brits are fearful and apprehensive
as to the result of such a referendum.
New Labour is still smarting from its May defeat, confused about
what tone to strike following their disastrous fear campaign in
the recent election.
Their main concern is when to ditch Jack McConnell, who to install
in his place and how to make sure, if you are a New Labour MSP,
that you finish on the wining side.
If media reports are to be believed then there is growing support
on the union jack clad Tory benches for a referendum in order
to register a no vote, but whether such an approach would survive
a Cameron defeat - which now looks at least possible - is another
story.
Would a further
Perhaps most shameful of all has been the stance struck by the
Liberal so-called Democrats, who despite their title don’t support
giving voters a say on independence in a referendum.
So far the SNP Executive has played a canny hand on the issue
and Salmond has stressed that he wants a ‘conversation’ with the
Scottish people on the question.
The danger for the unionists is that votes for a Holyrood manifesto
on party lines could be significantly different from a referendum
and it is this fear that lies behind the smokescreen of bluster
they will put up to oppose the proposal of trusting the people
in a referendum.
The multi-million dollar Starbucks
corporation which makes its commitment to ‘corporate social responsibility’
a central part of its image is facing a challenge on claims that
it is involved in systematic anti-union activity.
The charges include video surveillance tracking the every move
of union members, non-stop anti-union propaganda, threats, bribes,
interrogations, and discriminatory disciplinary actions and sackings.
Activists from the IWW union - better know as the Wobblies - tell
of problems with poverty pay, repetitive strain injury, irregular
shifts and low staffing levels.
What makes the case interesting is that Starbucks are portrayed
as key supporters of the liberal management approach which is
seen as contrasting with more hard-faced firms such a WalMart.
The fact that they are facing the union challenge must pose questions
for the idea that there are naughty and nice capitalists.
The case puts corporate social responsibility itself on trial
with implications for society as well as workers and activists
in particular.
Joe Agins Jr, who was sacked almost two years ago from his Starbucks
barista job in
Starbucks will have to defend charges of unlawful sackings as
well as spying and harassment claims.
Remarkably Starbucks have already faced very similar charges from
a Labor Board complaint last year, which they opted to settle
outside the court.
The settlement involved ending bans on union badges and papers
in the workplace and the reinstatement of two sacked baristas.
This time, the company has not settled and has pledged to defend
itself vigorously.
However this is welcomed by union members who say it will provide
an opportunity to put the spotlight on the company’s anti-union
activity denting its caring image.
The firm’s union-busting drive kicked off when Starbucks Chairman
Howard Schultz sent a company-wide message, within days of the
founding of the union saying how disappointed he was that workers
would choose to organise.
For Starbucks workers the reality falls far short of the carefully
polished corporate caring image.
Staff have to try and live on a poverty wage of around $7 or $8
per hour with wage increases limited to a few cents, if anything.
Starbucks has no full-time baristas.
All are part-time and are not guaranteed a set number of work
hours per week leaving workers at the mercy of fluctuations in
income and changes in their work schedule.
Despite loud boasts about its health care plan, Starbuck’s own
data reveal that it insures a lower percentage of employees than
WalMart.
Union activists are confident that the case will not only highlight
Starbuck’s anti-union policies but will also indicate the narrow
limits of ‘corporate social responsibility’.
The bottom line, say the activists, remains the bottom line -
and no matter how pretty the wrapping - the corporate aim remains
to maximise profit first last and all the time.
Sun, Sounds and Squirrels
Having a boring summer? Working
yourself to death in a mind-numbing, underpaid job? At a loose
end while you’re off school, college or uni? Then why not join
SSY for a weekend of thought provoking discussion, film screenings,
partying and quality banter?
We’ll be camping out in deepest darkest Lanarkshire (the location
is kept secret, contact us if you want to know more!) from the
evening of Friday 10 August to the morning of Monday 13 August.
During the day we’ll be having workshops on a wide range of topics,
including football; wages for housework; climate change and renewable
energy; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender liberation; independence
and socialism in the
Don’t fancy spending the whole day in workshops? We’ll also be
showing a variety of films, including Grass and Land and Freedom,
getting hands-on lessons in graffiti and silkscreening t-shirts,
learning practical first aid for demos and a whole host of other
stuff. And if all that quality fare just overwhelms you, there’s
always a big roaring camp fire to sit and relax by any time you
feel like it.
As well as all that, we’ll be having a party every night of the
camp until late with a diverse range of music to suit everyone’s
tastes. We’ve also managed to snag ourselves fantastic professional
folks like Loki from Glasgow and DJ Jack Archer of Lovebug, Discopia
and Argonaut Sounds, so some quality nights are guaranteed!
All this for just £25 for the weekend, including all your meals!
Transport to and from the campsite will be provided. So what are
you waiting for? If you want to come to
Alternatively you can register on our forums and tell us you’re
interested there!
n Update: Add CSS on MySpace! Our username is, of course, campsecretsquirrel.
Another Voice Graduation
Roz Paterson’s passionate, humorous
and beautifully readable writing style had an immediate impact
on the quality of the Scottish Socialist Voice when she began
working as part of the editorial staff.
Already an accomplished, respected writer, Roz’s experience and
talent could have been intimidating when she joined our merry
band of novice journalists.
But instead she’s been more than generous with her knowledge,
as well as biscuits, and never seemed to tire of answering stupid
questions about hyphens.
As deputy editor and a friend she’s been a rock in troubled times,
and when there were hard decisions to be made she was brave, and
gave those around her courage too.
She is an incredible writer, with a wealth of knowledge and a
barrel full of ideas, and a powerful grasp on how to get across
the pain of life as we know it and the infinite possibilities
that this socialist newspaper fights for.
