HonkWatch #008: Guest House Paradiso (ii) – The Dowager

Crikey! It’s Fenella fielding, ‘er from Carry On Screaming, and the disembodied voice behind the announcements in The Prisoner! And she’s heaving her guts up!

Now that’s what I call value for money…
Crikey! It’s Fenella fielding, ‘er from Carry On Screaming, and the disembodied voice behind the announcements in The Prisoner! And she’s heaving her guts up!
Now that’s what I call value for money…
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Oh Blackwater Lovely War!

So, those uppity Iraqis are determined to exercise sovereign control over their own country by enacting a law to regulate even (gasp!) gun-toting western ‘bodyguards’:

Iraq has said it would review the status of all security firms after what it called a flagrant assault by Blackwater contractors. Eleven people were killed while the firm was escorting a U.S. embassy convoy through Baghdad on September 16.

“This legislation will cover everything to do with these companies. The companies will come under the grip of Iraqi law, will be monitored by the Interior Ministry and will work under its guidelines,” [Interior Ministry spokesman Major-General Abdul-Kareem] Khalaf said.

“They will be strictly punished for any (violations) on the street.”

(Reported by Reuters, 25th September)

As the BBC helpfully reminds us, “contractors are currently granted immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law by Order 17 of the Coalition Provisional Authority – the now-defunct interim body set up by the US-led coalition in the wake of the fall of Saddam Hussein.”

By Wednesday, Reuters was reporting that the American Defense Department was joining the State Department in running its own investigation:

Defense Department press secretary Geoff Morrell said Defense Secretary Robert Gates had sent a five-person team to Iraq to review the contractors’ operations.

…Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England had also ordered commanders to collect copies of contractors’ standard operating procedures and guidance on the use of deadly force to ensure they conform with U.S. rules.

The State Department is investigating a shooting incident earlier this month in which 11 people were killed while contractors from the U.S. firm Blackwater were escorting an embassy convoy through Baghdad.

Those contractors worked for the State Department. The Pentagon employs 7,300 security contractors in Iraq, but none of them are from Blackwater.

Morrell avoided getting directly into the whole Iraqi law side of things, but then he would, wouldn’t he? He’s repping the DoD, which is scrabbling to cover its arse before some scandal breaks on its own contractors. Yet even while he “rejected suggestions that security contractors in Iraq operate without oversight”, he couldn’t help but push the line that America (and by implication not Iraq) should investigate the actions of Americans and American companies:

We have the means to go after them through the Department of Justice. We have the means to go after them through military courts. Just because there has not been a prosecution brought does not mean that the authority does not exist to deal with people who misbehave or break the law.”

There does seem to be a rather delicious irony here: the DoD, which is so feverishly opposed to the idea that “unlawful combatants” held by American forces should be released from the Pentagon’s own quasi-legal system – one which is outside the controls of the standard principles of jurisprudence – into the realm of habeas corpus and cross-examination, is now pushing for US private citizens to be accorded the protections of the American courts for crimes they may have committed in a far-off foreign land.

So on the one hand an Iraqi accused of killing an American in Iraq might well find himself or herself whisked away to the Guantanamo Hilton, held virtually incommunicado for years, subject to treatment which would not be acceptable within the (hardly cushy) civil American prison system, with extremely limited access to legal assistance or welfare checks, and the possibility of summary punishment at the eventual end. On the other, an American accused of killing an Iraqi in Iraq might well find himself or herself whisked away to the States, given access to lawyers, bailed, permitted to exercise their constitutional rights whilst waiting to hear whether the authorities intend to proceed, considered innocent until proven guilty, possibly prosecuted, and maybe, just maybe, convicted by a jury of their peers – and then given the opportunity through the appeals system to question any such conviction. C’est la vie!

Anyway, the State Department was in a tizzy on Tuesday, when Henry Waxman, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, complained to Condi Rice that her goons were suppressing evidence about the Blackwater situation which the HOC wanted to see:

“Blackwater has informed the committee that a State Department official directed Blackwater not to provide documents relevant to the committee’s investigation into the company’s activities in Iraq without the prior written approval of the State Department,” Mr. Waxman’s letter [to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice] stated. The letter was made available to the news media on Tuesday.

In response, a State Department statement late Tuesday said: “There seems to be some misunderstanding with regard to this matter. All information requested by the committee has been or is in the process of being provided.”

The statement added: “Blackwater has been informed that the State Department has no objection to it providing information to the committee. We have offered to make available for testimony those officials in the best position to respond to the specific issues the committee has raised.”

(Reported in the NY Times)

By Thursday 27th, Waxman was once more waxing Blackwater’s arse, this time over its behaviour back in 2004, when it sent its contractors into Fallujah, the “hottest zone in Iraq in unarmoured, underpowered vehicles.” This was the incident when “four Blackwater employees escorting a convoy were killed and their charred bodies hung from a bridge”.

Waxman said the committee’s research showed that leading up to the incident, Blackwater was an “unprepared and disorderly organization” operating in a hostile environment.

“Mistake apparently compounded mistake,” he said.

The report was based on documents and interviews with 18 individuals with knowledge of the incident, including Blackwater’s Baghdad operations manager and project director and seven other staff from the company.

