Dispatches - a letter -Behind Enemy Lines

Your programme pricked an old man’s memory and I had to research my own notes. Some of the faces and names in Dispatches were introduced to me in the early 80’s. If you dissect the information, you may add the weight of Michael Yon with his blog (http://www.michaelyon-online.com/the-road-to-hell.htm) . What concerns me now is the continual reference to insurgency and Taliban.

I quote this from (http://fylde-bootnecks.blogspot.com/2009/10/afghanistan-another-view.html)

I have taken this passage from the article (Michael Yon)... Tim said that Sarobi is “HIG” country, and that it was actually HIG who killed the French. Not the Taliban. HIG, or Hizb-I Islami Gulbuddin, was founded by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a warlord who hates the U.S. HIG is a terrorist group and a faction of Hizb-I Islami, all with ties to al Qaeda and Bin Laden. Hekmatyar offered homestead to Bin Laden more than ten years ago. Is this the same Gulbuddin Hekmatyar who was touting his credentials around London in the early 1980's?

It cannot be insurgency because the local elements are such and the Taliban only appeared when the weather was warm. If anything, it is the police and German Lager (not intended as a pun but the means of self protection adopted by the Nato troops) that are the insurgents.

I recall quite vividly sitting in a London location with representatives of Hizb-I Islami, especially one ‘fighter’ with no hands, who explained the link between the fighters and their refuge in Saudi Arabia. All wounded fighters were taken to Saudi for recuperation, hence the link between the Saudi’s who perpetrated the 9/11 atrocity and the separate factions primarily Hizb-I Islami, within Afghanistan.

There was never any proven link with Iraq, which calls to question some of the assertions that former Prime Minister Tony Blair was making then and since the illegal action against that country.

The Theft Act 1968

THEFT ACT 1968

1. Basic definition of theft

(1) A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to

another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it; and ‘theft’ and ‘steal’

shall be construed accordingly.

(2) It is immaterial whether the appropriation is made with a view to gain, or is made

for the thief’s own benefit

16. Obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception

(1) A person who by any deception dishonestly obtains for himself or another any

pecuniary advantage shall on conviction on indictment be liable to imprisonment for a term

not exceeding five years.

(2) All cases in which a pecuniary advantage within the meaning of this section is to

be regarded as obtained for a person are cases where-

(a) [repealed];

(b) he is allowed to borrow by way of overdraft, or to take out any policy of

insurance or annuity contract, or obtains an improvement of the terms on which he

is allowed to do so; or

(c) he is given the opportunity to earn remuneration or greater remuneration

in an office or employment, or to win money by betting.

(3) For purposes of this section ‘deception’ has the same meaning as in section 15 of

this Act.

17. False accounting

(1) Where a person dishonestly, with a view to gain for himself or another or with

intent to cause loss to another,-

(a) destroys, defaces, conceals or falsifies any account or any record or

document made or required for any accounting purpose; or

(b) in furnishing information for any purpose produces or makes use of any

account, or any such record or document as aforesaid, which to his knowledge is

or may be misleading, false or deceptive in a material particular;

he shall, on conviction on indictment, be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding

seven years.

(2) For purposes of this section a person who makes or concurs in making in an

account or other document an entry which is or may be misleading, false or deceptive in a

material particular, or who omits or concurs in omitting a material particular from an

account or other document, is to be treated as falsifying the account or document.

War of the Minds - the Six Nations

clipped from www.guardian.co.uk Six Nations: England seek escape from six years in the wilderness Why has the world's richest rugby nation not won the Six Nations since 2003? They are the richest union in world rugby, with the deepest pool of players, but England have lost 16 of their last 33 internationals at Twickenham. The inevitable break-up of a great old team was at the source of that dismal run. Yet complacency and a startling lack of vision, allied to the wrong choice of coaches and bitter conflict between the Rugby Football Union and the Premiership clubs, meant England finished no better than third in the four championships which followed 2003.

In a week when the British media is obsessed with the sexual antics of a kick ball player with a woman of fair looks and modern attitudes towards none-contraception, what is exciting is that, except for the 80 minutes of murderous contact, the peoples of Six Nations can sing, drink and chant together in universal adulation of their SPORT.
The individual genius of some solo performance is a part of the magic and hard grind of what could be a great season for one team. Whichever side that is, I pray that it is done with style and grace.

