Iraq war inquiry blocked in bid to make Bush-Blair ‘kick ass’ memo public

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http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/10/iraq-war-tony-blair-george-bush

Cabinet Office resists Chilcot’s request to disclose what the allied leaders said in the escalation to war

Traitor Tony Blair receives the Congressional Gold Medal of Honour from George 'Dubya' Bush
Tony Blair receives the Congressional Gold Medal of Honour from George ‘Dubya’ Bush

Contents of key conversations between Tony Blair and a bellicose George W Bush, who declares he is ready to “kick ass”, are thought to be among documents relating to the Iraq war that the government is withholding from publication.

It emerged this week that the Cabinet Office is resisting requests from the Iraq inquiry, the body set up to draw lessons from the conflict, for “more than 130 records of conversations” between Blair, his successor, Gordon Brown, and Bush to be made public. In a letter to David Cameron, published on the inquiry’s website, the committee’s chairman, Sir John Chilcot, disclosed that “25 notes from Mr Blair to President Bush” and “some 200 cabinet-level discussions” were also being withheld.

The standoff between the inquiry and Sir Jeremy Heywood, the cabinet secretary, has been going on for five months and has meant that the “Maxwellisation process”, in which politicians and officials are warned that they will be criticised in the report, is on hold.

As a result, a date for the final publication of the report has yet to be agreed, more than four years after the inquiry started.

Critics have claimed that the government is seeking to suppress embarrassing material that could harm the UK’s relationship with the US. Elfyn Llwyd, Plaid Cymru’s leader in Westminster, has said it is “absolutely unacceptable” for the records not to be published. Chilcot has described the delay as “regrettable”.

Continue ReadingIraq war inquiry blocked in bid to make Bush-Blair ‘kick ass’ memo public

Jack Straw, evil torturing lying cnut

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/10/jack-straw-torture-libyan-dissidents

Jack Straw accused of misleading MPs over torture of Libyan dissidents

Former foreign secretary named in legal documents concerning Gaddafi opponents held after MI6 tip-offs

straw_blairJack Straw, the former foreign secretary, and Sir Mark Allen, a former senior MI6 officer, have been cited as key defendants in court documents that describe in detail abuse meted out to Libyan dissidents and their families after being abducted and handed to Muammar Gaddafi‘s secret police with the help of British intelligence.

The documents accuse Straw of misleading MPs about Britain’s role in the rendition of two leading dissidents – Abdel Hakim Belhaj and Sami al-Saadi – and say MI6 must have known they risked being tortured. They say British intelligence officers provided Libyan interrogators with questions to ask their captives and themselves flew to Tripoli to interview the detainees in jail.

They recount how Belhaj was chained, hooded, and beaten; his pregnant wife, Fatima Bouchar, punched and bound; how Saadi was repeatedly assaulted; his wife, Ait Baaziz, hooded and ill-treated; and their children traumatised, as they were abducted and jailed in Libya following tip-offs by MI6 and the CIA in 2004.

Belhaj and Saadi were leading members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which opposed Gaddafi. Belhaj became head of the Tripoli Brigade during last year’s revolution and is a leading Libyan political figure. They are suing Straw, Allen, MI6, MI5, the Foreign Office, the Home Office, and the attorney general, for damages for unlawful detention, conspiracy to injure, negligence, and abuse of public office. It is believed to be the first time such action has been taken against a former British foreign secretary.

The court documents, served by the law firm Leigh Day and the legal charity and human rights group, Reprieve, allege:

• MI6 alerted Libyan intelligence to the whereabouts of Belhaj and his family. They were held in Malaysia and Thailand and flown to Libya in a CIA plane.

• The CIA and MI6 co-operated in the rendition of Saadi and his family from Hong Kong to Libya via Thailand.

• Straw and his co-defendants knew that torture was endemic in Gaddafi’s Libya.

• British intelligence officers sent detailed questions to the Libyan authorities to be used in Belhaj and Saadi’s interrogations.

• Straw did not tell the truth when he told the Commons foreign affairs committee in 2005 that Britain was not involved in any rendition operations.