There have been times when subbing her copy has been difficult,
not because it had numerous mistakes - no chance of that - but
because she’d provoked a wee bit of greeting in the hard-nosed
Voice newsroom.
Sadly, Roz has had to leave her post at the Voice this summer
because of childcare problems, and is taking some time out to
look after her wee girl, Thea, full-time.
There will be sighs of relief all round to hear that she’ll still
be a regular contributor, not least from those still working here.
Cos working with her words is an honour and a pleasure.
Championees
It may be hard to believe but
After a thrilling 9-3 victory over
Congratulations to the team and all who were involved with the
Scottish squad.
—page four—
Floods, Tides and Climate Change
by Roz Paterson
It was predicted to
be a long, hot summer, with water shortages and failed
food crops, and you know what? It was.
It was higher global temperatures that brought us
such freak events as two months’ worth of rain in
24 hours, normally placid rivers sweeping through
picture postcard towns like a God-sent torrent in
a luridly illustrated Bible, fields upon fields of
potatoes left to rot in the sodden earth while livestock
drowned or were sold off for peanuts because their
owners could no longer afford to feed them.
There were no hosepipe bans, only whole towns left
without drinkable water for days on end.
No burnt grass, just swathes of land swamped by filthy
water.
No heat, and no light at the end of the tunnel for
the tens of thousands left homeless, their insurance
claims stacking up while the industry scrabbles to
stem its lost profits, their lives on hold, their
homes stinking like rotten eggs as sewage-tainted
water seeps into the plaster and flooring, their futures
suddenly uncertain.
The waters are receding, but even by 1 August, NASA
recorded an image of Gloucester showing the Severn
still bloated way beyond its banks and floodwater
covering the land to the north of the city ‘like a
dark shadow’.
Water was not restored until a day later, and even
then, it was undrinkable, suitable only for showers
and washing clothes.
So how did it happen?
Partly it was down to the El Nino/El Nina cycle, the
latter being the one at work this year, causing a
lowering of surface temperatures along the equator
in the Pacific which, in turn, pushed the Jetstream
south.
The Jetstream - not to be
confused with the Gulfstream,
which keeps us warm despite our northern latitude
- is a harbinger of cold, wet conditions, driving
depressions eastwards. Most years, its trajectory
is way north of us, sweeping Scandanavia
and
But it’s not all down to this global wind cycle.
A study, conducted by a number of eminent climate
change research bodies, including the Hadley Centre
of the UK Met Office, and published in this month’s
Nature magazine, provides evidence pointing to a link
between human activity, in the form of man-made greenhouse
gas emissions, and recent weather events, particularly
in the mid-latitudes of the Northern hemisphere.
Dr Peter Stott, who contributed to the study and who
specialises in detecting ‘human fingerprints’ on weather
patterns, discovered that the temperature in central
England, the epicentre of this year’s flooding, has
risen a full degree centigrade in just 40 years.
He concluded thus having run a series of computer
models - by far the most accurate method for climate
change prediction - of local climate. Some ran with
minimal levels of greenhouse gas emissions, others
with optimum levels.
The outcomes showed that those with optimum levels
most closely matched the recent deluge pattern.
Just in case you’re wondering - higher temperatures
cause more rain in the Northern hemisphere by producing
more water vapour in the atmosphere. And while we
have certainly had hot, dry summers recently - notably
in 2003 and 2005 - we have also been inundated with
floods. Remember Boscastle?
The Nature report cannot, however, actually prove
a link between greenhouse gases and the summer’s rain
and this will ensure it is ignored, or at least underplayed.
Like tobacco and lung cancer, hard data linking the
two may only come when it is already too late for
millions of us and meantime, governments and corporations
will do business as usual.
Who won’t do business as usual are the insurers, who
will struggle to get re-insurance if they provide
coverage in future to those who’ve been flooded out
this time, and therefore
could be again.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) estimate the cost to them as between £1.5billion and £3billion.
It warns that premiums will rise for houses at risk
of flooding, with no insurance available at all where
no measures have been taken to build viable flood
defences.
Talking of which, the government - the same one that
is currently wringing its hands over drowned villages
and promising ‘new money’ (much of which is recycled
from previous budget slashes) to tackle flooding -
was warned, in two separate reports, two years ago,
of the inadequacy of its flood contingency plans.
That it has ‘not ruled out’ the building on floodplains
of many of its promised 3million new homes by 2020
only goes to show just how ‘business as usual’ this
government intends to be in the face of other people’s
nightmares.
The ABI is deeply concerned that ‘affordable homes’
are to be built, in great number, at Thames Gateway
for instance, a 40 mile stretch to the east of the
city, much of which is floodplain.
Around half of people on low incomes, those ostensibly
targetted by the ‘affordable
homes’ policy, are uninsured. If they then live on
a floodplain, and are flooded, they are ruined
Says Helen Clark, ABI’s
policy advisor, speaking at a recent Rising Flood
Risk conference in
And finally...as climate
change advances, and rain events increase across our
latitude, even low flood risk sites will become vulnerable
to flooding within 100 years.
—page five—
Letters
SSP should camp it up!
The SSP women’s network held a brilliant weekend camping
trip last week by the sea near
There was no organised political discussion, but with ten socialist
women gathered round a campfire, conversation did touch on the
future of the SSP. One thing we agreed is that more similar
social events would help feed the lifeblood of the party.
Cycling and hill walking clubs used to play a big part in the
labour and communist movements, which apart from getting the
predominantly city-dwelling activists out into the countryside
for some healthier air, gave them space away from the pressure
of meetings, campaigns and everyday life to think and talk.
And you can’t underestimate the bonding effect of taking some
time out to have a laugh together.