A day before the incident, the report said Blackwater’s operations manager in Baghdad sent an e-mail to company headquarters in North Carolina complaining about a lack of equipment, including armoured vehicles, ammunition and weapons.

“I need new vehicles, I need COMS, I need ammo, I need Glocks and M4s … I’ve requested hard cars from the beginning,” said the e-mail.

It’s possibly not the slick image of military competence and professionalism which Blackwater is aiming for – and the eyewitness reports from this month’s Baghdad balls-up published in Thursday’s NY Times probably don’t help either:

Participants in a contentious Baghdad security operation this month have told American investigators that during the operation at least one guard continued firing on civilians while colleagues urgently called for a cease-fire. At least one guard apparently also drew a weapon on a fellow guard who did not stop shooting, an American official [who "was briefed on the American investigation by someone who helped conduct it"] said.

This unnamed ‘American official’ (hmmm…) goes on to provide a broad outline of the events of 16th September:

The episode began around 11:50 a.m… Diplomats with the United States Agency for International Development were meeting in a guarded compound about a mile northeast of Nisour Square, where the shooting would later take place.

A bomb exploded on the median of a road a few hundred yards away from the meeting, causing no injuries to the Americans, but prompting a fateful decision to evacuate. One American official who knew about the meeting cast doubt on the decision to move the diplomats out of a secure compound.

“It raises the first question of why didn’t they just stay in place, since they are safe in the compound,” the official said. “Usually the concept would be, if an I.E.D. detonates in the street, you would wait 15 to 30 minutes, until things calmed down,” he said, using the abbreviation for improvised explosive device.

But instead of waiting, a Blackwater convoy began carrying the diplomats south, toward the Green Zone. Because their route would pass through Nisour Square, another convoy drove there to block traffic and ensure that the diplomats would be able to pass.

At least four sport utility vehicles stopped in lanes of traffic that were entering the square from the south and west. Some of the guards got out of their vehicles and took positions on the street, according to the official familiar with the report on the American investigation.

At 12:08 p.m., at least one guard began to fire in the direction of a car, killing its driver. A traffic policeman said he walked toward the car, but more shots were fired, killing a woman holding an infant sitting in the passenger seat.

Nice work if you can get it.

PS Reuters is running with this story, citing both the report in the NY Times and a similar one in the Washington Post, which is sourced by an anonymous State Department official and our friend the “U.S. official familiar with the investigation”.

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Ted Chippington’s Pebble Mill moment of glory

Okay, so posting up YouTube clips “is lazy and not MAN’s blogging,” but this a marvellous piece of television…

Oblique hat tip: Frankosonic, a rather fine repository of musical and other delights.

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Martin Scorsese’s muthafucking Muppets

Shamelessly teefed from GYBO…

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The key, the power..

This morning I suffered a chronic ECS*, and was forced to raid the piggy bank and go out keyboard shopping… Couldn’t be arsed to trek somewhere like Tantra, and I’m not sure if Bristol Mac Centre runs an actual real shop these days, so I ended up shuftying round that shithole Dixons (now, apparently, ‘Currys Digital’) and Staples, where the only Mac-compatible keyboards I could find were, erm, Muckrosoft.

Anyhoo, I now am the dubious owner of a ‘Wireless Optical Desktop 2000’ keyboard + mouse combo.

Seems okay, except the keys have a really low profile, and the mouse only has two buttons, so I can’t run app switcher, Dashboard and Exposé off it at the same time. And obviously, the fucking Apple button isn’t an Apple button, and it’s in the wrong fucking place At least the @ and the ” are located correctly, even if they’re not labelled right… But what’s with the randomly different sized buttons?!

Enough moaning for now. Here’s what she looks like:

* Extraordinary Coffee Spillage

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“Don’t Tase me, bro!” – killer virus epidemic goes musical

Some Andrew Meyer/University of Florida Tasering tunes…

See also here, here, here, here and, erm, here…

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Tased & Confused: Now in full audio glory!

Lots of people have been arriving here looking for audio of the Andrew Meyer University of Florida Taser incident: Well, ye who googles shall receive…

Direct linkies:*

• Long version (mp3)
• Medium version (mp3)
• Short version (mp3) (just the “Don’t Tase me, bro!” bit)

* For them wot can’t figure out how to strip the audio off the page

** Audio links now fixed! **

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LTADW

You ever have moments like that? Days? Weeks, months…

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The three golden rules…

This Blackwater thing rumbles on:

Admit nothing

The company has no knowledge of any employee improperly exporting weapons…

Deny everything

We have yet to see definitive proof that the firm in question is Blackwater…

Make counter-allegations

When it was uncovered internally that two employees were stealing from the company, Blackwater immediately fired them…

Job’s a good’un!

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Gutterbreakz mixitude

Bristol’s finest purveyor of dubstep bloggery, Gutterbreakz, is currently serving up a couple of rather fine mixes you may be interested in…

First up, here’s a mix from Bristol’s Adam Kidkut, who runs the Immerse label. Recorded back in July, and recently featured on Artofbeats Radio, it’s “a good representation of what I listen to, the direction Immerse is going and what people can expect from the radio show Diccon (aka Thinking) and I run on Passion Radio”.

Then there’s “a half hour of spontaneous [minimal] techno jamming” for good measure.