• Evidence by Sir John Scarlett, the head of MI6, to the parliamentary intelligence and security committee (ISC) in 2006 that his agency did not assist in any rendition to countries other than the US or the detainee’s country of origin was incorrect and misleading. Bouchar is Moroccan, and Baaziz is Algerian, and neither had been to Libya before their abduction.

• Evidence by an MI5 witness to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission about the renditions was untrue and misleading.

• According to the US flight plan rendering Belhaj and his wife to Libya, the plane would refuel at the American base on the British Indian Ocean territory of Diego Garcia. If it had done so it would contradict assurances made to MPs by the former foreign secretary David Miliband. Referring to the coalition government’s plans for secret courts, Khadidja al-Saadi, who was 12 when she was abducted, said: “I tried writing to Ken Clarke [former justice secretary] about my case – I told him that having a secret court judge my kidnap was the kind of thing Gaddafi would have done.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/22/uk-support-cia-rendition-flights

The Rendition Project suggests aircraft associated with secret detention operations landed at British airports 1,622 times

Evidence gathered by The Rendition Project – an interactive website that maps thousands of rendition flights – highlight 1,622 flights in and out of the UK by aircraft now known to have been involved in the agency’s secret kidnap and detention programme.

While many of those flights may not have been involved in rendition operations, the researchers behind the project have drawn on testimony from detainees, Red Cross reports, courtroom evidence, flight records and invoices to show that at least 144 were entering the UK while suspected of being engaged in rendition operations.

While the CIA used UK airports for refuelling and overnight stopovers, there is no evidence that any landed in the UK with prisoners on board. This may suggest that the UK government denied permission for this. In some cases, it is unclear whether the airline companies would have been aware of the purpose of the flights.

Some 51 different UK airports were used by 84 different aircraft that have been linked by researchers to the rendition programme. Only the US and Canada were visited more frequently. The most used UK airport was Luton, followed by Glasgow Prestwick and Stansted. There were also flights in and out of RAF Northolt and RAF Brize Norton.

The CIA’s use of UK airports was first reported by the Guardian in September 2005. Jack Straw, the then foreign secretary, dismissed the evidence, telling MPs in December that year that “unless we all start to believe in conspiracy theories and that the officials are lying, that I am lying, that behind this there is some kind of secret state which is in league with some dark forces in the United States … there simply is no truth in the claims that the United Kingdom has been involved in rendition.”

Straw told the same MPs that media reports of UK involvement in the mistreatment of detainees were “in the realms of the fantastic”. Documentation subsequently disclosed in the high court in London showed that Straw had consigned British citizens to Guantánamo Bay in Cuba after they were detained in Afghanistan in 2001. …

Ed Miliband pays tribute to “great friend” Jack Straw

miliband“On behalf of the Labour Party, I want to thank him for his nearly 35 years service as an MP, his achievements in government and his eloquence and wisdom.”

He added: “He has been a great friend and loyal supporter to me during my time as leader. It is a measure of the man that I know the same would have been said by the six predecessors of mine under whom he served. He is Labour through and through, and always displayed this in his words and deeds.

“He will be sorely missed but I know he will continue to serve our country in many different ways.”

Continue ReadingJack Straw, evil torturing lying cnut

With this blind old cnut Blunkett .

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.. he’s a bit crap isn’t he?

Been a blind cnut all his life … and played on it?

See … I don’t have to be politically correct because I’m not a politician.

Let’s get back to Blunkett …

A ridiculous, biggotted blind man.

A little later edit: It doesn’t matter that you’re blind if you’re a Fascist: You’re still a Fascist having a good disregard for “airy fairy” civil liberties. You’re still a Fascist being a cabinet minister for Tony Blair’s Fascist government.

It occurs to me that cabinet ministers at that time are jointly responsible under the law. I want that law enforced.

[26/9/13 11.40 An improvement in infrequency and quality perhaps. Blunkett is certainly a Blairite Fascist old cnut. He’s been talking shit in a fringe meeting. As if the Blairites didn’t use fake manufactured terrorism to cow (the cows or ‘cattle’) into submission. Blair was present for the scroll of Bush. Blair & co were there every step of the way.]

Continue ReadingWith this blind old cnut Blunkett .

