[FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great

[IsraelForIran]

MI6 'halted bid to arrest bin Laden'

Startling revelations by French intelligence experts back David Shayler's alleged 'fantasy'about Gadaffi plot

Martin Bright, home affairs editor
Sunday November 10, 2002
The Observer

British intelligence paid large sums of money to an al-Qaeda cell in Libya in a doomed attempt to assassinate Colonel Gadaffi in 1996 and thwarted early attempts to bring Osama bin Laden to justice.
The latest claims of MI6 involvement with Libya's fearsome Islamic Fighting Group, which is connected to one of bin Laden's trusted lieutenants, will be embarrassing to the Government, which described similar claims by renegade MI5 officer David Shayler as 'pure fantasy'.

The allegations have emerged in the book Forbidden Truth , published in America by two French intelligence experts who reveal that the first Interpol arrest warrant for bin Laden was issued by Libya in March 1998.

According to journalist Guillaume Dasquié and Jean-Charles Brisard, an adviser to French President Jacques Chirac, British and US intelligence agencies buried the fact that the arrest warrant had come from Libya and played down the threat. Five months after the warrant was issued, al-Qaeda killed more than 200 people in the truck bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

The arrest warrant was issued in connection with the murder in March 1994 of two German anti-terrorism agents, Silvan and Vera Becker, who were in charge of missions in Africa. According to the book, the resistance of Western intelligence agencies to the Libyan concerns can be explained by MI6's involvement with the al-Qaeda coup plot.

The Libyan al-Qaeda cell included Anas al-Liby, who remains on the US government's most wanted list with a reward of $25 million for his capture. He is wanted for his involvement in the African embassy bombings. Al-Liby was with bin Laden in Sudan before the al-Qaeda leader returned to Afghanistan in 1996.

Astonishingly, despite suspicions that he was a high-level al-Qaeda operative, al-Liby was given political asylum in Britain and lived in Manchester until May of 2000 when he eluded a police raid on his house and fled abroad. The raid discovered a 180-page al-Qaeda 'manual for jihad' containing instructions for terrorist attacks.

The Observer has been restrained from printing details of the allegations during the course of the trial of David Shayler, who was last week sentenced to six months in prison for disclosing documents obtained during his time as an MI5 officer. He was not allowed to argue that he made the revelations in the public interest.

During his closing speech last week, Shayler repeated claims that he was gagged from talking about 'a crime so heinous' that he had no choice but to go to the press with his story. The 'crime' was the alleged MI6 involvement in the plot to assassinate Gadaffi, hatched in late 1995.

Shayler claims he was first briefed about the plot during formal meetings with colleagues from the foreign intelligence service MI6 when he was working on MI5's Libya desk in the mid-Nineties.

The Observer can today reveal that the MI6 officers involved in the alleged plot were Richard Bartlett, who has previously only been known under the codename PT16 and had overall responsibility for the operation; and David Watson, codename PT16B. As Shayler's opposite number in MI6, Watson was responsible for running a Libyan agent, 'Tunworth', who was was providing information from within the cell. According to Shayler, MI6 passed £100,000 to the al-Qaeda plotters.

The assassination attempt on Gadaffi was planned for early 1996 in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte. It is thought that an operation by the Islamic Fighting Group in the city was foiled in March 1996 and in the gun battle that followed several militants were killed. In 1998, the Libyans released TV footage of a 1996 grenade attack on Gadaffi that they claimed had been carried out by a British agent.

Shayler, who conducted his own defence in the trial, intended to call Bartlett and Watson as witnesses, but was prevented from doing so by the narrow focus of the court case.

During the Shayler trial, Home Secretary David Blunkett and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw signed Public Interest Immunity certificates to protect national security. Reporters were not able to report allegations about the Gadaffi plot during the course of the trial.

These restrictions have led to a row between the Attorney General and the so-called D-Notice Committee, which advises the press on national security issues.

The committee, officially known as the Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee, has objected to demands by the prosecution to apply the Official Secrets Act retrospectively to cover information already pub lished or broadcast as a result of Shayler's disclosures. Members of the committee, who include senior national newspaper executives, are said to be horrified at the unprecedented attempt to censor the media during the trial.

Shayler claims Watson later boasted that there had been MI6 involvement in the Libyan operation. Shayler was also planning to call a witness to the conversation in which the MI6 man claimed British intelligence had been involved in the coup attempt.

According to Shayler, the woman, an Arabic translator at MI5, was also shocked by Watson's admission that money had been paid to the plotters.

