UK - Guardian Article - Terrorism Act 2000 - Schedule 7 para 2(1) vs. European Convention on Human Rights, Article 10 (freedom of expression)

ꕤ Article SOURCE http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/19/terrorism-act-incompatible-with-human-rights-court-rules-in-david-miranda-case UK - Guardian Article - Terrorism Act 2000 - Schedule 7 para 2(1)  vs. European Convention on Human Rights, Article 10 (freedom of expression) Headline: "Terrorism Act incompatible with human rights, court rules in David Miranda case" "Appeal court says detention of Miranda was lawful but clause under which he was held is incompatible with European human rights convention" Owen Bowcott Legal affairs correspondent @owenbowcott Wednesday 20 January 2016 00.02 AEDT http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/19/terrorism-act-incompatible-with-human-rights-court-rules-in-david-miranda-case IN SUMMARY [per my understanding + links & extra info] Terrorism Act 2000 aimed to detain & question travellers where there is insufficient information to justify making arrest 60,000 per year = detained in such stops  / from approx. 70-million transiting per year / abt. 164 such 'stops' per every 24 hours Heathrow Airport - May 2014 info, Express.Co.UK: Heathrow Airport operation costs:  £975-million per year Heathrow Airport upgrade costs:  £660-million per year Heathrow airport income:  £2.3-billion per year *income includes:  landing charges, departure fees, shops, property rental, parking Over 70 million passengers transit every year six million more than the UK population Heathrow third busiest airport in world, following: Atlanta USA Bejing China Heathrow employs:  76,000 (equivalent to population Guildford, Surrey) [comment:  photo of Heathrow ... looks like my nightmare:  crowds, foreigners & officials] LINK | Source http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/475537/London-Heathrow-the-best-facts-stats-and-trivia-behind-the-UK-s-busiest-airport Background: David Miranda -- domestic partner of journalist Glenn Greenwald -- transit b/w Berlin & Rio de Janerio (via London) -- The Guardian made his travel reservations & paid for trip -- Miranda detained Heathrow airport 2013 -- carrying encrypted Snowden (US NSA whistleblower) files -- "58,000 highly classified UK intelligence documents" -- Berlin connection:  Laura Poitras - recipient Snowden leaks -- detained 9 hours -- seized material included personal info -- which would allow 'security staff' to be identified -- incl. those depoloyed overseas -- NOTE:  to date,  tiny proportion of Snowden material released Laura Poitras - recipient Snowden leaks  "Poitras has received numerous awards for her work, including ... 2013 George Polk Award for "national security reporting" related to the NSA disclosures. The NSA reporting by Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill, and Barton Gellman contributed to the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service awarded jointly to The Guardian and The Washington Post." (here) "2013 Poitras was one of the initial three journalists to meet Edward Snowden in Hong Kong and to receive copies of the leaked NSA documents. Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald are the only two people with full archives of the NSA, according to Greenwald." (here) UK Court of Appeal ruling: -- UK police entitled to detain Miranda -- pursuant to the laws in place at the time -- Police were within those laws Court's only issue is: para 2(1) of Schedule 7 (lack of safeguards re arbitrary exercise of stop power) Terrorism Act 2000 - key clause incompatible w/ European Convention on Human Rights: " ... stop power conferred by paragraph 2(1) of schedule 7 is incompatible with article 10 of the convention in relation to journalistic material in that it was not subject to adequate safeguards against its arbitrary exercise.” [The Guardian] at issue: -- disclosure of journalistic material -- (whether source identified or not) -- undermines confidentiality inherent in such material therefore necessary to: -- avoid 'chilling effect' re disclosure -- protect Euro Convention on Human Rights:  Article 10 rights [freedom of expression] European Convention on Human Rights Convention for the Protection of Human Rights & Fundamental Freedoms amended by provisions of Protocol No. 14 (CETS no. 194) as of entry into force:  1 June 2010 *and reference to other amendments European Court of Human Rights Council of Europe F-67075 Strasbourg cedex www.echr.coe.int Article 10, Freedom of Expression = page 7. https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/sites/digital-agenda/files/Convention_ENG.pdf Schedule 7 - STOP POWER -- permits questioning of travellers (to determine if terrorists) -- no right to remain silent -- no right to legal advice -- travellers may be detained to 6 hours Stop Power used re journalist info / material incompatible w/ Article 10 Euro Convention on HR [freedom of expression] b/c not 'prescribed by law' [comment:  not sure what he's getting at:  'prescribe' - established law, direction / to set down as rule, law, direction ... which law?   Must be referring to 'international law' ... but this isn't even binding / Russia has overridden provisions of international law to declare that national law has primacy] According to Guardian, Judgment refers to protection of journalistic sources (ie expectation of confidentiality) & public interest factor: “If journalists and their sources can have no expectation of confidentiality, they may decide against providing information on sensitive matters of public interest.” DEFINITION of 'Terrorism' - Court of Appeal Guardian reports: court of appeal ruling rejects the broad definition of terrorism court of appeal definition:  'terrorism' requires intent to cause a serious threat to public safety such as endangering life Otherwise, detention of Miranda pursuant to schedule 7:  lawful & proportionate & police actions to 'protect national security' supported by appeals court Judgment   what is at issue is that Schedule 7 did not provide sufficient protection re examination of journalistic material (as time of incident) Stop power of police (ports & airports) not constrained by sufficient legal safeguards to prevent arbitrary exercise of stop powers Appeals court grants:  'certificate of incompatibility' which handballs to UK PARLIAMENT  to decide how to provide a 'safeguard' to prevent arbitrary use of STOP POWERS -- likely via: 1. judicial means; or 2. other independent scrutiny *in a way to protect confidentiality in the material Says John Dyson, master of rolls, appeal court Judgment 'Lord' = courtesy title bestowed on all justices of Supreme court (here) Court judges in appeal court decision: Lord Dyson - most senior civil judge, England & Wales Lord Justice Richards Lord Justice Floyd Legal challenges re Miranda sponsored by: 1.  