I don’t want to do this any more

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First revision 13 july 2013

I don’t want to do this any more. I would much prefer to be sailing. I’d like to buy a small boat but then I’d need to be working and earning. I’d like a regular boyfriend. I’d like to drink less and make fewer rather embarrassing remarks.

I don’t want to do this any more. I want to be working and earning so that I can buy a small boat and go sailing. The trouble is that I can’t be working and earning because these bastards get in the way all the time.

I could be working and earning or just working on earning to start with if it wasn’t for these bastards. I’ve got some skill and knowledge with puters – it’s just problem-solving, analysis, understanding systems. I think that I’ve demonstrated that I’m able and bright enough to do that. I am. I have the ability to be a sys admin, network admin, programmer, etc. These bastards will never let me do that.

I know a good crowd who run a social enterprise. Basically it means that they make very little money but at least they are doing some good and improving themselves. I could hang round with them and do some work if it wasn’t for those bastards. Those bastards that interfere all the time spying and prying and breaking networks and things. I’ve tried, I can’t work at the social enterprise that I know.

Looks like I can’t have a boat because of the bastards. [24/07/13 edit: Then earn money doing some different work.]

I don’t want to do this any more. It started years ago around 98 or 99. I was one of the early bloggers. Reality cracking, rejecting the bullshit that they feed us every day, they take us for fools. That’s asking for it.

Ian Blair is quite a pathetic figure really. He’s achieved very little apart from covering up for murder and a big pension. Corrupt and promoted far above his intellect and abilities for political reasons. New Labour to the last he even blamed Boris when he cut the deal with Jacquie. He’s just a useless bastard really, a parasitic tic with the sadim touch.

It is worth looking at Ian Blair’s tenure as boss of the Metropolitan police. You’ll see that he did a lot of politicking and very little policing. There’s a lot of very thinly disguised bullshit going on, a definite agenda other than policing being followed. He was Tony Blair’s butler. I’ve lately been having this image of the two Blairs being cheeks of the same arse sharing a mouth. Ugh.

I don’t really want to do this any more because – contrary to some speculation in the past – I have achieved what I set out to achieve. I have cracked reality. I have reached an understanding of what it’s all about. It’s about a lot of things and about the interactions of a lot of things. I’m not likely to be able to explain even if you were accepting and attentive which is unlikely but perhaps I should try explaining some main points.

The concept of parallax. [Thanks Parallax:)

Things look different according to where you’re looking from.

So, being a suspected terrorist of the self-exploding type I can reason that there are no real terrorists. Since I know for a fact that I am not a terrorist but instead labelled as a terrorist I can reasonably conclude that there are many more similar to me. I am in fact aware that there are many others similar to me. For example, in UK whole political groups of non-terrorists have been labelled terrorists.

What’s going on here then? Are there terrorists or not?

There are certainly terrorists.

There is the odd one or two obviously insane terrorists like the failed shoe bomber. This is interesting because labelling people as terrorists as the authorities do is likely to lead to self-fulfilling prophesies in some cases. It is also likely that that is the intention since there is a definite dearth of terrorist terrorists.

Then there are people who hack people to death on crowded streets in daylight. They’re not terrorists. They’re racially-motivated murderers. Incidentally, it’s interesting to see how the press and media were manipulated in such cases.

Then there are the real terrorists. The SAS got caught with bombs in Basra. Terrorists. We know that they’re terrorists because they had bombs, were disguised, didn’t have a reasonable explanation and were broken out of jail by the UK army.

Then there is the modus operandi of the terrorists. They arrange a security drill to make sure they’re all in place to control the act and the press and media. Then they blame Islam and Muslims, even sometimes making false claims on websites. Sometimes they even sneakily change laws just to make sure they will never be held to account for their terrorism. The timing is also often very convenient or accords to some higher (Non-Muslim) reason.

Then there are terrorist acts which are known as military operations like killing hundreds of thousands on innocent Iraqis or war crimes using banned chemical weapons like white phosphorous. Oh FM don’t mention that, that was the Israelis. Somehow these incidents are not recognised as terrorism.

I’ve got it. Terrorists are the people that the Fascist scum criminals in power are opposed to. So political activists and opponents to scum politicians are terrorists except of course that they’re not: they’re political activists and opponents of scum politicians. You get people like Julian Assange and Edward Snowden labelled as terrorists except of course that they’re not. They’re not even traitors – they’re serving their people and opposing scum politicians / real terrorists.