Stream or download both mixes on Gutterbreakz.

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WoBcast hits the quarter-century!

Says Pete Juxtaposeur…

To mark our 25th WoBcast we did a largely cover versions show because covers are in, what with copy,right and other blogs getting national media exposure and the Observer doing a top 50 covers article etc.

Check out the WoBcast website for full tracklistings plus RSS links and extra bonus beats!

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HonkWatch #007: Third Watch (S1E1)

Rookie cop Davis at the warm end of street policing…

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Blackwater in deep

The killing of ‘at least’ eleven Iraqis, all apparently unarmed civilians, by private security men last Sunday, continues to shine a light on Pentagon policies of revolving door recruitment and of pushing legal accountability to the furthest remove, as well as on the very nature of contemporary imperial power.

Since Sunday’s deaths – caused by armed employees of the Blackwater USA firing “‘randomly at citizens’ in a crowded square in the capital, killing innocent bystanders and a policeman” – it was first announced that the nominally independent Iraqi government would launch an investigation into all foreign private military and security contractors, and that all Blackwater people were being expelled from the country.

But by Friday Blackwater had “resumed limited operations in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.” According to Mirembe Nantongo at the US embassy, “the decision to allow Blackwater to resume work had been taken in consultation with the Iraqi government.” Well, naturally…

One wonders exactly how much longer the immunity deal for these artists-formerly-known-as-mercenaries can last:

Armed guards contracted by US and other government agencies were granted immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law under an agreement dating from 2003.

It was extended just days before the Coalition Provisional Authority – the now-defunct interim body set up by the US-led coalition in the wake of the fall of Saddam Hussein – was disbanded in June 2004.

Especially as Federal prosecutors back in the States are investigating awkward allegations that Blackwater has in some way been involved in the smuggling into Iraq of unlicensed automatic firearms and other military hardware:

Two former Blackwater employees have pleaded guilty in Greenville, North Carolina, to weapons charges and are cooperating with the investigation, The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina reported.

Federal prosecutors in North Carolina are handling the case, the News & Observer reported.

Blackwater, based in Moyock, North Carolina, employs around 1,000 contractors to protect the U.S. mission in Iraq and its diplomats from attack.

The newspaper quoted two unnamed sources as saying prosecutors are probing whether Blackwater was shipping weapons, night-vision scopes, armour, gun kits and other military goods to Iraq without the required permits.

The News & Observer also reported that prosecutors are probing whether Blackwater lacked permits for dozens of automatic weapons used at its training grounds in Moyock.

So, what are the odds on Blackwater taking the heat for its own high-profile sharp practices whilst other, perhaps less blatantly cavalier PMCs, get away with it?

Linkies:

• ‘Iraq to review all security firms’ (Tues, BBC)
• ‘The puppet talks back’ (Tues, The Nation)
• ‘US diplomats grounded in Iraq row’ (Weds, BBC)
• ‘Iraq to review security firms after shooting’ (Weds, Reuters)
• ‘Guards’ Iraq impunity under scrutiny’ (Thurs, BBC)
• ‘Blackwater working again in Iraq’ (Fri, BBC)
• ‘U.S. investigates Blackwater arms smuggling’ (today, Reuters)
• ‘Iraq Probe of U.S. Security Firm Grows’ (today, Washington Post)
• ‘Blackwater Resumes Guarding U.S. Envoys in Iraq’ (today, New York Times)

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Just because you’re paranoid…

“Welcome to the testing room of the Parallax Corporation’s Division of Human Engineering…”

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What are they looking for?

A handful of police were noseying around the Backfields Industrial Estate in St. Paul’s this afternoon.

The site, which is being redeveloped into flats and commercial premises by Knightstone Housing Association, has been seeing more and more activity from contractors and surveyors in recent days, so just what is it that the boys in blue were looking for?

PS There are now five police officers with sticks prodding around the car park and communal garden of Wilder Court, the housing estate which backs onto Backfields Industrial Estate.

Given that it’s pissing down with rain, one presumes that it must be fairly important… Could this be connected to the suggestion that one or more tenants there are either related to Mohamoud Muse Hassan, the Somali man stabbed to death in the Criterion early on Sunday morning, or to one of the three people thus far arrested in connection with the murder?

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Police play spin over Carnival

Hmmm… Blogging copper Chief Inspector Andy Bennett is meant to be taking a week off, but obviously the Criterion murder has been preying on the mind of the former Ashley Sector Inspector.

Bennett, who had a great hand in having the 2006 St. Paul’s Carnival cancelled, as well as being up to his neck in the Operation Atrium strategy, has filed a special, unscheduled blog about last weekend’s events… In which, um, he avoids all mention of the killing of Mohamoud Muse Hassan.

Instead he “really [wants] to tell you about my positive experiences at this years St Paul’s Carnival.”

On Carnival night, Saturday 15th of September 2007, I was given the role of Enforcement Officer to work with the noise team around the sound systems.

I was a volunteer as I believed my local knowledge would help broker resolutions in a sensible and proportionate way. I had great fun. It was an opportunity to visit some old acquaintances. The event was packed with thousands of people partying into the night.

There were only a few reported crimes and a couple of people arrested. Much less than the Rovers vs Leeds game the night before! By the witching hour of 1am all the sound systems had shut down making the staged closing of the event more natural and un-confrontational.