First legal challenge:  The Guardian Result:  x3 high court judges dismissed the initial challenge (2014) on grounds of:  "legitimate and “very pressing” interests of national security." [Guardian] 2.  Second legal challenge - Court of Appeal: First Look Media, publisher Intercept online magazine First Look Media = owner:  Pierre Omidyar, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, eBay founder Omidyar & wife = frequent flyer Obama White House visitor to senior officials & members of Obama National Security Council 2011-2013, Omidyar Network co-funded with USAID regime-change groups in Ukraine that organized the 2014 Maidan revolution. Omidyar is the chairman of eBay/PayPal, which boasts of its own private global police force that works “hand in glove with law enforcement agencies," including the DEA Meet Pierre Omidyar! A handy primer for new First Look hires By Mark Ames  |  February 28, 2015 LINK: | here The Guardian quotes: The Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, Alistair Carmichael MP, said: “The Terrorism Act should be used in dealing with terrorists, not for journalists or whistleblowers. The ruling recognises the important role journalists play in holding government to account and shining a light on a range of issues.” SOURCE http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/19/terrorism-act-incompatible-with-human-rights-court-rules-in-david-miranda-case READER COMMENTS - THE GUARDIAN Found these either interesting or amusing ... thought the 'Nazis' comment was quite funny: ---  exhypothesi 1d ago Actually, it is not a victory for David Miranda. He lost his case. Section 4(6)(a) and (b) Human Rights Act 1998 makes it clear that the declaration of incompatibility with a Convention Right made by the court under Section 4(2) thereof does not (a), affect the validity, continuing operation of enforcement of the provision in respect of which [a declaration of incompatibility] is given and, (b), is not binding on the parties to the proceedings in which it is made. In other words, the impugned para 2(1) Sch 7 Terrorism Act 2000 remains valid and enforceable until such time as the Act of 2000 is amended by Parliament which has delegated to the Home Secretary the power to amend it using the fast-track procedure under section 10(2) of the 1998 Act by issuing the appropriate statutory instrument. That will depend upon whether or not the government intends to appeal the judgment to the Supreme Court which could take anything up to 12 months. In short, notwithstanding the declaration, If, tomorrow, a journalist is stopped at Heathrow or any other port of entry into the United Kingdom, the authorities are well within their rights to deploy para 2(1) of Sch 7, and that will remain the case unless and until the Home Secretary makes the appropriate order amending it. ---  exhypothesi RBHoughton 20h ago Even if the Supreme Court were to uphold the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Miranda, it has no power to strike down the impugned section. It remains extant until struck out by executive amendment. The Home Secretary is perfectly within her rights to ignore the judgment altogether and to allow Sch 7 to stand unamended. Much will depend on whether and to what extent the prospect of its executive repeal makes the Prime Minister as physically ill as he was after the judgment of the ECHR in the case of Hurst v United Kingdom (votes for prisoners). //  vindicate - uphold, defend  / rare:  to claim ---  'exhypothesi Zabka' 23h ago No, the Tories are evil and devious but they are not stupid. They are not going to leave the Council of Europe. That would cause unquantifiable damage to the Kingdom's international reputation, They are simply going to do what Tories do best by retaining substantive rights but make them worthless. If an individual believes he is possessed of a right, then that is as good as the real thing until he or she finds it impossible to vindicate in practice. It is a tried and trusted method of constructive destruction which operates effectively throughout much of our jurisprudence. --- stepsbackinamazement 1d ago Has anyone actually read the judgement - I have. He lost his appeal on virtually all points (invasion of privacy, unlawful detention etc.) except for the very narrow technical point relating to the lack of safeguards for examining of 'journalistic material' in Sch. 7 which can be easily put right if they would even be bothered (it can be examined under other provisions). So the guardian's reporting of this as a 'landmark victory' is absurd as well as basically dishonest. It was quite clearly a resounding victory for the Government and another substantial loss for Miranda and his supporters. Can we trust any media outlet to report impartially these days??? The Court of Appeal most emphatically did NOT declare that the Terrorism Act is incompatible with the ECHR, quite the opposite. ---  Valedictorian 1d ago Security services brutally cause minor inconvenience to Greenbergs boyfriend's travel arrangements because he is carrying classified documents stolen from the state. It's the Nazis all over again! ---   GodfreyRich Valedictorian 1d ago Rather over-the-top statement. The judge said that the detention was 'lawful'. "Miranda was carrying encrypted files, including an external hard drive containing 58,000 highly classified UK intelligence documents" Seems to me the security service was doing the right thing. ---  Vizzeh 1d ago You know we have an Orwellian law when freedom & whistle blowers are suppressed under terrorism. This is Bolshevik communism all over again. ---  HellisEmpty Vizzeh 1d ago "This is Bolshevik communism all over again" Minus the mass killings, gulags, and torture. Get some perspective please. ---  Vizzeh HellisEmpty 1d ago Semantics. We certainly have similar Plutocracy/Oligharchy. ---  Kevin Schmidt HellisEmpty 1d ago Yeah! Some perspective says it's really a kinder, gentler fascism.