Despite the James Bond myth, MI6 does not have a licence to kill and must gain direct authorisation from the Foreign Secretary for highly sensitive operations. Malcolm Rifkind, the Conservative Foreign Secretary at the time, has repeatedly said he gave no such authorisation.

It is believed Watson and Bartlett have been relocated and given new identities as a result of Shayler's revelations. MI6 is now said to be resigned to their names being made public and it is believed to have put further measures in place to ensure their safety.

A top-secret MI6 document leaked on the internet two years ago confirmed British intelligence knew of a plot in 1995, which involved five colonels, Libyan students and 'Libya veterans who served in Afghanistan'.

Ashur Shamis, a Libyan expert on radical Islam said: 'There was a rise in the activities of the Islamic Fighting Group from 1995, but many in Libya would be shocked if MI6 was involved.'

[IsraelForIran]

November 11th Update - London Observer: MI6 'halted bid to arrest bin Laden'
The London Observer today confirmed the story I reported on last month. Shayler was imprisoned for 6 months for revealing British Intelligence's protection of bin Laden and Al-Qaeda.

"British intelligence paid large sums of money to an al-Qaeda cell in Libya in a doomed attempt to assassinate Colonel Gadaffi in 1996 and thwarted early attempts to bring Osama bin Laden to justice."

Full story at http://politics.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,9174,837333,00.html

On the evening of 7th October, Tony Blair ordered a D-Notice on British media reporting government officials signing court gag orders. This regards the case of former MI5 officer David Shayler, who has evidence to prove MI6 gave £100,000 to bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, arms to Iraq and had prior knowledge of several terrorist attacks on London in the 1990's. The original articles stated that top Labour MP's had signed gag orders, whereby upon mention of this evidence in court, media have to immediately leave the trial. Newspapers all over the country, including the Guardian, the London Evening Standard and the Scotsman either completely removed or amended their articles. This evidence is damning. The British government is trying to bury the story before it buries them.

I first noticed that the Guardian article I had earlier posted on my website had disappeared. Already aware that Blair may well have ordered a D-Notice to eliminate these reports, I immediately started searching on Google for some more. In Britain, a D-Notice is where the government order a gag on a particular breaking story. I came across a very similar London Evening Standard report and immediately put it on my web site. Low and behold, five minutes later the link was dead! Amazingly, I still had the article up on my screen on a different browser window. I tried to archive the page to my desktop but to no avail. I did manage to print out a copy which I have scanned and linked below.

This story is massive because Shayler has them on the wracks on a number of different issues, from colluding with bin Laden, to arms deals with questionable characters. This could be particularly embarrasing for Jack Straw, who I, using mainstream reports, have identified as a key placeman in hawking arms to Pakistan, India and even Iran. Bilderberg member Peter Mandelson is also trying to cover his dirt by gagging these reports. The London Times reported how his new 'think tank' was being bankrolled by the Rothschilds two weeks ago. The Rothschilds control the BBC, who haven't even mentioned that the trial has started, never mind the accusations Shayler raises.

The original London Guardian report was entitled 'Ministers issue gag orders for MI5 trial' and was located at http://www.guardian.co.uk/shayler/article/0,2763,806009,00.html - as you will see if you click on the link, it's disappeared down the memory hole. The text I extracted from the report for my original link to it is as follows...

"Ministers issue gag orders for MI5 trial: They appear to be worried that he will make further allegations about MI5 and MI6 knowledge of a plot to assassinate the Libyan leader, Muammar Gadafy, in 1996. A book, Forbidden Truth, published this summer claims that British intelligence was in contact with "Osama bin Laden's main allies" who were opposed to Colonel Gadafy."

UPDATE - A Google cache of the Guardian article has now been posted online. Note that Google automatically cache popular web documents, the Guardian have not officially re-posted their article. View it by clicking here.

The London Evening Standard article was entitled 'Calls for secret Shayler trial' and was at http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/1488303 - again, it has now been removed. Luckily I saved the text to a Word file and printed the article: UPDATE - After pressure, this article is now back online! But for how long? Save it to your hard drive.

Before you read this, it is important to understand the issue at hand. We're talking about MI6 cooperation with bin Laden, arms to Iraq and, as reported today in the Scotsman, claims that, 'secret services ignored warnings that might have prevented bombings in the London in 1993 and 1994.' Shayler has evidence that MI5 wilfully failed to stop the bomb attack on Israel's London embassy in 1994 and the IRA's 1993 Bishopsgate bombing, which killed one person. Here it is in Shayler's own words plus the actual MI6 Gaddafi plot document - MI6 Plot to assassinate Colonel Gaddafi: Police enquiry confirms Plot is not "fantasy" - http://cryptome.org/shayler-gaddafi.htm

Here is the London Evening Standard report I managed to rescue.