The people looked relaxed, the police officers looked relaxed and the event felt relaxed. I have nothing but praise for the organisers, the police, the community and the people who came. Thank you.

One hour and forty minutes after “the witching hour of 1am” police attended a 999 call at the Criterion in St. Paul’s where a man had been fatally stabbed.

So is it appropriate to play dumb and pretend this never happened? Does that help people in St. Paul’s? Is that really support for Carnival? Or is it a short-sighted mistake which will come back to bite Bennett and his fellow managers on the arse?

It reminds me somewhat of the state of ‘community policing’ that developed in St. Paul’s in the period from the murder of Bangy Berry at the beginning of 1996 through the late 90s into the early 2000s. Many local people were horrified at the foothold Jamaican Yardies were getting in the area, bringing more guns and crack into St. Paul’s. Residents’ groups and tenant associations repeatedly appealed to the police to do something, only to be repeatedly brushed off with the mantra, “There are no Jamaican Yardie gangs in St. Paul’s.”

Instead the local police chiefs refused to tackle the bandits treating our neighbourhood like their own private Wild West frontier town. Instead the police blackmailed local residents with a threat: St. Paul’s would not be policed like any other ward in Bristol. St. Paul’s residents would have to gather the evidence themselves and testify in court, at their own risk. Only then would the police do anything.

Except we know now that the police were long aware of the Jamaican Yardies. By 2003 A&S was admitting that it knew there were dangerous gangsters waging war on our streets, and was spinning its own, much-embellished narrative of a Chicago-style gang war between the Yardies and the Aggi Crew, not only to local hacks at the Post, but also to out-of-town crime reporters like Tony Thompson. Of course, the inconvenient truth of abandoning the locals in the late 90s was left out of the briefings. No mention was made of the police’s categorical denials that Yardies owned Tivoli Gardens and the Frontline before the ‘official’ timeline permitted.

The truth is messy. And seeking after the truth should not be about wish-fulfillment.

PS The Bristol Blogger’s article ‘Dead Strange’, about the police version of the Criterion murder so far, is well worth a read.

I would like to clarify what I see as the issue here: The A&S has said that the murder was not racially motivated, and that it was not connected to Carnival. This was made clear in the press release on Sunday 16th:

Detectives investigating the incident, which happened sometime after the St Paul’s Carnival had come to a close, said the motive of the attack was unclear and there are no indications it was racially motivated.

At this stage it is unknown what weapon was used during the incident.

Chief Inspector Cath Tarrant said: “A number of people were in the pub and saw the incident before leaving the premises. It is those people who we are keen to speak to as part of the investigation to identify the offender.

“The motive of the incident remains unclear but at this stage there is nothing to suggest it is connected to the St Paul’s Carnival which finished sometime before.

“The carnival was a huge success attended by well behaved people who enjoyed the atmosphere.”

This was – apparently – before any arrests had been made (the seventeen year-old girl and the first twenty-two year-old man were arrested on the Sunday, but this was not announced until the Monday… After the initial press release).

So the question is, how could the police categorically state, barely ten hours after attending the scene of Mohamoud Muse Hassan’s fatal stabbing, that there was no hint of a ‘racial’ motive, when it seems that at that stage they had no suspects, no murder weapon, and no clear idea of what had happened? And if that statement might reasonably seem premature, then surely the other statement might be considered premature also?

Of course, this is not to say that the killing was ‘Carnival-related’ – whatever that might mean. However, surely a detailed, competent murder investigation requires that all avenues of inquiry are studied before any are discounted?

Soft soap leaves much lather.

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Hot (fuzz) web chat

The A&S seems to be going all-out on the charm offensive at the moment – not only does cuddly cop Chief Inspector Andy Bennett write a blog telling us all about the good work he gets up to, now you can get pwned by 1337 law enforcers online in a live webchat!

Neighbourhood police officers will be hosting a webchat on Friday 21 September.

Sgt Davey and PC Ibrahim are from the Bishopsworth sector of the Force and welcome your comments and queries concerning any policing issues you may have.

This is an opportunity to speak to your neighbourhood team for Highridge & Bedminster Down, Headley Park and Ashton.

To link to the webchat or to submit a question in advance go to www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/webchat

The webchat will take place at 6pm until 7.30pm.

(From an A&S press release)

Perhaps senior officers north of the river might soon be similarly engaging the public with regards the concerns being raised by some – such as the Bristol Blogger – about the Criterion murder investigation…

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“Don’t Tase me, bro!”

Wired has been following the University of Florida stun gun incident with interest:

• The term ['Don't Tase me, bro!', as uttered by Andrew Meyer] hovered between 9th and 11th place as the most searched for term on Google for Wednesday, according to Google Trends.
• The above video has been the number 1 Viral Video for the past 24 hours, according to Unruly Media, an online marketing firm in London that tracks viral video activity on the Web. The Meyer arrest video has received 2.6 million views and almost 40,000 new comments since Monday.
• In contrast, the much-talked about MoveOn.org’s “Betrayal of Trust,” anti-Rudy Giuliani ad received just over 171 thousand views and 59 new blog posts. And John Edwards’ rebuttal to President Bush’s progress report on the Iraq war received 114 thousand views and 43 new posts.
• Many of the leading opinion shapers on both the left and the right, as well as newspaper blogs, offered their thoughts and insights on the incident.
• Television pundits across the dial offered their opinions, and those opinions were archived for posterity on YouTube.
• Several enterprising individuals have even snapped up variations of the spelling of the phrase as Web addresses. One of them points to a Wikipedia entry for the University of Florida.
• Someone has already created a mashup.
• A couple of t-shirt designs, and bumper stickers have emerged.
• Dozens of people have felt compelled to record their own video responses in a YouTube forum discussion on the matter.

