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| Newsletter | December 2002 |
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. -- President Eisenhower, farewell address to the nation, 16 January 1961
What luck for rulers that men do not think. -- Adolf Hitler
Britain under Blair exports chemical weapons to 26 countries - so much for the hysteria about Saddam Hussein. -- John Pilger
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I do not think we impress the public if we set too low a value on our own worth... If we believe our work here is important we should not shrink from putting proper value on it. -- Robin Cook MP, voting with other MPs for an inflation busting 42% pay rise last year
The new pay deal offers pay increases with serious strings attached - what Neo Labour likes to dress up as modernisation, but what everyone else calls job cuts, penny pinching and creeping privatisation. Already Fire Stations are being built by and leased back from private companies, while fire appliances and even fire tunics and fire boots are maintained and owned by outside companies. -- SchNEWS
They are not serious about modernisation. They are serious about cutting costs and about breaking the fire brigades union for daring to ask for more. This dispute is highly political because the New Labour government are scared that the scandal of low pay in the public and other sectors will be exposed and the floodgates will open. The government want to break the FBU as a lesson to all public sector workers. -- Fire Brigade Union official
As we go to press the firefighters are just beginning an 8 day strike and have already finished a 2 day strike.
Is a 40% justified? It appears to be linked to parity with the police decades ago, or possibly just to take the piss out of Blair. If the firefighters wish to restore parity with the police, why did they let it drift for so long? If Blair was worth a 40% pay hike, why not the firefighters?
We live in a neo-Labour free market. If the free market rules, then it is perfectly legit for the firefighters to withdraw their labour, that is strict free unfettered market at work. Or let's go further. Turn up at a fire and negotiate a rate for putting it out.
On the free market you only get paid what you are worth. That's why Big Shits in Big Business get such a big pay check. Actually no. At this rarefied level the free market does not operate at all. Your chums on the remuneration committee fix your salary and you fix theirs, that way every one is happy.
Neo-Labour want to see 'modernisation' - job layoffs and PFI to you and I. After all we cannot have the lazy little bastards sitting around most of the night playing cards, darts and pool and drinking tea. That they are on call, waiting to go out and put out a blaze, that could be your house, that they may risk their lives to save your life, and often do, is in the eyes of Blair and his fellow travellers priceless, that is you cannot put a price on it.
But hey, what are we complaining about. We could have a mix of firebrigades - Balfour Beastie, killer Jarvis, down the tubes Amey - in cut throat competition (or at least pretending to be). They wouldn't arrive at the fire on time, and only then react if you had the appropriate plaque on the wall, but look how much money they could make, and with a guaranteed contract of 30 years, with no mechanism to 'modernise', whose complaining?
The UK is a wealthy country, pity that it is concentrated at the top. We can afford to wage war on Iraq, but not pay firefighters for doing a dangerous job. The excuse is that it will excite workers at the bottom of the pile into wanting more. The reality is that it will highlight how badly paid too many workers are in Neo-Labour Cool Britannia, and it might, just might, lead to a small redistribution of wealth.
For sheer greed, it is difficult to beat Jean-Pierre Garnier chief arsehole at GlaxoSmithKline. His package (you get a package not a salary) is worth, depending on your sources and who you believe, £2.5 million plus £1 million pension, or a total package, including share options, of £7 million a year (last year). But apparently this is not enough for the greedy little bastard. He wants a package worth £25 million!
TAG have been flying in and out of Farnborough during the firefighters strikes.
Anyone who has any dealings with the administration of Rushmoor knows that there is something seriously wrong - benefits section that treats claimants like dirt and takes a perverse delight in delaying claims to cause maximum distress, a housing department that falls over backwards to not force landlords to carry out repairs, a highways department that fails to deal with traffic problems. Our worse criticism though must be reserved for the planning department. Here we have a department that at the very least is bloody incompetent and at worst thoroughly corrupt.
Planners lie and deceive, go out of their way to deceive councillors, fail to consult. On the airfield there is a serious safety issue, an issue the planners have failed to draw to the attention of councillors (BVEJ newsletters passim). At Manor Park the development is in breach of numerous planning guidelines, fails to deal with air quality or the wildlife value of the site etc (BVEJ newsletter November 2002). Farnborough town centre is being gutted by developers with the connivance of the planners, planners who fail to enforce the numerous breaches of planning consent (BVEJ newsletters passim).