So why does Islam and Muslims get blamed so much?

Islam and Muslims are a hindrance to Capitalism. Capitalism needs to make more profit and expand into Muslim countries. How can Capitalism do that if these people look after each other and indulge in charitable giving and the like? Capitalism needs to burn that oil.

Is that about it?

That’s about it except about scum politicians. Tony Blair and his bunch of shits weren’t socialists. Nick Clegg and his bunch of shits are not liberals. They’re all Neo-Liberal Neo-Conservatives who have hijacked their respective parties. The UK ‘Liberal Democrats’ are doing some awfully illiberal things because Clegg and his crew are huge Tory bastards pretending to be liberals.

I feel a bit better now. I suppose that I have to do it. Nobody else will.

 

13/07/13 7.50am typos corrected

19/07/13 11am added links

 

Continue ReadingI don’t want to do this any more

News review

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  • Tony Blair a liability to the Labour Party
  • Ed Miliband calls Nick Clegg a Tory accomplice – also true of Tony Blair
  • Since we’re discussing Tory Blair, he was involved in this mass deception and contempt for democracy

Tony Blair’s return as prime minister would not get Britain’s backing

He has been reported as saying that experience could make him a better prime minister the next time around, but the voters beg to differ with Tony Blair. According to a Guardian/ICM poll, if Blair were to return as leader, a prospect he acknowledges is “not likely to happen“, the party’s standing would sink by three points, from the 39% vote share under Ed Miliband, down to just 36%.

Labour coalition government with Lib Dems would be difficult with Nick Clegg as leader – Ed Miliband

ED Milliband has revealed striking a coalition deal with the Liberal Democrats, after the next general election, would be “difficult” if Nick Clegg is still leader.

Mr Clegg has admitted that he would be “open” to a partnership with Labour in the event of a hung parliament.

• Ed Miliband has said that a coalition deal with Lib Dems would be “difficult” with Nick Clegg as leader

• Miliband calls Lib Dem leader a Tory “accomplice”

But Mr Miliband poured cold water on the idea by suggesting Mr Clegg was an an “accomplice” of the Conservatives.

“Clegg’s biggest problem is that he will say he is a brake on the Tories, but he is an accomplice,” he said.

“He chose not to kill the Health and Social Care Bill – a really bad bill doing damage to the NHS – and to pursue House of Lords reform.”

Asked if he could work with the Liberal Democrat leader, Mr Miliband replied: “I would find it difficult to work with him.”

 

Penta-lawn 2000

On September 11, 2001, a bunch of mean nasty Arab terrorists — who hated our freedoms — hijacked American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 fully loaded with fuel, and crashed it through the first floor of the west side wall of the Pentagon.

Continue ReadingNews review

Reflecting on: Beautiful

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There is a tradition of denoting something by it’s opposite. Marilyn Manson’s ‘Beautiful People’ for all those that died on 7 July 2005 from many different religions and belief systems ~ indeed actually more than that ~ the day after Dubya’s bicycle accident on his birthday. Robin Cooke wrote about 7/7 shortly before he died on Ben Stack.

Then there’s kaleidoscope.  the word “kaleidoscope” is derived from the Ancient Greek καλ(ός) (beauty, beautiful), είδο(ς) (form, shape) and -σκόπιο (tool for examination)—hence “observer of beautiful forms.” Who was it that mentioned “kaleidoscope” (and “tea and biscuits”)?

Continue ReadingReflecting on: Beautiful

Christmas message

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Traitor Tony Blair receives the Congressional Gold Medal of Honour from George 'Dubya' Bush
Tony Blair receives the Congressional Gold Medal of Honour from George ‘Dubya’ Bush

Getting my Christmas Message in early and keeping it short and sweet.

Season’s greetings.

I propose that it’s been established that Blair, Campbell & Co committed war crimes and genocide. This was established even as they were doing it. A war of aggression without UN authority & a war for regime change are war crimes. I sincerely hope that 2012 will see them answer for their crimes.

RIT.

