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Whistleblower Arrested for leaking Bush Bombing Memo

by Steven D
Wed Nov 23rd, 2005 at 10:07:10 AM EST

The UK civil servant who leaked the memo that Bush wanted to bomb Al-Jazeera's offices in Qutar has been arrested under Britain's Offical Secrets Act, as reported here by MsNBC:

LONDON - A civil servant has been charged under Britain’s Official Secrets Act for allegedly leaking a government memo that a newspaper said Tuesday suggested that Prime Minister Tony Blair persuaded President Bush not to bomb the Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera.
The Daily Mirror reported that Bush spoke of targeting Al-Jazeera’s headquarters in Doha, Qatar, when he met Blair at the White House on April 16, 2004. The Bush administration has regularly accused Al-Jazeera of being nothing more than a mouthpiece for anti-American sentiments.
The Daily Mirror attributed its information to unidentified sources. One source, said to be in the government, was quoted as saying that the alleged threat was “humorous, not serious,” but the newspaper quoted another source as saying that “Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair.”

As to the authenticity of the information in the memo, that Bush wanted to target Al-Jazeera, we received the usual non-denial denials yesterday from the White House and 10 Downing Street:

“We are not interested in dignifying something so outlandish and inconceivable with a response,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan told The Associated Press in an e-mail.
Blair’s office declined to comment on the report, stressing it never discussed leaked documents.

I don't know about you, but whenever someone in this Administration says "I won't dignify that with a comment" bells ring in my head, and a little dialogue bubble pops up with the word GOTCHA! in it. I guess the war on Terror now identifies both whistleblowers and the media as their principle enemies. They certainly seem to have forgotten about Osama bin Laden.

Whistleblower Arrested for leaking Bush Bombing Memo | 7 comments (7 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Whistleblower Arrested (none / 0)

Exactly. There is no flat out denial by the WH. (although the pentagon is denying it.) And given the prior actions of this administration, this story has that ring of truth to it, sad to say.

Oh, there you are, Perry. -Phineas -SLB-

by boran2 (blogistan@yahoo.com) on Wed Nov 23rd, 2005 at 10:31:59 AM EST

Re: Whistleblower Arrested (none / 0)

Londonbear has more on this, from the angle of the gag on the British press about this.

I love whistleblowers.

Hickok: "You know the sound of thunder. Can you imagine that sound if I ask you to? Ma'am, listen to the thunder."

by susanhu (susanhuatearthlinkdotnet) on Wed Nov 23rd, 2005 at 10:47:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Whistleblower Arrested (none / 0)

Can someone give me an elementary explanation of the Official Secrets Act and why it is so much more serious and punitive than our own laws?

Hickok: "You know the sound of thunder. Can you imagine that sound if I ask you to? Ma'am, listen to the thunder."

by susanhu (susanhuatearthlinkdotnet) on Wed Nov 23rd, 2005 at 11:14:33 AM EST

Re: Whistleblower Arrested (none / 0)

My guess? Because it's Britain. A lot of their laws are positively terrifying compared to the ones found in the US and Canada. From libel to laws dealing with police handling of encryption keys. The latter being especially bad. If the law I'm thinking of passed, which I think it did, the police can compel you to turn over the encryption keys to any piece of data. If you refuse or inform anyone else of the request, even to the point of consulting a lawyer about it, you are thrown in jail. If you provide them with the wrong keys, you're thrown in jail.

Kill because somebody was killed. Get killed because he killed. Do you think peace will ever come like that?

by Egarwaen on Wed Nov 23rd, 2005 at 11:51:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Whistleblower Arrested (none / 0)

Of course I recommend Wikipedia but essentially the OSA says anything supposed to be confidential must be kept confidential. Not really anything shocking or new.

If you read this old BBC article you will see that it's not quite as punitive and severe as you might think. That being said, it's now in the "post 9/11 slash war on terror slash no more freedoms" age, so maybe it's taken a bit more seriously now.

Britain does have some pretty durn severe laws though.

Pax

Night and day you can find me Flogging the Simian

by soj on Wed Nov 23rd, 2005 at 12:51:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Whistleblower Arrested (none / 0)

One major differnce is that the British law criminalizes both the leaker and publisher of classified information, unlike the US Espionage Act, which criminalizes only the leaker. Even Fitzgerald seemed uncomfortable with its draconian reach when he compared them in his press conference.

Linda Heard says that going after the editors would be a first for the British.

On a different note, how well has the propoganda campaign against Al Jazeera worked here? Ask yourself, if, when blogging, you'd cite the NYT or AJ's version of a piece that had no substantial differences betwween them?

". . . the more educated you are, the more indoctrinated you are. After all, propaganda is largely directed towards the privileged." -Noam Chomsky

by Arcturus on Wed Nov 23rd, 2005 at 03:56:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

If the memo is fake, (none / 0)

it ain't a leak. In which case I hope the civil servant at least takes Prime Asslicker Blair to court for false arrest. It seems too much to hope that the transatlantic Big Sleep will end anytime soon. The rest of Europe must be jamming the cathedrals thanking God for the Channel.

FDR's response to progressive demands: "I agree. Now go out and make me do it."

by DaveW on Wed Nov 23rd, 2005 at 01:55:03 PM EST

Whistleblower Arrested for leaking Bush Bombing Memo | 7 comments (7 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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