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Line of paint

For once, browsing the Guardian website pays off – check out this video of Salvador Dali on What’s My Line?…

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Q: When is killing an unarmed suspect not a crime? A: When they have been “vetted as a target”!

An enlisted man who accused two Special Forces soldiers of illegally killing an Afghan man last year testified in a court Tuesday that he would not have agreed to make the accusation if he had known that a military investigation already concluded the killing was justified.Sgt. First Class Scott R. Haarer, a paralegal for the lawyer responsible for initiating the murder charges, said that if he had known about the investigation’s findings, “I would have requested that I not sign the document” that officially accused the two soldiers in June of premeditated murder….The hearing is meant to determine whether there is enough evidence to convene a court-martial for Capt. Dave Staffel and Master Sgt. Troy Anderson, the two Green Berets accused of killing a man the Army considered an “enemy combatant.”

On Captain Staffel’s order, Sergeant Anderson killed the man, Nawab Buntangyar, on Oct. 13 after a team of Special Forces soldiers discovered him walking outside his residential compound near the village of Ster Kalay, a few miles from the border with Pakistan. Special Operations commanders in Afghanistan had placed Mr. Buntangyar on a “Top 10” list of individuals to be captured or killed, according to other testimony heard Tuesday, because he had organized a local cell of suicide attackers and helped build bombs.

(NY Times)

Yesterday’s International Herald Tribune throws some more colour into the picture:

To the Special Forces soldiers and their 12-man detachment, the shooting, near the village of Ster Kalay, was a textbook example of a classified mission completed in accordance with the American rules of engagement. They said those rules allowed the killing of Buntangyar, whom the American Special Operations Command here has called an “enemy combatant.”

But to the two-star general in charge of the Special Operations forces in Afghanistan at the time, Frank Kearney, who has since become a three-star general, the episode appeared to be an unauthorized, illegal killing. In June, after two military investigations, Kearney moved to have murder charges brought against Staffel and Anderson – respectively, the junior commissioned and senior noncommissioned officers of Operational Detachment Alpha 374, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group.

The soldiers’ cases also highlight the level of scrutiny that Kearney, who also ordered swift investigations into an elite Marine unit accused of killing Afghan civilians last March, has given to the actions of some of the most specialized and independent U.S. troops fighting Taliban and insurgent forces along the border with Pakistan.

Mark Waple, a civilian lawyer representing Staffel, said that the charges against his client and Anderson carry a whiff of “military politics.” In an interview, Waple said that Kearney proceeded with murder charges against the two soldiers even after an investigation by the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command concluded in April that the shooting had been “justifiable homicide.”

A spokesman for Special Forces Command at Fort Bragg declined to comment on the shooting or the murder charges. Lieutenant Colonel Lou Leto, the spokesman for Kearney’s previous command, where the murder charges originated, also did not comment. Kearney was promoted in July to lieutenant general and became deputy commander of Special Operations, where a spokesman declined to discuss the case.

On Oct. 13, 2006, when Staffel learned that Buntangyar could be found in a home near the village where his detachment was guarding a medical convoy, he ordered a seven-man team to investigate the tip.

Driving toward Ster Kalay in two government vans, the Americans called the Afghan national police and border patrol officers to assist them, Waple said. Buntangyar had already been “vetted as a target” by U.S. commanders, as an enemy combatant who could be legally killed once he was positively identified, Waple said.

After the Afghan police called Buntangyar outside and twice asked him to identify himself, they signaled, using a prearranged hand gesture, to Anderson, concealed with a rifle about 100 yards away, Waple said.

From a vehicle a few hundred yards farther away, Staffel radioed Anderson, Waple said. “If you have a clear shot,” he told the sergeant, “take it.”

Confirming the order, Anderson fired once, killing Buntangyar. The U.S. team drove to the village center to explain to the local residents, “This is who we are, this is what we just did and this is why we did it,” Waple said.

The highest-ranking witness called to testify at the soldiers’ hearing Tuesday will be Kearney, though it is unclear whether he will comply with the request.

Also scheduled to testify is Sergeant First Class Scott Haarer, a paralegal on Kearney’s staff last October who, as part of the military justice procedure, signed the forms that charged Staffel and Anderson with murder.

‘Whiff of military politics’? No shit!

So anyway, if this chap Buntangyar was so very definitely a 100%, cast iron guaranteed terrorist mastermind, why not book him into Hotel Guantanamo for a quiet chat about his friends? Isn’t that what it’s for?

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Criterion: another arrest, girl charged

From the BBC News website (9:14am):

A 17-year-old girl has been charged with murdering a man inside a public house in Bristol.