Continue ReadingChristmas message

Previous blog: Danger of dust explosions on the London Underground

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Thursday, December 18, 2008 – Danger of dust explosions on the London Underground

This blog was mysteriously deleted in early December 2005. [edit: 2006] Here is a posting from the deleted previous content. [19/8/11 It was actually mysteriously deleted in early December 2008]

� January 10, 2006 – Danger of dust explosions on the London Underground

Danger of dust explosions on the London Underground
This article argues that the danger of dust explosions from combustible tunnel dust on the London underground has not been properly recognised and addressed. It suggests that the RMT union urgently investigates the dangers of dust explosions on the tube so that it is able to ensure the safety of its members and the public.

What is a dust explosion?

http://www.chemeng.ed.ac.uk/~emju49/SP2001/webpage/intro/intro.html

In the last 20 years industrial dust explosions have accounted for several hundred deaths and hundreds of millions of dollars of insurance money and yet they are one of the least recognised of industrial fire hazards. They can occur within any process where a combustible dust is produced, and can be triggered by any energy source, including static sparks, friction and incandecent material.

There are a few basic rules to observe to see whether a dust is capable of causing a dust explosion:

  • The dust must be combustible.
  • The dust must be capable of becoming airborne.
  • The dust must have a size distribution capable of flame propagation.
  • The dust concentration must be within the explosible range.
  • An ignition source must be present.
  • The atmosphere must contain sufficient oxygen to support and sustain combustion.

London Underground does not recognise tunnel dust as a potential fire and explosive hazard.

http://www.london.gov.uk/assembly/past_ctees/btrtubemtgs/2001/btrtubedec18/minutes/btrtubedec18mins.pdf

Minutes: The Tube Future

Priorities Investigative Committee

18 December 2001

Mike Strzelecki, LUL: It’s dust, it’s caked on dust, it’s a mixture of iron from the action of the rail on the wheel and vice versa, it’s human dust in terms of skin and hair particles which we all shed routinely, and it’s quartz from the brake locks on trains. Now, a lot of research has been done into this over the years, including very recently, indeed we had an Institute examine all the research that’s been done to determine whether this stuff is dangerous to people’s health or not, and the answer is that there is no evidence that it is, and the most sort of compelling evidence that it isn’t, is that the staff who work on the underground who are obviously are in the underground environment much longer than customers, there is no evidence of any medical problems occurring from long hours and many years of exposure, working in the underground.

Eric Ollerenshaw: Is there a fire risk?

Mike Strzelecki, LUL: No, it doesn’t burn.

Having reviewed available evidence – concentrating particularly on incidents in 2003 – this article calls for an urgent investigation into the fire and explosive dangers of tunnel dust on the London Underground.

Is tube tunnel dust dangerous?

London Underground have conducted inquiries into the possible dangers of breathing tunnel dust. These inquiries provide an insight into the composition of tunnel dust. Care should be taken in evaluating the findings since the studies concentrate on suspended dust in stations and drivers’ cabs. It is likely that the dust actually inside the tunnels is different since it is a different environment. There is little movement of air, tube trains travel along sections between platforms and dust probably accumulates in the deeper parts of tunnels. Tunnel dust may have a higher iron content from wear of the rails and wheels and less organic content from passangers clothes, etc.

Studies into London tube tunnel-dust reveal that it is composed of iron, silica and organic products. Different studies have arrived at different ratios of these constitiuents with London Underground finding a roughly 50% iron content and a study conducted by IOM finding a 90% iron content.

It is generally accepted that dust must be smaller than 0.1mm in diamater to pose an explosive hazard, with smaller particles being more explosive. The dust inhalation studies on the London tube have been concerned with much smaller particles than this.

[PM10s are particles with a diamater less than 10 micrometres, PM2.5 have a diamater less that 2.5 micrometre. 1 micrometre = 1 millionth of a metre, 1×10-9m]

http://www.iom-world.org/pubs/IOM_TM0302.pdf

Institute of Occupationa Medicine report ‘Study of tunnel dust in the London Underground’

Composition of tunnel dust: Samples from station platforms showed that almost all (typically, about 90%) of the dust in the PM 2.5 samples was analysed as iron. There were trace amounts of chromium (0.1 ? 0.2%), manganese (0.6 ? 1%) and copper (0.1 ? 1.5%). No zinc was detected on any of the samples (<0.1%). Quartz, analysed in respirable dust, accounted for only 1-2%; these measurements were approximate, being close to the analytical detection limit.