Planners who fall over backwards to promote the schemes of developers to the detriment of the local community.
Why are our councillors sitting idly by?
Rushmoor chief executive Andrew Lloyd has been asked to call in an independent investigation. He has refused. Why? What has he got to hide?
Please contact Andrew Lloyd and demand an independent inquiry.
Andrew Lloyd alloyd@rushmoor.gov.uk
Across the borough the call is now growing for the Audit Commission to be brought in. Please add your voice to the growing demand for an independent inquiry into this rotten borough.
If you happen to be a company director who kills one of your workers, you're in luck! This so-called 'justice for all' doesn't include you. -- SchNEWS
In the Queen's Speech, neo-Labour promised to get tough on criminals. We have no problems with a clamp-down on anti-social behaviour as it is something we all suffer from, so long as it is not used as an excuse to clamp-down on political dissent.
Want to kill someone. Well do it at work, as we can almost guarantee you will get away with it. Noticeably absent from the Queen's Speech was a clamp-down on corporate crimes, especially corporate murder.
Five years ago, neo-Labour promised that it would do something about corporate crime. Unsurprisingly, victims and their families are still waiting.
Chris Jones, father of Simon who was killed at work 4 1/2 years ago, told SchNEWS:
This is the same old Blairite crap: go for soft targets and easy results. Graffiti artists haven't killed or injured anybody. Yes, paedophiles are nasty, but corporate cowboys killed Simon at work, and at least 1500 people since him. Neo-Labour has done nothing about it. The Home Office is fast becoming the political wing of the CBI. Apart from ratting on their promise to bring in the corporate killing bill, they are also trying to sneak in the removal of compulsory inquests into work-related deaths, and have specifically excluded victims of health and safety crimes from the much-hyped 'Victims' Charter'. The cover-up goes on.
So remember - tough on chewing gum and spray paint, but not on corporate crime.
Corporate Corpse, SchNEWS, 15 November 2002
Bush, Blair, Belusconi - they don't speak for the people. We speak for the people. And we the people are going to stop this war. -- Speaker at European Social Forum, Florence.
Last month over half a million people marched through Florence in Europe's biggest demonstration yet against the forthcoming US invasion of the Middle East. Maybe it was a million as some reports have said.
The march took place during the European Social Forum meeting in Florence and was always going to be a big march, with communists and anarchists, unions and peace groups, and social forums from across Italy taking part. But it was more than that. It was another example of the growing, often unreported movement against the Bush/Blair war plans that is sweeping the US and Europe.
While Britain was represented by everything from Essex Students to Dundee Trades Council, the march was largely Italian, young and unaligned. Local residents clapped and cheered, hanging out anti-war banners. The conference before the march saw meetings in aircraft hangers overflowing with people - 60,000 turned up for the Forum instead of the expected 20,000 - wanting to discuss anti-capitalism and the coming war. And who said anti-globalisation was dead. At one meeting of 2,000 people, a Vietnam war veteran told the crowd, 'We didn't start protesting about the Vietnam war until it had been going on for years. This movement is much bigger, and you can stop them too.'
During the conference, a local Caterpillar factory that makes vehicles used to crush Palestinian homes was occupied and its contents rearranged. Demos, discussions and direct action are all part of the growing global movement against this war and the crazy system that is making it happen.
In a reaction to the success of the ESF, Italian police raided the homes of members of the Italian social movement No Global. 20 were arrested, denied access to lawyers, and held in solitary confinement, while another 22 have been placed under house arrest. The arrest warrants declared No Global 'a subversive association' with intentions to 'conspire against the Italian State' - proof of the intensification of the neo-Fascist Berlusconi government's attempts to suppress the vibrant Italian social movement. The harmony of the week-long Social Forum and the demonstration was the polar opposite of the 'terror' and 'violence' that Berlusconi and his media mouthpieces claimed the event would bring. So 'repressione' it is and even though the powers-that-be can't find anything horribly criminal to charge No Global with, they've decided to hit them with 'political conspiracy' and 'subversive propaganda.'