More about Shadie

clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk Shahid Malik, his house and the slum landlord: MPs' expenses The controversial way in which Justice Minister Shahid Malik was able to run up the highest expenses claim of any MP can be disclosed by The Telegraph. Since being elected in 2005, Mr Malik has claimed the maximum amount allowable for a second home, amounting to £66,827 over three years. Last year, he claimed £23,083 from the taxpayer for his London town house, equivalent to £443 per week. The Telegraph can disclose that the “main home” for which Mr Malik pays out of his own pocket - a three-bedroom house in his constituency of Dewsbury, West Yorks - has been secured at a discounted rent of less than £100 per week from a local landlord who was fined for letting an “uninhabitable” house. Mr Malik also rents a constituency office from the same businessman, Tahir Zaman.

Why do I harp on about this crook? Because he insulted all veterans by his unanswered diatribe related to all of us who served in Ulster.
When I complained to my MP, Gordon Marsden, I was dismissed with an off-handed comment that it was not within his remit.
Surely it is not within any former soldier's remit to vote for such dross?

Labour's lists of shame, and others

clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk MPs' expenses: Full list of MPs investigated by The Telegraph All of the MPs named by The Telegraph's Expenses Files investigation. Gerry Adams and four other Sinn Fein MPs claimed more than £500,000 over five years even though they refuse to attend Parliament

Just read with one word in mind, INTEGRITY.

Shadie Malik, Ministry of Justice (larf larf)

The protestations of Shahid Malik, the former Justice Minister, over the rejection of some of his expenses claims, were hidden. In 2006, he claimed £2,600 on a 40in flat-screen television and DVD home theatre system.

After the fees office questioned the claim, Mr Malik sent a letter arguing that “natural justice” dictated that it should be paid in full. The letter was removed from his files.

The fact that he designated his cheaply rented constituency house as his “main” home — allowing him to claim thousands for his designated London second home — was also disguised.

Gordon's telephone bill

clipped from www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk 37 notyetavet, Real Blackpool 04/02/2010 09:54:29 No-one mentions INTEGRITY. In a constituency where alcoholics who have never worked a day in their fifty years, get free housing and all entitlements, a former elite soldier lives in near poverty on only a pension because he will not be subjected to means testing or intrusion from officious council employees. So what? Integrity. Skype provides free telephone calls. Talktalk is a line fee plus £6.99 per month. Not advertising but factual reality. So if Gordon claims massive amounts for Mobile whilst the chambers of influence is empty and my MP cannot, will not hold the Executive to account...

If you show no integrity you are fit for public office? That makes sense. R** Ding A Ling could get elected for Blackpool as a Cuntservative with a record of wanting the members of the local Royal Marines Association to travel 700 just to read the minutes of meetings? So much for looking after the interest of 60,000 diverse constituents when you cause acrimony amongst 60 comrades. If you transfer that attitude to Westminster it appears he is aptly suited.
Then I definitely will be voting BNP...

Behind the Lines

clipped from www.channel4.com NOTAREARGUNNER on 03 February 2010 at 11:55

Irrespective of how the families of service personnel think, this expose reveals the lies that British and American politician perpetrate. I soldiered all my life and if young enough would be with our troops, not because the WAR is right, but because I loved the work. If the viewer does not like the truth they should get onto that Lying Blair and Brown. From the very outset, political avoidance of truth has and is endemic. When everyone regales about the lack of helicopter cover, the most damning silence is the issuing of the SA80 assault weapon. Which amateur ever bought that toy with it ineffectual ammunition is treachery in its utmost. Every single news reel shows infantrymen standing, sitting just outside of the weapons range making the infantry section spectators in their own deaths. With its predecessors the 7.62, at least the section could function properly and become a close deterrent. But No! We have to follow the Americans and use their ammunition, a legacy of the ill-fated Vietnam war. The most poignant statement I can recall was a weapons expert who said, "I cannot categorically state that the AK47 won the Vietnam War. What I can say is the AR15, the Armalite helped America to loose it." Well done Channel 4 and Dispatches. Your programme showed in an hour what I have written about for the past 30 years. You do not have to have my experience. All you need is to apply a little common sense. When the Taliban chief said the Russians were more dangerous and more powerful than the American, he was talking factually from HIS experiences, irrespective of the riposte that it was just propaganda to lower the moral of Western Troops. I heard these arguments for years in Rhodesian and Angola. The only true valuers of such statements are the protagonists.
Well done the troops, heroes still led by donkeys.

Hate Crime

clipped from www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk Bill tops £300k as bulldozers move in to flatten Burnley pub A PUB which was earmarked as the BNP’s Burnley headquarters is set to be pulled down. Burnley Council bought the Derby Hotel, on the M65 roundabout at junction 10, for £290,000 last year using cash from regeneration body Elevate.

The title says it all, the actions of this council is typical over-reaction to insidious legislation.