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COMMENT

Just as interesting reading the reader comments as it is the article itself.  I love comments.

Not sure what to think.  It doesn't sound like much of a win, and at the end of the day the government writes the rules ... and will write rules in its favour, I guess. 

The comment where the powers that be give the great unwashed the impression of having rights, while ensuring they gear things up so such rights can be denied, is really cool.  I'm guessing that's how things stand ... lol.

Find it extremely hard to buy the credibility of the following crew:  Snowden, Greenwald, Guardian, Germany, Poitras, Pierre Omidyar (eBay / Paypal / USAID & White House, First Look - Intercept ).  

Sounds like a big CIA or Mossad psyop to me ... especially with US-serving totalitarian Stasi Germany in the mix as the 'safe' port of call for US 'dissidents' ... LMAO.

While all these American and mainstream media sources are untouchable and receiving accolades for what is purported to be 'NSA reporting,' WikiLeaks publisher, Australian journalist, Julian Assange, is the target of US & allied political persecution (including five (5) years detention WITHOUT CHARGE) and the subject of a US grand jury sealed indictment (confirmed January 2011).

As such, Assange can expect US extradition, CIA torture, a potential death penalty sentence (or the rest of his life in prison), for 'espionage' (ie journalism redefined by the US as 'espionage' and American legal jurisdiction defined as stretching all over the globe). 

Something's not right here.

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State Crimes, Secrecy, Lies & Whistleblowers

