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When "Climate of Fear" media spin and hype is in evidence, David Blunkett cannot be far behind.
The BBC backgound article quotes him, and BBC News 24 broadcast this:
"I think that it's absolutely certain that Al-Quaeda were planning and training for coordinated attacks.
We were very close indeed to disaster.
And at the time, bearing in mind that was a year, just over a year, after the attack on the World trade Center.
We were actually much calmer and reassuring to the public than we felt ourselves."
i.e. they lied to the public, presumably "for our own good" since "They Know Best".
Why is the *former* Home Secretary commenting on National Security matters, surely that should be a job for the current incumbent, Charles Clarke ?
BBC News 24 just had some guy on pointing out more or less what has been reported here, ie, no ricin was found, the other guys were released, poor quality of evidence, etc, and that the media were reporting it poorly.
More David Blunkett comments on this case, this time, ones made whilst still Home Secretary, which very nearly prejudiced the actual Court case!
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1355868.html?menu=
"Blunkett censored over ricin trial
Former home secretary David Blunkett has been criticised by the judge trying police killer Kamel Bourgass for making an "impromptu remark" during a BBC interview which defence lawyers later claimed jeopardised the ricin trial.
Although Mr Justice Penry-Davey refused to abort the trial, he made it clear he thought Mr Blunkett should not have made his remark in November 2002.
He said the comment "was clearly in breach of the presumption of innocence" enshrined in the law.
Mr Blunkett's remark about terrorists planning to set up a cell which threatened the UK was made during an interview following up a Sunday Times article about a threatened sarin gas attack on the London Underground.
Defence counsel Michael Mansfield QC claimed during pre-trial legal argument that the Government had deliberately leaked the story, knowing it was false, as propaganda in the run up to the Iraq war.
Mr Mansfield said that ahead of a Downing Street briefing for political journalists, officials had been briefed on how to answer questions about the Sunday Times story.
Mr Mansfield said the answer which was to be given was that three people had been charged that week under the Terrorism Act.
The impression the press was given was that they had been charged in relation to the sarin attack plot, the lawyer claimed. This was not the case.
Mr Mansfield also claimed "Islamaphobia" had been exploited. He added: "This case has been used and abused by the state, in particular because of the context of the lead up to the war."
But Mark Dennis, prosecuting, said there had been no authorised leak that an attack was threatened on the Underground."
How is a Prosecution lawyer ever going to be in a position to know for sure if a particular Government "leak" was "authorised" or not ?
==========
CORRECTION
That headline should, of course have used the word "censured" like the original Press Association report
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4394843
rather than "censored" like Ananova and the Evening Standard/ThisIs London copies.
See how easy it is for "clean databases" to get corrupted by accident ?
Investigative journalist Duncan Campbell, writing in The Guardian sheds some more expert witness light on the alleged provenance of the ricin and other poison recipes which Bourgass had in his possession.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1459096,00.html
This confirms the initial report by George Smith, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, GlobalSecurity.Org
http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/nsn/nsn-050411.htm
More debunking of the alleged lethality of the amateur poison recipes found on the possession of Kamel Bourgass, and the ludicrous claims and spin about how it might be lethal in a cream etc.
!MORE UK TERROR TRIAL: Evil foiled or more mendacity?
by George Smith, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, GlobalSecurity.Org!
http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/nsn/nsn-050413.htm
Can you pass on the original BBC article, or post the text in full? I'd like to take a look at it...
Particularly annoying is the re-use of the same URL which effectively censors bookmarked or search engine indexed versions of the original story as published.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4433709.stm
The original BBC story, same photo as the current version, no right hand side bar links to "Background" articles:
Last Updated: Wednesday, 13 April, 2005, 15:09 GMT 16:09 UK
Man guilty of poison conspiracy
A suspected al-Qaeda operative who stabbed to death a police officer has been convicted of plotting to spread poisons on the streets of Britain.