The SSP isn’t building a religious cult, so I don’t mean we
need to fill our members’ lives with socialist socials to keep
them away from the non-believers, but I do think we need to
consider social events as part of our regular programme of events
because it’s good for the health of the organisation.
This is yet another area where we can learn from SSY, whose
Jo Harvie,
Glasgow
Conference on future
left
Ken Ferguson’s article ‘Let’s take the SSP forward’
(Voice issue 309) struck an encouraging note with his appeal
to develop a broad left agenda to respond to the new SNP administration
and a new ‘new Labour’ government.
The Scottish Left Review magazine had planned such an event
- a one day conference - to start this process for the end of
June this year.
Unfortunately, we had to cancel it given that the SNP had its
first national gathering after the election on that same day.
We cancelled the event because we wanted to have some of the
left of the SNP like Bill Wilson MSP come to the event.
Nonetheless, we will be holding the rescheduled event now after
the end of the summer. The event is called ‘Where Now for the
Left? Developing a Left Agenda for the Next Two Years’ and will
cover the following areas; Public Finance (PFI, Tax Raising
powers); Human Rights (Corporate Homicide, Dungavel); Peace
and War (Trident, Arms Diversification); Environment (Renewables,
Transport, Oil Transfers) and Arts/Culture/Media.
The left as a whole needs to reflect on how best we cooperate
to achieve a common agenda in this changed political terrain.
The conference is designed to allow representatives of parties,
groups, trade unions and currents within these to identify the
key issues where change is both necessary and achievable as
a result of campaigning and pressure both within and outside
parliament.
The workshops will be key to the success of the conference and
key campaigners will be invited to lead off the discussions
on the issues and demands which we can unite around.
So while there will be two plenaries, most of the day will be
taken up with workshops so that we have practical outcomes to
work on rather than hot air and grandstanding.
I will write to the Voice again when we have settled on the
date for this and encourage all Voice readers to come to the
conference.
Gregor Gall,
Scottish Left Review editorial board,
Edinburgh
Build under democracy’s
banner
I was inspired to read Ken and Lindsay’s articles about
the new direction needed for the SSP (issue 309). It’s encouraging
to hear people taking a pro active response to a difficult situation.
I personally feel this is a golden opportunity for the SSP to
redirect itself and broaden its base.
It seems to me that if we want to defeat an enemy we have to
find its weakness and I think its weakness is blindingly obvious.
Surely instead of directing our ideology and name in opposition
to capitalism (an ideology which has a varied interpretation
in the public’s minds) we should be fighting for democracy first
and foremost.
In fact I personally think that’s the only thing we should fight
for. Let me explain myself. It’s the Achilles heel of the present
order because we are constantly told we already have it.
If we can expose the undemocratic nature of this system we could
draw together vast numbers of people from all different walks
of life (greens, trade unionists, community groups, the social
movements, charities, aid organisations, etc) for a democracy
movement.
I believe in the principles of socialism but I think the term
is foggy, outdated and directionless. It means so many different
things to so many different people, it scares a lot of people
away and warps our own thoughts on what we are fighting for.
I realise that asking people to drop a name like Socialism is
a bit much for many dedicated socialists but think of the possibilities
of marching under a democracy banner; it’s a term everyone understands
and says they support, as such the base would be broad and any
power that stood in opposition to it would have a lot of justifying
to do.
If our arguments were in anyway coherent it would not be difficult
to expose the powers that be for what they really are. This
new movement is already happening but is divided and directionless
and I think it needs an intelligent deep thinking core which
would be where the experience of the SSP’s members would come
in. This would be necessary to ensure all the issues are understood
and to stop the movement becoming a democracy-wash and forgetting
that everyone, especially the people at the bottom, have the
right to have their say.
If you think about it (as I’m sure many have) everything the
party argues for is a question of democracy; how can a citizen
take part in the political process if they don’t even get the
basic means to live? How can they learn in school the tools
to take part if they can’t concentrate due to lack nutrition?
What right do people have to pollute the commonly owned environment?
Surely we all get a say in what happens to that? What right
did an elected leader of a country on the edge of Europe have
to decide the fate of the people of
Can I suggest that we don’t start with the old arguments about
corporations having all the control, we can get onto that and
the question of what should be publicly-owned further down the
road when it’s more obvious to people that these unelected powers
are standing in the movement’s way.
Instead let’s start with the political process, the unelected,
illegitimate nature of the United Nations, the unelected nature
of the EU, the top down nature of the
The debate needs to be had on this if it’s not being had already
(I wouldn’t know since I’m working abroad). And can I suggest
as a starting point George Monbiot’s brilliant book The Age
of Consent - he articulates the arguments far better then I
ever could.
Alan Redman,
—centre pages—
The real weapons of mass destruction
6 August marked the anniversary of
the first use of a nuclear bomb. In 1945 the
There is always a danger that anniversaries can be routine events,
marked but not really understood.
The horrors of blood and filth of, say, the Somme are a universe away
from comfortable peace time
This process, partly caused by the simple passage of time, is also
used by those in power to invest different events with different value.
Thus the horror of 9/11 with some 3,000 dead is an act of terrorism
of which we are endlessly reminded.
It is also used to justify brutal military interventions, civilian
deaths and hyped spending on war.
In contrast, the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 62 years
ago which killed 80,000 in Hiroshima in a matter of seconds and thousands
more by nuclear illness - is largely ignored or in some cases actually
justified.
Yet both 9/11 and the Japanese nuclear bombings have striking similarities.
Both were planned and carried out in the full knowledge that their
purpose was mass killing and both were justified by those involved
as necessary to advance their cause.
Those who carried out the 9/11 atrocity back up their quasi-religious
reasoning by pointing to the very real violence and misery perpetrated
by imperialism across the planet, much of it in countries dominated
by Islam.