ꕤ Article SOURCE https://consortiumnews.com/2015/12/02/global-angst-over-us-secrecy-fetish/ Global Angst over US Secrecy Fetish December 2, 2015 With the reach of U.S. surveillance now global – and with the U.S. military deployed all over the world – anger at President Obama’s unprecedented crackdown on whistleblowers who disclose the U.S. government’s abuses and crimes has gone international, as this Norwegian opinion piece by Victor Wallis shows. By Victor Wallis The more extreme the crimes of state, the more the state seeks to shroud them in secrecy. The greater the secrecy and the accompanying lies, the more vital becomes the role of whistleblowers – and the more vindictive becomes the state in its pursuit of them. Whistleblowers are people who start out as loyal servants of the state. Their illusions about the state’s supposed moral agenda – and the wholeheartedness of their own patriotic commitment – make them all the more shocked when they discover evidence of the state’s wrongdoing. Given the extreme concentration of weaponry (as well as surveillance capabilities) in the hands of the state, and given the disposition of the state to apply such resources even against nonviolent mass movements, the type of defection practiced by whistleblowers – an option available to military and intelligence operatives at all levels – is crucial to any eventual triumph of popular forces over the ruling class. Whistleblowers thus not only embarrass the government, disrupt its policies, and (assuming adequate diffusion) educate the citizenry; they also are harbingers of a broader crumbling of the capitalist state and the order it defends. Acting largely in isolation and at great risk to themselves, they embody the conviction – or at least the hope – that basic decency has a more universal grounding than does any possible scheme of oppression. Whistleblowing’s principal near-term function is educational. It demonstrates the undemocratic character of the regime whose secrets it lets out; it is thus an essential redient of investigative journalism. The documents it brings to light reach the public through those who practice such journalism, whom the government then threatens with prosecution unless they disclose their sources. The novelty of Wikileaks is that it provided a new form of protection for the anonymity of sources. This, together with the facility of electronic transmission, has made the potential for disclosure greater than ever before. It accounts for the extraordinary fact that the U.S. government has been pursuing draconian charges against someone who not merely is only the recipient rather than the “leaker” of sensitive information, but someone who is not even a citizen or resident of the United States – Julian Assange. Disclosure is particularly embarrassing when it documents the fact that government officials have lied. The Director of Central Intelligence lied under oath to the U.S. Congress – a felony for which he was never prosecuted – when he denied that the National Security Agency monitors the communications of the entire U.S. population. This lie was the culminating event in Edward Snowden’s decision to blow the whistle. As we all know, of course, it is Snowden who was then criminalized by the government. This parallels the experience of John Kiriakou, who publicly confirmed, on the basis of his first-hand knowledge, that the CIA practiced torture by waterboarding. Kiriakou then became the only government official to be prosecuted and imprisoned in connection with CIA and military practices of torture. The debate over whistleblowers reached tens of millions of viewers when the presidential candidates of the Democratic Party were asked (on Oct. 13) their views about Snowden. Hillary Clinton falsely asserted that he could have used established channels to transmit his disclosures of excessive surveillance, presumably at no risk to himself. This claim is refuted by the experience of previous whistleblowers who had taken just that approach. One of them, Thomas Drake, retold his story two days later, at a news conference ignored by most of the corporate media (video), which was organized on behalf of yet another whistleblower, Jeffrey Sterling, who recently began a 42-month prison term on a conviction of “espionage.” What Sterling had done was report to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about a counterproductive CIA attempt (in 2000) to feed misleading technological data to Iranian scientists. What he was prosecuted for was his subsequent conversations with New York Times journalist James Risen, although no evidence was available as to the content of those conversations, since Risen refused to testify. Sterling’s story is recounted in a letter from his wife, seeking presidential clemency from Obama. Sterling had been fired from the CIA in 2002 after filing a complaint against the agency for racial discrimination (an episode on which Risen wrote a news story). After Risen’s book State of War (2006) came out, the FBI raided Sterling’s home, but it was not until more than four years later – under President Obama – that he was arrested (2011). The latest whistleblower, who documents the “normalization of assassination” via drone warfare, is wisely seeking to remain anonymous. The U.S. government will surely take all possible steps to track him down. The work of whistleblowers, as well as their personal safety, is obviously an issue that cuts across national borders. Support for U.S. whistleblowers will need to be as global as the reach of the policies and the weapons that they expose. Victor Wallis is managing editor of the journal Socialism and Democracy. [This is the original text of a column (written on Oct. 20) posted on the Norwegian website radikalportal.no.] https://consortiumnews.com/2015/12/02/global-angst-over-us-secrecy-fetish/ ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT A Canadian archive: http://www.cjfe.org/snowden contains published Snowden documents. Archive also contains US government published documents, as an aid to understanding the leaked documents. It's an archive of approximately 400 documents, which figure presumably also includes the accompanying USG documents, intended as explanatory information. That would be 400 released documents or less, out of an estimated 50,000 documents that were reportedly turned over by whistleblower Snowden. Sitting on almost 50,000 'freed' documents that ought to be in the public domain, seems more like minding an archive of protected (and closed to the public) information  than whistleblower publishing. The 'leaked' information middleman dole-out approach doesn't appeal to me at all. RT News Despite calls from Congress to fire Director of National Intelligence James Clapper for lying under oath, United States President Barack Obama says that the spy chief should have just been a little more careful with his words. Clapper, the 72-year-old retired Air Force lieutenant general in charge of the nation's intelligence departments, caused a commotion last year when he was caught lying during sworn testimony delivered to the Senate. ... Clapper claimed that the National Security Agency does “not wittingly” collect and store data on American people. When former contractor Edward Snowden proved him wrong through leaked NSA documents weeks later, though, Clapper was forced to take back his words. CONTINUED https://www.rt.com/usa/obama-dni-clapper-lie-485/ While on the subject of surveillance etc, I thought this commenter had a point: The Age Paradoxically, if governments weren't illegally monitoring law-abiding citizens then there'd probably be no serious market for encryption - why bother hiding when nobody's looking (at your personal data?) Other than those committing cyber crimes perhaps, who would therefore stand out like the proverbial canine testicles. 'mutt' December 02, 2015, 6:25AM TheAge - here ꕤ