The distributions from the three stations are remarkably similar, with the data from Hampstead being slightly finer. The median diameter for the dust from Oxford Circus and Holland Park is 0.4µm and for Hampstead 0.35µm. In each case about 80% of the particles have a diameter less than 1µm. Again, note that this underestimates the aerodynamic diameter of the denser particles.

[µm is micrometre – one millionth of a metre (1×10-6 m), equivalent to one thousandth of a millimetre.]

Does it burn? is the big question. If it burns, then it is explosive when suspended or thrown into the air.

http://www.chemeng.ed.ac.uk/~emju49/SP2001/webpage/deh/deh2.html

Materials that can cause dust explosions:

  • Natural Organic materials (grain, linen, sugar, etc)
  • Synthetic Organic Materials (plastics, organic pigments, pesticides, etc)
  • Coal and Peat
  • Metals (aluminium, zinc, iron, etc)

Iron burns, organic materials burn.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/company/reports/dust-report-2001.asp

Tunnel dust silica crystals have a coating of iron on their surface, which makes them less likely to cause fibrotic lung disease.

Since the silica is coated with iron, it will burn.

Have there been dust explosions on the tube?

Eyewitness accounts certainly suggest that there have been many dust explosions on the tube. Witnesses often speak of smoke, dust and fires. There have been many trackside fires. If not dust, then what’s burning? It’s almost as if there’s a conspiracy to deny this real danger to tube users.

25 January 2003 Chancery Lane http://www.guardian.co.uk/transport/Story/0,,882674,00.html

Passengers involved in a horrific rail crash on London Underground told last night how they escaped death thanks to a miraculous chain of events after a Tube train lost a wheel and hit the tunnel wall.

Yesterday’s crash, which left 30 people injured and prompted fresh questions about under-investment in rail safety, happened shortly after 2pm as the train was travelling from St Paul’s to Chancery Lane.

Witnesses said sparks flew from beneath the train, which was carrying 800 people, before the three rear carriages left the tracks, bouncing from wall to wall and sending passengers flying from their seats. Last night one man was being treated for a suspected broken leg after being smashed into the opposite side of the train.

Amid scenes of panic as the carriages were plunged into darkness and smoke billowed through smashed windows and doors, some passengers helped others out along the track. ‘I was absolutely panicking,’ said Claire Ellis. ‘I was thinking: this is it, this is the day it happens.’

The hospital said many passengers had suffered smoke inhalation.

Economics student Humaiun Kobir, 25, was on the last carriage. ‘The train was being thrown from side to side, hitting both walls of the tunnel. All the lights went out and thick black smoke was pouring in. I could hear the driver over the radio shouting “Mayday, mayday” then the train stopped.

‘He asked all the passengers to get to the front as quickly as possible. My first thought was that it was some kind of terrorist attack. We were all terrified that another train was going to smash into the back of us. But we knew there was a fire and no one wanted to run into that.’

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2696323.stm

The driver was treated for smoke inhalation and was breathalysed, but the results were negative.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2694503.stm

Tube crash: Eyewitness accounts

“When the train arrived at the station I think it came off the track and hit the tunnel.

There was some kind of fire.

Most people’s faces went black and they couldn’t breathe properly.

There was smoke inside the carriage.

We were lucky to survive.

Most of the people in my carriage were crying and praying for survival.

In my carriage there were a lot of kids and they were crying.

The train stopped suddenly and bumped six times before it stopped so people were really scared and didn’t know what was happening.

The driver himself couldn’t even breathe himself. His face was all black.”

“There was an immense vibration and banging as the train shuddered to a halt.

The driver said, ‘Mayday! Mayday!’, then, ‘Help! Help!’ there was a fire at the back of the train, and told everyone to leave as fast as possible.

There were many people panicking in my carriage, which was very full.

The carriage began to fill up with smoke, as did the platform.

And we could see those on the platform running and screaming as we tried desperately to open the doors of the carriage.

I truly thought the sight of the platform filling with smoke might be the last thing I saw.”