And when the
The standard case advanced about the
Rather like Al Queda today, the imperial Japanese forces were portrayed
as ‘no surrender’ fanatics capable of inflicting massive casualties
on the
They even had their own suicide bombers, the Kamikaze pilots.
Having established the point that the Japanese were fanatical and
‘different’, it was a short step to unleashing the unimaginable horror
of nuclear incineration on civilians in both cities.
Despite the constant 62-year refrain justifying the bombings as saving
countless
General Dwight D Eisenhower was the supreme commander of the D Day
landings and the Western drive to destroy Nazism, who went on to have
his finger on the nuclear button as
He was not a peacenik.
Yet General Eisenhower rejected the central case of those wanting
to drop the bombs on
Writing in his memoirs, Eisenhower describes being told about the
plan to use the bombs in his HQ in newly liberated
“Secretary of War Stimson, visiting my headquarters in
“Upon giving me the news of the successful bomb test in
“I voiced to him my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief
that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely
unnecessary, and secondly because I thought that our country should
avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment
was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American
lives.
“It was my belief that
Nor was Eisenhower alone in this view with a clutch of
Most surprisingly perhaps an account by Walter Brown, assistant
His army general, Douglas Macarthur, and his naval chief of staff,
Admiral William Leahy, told President Truman that there was no military
need to use the bomb.
Why then was it done?
Historical research in Soviet, US and Japanese archives now confirms
the long held view that the nuclear terror bombings was more to do
with the infant Cold War with the USSR than saving US lives.
With the Hitler war over the
The same Red Army had already inflicted defeat on Japanese forces
during 1940.
This view, long dismissed by Western experts, was set out by Mark
Selden, a historian from
Work in diplomatic archives, including those available in the former
What is not in doubt is that the
And they opened the Pandora’s box of nuclear weapons, which haunts
the world to this day.
Making money from misery
by John McAllion
The Visit Scotland website describes
Helensburgh on Scotland’s west coast as the ideal base to tour this
beautiful part of the country, recommending that the visitor follow
the Clyde Sea Lochs Trail to the picturesque Highland village of Arrochar
and on to Garelochead and the drama of the ‘changing landscapes’ that
dominate the skyline above Loch Long.
However, it fails to mention, that if you do follow this advice, you
will also encounter the high walls, barbed wire and chain link fencing
that protect the Royal Navy Clyde Submarine Base at Faslane and the
Armaments Depot at Coulport, both home to the Trident Weapons System,
Britain’s own favoured weapon system of mass destruction.
Faslane and Coulport lie within the constituency of Dumbarton represented
in the Scottish Parliament by New Labour’s Jackie Baillie, who claimed
during the debate over Trident renewal that “11,000 P45s would be
issued to hard-working people in my area and to thousands more throughout
Scotland” if Trident is not renewed.
Ms Baillie believes that these jobs and thousands of other defence
jobs in
Naturally, when given the opportunity to support the historic motion
opposed to the renewal of Trident passed by the Scottish Parliament
on 14 June, Ms Baillie declined to do so - along with the vast majority
of her New Labour colleagues.
Increasingly, New Labour in Scotland have become obsessed with the
spectre of Scottish independence and try to frighten voters with a
mix of dire warnings over the economic consequences of ‘separation’
and terrible threats over the loss of the economic benefits of the
300 year union - the so called ‘Union dividend’.
The recent MOD order for two new 65,000 tonne aircraft carriers worth
almost £4billion - the biggest warships ever built in
As the announcement was made, New Labour MP Ian Davidson took to the
airwaves proclaiming that this job bonanza was thanks to the ‘Union
dividend’. An independent
Nicola Sturgeon, depute leader of the SNP and constituency MSP for
the Govan workers on the Clyde, vainly tried to argue that
Yet neither the Nationalists nor New Labour paused to question the
nature of the contracts that the Scottish yards and its workers are
now tied into. The two new Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers
will replace the ageing Invincible class of carriers and their flagship
HMS Ark Royal. The main operational role of these Invincible class
carriers has been to conduct air operations against land targets and
to direct and coordinate from the sea assaults on ‘hostile’ territory.
Under the codename ‘Operation Telic’, Ark Royal acted as the flagship
for the British Force contribution to the illegal invasion of
News reports from that time describe the impact of those attacks on
the innocent people of
In March/April 2003
n Up to 250 Iraqi civilians have been
killed and 207 wounded during the massive British and US bombing blitz
on
n Thirty-three civilians, including children, have been killed and
310 wounded in a US-British coalition bombing on the southern
n Red Cross doctors who visited
It can be argued that the massacre
of these innocents is as much a part of the ‘Union dividend’ as are
the British defence jobs scattered across
Shipyard workers, of course, have no say or influence over the nature
of the contracts secured by their multinational employers. Under capitalism,
they have no choice other than selling their labour in the market
place to survive. They play no part in and are innocent of the political
imperialism at the heart of the British state.
But this is not the case with those Scottish politicians who try to
sell
While applauding the jobs in Faslane and Coulport, they are in denial
over the continuing deployment and potential use of Trident against
innocent people in the global South.
They know that Britain will continue to militarily support US aggression
to secure the markets and resources for the global form of market
capitalism both hold in common (the new HMS Queen Elisabeth and HMS
Prince of Wales are scheduled for active service 10-12 years from
now).
They cheer the Royal Navy’s “capability... to deliver increased strategic
effect and influence around the world” while turning a blind eye to
the inevitable murder of the innocents this will involve.
They know
They are the guilty ones.
Peace covenant aims to build Scottish opposition to nuclear weapons
The tactic of asking people to sign
a declaration or Covenant pledging support for an important principle
has a long history in
The 17th Century Covenanters expressed their demand for the right
to worship in their own way in defiance of state repression.