Mohamoud Muse Hassan, 35, died after being stabbed in the neck at the Criterion pub in the St Paul’s area of the city in the early hours of Sunday.

The teenager is due to appear before Bristol magistrates on Wednesday.

A 22-year-old man is still being questioned on suspicion of murder. Another 22-year-old man had been released on bail, police said.

Based on A&S press release (8:10am):

A 17-year-old female will appear before Bristol Magistrates this morning charged with the murder of 35-year-old Mohamoud Muse Hassan, at a Bristol pub at the weekend.

Mr Hussan died during the early hours of Sunday morning, September 16, after being stabbed at the Criterion public house in Ashley Road, St Paul’s.

Yesterday detectives also arrested a 22-year-old man in connection with the murder of Mr Hussan.

That man remains in custody today pending further interview.

He is not the same 22-year-old man who was previously arrested in connection with this incident; that man remains on bail pending further enquiries.

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Stunning dissidence

This might ‘educate’ and/or ‘amuse’ our friend Chief Inspector Andy Bennett: On Monday student Andrew Meyer asked John Kerry why he conceded the 2004 election to Bush at a talk delivered by the former Democratic presidential candidate at the University of Florida. Police then tried to drag Meyer out of the hall, handcuffed him, Tasered him and told him he was being arrested for “incitement to riot”!

CNN reports that two campus cops “have been placed on leave with pay.”

The Florida Division of Law Enforcement will investigate Monday’s arrest of student Andrew Meyer, said J. Bernard Machen. Machen called the incident “regretful for us.”

“The thing that I regret is that civil dialogue and civil discourse did not happen,” Machen said. “That’s fundamental to a university campus. Why it didn’t happen is what we’re trying to sort out.”

Naturally Meyer was charged with “resisting officers with violence and for disturbing the peace,” before being released on Tuesday.

More info: Gainsville Sun

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Criterion: ‘Post’ murder analysis impedes investigation?

Police investigating the murder in the Criterion early on Sunday morning are appealing for mobile phone camera footage to help identify Mohamoud Muse Hassan’s killer.

Mobile phone footage from people who were in the St Paul’s area during the early hours of Sunday morning (September 16) is being sought as part of a murder investigation.

Detectives investigating the murder of Mohamoud Muse Hassan are appealing for anyone who may have taken photographs or videos inside or outside the Criterion pub between midnight and 4am on Sunday. Anyone who has any other imagery that may be of use to the investigating team is also urged to come forward.

It is believed many people were taking pictures on their mobile phones throughout the Saturday evening and into Sunday which could help identify the person responsible for Mr Hassan’s death.

On Sunday police seized CCTV footage from the pub and surrounding area as part of their investigation.

Anyone who may have footage or any information that could assist the murder investigation is urged to contact Bristol CID on 0845 4567000.

(Avon & Somerset Constabulary press release, filed 11:43am)

Not sure that today’s Evening Post story (with its hysterical headline ‘ANIMALS’ – shades of the infamous ‘FACES OF EVIL’ front cover) is going to be helpful in encouraging potential witnesses to step forward. The article claims that:

A paramedic…was grabbed by her hair and pulled out of an ambulance by a mob when she tried to treat a dying man.

Sarah Hodierne and her colleague Wayne Evans were first on the scene after a 999 call to The Criterion pub in St Paul’s early on Sunday.

…Ms Hodierne was dragged from the ambulance – and as she tried to resuscitate him she and Mr Evans were surrounded by a crowd of up to 100 people who jostled, shouted and jeered them.

The BBC News website corroborates, but avoids the hyperbole of the Post.

A reader commenting on the incident, Alfredo Quantinas, questions the Post’s version:

I was at the carnival on Saturday and was in the Prince of Wales pub [which is opposite the Criterion] when the incident happened, I saw the ambulance arrive and did not see anyone pull any paramedic out of the ambulance – this has been blown out of all proportion – if anything the ‘animals’ (your quote) were trying to direct the ambulance in as there was waiting traffic, there was a crowd of people around the dying man but the police had not cleared the area around the incident.

Meanwhile, of the two people arrested on suspicion of murder, the twenty-two year old man has been bailed, whilst the seventeen year-old girl remains in custody. (A&S [10:27am]; BBC [12:51pm])

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Is the new magistrates’ court Bristol’s own Bath Spa?

A £25m project to replace Bristol’s magistrates’ courts is a year overdue because of structural concerns, the BBC has learned.

The new court complex in the city centre is being built under the private finance initiative.

The Magistrates’ Court Services said: “We are in discussion with the contractors over the soundness of the ground floor.”

Sub-contractor Carillion said it had been told not to make any comment.

The Magistrates’ Court Service cannot say when the court staff, lawyers and defendants will be able to occupy the building.