[Photo: Kamel Bourgass was jailed for life in June 2004]
Kamel Bourgass is serving a life sentence after being convicted of murdering Detective Constable Stephen Oake during a 2003 raid in Manchester
Reporting restrictions covering that conviction were lifted on Wednesday.
Four other men were cleared last week of taking part in a conspiracy. A second trial has been abandoned.
Another man, Mohammed Meguerba, who jumped bail and fled Britain, is awaiting trial in Algeria.
Police found a series of recipes, ingredients and equipment which would have enabled Bourgass to manufacture ricin, cyanide, nicotine poison and several other poisons. There were also instructions about making explosives.
Police believe Bourgass was an al-Qaeda operative and say he had discussed various ways of spreading nicotine poison, including smearing it on car door handles in the Holloway Road area of north London
Anti-terrorist squad officers disrupted the operation when they raided a flat in Wood Green, north London, in January 2003.
[Photo: DC Stephen Oake, who was stabbed to death during a raid]
They discovered castor oil beans - the raw material for ricin - along with equipment needed to produce it and recipes for ricin, cyanide, botulinum and other poisons, along with instructions for explosives.
On Friday a jury at the Old Bailey cleared Mouloud Sihali, David Khalef, Sidali Feddag and Mustapha Taleb of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.
The jury was discharged after failing to reach a verdict on a second count - conspiracy to commit murder - against Bourgass.
He was convicted of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance by the use of poisons and/or explosives to cause disruption, fear or injury.
Charges have also been dropped against four other men, Samir Asli, Khalid Alwerfeli, Mouloud Bouhrama and Kamel Merzoug, who were due to face trial next week.
Defence lawyers claimed that Sihali, Khalef, Feddag and Taleb were innocent people who were caught up in the police investigation simply because they knew Bourgass or, in the case of Taleb, had operated the photocopier on which the poison recipes were duplicated.
[Photo: Castor oil beans are used to make ricin]
Bourgass fled after the Wood Green raid and ended up in Manchester. It was there he was arrested on 14 January 2003.
Desperate to get away, he punched an officer in the groin, grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed to death DC Oake. Three officers were also injured but Bourgass was overpowered and has been in custody ever since.
In June 2004 he was jailed for life for DC Oake's murder and told he must serve at least 20 years behind bars.
Police say Bourgass was a committed al-Qaeda operative who had spent time training in Afghanistan
=================================
Compare this with the "sexed up" version currently now online, the same URL
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4433709.stm
with the same photos, more Quotes and with added sidebar Background links:
Last Updated: Wednesday, 13 April, 2005, 18:38 GMT 19:38 UK
Killer jailed over poison plot
An al-Qaeda suspect who stabbed to death a policeman has been jailed for 17 years for plotting to spread ricin and other poisons on the UK's streets.
[Photo: Kamel Bourgass was jailed for life in June 2004]
Kamel Bourgass, 31, is already serving a life term after being convicted of murdering Detective Constable Stephen Oake during a 2003 raid in Manchester
Four other men were cleared last week of taking part in a conspiracy. A second trial has been abandoned.
Anti-terror chief Peter Clarke said a "real and deadly threat" was averted.
[Large Quote:
"The impact on the public, if he had succeeded in what he wanted to do, is incalculable"
Peter Clarke
Deputy Assistant Commissioner
Trials give terror battle insight
Questions over ricin conspiracy]
The BBC's Home Editor Mark Easton says the authorities in Britain believe there was a plan to co-ordinate chemical and biological attacks across Europe.
In London targets were to include the underground.
And in Paris the authorities suspect the Metro and Eiffel Tower could have been attacked.
In a statement, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Clarke said: "The impact on the public, if he [Bourgass] had succeeded in what he wanted to do, is incalculable."
And, paying tribute to DC Oake, he went on: "He died protecting the public from a vicious terrorist.
"It would be hard to underestimate the fear and disruption this plot could have caused across the country."
Cyanide poison
Anti-terrorist squad officers found a suspected chemical weapons laboratory when they raided a flat in Wood Green, north London, in January 2003.