The result was years of repression and a clutch of martyrs whose lonely
graves and memorial dot
In the mid 20th century, in the aftermath of World War 2, over 1million
signed the Scottish Covenant in support of the establishment of Scottish
Home Rule on the model of today’s Scottish parliament.
Harnessing this tradition, this weekend sees the launch of a Covenant
for Peace by a coalition of organisations including the STUC, Iona
Community, Catholic Peace and Justice Centre, UNISON, Scottish CND
and the Campaign Against the Arms Trade.
Gathered under the umbrella of
The appeal comes on the anniversary 62 years ago of the twin terror
bombings on
But if broad swathes of
Their main response to the growing danger posed by nuclear weapons
is to warn sagely that scrapping the British terror weapons will cost
jobs.
This from the same people who simply ring their hands and chant about
‘market forces’ as tens of thousands of jobs in manufacturing are
outsourced, scrapped or shipped overseas.
But a recent report sponsored by the STUC blows a gaping hole in the
Labour claim that 11,000 jobs would go if Trident were not renewed.
Instead of bankrolling bombs the report highlights the opportunities
that would flow from converting war spending to peaceful production
in fields like renewable energy.
Such a path would open up new prospects for jobs and skills which
would help save the planet rather than destroy it but since it might
take the ‘great’ out of Britain New Labour’s militarists can be expected
to fight it tooth and nail.
n Peace Covenant details :www.scotland4.org/wistonhtm
—page eight—
A life as a class fighter
OBITUARY
Ron Brown
1938-2007
by Colin Fox, SSP National Convenor
Ron Brown
was that rare breed - a trade’s union
militant, who became a Labour MP [
Unlike many others who sat on those green
Labour benches Ron wasn’t seduced by ‘the
Born in West Pilton on the eve of World
War 2, the son of a taxi driver, Ron was
a product of that
For 13 years at
Ron found the antiquated procedures at
But Ron was, as he saw it, reflecting
the anger of millions over the viciousness
and inequity of the poll tax. He followed
the advice of a predecessor Labour MP,
George Lansbury, who argued that “it is
better to break the law than break the
poor”. Ron was propelled to the front
of the anti-Poll Tax movement in
On one occasion he was arrested for telling
Mrs Thatcher, on one of her rare trips
North of the Border, that she was ‘not
welcome here’. He surely spoke for the
nation as never before.
Ron Brown was a principled socialist activist,
not a career politician - and there is
a world of difference between the two.
He was not afraid to confront the political
orthodoxy of the time. He was a first
class spokesman for the anti-Poll Tax
movement and played no small part in its
ultimate victory.
Although he was never far from
Ron believed passionately that the families
who lost loved ones at Lockerbie have
been betrayed by a grotesque miscarriage
of justice, where those who carried out
the atrocity have been allowed to go free
and a man who had nothing to do with the
bombing fitted up for the crime.
Ron’s wicked sense of humour shone through
when dealing with the allegations that
he was a spy for
As much as he liked a laugh he was deadly
serious about the need to change the way
the world was run. Indeed my fondest memory
of Ron captures both sides of him. We
were among a group of anti-Poll Tax activists
gathered in Mayfield,
Ron had hoped, forlornly as it transpired,
he could appeal to their class sensibilities
and get them to turn around and go home,
but alas the National Union of Sheriff
Officers (if there was such a thing) did
not count these two likely lads among
its membership. With Ron’s assistance
we then resorted to more traditional methods
of sending them ‘homewards to think again’,
but you couldn’t help but admire his optimism!
The hope Ron had in some causes was not
blindly applied across the board. He saw
Blairism for the deceit that it was and
faced up to the pessimistic conclusions
that had to be drawn after 1995. The abandonment
of socialist ideas by New Labour meant
a difficult reality had to be faced. Labour
was no longer a party of socialist values
and, after nearly 100 years, no place
for socialists. A new party of the left
had to be built and Ron threw himself
into the task with gusto.
Together with around 500 others Ron established
the Scottish Socialist Alliance. The left
in
The Scottish Socialist Party emerged and
Ron was one of its founding members. He
was an SSP member until his death.
Last year when the SSP was dragged through
the hell of Tommy Sheridan’s libel action
I found Ron to be a tower of strength.
He had been through many such ‘trials’
before. Quickly realising there was not
an ounce of sense in Tommy Sheridan’s
legal action, or his subsequent split
from the SSP, Ron dismissed the many invitations
he received to join Solidarity.
He believed
Ron Brown was an active socialist for
nearly 50 years. He was a member of the
engineering union throughout and latterly
President of Edinburgh Trades Union Council.
He sat on the Edinburgh May Day Committee.
He was a stalwart in hundreds of campaigns,
demonstrations, protest marches, pickets
and rallies throughout the city. Indeed
it is hard to accept that we will not
see him again on the posties picket lines,
or the Meadowbank stadium protest, peace
marches or anti-war activities.
Ron’s wife May [nee Smart] died in 1995.
Ron leaves his partner June Hutton, two
sons Alan and Gavin, and six grandchildren.
The conscript who fought against imperialism
OBITUARY
Ian (John) Finlayson
by Allan Armstrong
Ian (John)
Finlayson died on 5 July after a long
illness. Ian was from a Sutherland background
but lived in
As a young conscript, Ian served in the
British Army at the time of Indian independence,
an experience which contributed to his
strong opposition to imperial rule.
He later became a dairyman in Wigtonshire,
before moving back to
He helped to unionise his workplace and
became a national office bearer and delegate
to the TUC.
Ian was also active in his local community
council.