19 June 2003

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/3007970.stm

More than 90 passengers had to be evacuated from a Tube train and walked to safety through the tunnel following a track fire, London Underground (LU) said.

Fire crews were called to a small track-side fire on the Bakerloo Line at Embankment at about 1340 BST, a LU spokeswoman said.

During the incident, one of the trains stalled in the tunnel and 94 passengers were stranded on board for 40 minutes before being walked down to Waterloo station.

The incident was one of three to affect rail and tube networks in London during the day.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/3207079.stm

The Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union also claimed a “potentially serious” incident was averted on 11 October when a driver decided to evacuate a train and take it out of service because of a defect.

It said the train had a seized axle which could have resulted in a derailment if it had continued, but LU accused the RMT of exaggerating the incident.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/3204794.stm

Eyewitness Harry Anscombe, 22, arrived at the station at 1015 BST as emergency services pulled up outside. “There were lots of blackened faces and there was one man with bandages on his face and blood streaming down,” he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/3205280.stm

Mr Anscombe asked one of the passengers what had happened, but the man said he did not know because it was “so black down there”. The passenger said the derailment had caused a huge amount of dust to fly up, making it difficult to see.

Why we need an inquiry

This article raises the issue of the unacknowledged danger of dust explosions on the London tube. There is no indication that London Underground has investigated the danger of dust explosions. On the contrary, evidence is presented that suggests that London Underground has been complacent and negligent in its approach to public safety. The article suggests – through witness accounts – that dust explosions have played a role in tube incidents.

Should it be accepted that dust poses an explosive hazard on the London tube, then safety procedures must change. Maintence needs to be performed flawlessly so that nothing disturbs the dust and that there are no sources of heat to ignite it. Drivers and other staff need to be trained properly so that they can better ensure their own and the public’s safety. Drivers need to know that they should not drive through visible clouds of dust.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2752357.stm

Ten minutes later, a driver on a following train reported Bethnal Green and Liverpool Street stations were “really dusty and murky”. The controller reports “there might be a problem with the train in front” and the driver replied “it ain’t half kicking up a lot of dust”. It is suggested that the RMT urgently investigates the dangers of dust explosions on the London tube.

� January 11, 2006 – Fire alert on London tube 11/1/2006

Posted by dizzy

REUTERS reports smoke and fire engines attending 2 tube stations.

Is it fair to assume that smoke is coming from a tunnel?No smoke without fire eh?

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-01-11T174119Z_01_WRI160511_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BRITAIN-UNDERGROUND-SMOKE.xml

LONDON (Reuters) – No one was hurt in an alert that brought fire engines to two London Underground stations on Wednesday, police said.

A spokewoman for London Transport police said firefighters had checked reports of smoke coming from the Bakerloo line, but the incident was not threatening. Fire engines were sent to Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus.

� May 3, 2006 – Ignition

Posted by parallax

BBC NEWS – Track power surge releases flare

Last Updated: Saturday, 1 October 2005, 16:08 GMT 17:08 UKTrain passengers fled a platform after a power surge sent a flare 10 foot into the air from the track.

An eye witness described people screaming as the fireball moved along the track at London Bridge station on Saturday afternoon.

Electrician Peter Difolco, 44, was returning from a shopping trip when he said there was a large flash.

“It was like a Roman candle firework, there was lots of smoke and people were screaming and running out the station.”

‘Station evacuated’

Mr Difolco, who was with his wife, said he had an idea it was something electrical.

“I had guessed it was something electrical but there were a lot of frightened people.

“There was a small explosion like a firecracker. It went up quite high and started working its way down the track, it went about 120 foot and it lasted for about a minute.

“There were lots of police sirens and then the station was evacuated and staff were comforting people.”

British Transport Police confirmed there was an incident involving a power line at the station at about 1330 BST.

The station closed for about 30 minutes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4300682.stm

� September 11, 2006 – Problems with explosives

Posted by dizzy

There seem to be problems with the nature and the location of the explosives. If they were dust cloud explosions, then they would be over a wide area and there would be no explosives to identify.

Continue ReadingPrevious blog: Danger of dust explosions on the London Underground

Past, Present and Future, etc # living document revision 0.0.0.1

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A living document which will have many revisions and is expected to grow very large. To consider the London explosions of 7 July 2005, the official response – particularly the actions of Ian Blair, the murder of Jean Charles de Menezes, the relationship to the wider war on terror and both Iraq wars instigated by the Bushes – Gog and Magog, role of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, etc.

