or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
•
"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
•
"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
November 05, 2005
Important News From The Land Of Tea-Drinkers
The embarrassing thing about England is they seem to take this "rule of law" thing seriously. In other words, at least some of them believe the highest officials in their government shouldn't do things that are illegal. What sissies! Someday we will have to beat them up for this.
Chris Floyd's latest column is about the latest manifestation of this British weakness, one that's been covered here barely at all:
Last week, a legal thunderbolt struck at the heart of the grubby conspiracy that led the United States and Britain into an illegal war of aggression against Iraq. But this searing blow didn't fall in Washington, where a media frenzy raged over a White House indictment, but in the deeps of southern England, in a military courtroom, where a lone soldier stood against the full force of the great war-crime enterprise, armed only with a single, rusty, obsolete weapon: the law.Posted at November 5, 2005 12:22 PM | TrackBack...[I]n Wiltshire, Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith faced a court martial after declaring that the Iraq war was illegal and refusing to return for his third tour of duty there, the Guardian reports.
He has been charged with four counts of "disobeying a lawful command." But Kendall-Smith, a decorated medical officer in the Royal Air Force, says that his study of the recently-emerged evidence about the lies, distortions and manipulations used to "justify" the invasion has convinced him that both the war and the occupation are "manifestly illegal." Thus any order arising from this criminal action is itself an "unlawful command," the Sunday Times reports. In fact, the RAF's own manual of law compels him to refuse such illegal orders, Kendall-Smith insists...
The moral rigor of his defiance has sent tremors through the British military establishment, already shaken by the strange, unexplained shooting deaths of two military inspectors investigating atrocity allegations in Iraq, the Guardian reports. British brass are panicky about the Goldsmith revelations; indeed, the leader of the UK invasion force, Admiral Michael Boyce, said he now believes the British military does not have "the legal cover necessary to avoid prosecution for war crimes," the Observer reports. Boyce added that if he and his officers are eventually put on trial for such crimes, he'll make sure that Blair and Goldsmith are in the dock beside them.
From The Independent (UK):
Senior military investigator found dead in Iraq
By Kim Sengupta in Basra
Published: 17 October 2005
A senior British military police officer in Iraq involved in the investigation of alleged abuse of Iraqi civilians by soldiers has been found dead at a camp in Basra.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article320111.ece
The article is available for a fee.
Has anybody seen more on this story?
Senior military torture investigator found dead in Iraq
London Independent/Kim Sengupta | October 17 2005
A senior British military police officer in Iraq involved in the investigation of alleged abuse of Iraqi civilians by soldiers has been found dead at a camp in Basra.
The body of Captain Ken Masters, the commander of 61 Section of the Special Investigations Branch (SIB), was found in his bed at the airport at the weekend. The death is being investigated by the SIB.
Defence sources said the death was "not due to hostile action and also not due to natural causes".
However, it is believed that investigators have not found a suicide note, nor firearms related to the incident. Capt Masters was not receiving any medical or psychological treatment.
Friends and colleagues of Captain Masters, who was married with two children, said that his death had come as a "total surprise".
After his body was found early on Saturday evening a siren sounded over Basra camp, flares were fired in the air, and all military personnel were confined to barracks .
Despite being of middle-rank, Captain Masters was in charge of all serious incidents involving the British military in Iraq.
It was not immediately known which particular cases he had been personally involved in investigating. The British military is, however, looking into several dozen cases.
Seven members of the Parachute Regiment are on trial for the murder of an Iraqi teenager, Nadhem Abdullah.
Several Fusiliers have been convicted at a court martial in Osnabrück, Germany, of abusing civilians and photographing the acts.
Some soldiers have been charged in relation to the death of a hotel receptionist, Baha Musa.
A spokesman for the British forces in Basra said: "The commanding officer of 61 Section, Special Investigations Branch, Capt Ken Masters, was found dead last night at a military establishment in Iraq.
"The matter is now under investigation and until this is completed it will be inappropriate for me to make any further comment. It was not due to any hostile action. It was not down to natural causes."
A military source said "This has come as shock to us. Ken was not suffering from depression or anything that indicated that he would take his own life."
Posted by: Nebris at November 7, 2005 08:02 AMNebris:
Thanks for the complete article. However, "complete" doesn't include what the guy seemed to be dead of. Sleeping pills? A fifth of vodka? A hashish OD? Three 7.62 rounds to the ear?
The empire works in wondrous ways its horrors to perform.
