(UK) Fury over gagging threat 'to spare Bush's blushes'

[Tab]

THE Attorney-General was accused last night of using the Official Secrets Act “big stick” to gag newspapers in an attempt to save President Bush from further embarrassment over Iraq.

Lord Goldsmith threatened newspapers on Tuesday with prosecution under the Act if they published details from a record of a conversation between Mr Bush and Tony Blair from April last year, when the President is alleged to have suggested bombing al-Jazeera, the Arabic television network.

A record of the conversation was leaked by a Cabinet Office official to the researcher of an MP, and details appeared in a newspaper this week. Both men have been charged under the Official Secrets Act and will appear in court next week.

Mr Blair’s Government has never threatened newspapers with prosecution under the Act, lawyers say. This is despite numerous leaks of documents relating to the war in Iraq, including the Attorney-General’s own legal advice on the war.

That led to accusations from MPs yesterday that the Act was being used to avoid further embarrassment to Mr Bush over Iraq rather than to protect Britain’s security.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1887815,00.html

[54anickel]

1. If it's so dang clear that the discussion is not serious, then let them

print it! Let the public be the judge of whether or not it was just another sick joke.

[babylonsister]

2. The plot is thickening! I hope the MPs stick to their guns. nt

[Up2Late]

3. Ridiculous! This is like trying to put the toothpaste back into the tube!

The info is out there, get used to it!:eyes:

[Guaranteed]

4. LOL...uhh...did they just let the cat out of the bag? nt

[truthisfreedom]

5. bush spends too much time joking around instead of doing the work of the

people of the United States. he's a joker... not a president.

[clydefrand]

7. Joker? Yes, perhaps, but I'd rather think he's just a joke!

[AuntiBush]

21. Sadly, the Jokes Been Placed Squarely on U.S. (us)!

"he's a joke," is right!

[mwb970]

24. If he's a joke, what is the punch line? (n/t)

[jody]

6. No sweat, just publish the Bush-Blair discussion on the Internet and

let the Attorney-General flap in the wind.

[malaise]

26. That's exactly what will happen

Can't wait to read it. They cannot hide this. It will show up on some web site that the Brits can't touch any day now.

All the lies will be revealed sooner than they believe.

[JoFerret]

8. Here's the Guardian version

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1649077,00.html

Also: Up close: the reality of Iraq's hidden war.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1648676,00.html
This is true. This war is hidden from us. Even in this ICT world of instant communication.

[Up2Late]

13. "...about the provisions of the Official Secrets Act...."

The Official Secrets Act?!?!

We already know * is an idiot, that's not a "Secret" to anyone except the 33% "Red State" fools.

[Cha]

9. No use to close the

pigsty gate after all the pigs are gone.

[savemefromdumbya]

10. Tony can't run, Tony can't hide

things are getting very leaky these days?

[OKthatsIT]

11. Total doughbrain for an Atty General, UK

Why so latent?

[fshrink]

12. That's what happens when

you ally yourself to a bona fide idiot. Out of post-colonial necessity perhaps. And this just started.

[cal04]

14. Secrecy gag prompted by fear of new Blair-Bush revelations

Fears that fresh revelations about disputes between Tony Blair and George Bush on the Iraq conflict could damage Downing Street's intimate relationship with the White House prompted this week's unprecedented threat by the attorney general to use the Official Secrets Act against national newspapers. Senior MPs, Whitehall officials and lawyers were agreed yesterday that Lord Goldsmith had "read the riot act" to the media because of political embarrassment caused by a sensitive leak of face-to-face exchanges between the prime minister and the US president in the White House in April 2004. He acted after the Daily Mirror said a memo recorded a threat by Mr Bush to take "military action" against the Arabic TV station al-Jazeera. Mr Blair replied that that would cause a big problem, reported the Mirror. David Keogh, a former Cabinet Office official, has been charged under the secrets act with sending the memo on the Blair-Bush conversation to Leo O 'Connor, researcher to the former Labour MP Tony Clarke.

Mr Keogh and Mr O'Connor will appear before Bow Street magistrates next week. The meeting between Mr Bush and Mr Blair took place at a time when Whitehall officials, intelligence officers, and British military commanders were expressing outrage at the scale of the US assault on the Iraqi city of Falluja, in which up to 1,000 civilians are feared to have died. Pictures of the attack shown on al-Jazeera had infuriated US generals. The government was also arguing with Washington about the number of extra British troops to be sent to Iraq at a time when it was feared they would be endangered by what a separately leaked Foreign Office memo called "heavy-handed" US military tactics.