I have known Ian for 25 years. For most
of this long time, Ian was a member of
the Labour Party. We had many arguments
in the local pub. Ian, however, could
no longer stomach the political course
adopted by New Labour.
After Blair sided with Bush, in launching
the illegal war against
Whether it was in the Southside Community
Centre, after Saturday stalls, or Droothy
Neebors, after branch meetings, Ian, a
life-long bachelor, enjoyed discussions
with SSP members.
Ian, profoundly secular in his beliefs,
nevertheless brought a strong moral conviction
to his politics.
He was deeply shocked by Tommy Sheridan’s
behaviour in the courts and in the pages
of the Daily Record and resigned from
the party.
However, Ian was impressed by the way
Colin Fox handled a difficult situation,
and rejoined the SSP after the split.
Ian was particularly inspired by a number
of writers, including Noam Chomsky, John
Pilger, Robert Fisk and Paul Foot.
Whilst there were many issues, which greatly
concerned him, Ian was a particularly
strong advocate for the Palestinian people
in the face of an Israeli state, backed
by US and British imperialism.
Ian will be missed by his fellow SSP members.
—page nine—
cultural resistance
Taking Liberties with Liberty
Taking liberties by Chris Atkins, Sarah Bee
and Fiona Button
Revolver Books £7.99
by Dick Barbour-Might
Consider the following: “What is remarkable
- in fact almost a historical phenomenon - is the harm [Blair’s]
government has done to the unwritten British constitution
in nine years, without anyone noticing.”
Writing, publishing, reading these words is a simple matter
of free speech. For what else is free speech if we are not
free to criticise the government?
But supposing you sit down opposite Downing Street and that
you read an article containing the words just cited and
appearing in the (eminently respectable) Independent newspaper
under the title “Reading this article can get you
arrested.” So what happens? Well, you are not actually
arrested but you are closely questioned by the police.
And maybe you are not altogether surprised since a friend
of yours had also fallen foul of the police a few days earlier
and for a very similar reason. He had been standing outside
Downing Street carrying a placard with a quotation from
George Orwell’s 1984: “In a time of universal
deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
Handcuffed
The friend had been handcuffed and taken away in
a police car. Searching his possessions, the police had
found three copies of an article published in the (eminently
respectable) American journal Vanity Fair entitled “Blair’s
Big Brother Britain” and which also contained the
same words cited above that later reappeared in the Independent
article. The police told the friend that the items constituted
“politically motivated material” and that they
would be used in evidence against him.
The contrarian who authored the articles was Henry Porter,
a novelist and newspaper columnist who contributes frequently
to the (eminently respectable) Observer newspaper. And,
fittingly, it is this same Henry Porter who has written
the foreword to Taking Liberties, the book that was published
on the very cusp of Blair’s departure from office.
As Porter writes: “I happen to believe that it is
right to regard every government of whatever political complexion
with extreme wariness. But after ten years of New Labour,
my suspicion has been replaced by fear.” And he goes
on. “As this excellent book demonstrates on every
page, all of us - whatever claims of innocence we make -
have much to fear from a government that has shown such
contempt for our liberty.”
After their ten years in power, with over 3000 new crimes
on the statute book, note some of the things that New Labour
can already do. They can:
n imprison you for peaceful protest
n demand to know every last detail about your private life
n have you tracked 24 hours a day
n place you under house arrest without any charge
n have you extradited to America without evidence of any
crime
n facilitate your torture overseas
As the authors of Taking Liberties observe,
no subsequent government is ever willingly going to give
up these draconian powers. They will only do so if their
hands are forced. In a book, light and witty in tone but
with the evidence carefully set down, Chris Atkins, Sarah
Bee and Fiona Button indict New Labour under six headings:
free speech and the right to protest; surveillance, privacy
and identity; detention without trial; respect; extradition;
and torture.
Threaded through the book, especially in the chapter on
free speech, is the war in Iraq and Blair’s rage and
fear against those who dared expose his crimes. When in
February 2003 millions marched against the war in London,
Glasgow and other cities throughout the world, Blair dismissed
the protest out of hand. But the protests stung and they
continued.
SOCPA
In April 2005 a supine Westminster Parliament passed
a new law, the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA).
Amongst other things the new Act empowered the police to
arrest for any offence, not just - as previously - for any
arrestable (ie, more serious) alleged offence.
And, under the Terrorism Act, a House of Lords ruling has
established that the police do not need a good reason to
stop and search you under Section 44. They can just do this
because they feel like it.
Notoriously, SOCPA was directed at one individual in particular.
This was the ex-merchant seaman Bran Haws, who took up residence
on the grass in Parliament Square on 2 June 2001 to protest
at the punitive sanctions then being directed against the
Iraqi population.
When Iraq was invaded Brian continued his protest but already
he had been subjected to a very personal offensive against
him conducted by Westminster City Council and by the police.
In June 2003 the police stood by and watched as an American
working at the US Embassy attacked Brian, breaking his nose.
Brian went to hospital where he collapsed.
And so it continued until SOCPA came into force in August
2005. Under Section 132 of the Act there could be no unauthorised
demonstrations within a roughly one-kilometre zone around
Parliament. But the High Court ruled that Brian - the man
against whom Section 132 had been targeted - was exempt,
because his protest had started before the Act came into
force. But the vendetta has continued, as when 78 police
officers in riot gear trashed Brian’s display at 3am
one morning, allowing him to retain a one metre by three
metres space.
Other people have fallen foul of Section 132, notably the
vegan cook from Hastings, Maya Evans, who with her friend
Milan Rai read out the names of some of the British war
dead at the Cenotaph in Whitehall. For this they were arrested
and charged, found guilty and refused to pay (a spell in
prison may be their lot).