Update! Take a look at the scans of the article I printed off -
why was it removed? Judge for yourself...










Calls for secret Shayler trial

By Patrick McGowan, Evening Standard

The Government has been accused by lawyers of trying to interfere in the trial of former MI5 officer David Shayler by insisting that part of the proceedings are held in private.

Ministers are demanding that trial judge Mr Justice Alan Moses agree in advance that the case go into private session without saying why and without hearing arguments to the contrary from the defence.

Shayler's trial, on charges under the Official Secrets Act, was beginning at the Old Bailey today. He is being prosecuted following newspaper interviews he gave five years ago and the trial is expected to last for at least four weeks.

On Friday Home Secretary David Blunkett and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw signed identical public interest immunity certificates under which the press and the public will have to leave court if sensitive security issues are raised.

The certificates do not specify what information they are trying to keep secret on the grounds that to do so would cause the very damage the Government is seeking to avoid.

They claim: "Publication of information of the kinds referred to would be likely to assist those whose purpose it is to injure the security of the United Kingdom and whose actions in the past show that they are willing to kill innocent civilians, both inside and outside the UK, in pursuance of their aims."

Mr Blunkett and Mr Straw also claim present and future intelligence operations would be compromised.

PII certificates signed by Conservative ministers were controversially used during the arms-to-Iraq trials in the Nineties.

Normally the judge in a trial would read documents in the case and, after hearing arguments from both sides, decide whether they should be disclosed. Now he is being asked to make his decision in advance.

Shayler, 36, faces three charges. They allege he disclosed information, disclosed information obtained by interception of communications and disclosed documents. The Crown Prosecution Service has already given notice that it will apply for some parts of the trial to be held in camera. This will apply to evidence on "sensitive operational techniques of the Security and Intelligence Services".

It is expected that the court will also be asked to keep the identities of MI5 agents secret and allow them to give evidence from behind screens.

Today Geoffrey Robertson QC, representing civil rights group Liberty, will oppose the Government's move. Michael Tugendhat QC, appearing for various national newspapers, is expected to argue that the Government has provided no evidence that national security will be threatened by the trial and will underline the importance of open justice.

During the arms-to-Iraq cases Mr Justice Moses was prosecuting counsel and Mr Robertson was counsel for the defence when three directors of the machine tool company Matrix Churchill were accused of selling equipment to the Iraqi regime.

Shayler will be defending himself during the trial. He is expected to claim that British secret service agents paid up to £100,000 to al Qaeda terrorists for an assassination attempt on Libyan leader Colonel Gadaffy in 1996. He is seeking permission to plead a defence of "necessity" - that he acted for the greater good by revealing wrongdoing by the security service.

Although much of the trial may end up being held in camera, the arguments about which parts should be kept secret will be held in public. Only after they are concluded is the jury expected to be sworn in so the trial proper can begin.

UPDATE: The London Evening Standard have published a shorter, watered down, version of this story. It does not mention MI5's £100,000 transfer to Al-Qaeda. Yet more evidence of a top down cover-up - read the new whitewashed piece here and compare it to my scanned original that was pulled along with all the others!

------------------------------------

The Scotsman also released a report which remains online but both the title and the article has been amended!!! The new article talks about new MI5 head Eliza Manningham-Buller, only mentioning the Shayler case in passing. It certainly does not include information concerning the Labour MP's involved and government prior knowledge of terrorist bombings in London.

http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=1113312002 is the amended version - I archived the original at http://www.propagandamatrix.com/renegade_mi5_agent_to_face_jury.htm. The report was originally entitled 'Renegade MI5 agent ready to face jury' it is now called 'Has MI5 really emerged from shadows?' This is the report with the most damning information (the one they erased).

Here is the text of the original - again archived at http://www.propagandamatrix.com/renegade_mi5_agent_to_face_jury.htm

Renegade MI5 agent ready to face jury

KAREN MCVEIGH

DAVID Shayler, the former M15 officer branded a traitor by the government, is due to take on the legal establishment today, as his trial opens at the Old Bailey in London.

The renegade agent, who faces six years imprisonment for breaching the Official Secrets Act after making a number of sensational revelations about M15 to a national newspaper in 1997, will represent himself for part of the landmark case. The trial will centre around a number of allegations made by Shayler about M15 holding files on prominent politicians, including former cabinet minister Peter Mandelson and Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary. He also claimed the secret services ignored warnings that might have prevented bombings in the London in 1993 and 1994.