There were UK anxieties that US bombing in civilian areas in Falluja would unite Sunnis and Shias against British forces. The criticism came not only from anti-war MPs, but from Mr Blair's most senior military, diplomatic, and intelligence advisers. When Mr Blair met Mr Bush in Washington, military advisers were urging the prime minister to send extra forces only on British terms. General Sir Mike Jackson, the head of the army, said while British troops had to fight with the Americans, "that does not mean we must be able to fight as the Americans". Andrew Nicol QC, a media law expert, said he was unaware of any case going to trial where a newspaper or journalist had been prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act.

He said Lord Goldsmith appeared to be trying to "put down a marker" to prevent further leaks or publication of further disclosures from the document already allegedly leaked. Last night the former defence minister Peter Kilfoyle tabled a Commons motion saying Mr Blair should publish the record of his discussion with Mr Bush. Downing Street stressed that the decision to take action was "entirely up to the attorney general" and was intended to "draw a line in the sand" on further leaks.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,16518,1649348,00.html

[Webster Green]

15. Yes indeed, censorship will surely solve this PR problem...

Ha!

What a bunch of compleat fucking idiots these neo-cons are!

I believe the proverbial cat is already out of the bag on this one. They are only digging their hole a little deeper by trying to revise history and pretend it never happened.

Resign now poodle-boy, and take the idiot war-chimp with you!

[ShockediSay]

16. I mean how fascist can you get?

If they call you on your pretexts, smear them, out their wives and if that doesn't work, bomb the crap out of them.

The BushCo Brownshirts have spoken.

[goforit]

17. " intimate relationship " between Bush and Blair an understatement

I do believe it is more incestual

[Miss Chybil]

18. Yes, God forbid, the governed have any clue what the governers are doing.

What were they thinking? Newspapers need to stick to Angelina Jolie, et.al. They shouldn't bother our beautiful minds with such dribble as the fact the leader of the free world is a verifiable homicidal nut-case.

[global1]

19. Brits - Please Put The Pressure On Your Government To Release....

all of the Downing Street Minutes. All those meetings between Tony Blair and *. You need to help the U.S. and the World rid ourselves of these despicable and reprehensible people.

[AuntiBush]

20. Oh, Geez!

Can't have Bush feeling all embarrassed for heavens sakes.

What was that newspaper thinking!?! :sarcasm:

[xchrom]

22. what's lord goldsmith worried about --

bush is used to embarrassment.

[IndianaGreen]

23. What else did Bush tell Blair that they are trying to hush up?

What other insanity from our dictator are they trying to cover up? Did Bush tell Blair he wanted to use nukes?

[DemoTex]

25. What did they discuss ..

and when did they discuss it? I think we have a better chance of getting a whistle-blower in the UK than we do in the US. Government officials are too afraid of Bu$hco over here.

[Maeve]

27. 2nd thread for this old saying...tell the truth & shame the devil!!!

Let him blush...if he can.

[complain jane]

28. Afraid Bush might be revealed to be the

appalling egotistical simpleton with no impulse control and delusions of grandeur that we all knew he was from Day 1.

[leesa]

29. Embarrassment? He discusses his intent to carry out an act of terrorism

and they describe it as an an embarrassing moment?

[sabra]

30. Publish 'bomb al-Jazeera' memo, demands MP

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/25/ujaz.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/11/25/ixportaltop.html

Publish 'bomb al-Jazeera' memo, demands MP


A Labour MP has tabled a motion in Parliament calling on Tony Blair to publish the transcript of a discussion with George W Bush in which the American president allegedly proposed bombing the Arab television station al-Jazeera.


....

But Peter Kilfoyle, a former defence minister, today said that the details of the conversation which supposedly took place during the Prime Minister's visit to the White House in April 2004 should be put before the public.

"I would hope we can have a fair and full discussion of the very important issues that were discussed at that meeting," the Liverpool Walton MP told the BBC.

"This is not about national security. It is about political embarrassment.

[SpiralHawk]

31. I second the motion

All in favor say aye

[jeff30997]

32. Aye!

[Briar]

33. All this has been totally drowned out

by the nation-wide lamentations for George Best.

Bush and Bliar must be heaving sighs of relief.