Protests were called in solidarity with those arrested and over the weekend 30,000 people took to the streets of Rome and thousands more marched in Naples, Genoa, Florence and Milan.
European movement converges on Social forum, UK Indymedia, 7 November 2002
No-Glo Baloney, SchNEWS, 22 November 2002
Sydney residents unsure about the World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting in their city were enlightened by the Institute For Applied Piracy, who jammed a commercial radio station for ten minutes, replacing the broadcast with a message about the dodgy dealings of the WTO. They explained to listeners how the WTO are an unelected body who represent corporate interests and promote free trade - never mind human rights, workers rights, the environment or anything else which is a 'barrier to trade'.
Meanwhile, the first meeting of the WTO since Doha focussed discussing the use of cheap AIDS drugs to bully developing countries into free trade. And outside the guarded fence, another festival of anti-capitalism kicked off. Streets were occupied in central Sydney last Thursday and even featured a padded up, all-white, Cricket Bloc.
By Friday, 2000 protesters hit the conference centre at Olympic Park where the fence was breached several times and 35 were arrested. Aboriginals re-occupied the 'tent embassy' site they created during the Olympics at Victoria Park, re-lighting the peace fire they'd started there during the Games.
[BVEJ newsletters passim]
If these plans are realised, the whales will not have any chance to survive. All this work will occur in the most important whale feeding area. The risk is simply not acceptable if we want to further admire these amazing animals. -- Dmitry Lisitsyn, Sakhalin Environment Watch
Exxon is the climate baddie (BVEJ newsletters passim), was responsible for removal of the guy in charge of the scientific panel on climate change (BVEJ newsletter #0025 June 2002), is attempting crude intimidation of Greenpeace (BVEJ newsletter #0027 August 2002), stands charged with human rights abuses in Indonesia (BVEJ newsletter #0028 September 2002), has tried to derail the Johannesburg Earth Summit (BVEJ newsletter #0029 October 2002) and now stands accused of killing whales.
Exxon-Mobil are wishing to open up an oil field at Sakhalin Island in the Sea of Okhotsk in the Far East of Russia. The area is a rich area of biodiversity for marine life providing more than two-thirds of the Russian fish catch. The area is also home to the Western Pacific Grey Whale, one the rarest and most endangered whales.
Western Pacific Grey Whale is listed in the Russian Red Data Book of rare and endangered species and is also listed by IUCN. The population is estimated at around 200, of which fewer than 20 are breeding females. Western Pacific Grey Whale is expected to become extinct in the near future.
Seismic testing by Sakhalin Energy (a consortium headed by Shell) is decimating the population. Whales are found to be half starved, either because their feeding habitats or migration patterns have been disrupted. Pleas by IWC to Exxon not to conduct seismic testing whilst the whales are in the area (they are resident for about 5 months of the year, June to November) have been ignored.
A directive by Russia's Ministry of Natural Resources to halt all seismic testing has been ignored by Exxon.
Sakhalin Environment Watch and several other NGOs and concerned Russian citizens, are going to the courts to force the Russian government to take effective measures to protect the whales. Previous court action stopped Exxon from dumping its drilling waste into the sea.
Exxon plan further disruption of the whales by construction of a pier right into the middle of the whale's feeding ground, together with intensive shipping activity to and from the pier. Extensive dredging for pipelines will also seriously disrupt the whales.
BP are expected to join the bonanza for Russian oil.
Environmentalists are asking the area be designated a whale sanctuary.
David Gordon, Suckered at Sakhalin, The Ecologist, February 2002
The demise and fall of Premier is a warning to any company thinking of investing in Burma. We won't stop here, we have won a battle but not the war. The pressure needs to be turned on TotalFinaElf and Unocal. They are as guilty as Premier of propping up one of the most brutal regimes in the world. -- John Jackson, Burma Campaign UK
Premier Oil has finally been forced out of Burma after years of campaigning. Despite withdrawing, Premier Oil still insists that it was not acting in an unacceptable and irresponsible way by operating in Burma and that the sole reason for getting out was financial.
When its two largest investors, Amerada Hess and Petronas, pulled the plug, Premier was left with no choice but to withdraw.
The Pressure is now on TotalFinaElf and Unocal to withdraw from Burma.