WikiLeaks: Information Suppression, Compliant Corporate Media - Evidence - Afghanistan

ꕤ Media Bullsh*t Corporate-Serving Corporate Media In Service of Aggressive Neoliberal Foreign Policy |  Manufacturing Consent Bias.  Censorship.  Disinformation.  Compliance. censorship & disinformation is denial of informed consent COMPLIANT CORPORATE & 'ALTERNATE' CORPORATE MEDIA Why We Need WikiLeaks EVIDENCE USA's spy agency, NSA, conducted mass surveillance on entire country (actually, more than one country ... but let's focus on Afghanistan) James Clapper says: 'untold damage'  Well, he would say that to justify US mass surveillance of entire countries in the free world & mass surveillance of free Americans.  Duh! Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper: #Snowden killed ‘important’ program in #Afghanistan / unnamed 'Intercept' country = Afghanistan http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=272816 UPDATE It was the WikiLeaks follow-up identification of Afghanistan as country being surveilled that led to surveillance program closure/rejection by Afghanistan: In March 2014, The Washington Post, citing documents provided by Snowden, reported on a program called MYSTIC, under which the NSA was collecting “every single” phone conversation in a foreign country. The Post, following requests by U.S. officials, withheld the country’s name. Two months later, the Intercept news site published a similar story about the NSA’s “secretly intercepting, recording, and archiving the audio of virtually every cell phone conversation” in two nations. The site named the Bahamas as one country. It refrained from naming the other, citing concerns that doing so “could lead to increased violence.” Several days later, the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks reported that the country was Afghanistan. Soon after, “the program was shut down by the government of Afghanistan,” said Clapper, speaking at the Intelligence and National Security Summit in Washington. SOURCE https://archive.is/94N16 ---------------------- ꕤ  ---------------------- NO words for the suppression of truth by the corporate and 'alternate' corporate press: Washington Post The Intercept  It's anger provoking to see information denial and abuse of state power, in black and white. WikiLeaks was the only publisher that gave the world:  the truth. PS It's just occurred to me that the US spies on Japanese leaders, and European politicians and corporations, as well as entire countries. So if the public is told that a surveillance program has been rejected by a vanquished state, does anyone really believe there's genuinely been follow-through from the US-appointed Afghan government or from USA? On consideration, I really don't buy that they're done spying on Afghanistan. ꕤ