BBC News website story from last Tuesday… And since then not heard anything.

cf: Timeline of the Bath Spa Project fiasco (BBC)

PS It’s not all doom and gloom for Wolverhampton-based construction group Carillion: Bristol Magistrates’ Court may be going tits-up, and Network Rail may have dumped them, but a £470m deal in the Middle East and and a £300m contract to work at Heathrow’s terminal 5 should keep the directors’ kids in shoe leather a while longer

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Some film blogs and podcasts you may like

I thought I’d plug some film websites that I rather rate, in case the title didn’t give that away…

Bloody Italiana

This is Herman’s and James’ blog devoted to all things bloody and – wait for it – Italian. Herman was a great help in pointing me in the right direction when I was after finding out more about mondo and cannibal films, but it’s not just gross-out stuff like that on BI – there’s zombies, giallo, detective stories, all sorts of stuff… And most of it I’ve never heard of, which is why it’s good to have a blog like this, one which gets down to the nitty gritty. [ Atom ]

Cinema de Merde

CdM is a site I came across when looking for material on Starcrash, an Italian Star Wars rip-off I wanted to watch with my movie buddy Vinny. I liked the way the author, Scott, came across as a shameless lover of tat, but also someone who had a brain in his noggin. His insightful reviews have even made me reappraise Brian de Palma (Scott is something of a BdP fan), a director I’d never really got on with bar Phantom Of The Paradise. Whilst I don’t always agree with Scott’s assessments, I certainly trust his integrity and his judgement, and he often gets me thinking about a film in ways I’d never previously considered – which is the mark of a good critic, I guess. Definitely a good place to browse through for ideas of films to watch (plus his essays are very interesting). [ RSS ]

FilmFanatic

FilmFanatic is a cineaste who is methodically working his way through the 1,650 ‘must-see’ movies recommended by Danny Peary in his book, Guide For The Film Fanatic. He shows an exceptional sense of commitment to the project, and provides some thought-provoking reviews in the process, balancing visceral appreciation with a scholarly analysis, but always in an accessible, minimally pretentious way. Definite props for not sticking to English language Hollywood fare, too. [ RSS ]

I’m Ready For My Close Up

IRFMCU is one of my favourite Resonance FM podcasts, and is definitely at the more highbrow end of the scale, but even then Alex Fitch and his co-presenters manage to draw the listener in with the genuine interest they show in the films they’re covering, rather than scaring you off with high-falutin’ mumbo jumbo. A lot of it relates to London film festivals and the like, but it’s all interesting. [ Atom ]

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Criterion update

Apparently two people – a sixteen year old girl and a twenty-two year old man – have been arrested in connection with the Criterion murder, according to reports in the Evening Post and on the BBC News website today. The dead man is named as Mohamoud Muse Hassan, aged thirty-five.

The Post story (filed at 10:40am) reports “Police could not confirm how many times he had been stabbed or what weapon was used,” but the later BBC story (filed at 3:13pm) says that “On Monday afternoon police revealed that they had recovered two knives from the area near the Criterion pub”.

The Evening Post does however confirm the suspicion about the police preventing the post-Carnival clean-up operation:

“Carnival would also like to apologise to residents that, as a result of the police investigation, the street cleaners were not allowed to continue when they turned up early Sunday morning.”

Sigma, the event management company used by the carnival team, were trying to persuade the authorities, throughout yesterday, of the urgent need to clean.

Interesting to note the contrast of police insistence throughout this that the murder was nothing to do with Carnival (“This was a tragic and totally isolated incident and not linked in any way to the carnival,” according to Chief Inspector Cath Tarrant) and that ‘there were no indications it was racially motivated,’ with the attitude expressed towards Carnival in recent years by A&S management. Mending fences, building bridges, or changing policy, I wonder?

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A&S police press releases

Two people arrested

Police have arrested two people in connection with the murder investigation.

A 16 year old girl and a 22 year old man were arrested yesterday and remain in custody at a Bristol police station. [7:40am]

Murder victim named

Police have named the man who was murdered at the Criterion pub in St Paul’s yesterday (September 16).

Mohamoud Muse Hassan, 35, died after he was stabbed at the pub at around 2.40am.

Police are continuing to appeal for witnesses to the incident.

A 16 year old girl and a 22 year old man remain in custody to be questioned about the incident throughout today. [11:39am]

Police recover knives from rubbish

Police investigating the murder of Mohamoud Muse Hassan have revealed that they have recovered two knives as part of the investigation.

Yesterday (September 16) police insisted that rubbish in and around the St Paul’s area was not to be collected as detectives were keen to secure any potential evidence.

A thorough search of rubbish bins and litter in the streets in the St Paul’s area has now been concluded and the remaining cordon on Ashley Road has been lifted.

The extensive search of the rubbish has resulted in police finding two knives.

The knives are being forensically examined to determine whether they are connected to the stabbing incident.

Police said that the recovery of the knives justified the need to delay the rubbish collections.

All of the rubbish has now been cleared from the area and road closures have been lifted. A small police cordon remains outside the Criterion pub which does not impact on traffic.

A post-mortem result has concluded that Mr Hassan died as a result of one stab wound to the neck.

Police are continuing to appeal for witnesses to the incident. [2:44pm]

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Ashton Court Festival is dead, long live Bristol Music Festival..?

Before I forget, spotted this:

The Bristol Music Festival are staging a public consultation evening on Thursday 25th October from 6pm.

The festival is a new and exciting event, replacing the Ashton Court Festival after the problems experienced by Bristol Community Festivals Ltd at the 2007 event.

Our Public Consulation evening is an open invitation for anybody who would like to express their interests while being a perfect opportunity to learn about the requirements of a modern day event. Media representatives, as well as local businesses, traders, potential volunteers and general public are all invited to attend.