Shayler, 36, faces two charges under section one of the Official Secrets Act for disclosing documents and information about the work of M15 and another under section four, for disclosing information about telephone taps.

He has failed so far to win his argument that his revelations were in the public interest. The High Court, Court of Appeal and the House of Lords, have all ruled that he cannot claim he disclosed information in the public interest or out of necessity. They also ruled out the main plank of Shayler’s defence - that the Officials Secrets Act is incompatible with the Human Rights Act.

Shayler, who made other allegations for which he was not charged, including a claim that M16 was involved in a plot to assassinate the Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi, will argue that he is only guilty of "exposing wrongdoing".

"I aim to persist in my argument that the Official Secrets Act as it currently stands is totally incompatible with the Human Rights Act," he told a newspaper yesterday.

Some of the hearing is expected to be taken up by an application by newspapers objecting to plans to hold parts of the trial in secret.

The prosecution applied for hearings to be held in camera after its concerns that Shayler will make fresh allegations to the jury to back up his public interest defence.

Shayler’s decision to defend himself, against the advice of his legal team, for part of the trial was prompted by the belief that he will be freer to argue his case than his barrister, Geoffrey Robertson, QC, whose hands are tied by earlier court rulings.

------------------------------

If we make a big stink about this it could really hurt them. We can't let it disappear down an Orwellian memory hole. Please E mail all three publications and asked them why they removed or altered their reports.

E mail the London Guardian at userhelp@guardian.co.uk E mail the London Evening Standard at editor@thisislondon.co.uk E mail the Scotsman at newsdesk_TS@scotsman.com

Even local papers such as the Leicestershire Mail and the Derby Evening Telegraph have removed the story from their websites! The original stories were here and here respectively. They were entiled ''SHAYLER AT OLD BAILEY FOR TRIAL' and 'SHAYLER ARRIVES FOR TRIAL.' As you can see by clicking the links, they are gone. As is a London Independent article that was entitled 'MI5 faces accountability test as new chief takes reins.' As of 4am UK time, you can still see the original titles of the reports as stored on Google's Beta News Search (these will probably also be deleted in the coming hours).

UPDATE: It is now confirmed that all details relating to the Shayler case cannot be reported. The UK government have successfully gagged the cowardly pathetic mainstream media, but I will continue to track this story.

The Guardian reports - 'Shayler hearing'

'An Old Bailey court yesterday heard legal arguments relating to the trial of David Shayler, the former MI5 officer charged with breaking the Official Secrets Act. The judge ruled that they cannot be reported. Mr Shayler's trial is now expected to be heard before a jury next week.'
Richard Norton-Taylor

Read this tiny blurb at http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,806640,00.html (until they remove that too)

UPDATE: Shayler gag story breaks in foreign media (2 days after I first reported it of course)

The Age of Australia reports (original link: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/10/09/1034061258269.html)

Media gag on alleged plot to kill Gaddafi

October 10 2002
By Paul Daley
London

The British media have been gagged from reporting sensational courtroom evidence of former MI5 spy David Shayler, including his alleged proof that the British secret service paid $270,000 for al Qaeda terrorists to assassinate Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 1986.

In its efforts to contain Mr Shayler's allegations to the privacy of the court, the government has even stopped the media from reporting its successful attempt to win a gag order.

The decision by an Old Bailey judge to stop the media from reporting parts of Mr Shayler's evidence came on Monday after two senior ministers, David Blunkett and Jack Straw, signed Public Interest Immunity certificates.

The certificates, which were submitted to the court, insisted that the media and the public leave the court if the activities of the security and intelligence agencies were raised by the defence.

The then Labour opposition strenuously opposed the Tory government's use of the certificates during the arms-to-Iraq prosecution in the early '90s. Some guilty verdicts were subsequently overturned on appeal because the defence successfully argued that it had been deprived of relevant information.

When such certificates are issued, it is standard practice for the judge to read the applications and publicly hear the arguments for and against a gagging order, before ruling. But in the case of Mr Shayler - a 36-year-old former MI5 officer who is accused of disclosing government secrets to the media and in a book - the government wanted the judge, Justice Alan Moses, to consider the application in private.

The British media widely reported on Monday that lawyers acting for Mr Shayler had accused the government of trying to "intimidate" Justice Moses. But on Tuesday the newspapers - many of which had mounted their own legal case against the application of the certificates - reported simply that the court had heard legal arguments relating to Mr Shayler's trial. "The judge ruled that they (the legal arguments) cannot be reported," The Guardian reported.