Continue ReadingPast, Present and Future, etc # living document revision 0.0.0.1

Yet more confirmation that Tony Blair is a lying, divorced-from-reality war-mongering little shit

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The Independent confirms that the interests of UK’s oil companies was central to Bliar & Co while they were publically lying and promoting some bullshit smokescreen about weapons of mass destruction, killing his own people – as if USUK wouldn’t do that – morality, etc.

Bliar denounced the cliams that oil was a major issue as an “oil conspiracy theory”. Who would believe that slimy, lying politicians conspire to promote corporate interests and their own wealth, eh?

Secret memos expose link between oil firms and invasion of Iraq

By Paul Bignell

Over 1,000 documents were obtained under Freedom of Information over five years by the oil campaigner Greg Muttitt. They reveal that at least five meetings were held between civil servants, ministers and BP and Shell in late 2002.

The 20-year contracts signed in the wake of the invasion were the largest in the history of the oil industry. They covered half of Iraq’s reserves – 60 billion barrels of oil, bought up by companies such as BP and CNPC (China National Petroleum Company), whose joint consortium alone stands to make £403m ($658m) profit per year from the Rumaila field in southern Iraq.

Last week, Iraq raised its oil output to the highest level for almost decade, 2.7 million barrels a day – seen as especially important at the moment given the regional volatility and loss of Libyan output. Many opponents of the war suspected that one of Washington’s main ambitions in invading Iraq was to secure a cheap and plentiful source of oil.

Mr Muttitt, whose book Fuel on Fire is published next week, said: “Before the war, the Government went to great lengths to insist it had no interest in Iraq’s oil. These documents provide the evidence that give the lie to those claims.

“We see that oil was in fact one of the Government’s most important strategic considerations, and it secretly colluded with oil companies to give them access to that huge prize.”

Lady Symons, 59, later took up an advisory post with a UK merchant bank that cashed in on post-war Iraq reconstruction contracts. Last month she severed links as an unpaid adviser to Libya’s National Economic Development Board after Colonel Gaddafi started firing on protesters. Last night, BP and Shell declined to comment.

Not about oil? what they said before the invasion

* Foreign Office memorandum, 13 November 2002, following meeting with BP: “Iraq is the big oil prospect. BP are desperate to get in there and anxious that political deals should not deny them the opportunity to compete. The long-term potential is enormous…”

* Tony Blair, 6 February 2003: “Let me just deal with the oil thing because… the oil conspiracy theory is honestly one of the most absurd when you analyse it. The fact is that, if the oil that Iraq has were our concern, I mean we could probably cut a deal with Saddam tomorrow in relation to the oil. It’s not the oil that is the issue, it is the weapons…”

* BP, 12 March 2003: “We have no strategic interest in Iraq. If whoever comes to power wants Western involvement post the war, if there is a war, all we have ever said is that it should be on a level playing field. We are certainly not pushing for involvement.”

* Lord Browne, the then-BP chief executive, 12 March 2003: “It is not in my or BP’s opinion, a war about oil. Iraq is an important producer, but it must decide what to do with its patrimony and oil.”

* Shell, 12 March 2003, said reports that it had discussed oil opportunities with Downing Street were ‘highly inaccurate’, adding: “We have neither sought nor attended meetings with officials in the UK Government on the subject of Iraq. The subject has only come up during conversations during normal meetings we attend from time to time with officials… We have never asked for ‘contracts’.”

 

27/11/13 Having received a takedown notice from the Independent newspaper for a different posting, I have reviewed this article which links to an article at the Independent’s website in order to attempt to ensure conformance with copyright laws.

I consider this posting to comply with copyright laws since
a. Only a small portion of the original article has been quoted satisfying the fair use criteria, and / or
b. This posting satisfies the requirements of a derivative work.

Please be assured that this blog is a non-commercial blog (weblog) which does not feature advertising and has not ever produced any income.

dizzy

Continue ReadingYet more confirmation that Tony Blair is a lying, divorced-from-reality war-mongering little shit