Latest

#Iraq #Afghanistan #Pakistan 'War on Terror' - Body Count  - REPORT 101 page report, by Physicians for Social Responsibility PDF - Mar 2015, Interl Edition http://www.psr.org/assets/pdfs/body-count.pdf  COMPLIANT MEDIA - EVIDENCE James Clapper says:  untold damage Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper: #Snowden killed ‘important’ program in #Afghanistan / unnamed 'Intercept' country = Afghanistan http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=272816 ---------------------- ꕤ  ----------------------  UPDATE It was the WikiLeaks follow-up identification of Afghanistan as country being surveilled that led to surveillance program closure: In March 2014, The Washington Post, citing documents provided by Snowden, reported on a program called MYSTIC, under which the NSA was collecting “every single” phone conversation in a foreign country. The Post, following requests by U.S. officials, withheld the country’s name. Two months later, the Intercept news site published a similar story about the NSA’s “secretly intercepting, recording, and archiving the audio of virtually every cell phone conversation” in two nations. The site named the Bahamas as one country. It refrained from naming the other, citing concerns that doing so “could lead to increased violence.” Several days later, the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks reported that the country was Afghanistan. Soon after, “the program was shut down by the government of Afghanistan,” said Clapper, speaking at the Intelligence and National Security Summit in Washington. SOURCE https://archive.is/94N16 ---------------------- ꕤ  ---------------------- NO words for the suppression of truth by the corporate and 'alternate' corporate press: Washington Post The Intercept  It's anger provoking to see information denial, in black and white. WikiLeaks was the only publisher that gave the world:  the truth. #WikiLeaks #Snowden Hillary e-mails Rep. Mac Thornberry (R., Tex.) chair HAS Cttee /  "helped our primary adversaries" not a fan  /  funding increase ploy? http://freebeacon.com/national-security/house-armed-services-chief-intel-losses-including-clinton-emails-caused-serious-damage/ Why Murdoch Pushes for War ⟴ by Craig Murray  on September 7, 2015 1:33 pm EXTRACT Given the disgraceful Sun front page and middle spread urging war on Syria, and the all-out propaganda on Sky News, it is important to understand why Murdoch is pushing so hard for war. I therefore reproduce my article from February 2013. It is important to note that the links are to industry publications: this is very genuine, hard information.  Israel Grants Oil Rights in Syria to Murdoch and Rothschild Israel has granted oil exploration rights inside Syria, in the occupied Golan Heights, to Genie Energy. Major shareholders of Genie Energy – which also has interests in shale gas in the United States and shale oil in Israel – include Rupert Murdoch and Lord Jacob Rothschild.  [...] FULL AT SOURCE https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2015/09/why-murdoch-pushes-for-war/ #Syria ex US intel analysis Concurs with Assange  / US War on Syria author/journalist, Wayne Madsen US plans to topple Syria’s Assad go back to 9/11 http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/09/10/428634/Syria-Assange-US-Assad-Wayne-Madsen-911 WikiLeaks BOOK  http://www.versobooks.com/books/1931-the-wikileaks-files #Syria #WikiLeaks #ASSANGE US is an Empire 'US planned to oust Assad long before 2011 uprising' http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/foreign/10-Sep-2015/us-planned-to-oust-assad-long-before-2011-uprising EXTRACTS - UK SECRET DRONE BOMBING SYRIA / AGAINST PARLIAMENTARY VETO NEW direction: criminal law treated as 'global law' Cardiff jihadist: Jones informed of Syria drone strike Written by: iFreePress Prime Minister David Cameron said the attorney general had agreed there was a “clear legal basis” for targeting Khan. Prime Minister David Cameron was challenged to shed light on specific threats that led to the killing of Islamic State (IS) militants Reyaad Khan and Ruhul Amin in the Syrian city of Raqqa, which he declared “an act of self-defence”. He said: “These were terrorists who’d been planning a series of attacks on the streets of our country, some involving public events, there are other terrorists making similar plans and we have to do what we can to keep our streets safe”. [ ...] Last week The Washington Post revealed that the Central Intelligence Agency and US Special Operations forces have launched a “secret drone campaign” in Syria as part of a “targeted killing program that is run separately from the broader U.S. military offensive against the Islamic State”. What we are talking about are enemy combatants who have chosen to take up arms against the armed forces of their own country and its allies. [ ... ] “There was no other way of preventing the kind of armed attack they were involved in planning”, Fallon said, during an interview with ITV, cited by the Guardian. They say they will target ISIL fighters. Ministers said the decision had been taken on advice from the attorney general, Britain’s chief legal advisor. Now, he said, the USA “warlike paradigm” had been adopted instead. And may they assist finish the struggle in Syria or make it worse? When it was suggested that drone operators had targeted and taken out British individuals in Syria without the endorsement of the Commons, he said: “Put it like that, then that is wrong”. Phillipe Sands QC, professor of law at University College London, however, told the BBC’s Today program that Cameron’s line of argument represented a “new direction” for the United Kingdom, which had previously treated cases like this as matters for criminal rather than global law. http://www.ifreepress.com/cardiff-jihadist-jones-informed-of-syria-drone-strike/ ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT News that caught my eye. Assange Transnational Security Elite, Carving Up the World Using Your Tax Money London  OCT8 Antiwar Mass Assembly (2011) Link  |  here ꕤ