One of the other protests in Parliament Square (there have
been quite a few) was so mild mannered that it entailed
taking tea and cakes. One of the cakes was topped by the
word PEACE in icing. The ever present and ever vigilant
police decided that this was a political word and threatened
to arrest the organiser.
Stasi
The threat is so broad that it takes all of this
300-page book to itemise the various incursions by the government
against our civil liberties. One of the most sinister, because
largely covert, is the spread of surveillance. An estimated
20 per cent of the world’s surveillance cameras are
in Britain; ID cards are on the way; and the rapid expansion
in databases provides the state with the potential to know
virtually everything about us. This is just what the East
German Stasi secret police aspired to and indeed achieved,
with a massive system of files and informers. The new technologies
make this sort of project very much easier. And the business
interests are eager to play their part: since 1997 New Labour
has spent over £70billion on management consultants
and new IT systems.
And so it goes.
Torture
Did you know that the Home Office sought to use
evidence before the courts that plainly had been extracted
under torture? Their argument was repudiated by the law
lords: “the principles of the common law...compel
the exclusion of third-party torture evidence as unreliable,
unfair, offensive to ordinary standards of humanity and
decency”.
Yet the Foreign Office regards it as admissible that “intelligence”
extracted under torture in foreign police states should
be used in operations conducted under Blair’s and
Bush’s vile concoction, ‘the war on terror’.
And poor wretched human beings have been (and possibly still
are being) transported by the CIA through our air space
on their way to be tortured in ‘black sites’
and Middle Eastern torture cells in the process known as
extraordinary rendition.
Read this book - and not just for its substantive chapters
including (the most frightening of all) the one on the facilitation
of torture. But there is a final chapter, entitled ‘What
next?’ Here the authors appeal to us, the readers,
to join with them and with all those other ordinary people
who are defying the politicians who would take away our
liberties in the name of an illusory ‘security’.
There are suggestions on what you can do and notes on and
contact details for relevant organisations. And go to the
excellent website www.noliberties.com - this has more information
and contains a clip from the film of the same title that
was released a few weeks ago.
The Wild Brunch
Keef Tomkinson
Keef casts his eye across life’s more leisurely pursuits in order to put a wee bit of CULTure into our lives.
We are under siege. Reputable literature such
as the Daily Express confirms that Islamic hordes plan to
destroy our values, our society.
It gets worse. Their Brian Blessed beards are being dropped
in favour of the calming appearance of Dr Quinn Medicine
Woman. Holby City has become Al Sadr City.
In these times of fear and uncertainty we need heroes.
As Dr Dipshit and Professor Dense were trying to slaughter
families and workers at Glasgow Airport, two men stepped
up. Baggage handler John Smeaton and cabbie Alex McIlveen
both showed what it takes.
To quote Alex, “I kicked [the] burning terrorist so
hard in [his] balls that I tore tendon in my foot.”
But is that enough?
I say no!! I say, stand aside John, rest your foot Alex.
There are men and women out there doing more to stop terror
than any citizen. They are in our homes each day and will
not rest until every last one of us is safe from ourselves.
Some can be found on TV aiding Jeremy Kyle in his sermons,
but that is not their best battleground. It’s on the
radio and on media message boards where their power is utmost.
From Radio Scotland to BBC Radio Fivelive, they are waiting.
They call for an end to trial by jury. They scream for the
unlimited detention of non-white terror types in our cells.
They have found the link between Bin Laden and immigration.
They understand that only hanging electrocuted suspects
can stop them hurting you.
Luckily for us it’s not just terrorism they protect
us from.
They dismiss leftists for challenging the war and undermining
our brave troops. They chastise cowardly troops who question
their mission. They even rail against single mothers unable
to think ahead and ask their partners to pull out at the
appropriate stage of intercourse.
This takes courage. Could you bomb defenceless civilians?
Could you order a 17 year old to kill a 15 year old? Could
you deprive a niece of her liberty because her uncle knew
a Pakistani? Could you hang a student on the basis of testimony
gained through torture?
I bet you couldn’t. In the face of insurmountable
ignorance on almost every issue, their commitment to helping
you no matter the cost to you reminds us of the steadfastness
of Field-Marshal Haig and Iron Brain of Thatcher.
So to Brian in Kent, Margaret in Leicester and Joy in Paisley,
I paraphrase what one fool once said to another. I salute
your courage! Your strength! Your undeniable-stupidity!
He’s Here, They’re Here
Talking of heroes, Homer Simpson, his beautiful wife Marge,
and their children Bart, Lisa and Maggie have arrived with
The Simpsons Movie.
It promises to be superb for while it took South Park a
mere two years to make a film and Family Guy only four more
to make theirs, The Simpsons has taken 17 years to move
to the big screen.
Leaving aside The Sopranos, it is undoubtedly the greatest
TV show ever. Sneering at hypocrisy, mocking phoney radicalism
and enraging conservatives, it manages to be cynical yet
still portray a family who love each other deeply.
And at the centre is Homer. Although a compulsive drink
driver and serial abuser of Bart (physically) he is an inspirational
man who has led strikes, campaigned for an immigrant and
tolerated homosexuals who saved his life.
After a summer of Hollywood anti-climaxes everyone needs
something to help us forget about Glasgow Airport, Nicola
Sturgeon’s helmet of hair and the Dawn of Brown.
—page ten—
international news
Toothless
UN to enter
by Roz Paterson
Four and a half
years, 200,000 dead and 2.5million - out of
a population of only 6million - displaced, and
it seems that at last, relief is on its way
to
But ‘seems’ is the operative word.
UN Security Council resolution 1769 authorises
the deployment of a 26,000 strong force, a hybrid
of UN and African Union (AU) personnel, on a
mission known as UNAMID, but it is a vaguely
worded resolution that has dragged its heels
for eight and a half months to date, and looks
set to delay for months to come.