They discovered castor oil beans - the raw material for ricin - along with equipment needed to produce it and recipes for ricin, cyanide, botulinum and other poisons, along with instructions for explosives.
After the raid police launched a nationwide search to find Bourgass, who fled from London to Manchester, where he was captured on 14 January 2003.
[Photo / Link: Courage of dead policeman]
It was there, during a desperate bid to get away, that he stabbed DC Oake to death with a kitchen knife and injured four other officers
In June 2004 Bourgass was jailed for life for DC Oake's murder and told he must serve at least 20 years behind bars.
Reporting restrictions covering the murder conviction were lifted at the Old Bailey on Wednesday.
Police believe the failed asylum-seeker, who has claimed to be Algerian, was an al-Qaeda operative and say he had discussed various ways of spreading nicotine poison, including smearing it on car door handles in the Holloway Road area of north London.
Another man, Mohammed Meguerba, who jumped bail and fled Britain, is awaiting trial in Algeria.
On 8 April, a jury at the Old Bailey cleared Mouloud Sihali, David Khalef, Sidali Feddag and Mustapha Taleb of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.
Bourgass was convicted of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance by the use of poisons and/or explosives to cause disruption, fear or injury.
The jury was discharged after failing to reach a verdict on a second count - conspiracy to commit murder.
Charges have also been dropped against four other men, Samir Asli, Khalid Alwerfeli, Mouloud Bouhrama and Kamel Merzoug, who were due to face trial next week.
[Photo: Castor oil beans are used to make ricin]
Defence lawyers claimed that Sihali, Khalef, Feddag and Taleb were innocent people who were caught up in the police investigation simply because they knew Bourgass or, in the case of Taleb, had operated the photocopier on which the poison recipes were duplicated.
In his statement, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Clarke added: "We must also remember that this case was about a conspiracy between a small group of terrorists.
"I would like to make it absolutely clear, as I have in the past, that the police service knows that they are not representative of the overwhelming majority of the law-abiding Muslim community who have stated their total rejection of violence and terrorism."
[Righthand sidebar:
BBC NEWS:VIDEO AND AUDIO
See inside the ricin plotter's 'chemical weapons lab'
UK POISON PLOT
LATEST NEWS
Killer jailed over poison plot
Four cleared of poison conspiracy
BACKGROUND
Mystery still surrounds killer
Key figures in ricin case
Case sparks asylum concerns
The ricin case timeline
When ricin was used to kill
In pictures: The ricin conspiracy
ANALYSIS
Comment: Questions unanswered
Trials give terror battle insight
THE POISONS
Q&A: What is ricin?
The deadly recipes
THE KILLING OF STEPHEN OAKE
Widow's pledge
'We must not let the bad guys win'
Terror raid that ended in tragedy ]
Censorship of Duncan Campbell's report in the Guardian's online archives through the use of an alleged Public Interest Immunity certificate !
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/27/guardian_pulls_ricin_piece/
http://theinsider.org/mailing/article.asp?id=1117
"Update: The Insider asked The Guardian why they removed the above article from their website but they provided no explanation until we offered to publicise the fact. On 20 April 2005 we received a vague statement from The Guardian by email stating that the article was removed for "legal reasons":-
"I can tell you that the article The Ricin Ring That Never Was was removed from the archive for legal reasons."
This was the response from the newspaper when The Insider asked for further clarification:-
"The article was not removed because of any inaccuracy. It was to do with a PII certicate [sic] protecting the identity of Porton Down [government weapons laboratory] experts who appeared as witnesses in the trial."
Source: Emails from Ian Mayes (Ian.Mayes@guardian.co.uk) on behalf of Barbara Harper/Readers' Editor's office (20 April 2005)."
It does sound very doubtful that Kamel would have taken the trouble to procure ricin, which I don't think is easily available in Britain, rather than try something much easier to obtain
CO, Castor Oil Online