Spreading Freedom and Democracy, My Ass

“We don’t condone corruption or involvement in corrupt practices anywhere” – Lord Goldsmith

The big news of the day is that unelected serial liar, adulterer and war criminal , UK Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, deliberately lied yet again – I’m sensing a pattern here – this time to international anti-corruption investigators in order to cover up the billion pounds the UK paid in bribes to George Bush’s best friend Prince Bandar, through a Bush family bank, Riggs ( his uncle, Jonathan J. Bush, is a top executive and Riggs is being investigated for money laundering),

This was supposedly to enable the sale of British military equipment but in reality it was a shell game, a way to move dirty money around to be used for subfusc political purposes in the middle east, the whole thing to be neatly concealed in a tangle of commercial confidentiality clauses and shouild those backups fail, the citing of national security to shut all enquiries down. If even that fails, then it’s just out and out lying.

What this money actually is the Bush/Saudi/Blair Reptile Fund.

The whole story is about corrupt as corrupt could be. It’s the stinking lily of corruption scandals. If and when it’s publicly unravelled, if ever, it’ll make all that’s gone before seem like a minor pecadillo.

So what does the BBC news this morning lead with? George bloody Galloway. He should’ve been a bit more careful about who gave money to his charity, apparently. Hasn’ t broken any laws though – he just, as Blair is doing with the Saudi royals, did business the Middle Eastern way. But unfortunately poor George is currently an enemy of the state.

I could rant some more, but I see commenter DimitriDimitrich at George Monbiot‘s oped in the Guardian has saved me the trouble.

DimitriDimitrich

June 8, 2007 3:27 AM

The suppression of civil liberties — coupled with the absence of elected legislatures or similar bodies at national or local level, or other institutions independent of the government or its allies in the official religious establishment -allows the ruling royal family to maintain its sole franchise on power, safely beyond any manner of effective public scrutiny and accountability.

Discrimination against women impacts upon and compounds the wide range of human rights violations commonly reported in Saudi Arabia. These violations, which have been described in detail by two Amnesty International reports on Saudi Arabia, A Justice System Without Justice and A Secret State of Suffering, include arbitrary arrest and detention as facilitated by the wide-ranging powers enjoyed by the arresting authorities; vague written and unwritten laws; secret and grossly unfair trials; torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; and the use of the death penalty.

Internal security forces and “religious police” (mutawwa’in) contribute an intimidating presence and help keep citizens and foreign residents in check. The Interior Ministry’s feared Directorate of General Investigations (al-mabahith al-‘amma) monitors suspected political opponents and others, targets individuals for arrest, and interrogates detainees. Mabahith agents operate with impunity and have been responsible for a wide range of human rights abuses, including arbitrary arrest, incommunicado detention, and torture.

The country’s justice system sorely lacks transparency and accountability: there is no effective protection from arbitrary arrest, detention without charge, torture, and unfair trials. Some 121 Saudis and foreigners were beheaded in 2000, following legal proceedings about which little was made public. Victims of abuse in Saudi Arabia are left isolated and vulnerable, and the timely documentation of rights violations is exceedingly difficult. The kingdom has remained off-limits to international human rights organizations, and no one inside the country dares to break the long-standing taboo on openly scrutinizing and reporting human rights abuses. Saudi Arabia stands out among U.S. allies in the region for the utter absence of functioning networks of independent human rights lawyers, activists, and institutions. The government has permitted no visits to prisons to monitor conditions.

Women in Saudi Arabia face pervasive discrimination, ranging from strictly enforced gender segregation in public places — including schools, universities, and the workplace — to unequal legal status with men in matters relating to marriage, divorce, and child custody. Saudi women do not enjoy freedom of movement, are not permitted to drive, and lack equal rights with men with respect to transmission of their nationality to their children. Women viewed as not in full conformity with the traditional restrictive dress code, or in the company of men who are not spouses or close male relatives, are subject to harassment and abuse by the “religious police” — the government-funded Committees for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

Associated Press correspondent Anwar Faruqi described the scene at public beheadings in an article published on April 24, 2000:

“Policemen clear a public square of traffic and lay out a thick blue plastic sheet about 16 feet by 16 feet on the asphalt. The condemned, who has been given tranquilizers, is led from a police car dressed in his own clothing. His eyes are covered with cotton pads, bound in plaster and finally covered with a black cloth.

“Barefoot, with feet shackled and hands cuffed behind his back, the prisoners is led by a police officer to the center of the sheet and made to kneel. An Interior Ministry official reads out the prisoner’s name and crime before a crowd of witnesses.

“A soldier hands a long, curved sword to the executioner. He approaches the prisoner from behind and jabs him with the tip of the sword in the back so that the prisoner instinctively raises his head.

“It usually takes just one swing of the sword to sever the head, often sending it flying about three feet. Paramedics bring the head to a doctor, who uses a gloved hand to stop the fountain of blood spurting from the neck. The doctor sews the head back on, and the body is wrapped in the blue plastic sheet and taken away in an ambulance.”

As you can all see, this is a country that certainly merits access to British military technology on a massive scale. So go for it Tony Blair and Lord Goldsmith, you do us all proud.

That’s what our billion pound bribe went to support – and that billion’s our money, not Blair’s or BAE’s – and this is the murdering, corrupt repressive government that New Labour thinks is absolutely fine. But Saddam wasn’t.

That’s also why the UK has no right to lecture anyone on anything anywhere.