Although Mr Shayler's jury trial is expected to begin next week in the Old Bailey, any evidence relating to sensitive security or intelligence matters will be kept private. After the judge's ruling on Monday, several articles detailing Mr Shayler's anticipated evidence - and the government's efforts to keep it secret - were withdrawn from newspaper websites across the country.

It is believed the government successfully applied to have parts of the trial heard in camera. This applies to evidence on "sensitive operational techniques of the security and intelligence services".

It is also believed that the court agreed to keep the identities of MI5 agents secret and to allow them to give evidence from behind screens.

------------------------

For an overview of the background of the Shayler case, visit an archive of Shayler.com - David Shayler's official web site which was deleted due to 'non payment'. Some links are dead - http://web.archive.org/web/20000608192145/http://shayler.com/

Bookmark this page. I will add any updates in the near future. If you have any new information, mainstream articles etc. please E mail me at paul@propagandamatrix.com

http://www.propagandamatrix.com



Side One (Click to Enlarge)
Side Two (Click to Enlarge)

SHAYLERGATE:
British Press Gagged on Reporting MI6's £100,000 bin Laden Payoff By Paul Joseph Watson (Updated 11th Nov.)

[IsraelForIran]

And this "objective" government is trying to give us orders!!!!
Their foreign minister visites Iran many times, and there he calls Sharon "the cencer of the middle east", and what he really means is "Israel, the cencer of the middle east".
Brits have an aparthid policy N.Ireland, they are that nation that commited the biggest number of ethnic cleasing, and caused most of the current conflicts.
Today they still try to dictate some areas, like the middle east and Northen Ireland!!!
It where them who came in 1917 and gave opposite promises to Jews, Arabs, and French!!!!!
Now it's a new kind of colonialism, to dictate nations and to still their natural recourses by helping evil, monster regimes that dictate their citizens, and push all their citizens' angers toward other nations to keep the regime in power, and to make the citizens poor and misrable, and by that getting richer and stronger.
SHAME ON THE BRITS!!!!
YOU CAUSED THE CYRPIS CONFLICT!!!!
CHINA CONFLICT!!!
EGYPT DICTATORSHIP!!!
PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI CONFLICT!!!!
CHINESE DICTATORSHIP!!!!
SOUTH AFRICAN CONFLICT!!!
NIGERIA CONFLICT!!!
INDIA-PAKISTAN CONFLICT!!!
SYRIA DICTATORSHIP!!!
SYRIAN OCCUPATION OF LEBANON!!!
YOU HUMILIATED NATIONS AND MASSACARED THEIR PEOPLE, AND STOLEN THEIR RECOURSES, AND MADE THEM POOR AND MISRABLE!!!!
DOWN DOWN BRITISH HYPOCRICTY AND TERROR!!!!
STAY IN LONDON, WALES AND GLASGOW, LEAVE THE REST OF THE BLEEDING WORLD ALONE!!!!

[Liberty Now !]

I wouldn't be a slightest bit surprised if all the Islamist groups had links to Britain or were backed by them.

What surprises me is the rest of the world keeping their mouth shut about all this for too long and in what is proving to be a very heavy cost.

Time to expose British links to islamists.
However, Britain has made so much money off Iran's oil that they can easily pay to keep everyone quiet, even in States!

It's up to us to expose them, as much as possible.



_________________
Paayande Iran

[Liberty Now !]

May I also add, that it is one of the biggest MYTHS in North America that United States is the main policy maker in the world.

Britania has been the main force behind most of the world events, and continues to manipulate it behind the scence with far greater grip than US can ever reach let alone surpass.

The recent hisotry of Middle East is enough proof, and if not look at many other British Colonies that are pretending to be an ally of US but in reality still a Mine Field for the United States.

Britain have manipulated most of the recent world events using the many terrorist groups, from separation of Pakistan from India to the Islamic Coup in Iran. They continue to use the same forces, and are just as much on top of it, while pretending to be an ally of USA.

Most of the Anti-US as well as Anti-Semite activism and propaganda have their roots and links to British Colonialists.
_________________
Paayande Iran

[redemption]

I'm sick and tired of the British always trying to undermind the principles of Freedom and Justice which kicked their big-toothed asses out of our country several hundred years ago.. Screw the Brits - this is about freedom, something they have tried to repress for many years.. It's time for those British who support freedom in Iran to come to the scene and make apologies for past British terrible actions and make ammends with Iranians so that we may all be free!!!!

_________________
IRANIANS UNITE
PERSIA LIVES ON!!
FREE IRAN NOW!

[Liberty Now !]

[Liberty Now !]