Your participation will really help shape the future of The Bristol Music Festival. It’s being held at the Trinity Centre in St Phillips, Bristol and we ask any volunteers who would like to be involved to come along.

Not really heard about this since is was first mooted back in July and The Bristol Blogger mentioned it in passing.

Linkies:

• Bristol Music Festival website

BMF forum on Choke

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Shocked & amused

Local media darling Chief Inspector Andy ‘Gordon’ Bennett may have made a rather impolitic remark in his quest to come over all matey on his much-publicised ‘cuddly cop’ blog.

Showing characteristic tact and diplomacy whilst discussing the possibility of arming Bristol’s bobbies with potentially lethal stun guns, he mentioned the YouTube video of Manchester’s top cop getting Tasered, describing the footage as:

educational and amusing at the same time.

In itself, hardly that controversial. However, given that the Bristol Stun Gun Burglary Gang is currently running round electric shocking people with impunity, one wonders whether Bennett really thought through his remarks, or whether the victims of the gang felt ‘educated’ or ‘amused’ when confronted with a Taser.

Bennett – who now oversees the policing of South Bristol from Broadbury Road nick – used to be Sector Inspector in Ashley ward, where he made lots of friends through Operation Atrium (which included routine fully armed paramilitary patrols a few years back). Given how Atrium was the cause of District Commander Chief Superintendent Mike Roe’s own very public bollock-drop over lost bullets, one wonders whether there was something in the water back then at Trinity station which stimulates the fetishisation of weapons and promotes insensitivity.

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The Criterion killing

A chap was murdered in the Criterion early this morning, after the official end of Carnival here in St. Paul’s.

We’ve just had fifteen porkers doing a heart-not-in-it fingertip search (well, not ‘fingertip search’ really, more a ‘walking along and poking the ground with a stick search’) along the Frontline and Wilder Street, and I assume it’s in some way connected.

The street cleaners haven’t been around today either, so I guess it’s also reasonable to suppose the A&S asked them to hold off a while.

The BBC hasn’t reported many details, in fact its ‘report‘ is essentially a verbatim reproduction of the police press release, with minor edits.

[Police] were called to the Criterion pub in Ashley Road in the St.Paul’s area of the city at about 0240 BST.

Police say the victim, believed to be a local man in his 30s, died in Bristol Royal Infirmary later.

A police spokesman stressed the incident was not thought to be connected with the St.Paul’s carnival, held in the area on Saturday afternoon.

Detectives investigating the incident, which happened sometime after the carnival had come to a close, said the motive of the attack was unclear.

it is not known what weapon was used during the incident.

Nothing on Bristol IndyMedia or in the Post as yet.

Sympathies to the murdered man’s friends and family, regardless of whatever may have happened.

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How to make a home made feature film about the Nazi invasion of Britain (and only take eight years doing it)

How It Happened Here is a memoir by Kevin Brownlow, about the making of the extraordinary ‘what if’ film, It Happened Here.

If you are not familiar with It Happened Here, then I encourage you to become so. The premise of the movie is that Germany defeated Britain early on in World War Two, and we enter the movie two years into occupation, when a resurgence of anti-Nazi partisan activity causes one woman, Pauline, to leave her rural home and move to London. Once there she discovers that she is not permitted to carry on her work as a nurse unless she joins Immediate Action, the domestic version of the Nazi Party. So she joins IA. Not because she is pro-Nazi, or even particularly ‘right wing’; but simply as a pragmatic, resigned act of passivity… Except such passive acts naturally lead only to active acts of collaboration.

The film began in 1956 as the amateur project of Brownlow when he was an eighteen year old film buff, with designs on becoming a ‘proper’ film director. He had a basic idea for his film – the ‘what if’ speculative fiction angle of German Occupation – and managed to rustle up various volunteers to perform both in front of and behind the camera. The camera, along with everything else in the production (certainly to start with) was begged or borrowed, if not ever actually stolen. Well, not stolen by Brownlow, though the first camera lent to him was stolen from him.

Soon Brownlow met the sixteen year old Andrew Mollo, as an enthusiastic an amateur in the field of military history as Brownlow was in the field of moving pictures. Together they managed to forge a film which drew on historical accuracy, featured astonishingly effective action sequences, and was brutally convincing in portraying how ‘decent’ people can allow themselves to be drawn into committing indecent acts – or at least tacitly condoning them. And it only took them until 1964.

And this is Brownlow’s own account of the making of the film. Tradition dictates the use of the phrase “warts and all”, but that would suggest this is a more lip-lickingly sensational book than it is. Instead, we have Brownlow frankly admitting to mistake after mistake, and yet clearly with each mistake compounding upon the previous, he finds himself learning more and more, both about his craft and his subject matter. He freely admits that his earliest conception of the film was thoroughly naïve in the way the political aspects – of Nazi ideology, of collaboration – were treated; so when one compares the descriptions of the genesis of the film with the finished project, one can clearly see how those eight years helped bring a maturity to its message, to the way the themes are handled, to the way it is shot and acted and edited.

The book was originally published in 1968, but this year it was reprinted by UKA Press.

The film is available on DVD from Film First (UK edition) and also Milestone Films (US); you can obtain VHS copies from the BFI (in PAL format).

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