What Darfurians, as represented by a whole host
of rebel groups and political exiles (at home,
ordinary Darfurians are voiceless), have been
calling for is a muscular UN intervention to
stem the violence meted out to them by the Janjaweed,
powered and directed by the Sudanese government
in Khartoum.
Since 2003, when Darfur rose up against a government
that has systematically neglected it, allowing
it to drift into almost medieval poverty, Khartoum
has been hammering this region peopled by subsistence
farmers and nomadic herdsmen with almost unimaginable
brutality.
Villages are razed to the ground when Janjaweed
attacks are backed up by an aerial bombardment
from Sudanese army planes. Men and boys are
executed, women and girls raped.
Even those who reach the teeming refugee camps
stacked up at the Chad border are far from safe,
subject to hunger, thirst, disease... and constant
threat of attack. Women who venture outside
to collect firewood run a huge risk of being
raped, in a bid, say their attackers, to ‘dilute
their blood’.
Black Darfurians are being systematically annihilated,
yet it has taken this long for the rest of the
world to take action.
Of a sort.
The UNAMID deployment won’t take place for at
least five months, which means another five
months of vital, life-saving aid being held
up, diverted, stopped from entering Darfur by
the
Not only that, but resolution 1769 has been
greatly watered down in recent months, following
pressure from Sudan, of course, and China, which
is investing heavily in Sudan’s oil industry.
Thus the threat of sanctions has been removed
from the resolution’s wording, as has the authorisation
of troops to collect or seize weapons, as has
language criticising the Sudanese government
for its blocking of aid agencies’ access to
the devastated region.
In truth, the UN/AU force may have only a monitoring
role, rather than authorisation to actually
prevent violence.
This kind of ‘neutrality’ was at work in
Perhaps then, it is not surprising that representatives
of the Sudanese Liberation Movement, amongst
a handful of notable others, boycotted last
weekend’s meeting in Tanzania, chaired by UN
and AU officials, that sought to facilitate
the reaching of a common position by the 15
or so rebel groups now operative in Darfur,
ahead of talks with Khartoum slated for September.
Few of the groups are holding out for the
A Darfur Peace Agreement reached in May of this
year has long since collapsed. Indeed, even
before the ink was dry, the violence was stepping
up a gear.
This was partly because only three rebel groups
were actually a party to it, but mostly because
Sudan ignored it, claiming the Janjaweed were
outwith their control.
An SLM spokesperson said they would not talk
politics until the violence was stopped. They
could be waiting some time.
Iraqi government deploys Saddam’s anti-union laws
The British TUC
has protested directly to the Iraqi Prime Minister
about the use of Saddam era anti-union laws
against oil industry trade unionists.
The protest has been sparked by an internal
Iraqi oil ministry memo which urges oil bosses
to use Saddam’s law to prevent workers building
their organisation in the key industry.
Clearly both the pro-western government and
the oil moguls are keen to avoid having to face
an organised work force as they try to push
through new laws to privatise Iraqi oil.
The TUC protest is the latest move in a gathering
campaign opposing moves to hand Iraqi oil to
profit-hungry multinationals.
Campaigning group War on Want are running a
major campaign of publicity and lobbying in
opposition to the plans to loot
But a new ‘Hydrocarbon Law’ has been drafted
with the direct involvement of the UK and US
governments and international oil companies
which, despite opposition from the Iraqi people,
could be passed in the coming months, depriving
coming generations of a secure future and pumping
profits to the oil companies.
Conflict and poverty, says War on Want, go hand
in hand and they are supporting organisations
in
n iraqunionsolidarityscotland.blogspot.com/
—page eleven—
international news
by Doug Lorimer
Five months into a Baghdad-centred
‘security crackdown’, US officials continue to claim that
the 160,000 US troops occupying Iraq are making ‘progress’
in reducing ‘sectarian violence’ in the war-ravaged country.
But, according to a 26 July Associated Press tally, at
least 1759 Iraqis were killed in war-related violence
in July - a 7 per cent increase on the 1640 who were reported
killed in June.
The tally, AP noted, “included civilians, government officials
and Iraqi security forces, and [is] considered only a
minimum based on AP reporting. The actual number is likely
higher, as many killings go unreported or uncounted.”
The July death tally was only 50 less than the number
of Iraqis AP reported had died in war-related violence
in January - the month before the US occupation forces
launched their ‘security crackdown’, allegedly aimed at
reducing the intra-Iraqi ‘sectarian violence’ that US
officials claim is the chief cause of Iraqi fatalities.
The 27 July AP report, however, noted that “victims of
sectarian slayings were also on the rise. At least 723
bodies were found dumped across
Dumped
The June figure for the number of unidentified
corpses dumped in the streets of
Since February 2006, US officials have attributed these
dumped bodies to death-squad style killings carried out
by Sunni insurgents and the Mahdi Army militia of anti-occupation
Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr.
However a human rights report released in September 2005
by the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) held the
It reported that most of these special police commandos
were recruited from the Badr militia of the Supreme Council
for the Islamic Revolution in
While the September 2005 UNAMI report on the interior
ministry’s death squads did not examine the Pentagon’s
role in their creation, the units that were most frequently
identified as carrying out death squad operations were
recruited and trained by US officers and directed by US
‘advisers’.
Campaign of terror
The 1 May, 2005 New York Times reported that
the Iraqi interior ministry’s special police commando
training program was directed by ‘retired’ US Army Colonel
James Steele. In the mid 1980s, Steele had commanded the
US Military Advisor Group in
The creation of the special police commando force was
initiated and promoted by the current top
“The template for
“There are far more Americans in
The 29 July