In recognizing that corporations that aid and abet egregious human rights abuses can be held accountable, the Ninth Circuit has affirmed that US corporations cannot violate international human rights with impunity. -- Richard Herz, an attorney with EarthRights International
A landmark decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal has ruled that California-based Unocal can be sued for forced labour, rape, and murder committed by Burmese soldiers guarding a major gas pipeline project completed three years ago. In its ruling, the Appeal Court has overturned a ruling by a federal judge two years previous that the victims of abuses committed by the military regime in Burma could not sue Unocal even though they produced evidence showing that Unocal knew about and benefited directly from the troops' conduct.
Two of the judges explicitly cited recent rulings by the international war crimes tribunals in Yugoslavia and Rwanda regarding the liability of individuals who may not directly participate in commission of the abuses. Aiding and abetting liability may be imposed for 'knowing practical assistance or encouragement, which has a substantial effect on perpetration of the crime'.
The ruling by the San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit is certain to influence the views of other courts that currently are hearing similar cases against US corporations. The court, whose jurisdiction covers much of the western part of the United States, could be overruled by the US Supreme Court.
Cases are pending against Royal Dutch Shell for alleged abuses committed by the Nigerian Army against the Ogoni people in the oil-rich Niger Delta, against Texaco by indigenous people in Ecuador whose lands have been largely destroyed by oil leaks and toxic waste, and against ExxonMobil by victims of abuses committed by Indonesian security forces in Aceh province.
The Unocal case was originally filed by EarthRights and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in 1996 on behalf of 15 unnamed Burmese plaintiffs, mostly members of the Karen and Mon ethnic minorities living in or near the route of the 1.2 billion-dollar Yadana pipeline that carries gas from off-shore fields in the Andaman Sea through Burma to Thailand.
Construction by a consortium consisting of Unocal, Total, and the Burmese state oil company began in 1992 and was completed in 1999.
Burma's military regime forcibly relocated villages, drafted villagers into forced labour, and committed a range of other abuses, including murder, torture and rape, during the construction phase of the project, according to international human rights groups, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
The military junta achieved notoriety for a brutal crackdown on a pro-democracy movement in the late 1980s and then for ignoring the results of an election swept by the opposition in 1990.
The plaintiffs sued under a 213-year-old law, the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) that permits non-citizens to sue foreign and domestic individuals or companies in the United States for abuses committed abroad.
The law, which was enacted primarily against pirates on the high seas, underwent a renaissance in the 1980s when it was used successfully by victims of abuses committed by foreign governments and militaries overseas against individual defendants served with notice while living or visiting in the United States.
Recently two former senior military officials in the Salvadoran army, who had retired to the United States in the early 1990s, were successfully sued by three victims for a total of more than 50 million dollars.
The Unocal case was the first to use ATCA to go after a corporation for alleged abuses committed abroad.
Lawyers argued that Unocal should be held liable for abuses committed by the army, which acted as paid agents of the company. They contended that, because Unocal hired military units to provide security for the project and was generally aware of its abusive tactics, the company should be made to pay for the harm done.
In presenting their case, the lawyers offered internal Unocal memoranda and depositions as evidence to show that the company was aware of the abuses but never tried to sever its relationship with the army.
The court also rejected any possible claim by Unocal that the lawsuit should be barred because it would interfere with US foreign policy toward Burma.
As we recently reported, the State Department asked a federal judge to dismiss the ExxonMobil case brought by the Acehnese plaintiffs on the grounds that trying the case could set back Washington's 'war on terrorism' by risking the co-operation of the Indonesian military and discouraging US corporate investment in the country's battered economy.
The judge in that case has yet to rule on the State Department's request, which caused outrage among human rights groups.
Hallowe'en was chosen as the day for anti-war demos across the country. In London, anti-war slogans were projected across the face of the Houses of Parliament. Locally there were demos in Guildford, Woking, and Farnham.
In Brighton, where around 500 people took to the streets, the demo turned nasty, as peace protesters were baton charged and sprayed with pepper spray. Now is not the excuse for attacking Iraq that of brutality, crushing political dissent and using chemicals against political opponents?
On the day before, a well attended Stop the War meeting at Surrey University, with Mark Steele, Milan Rai and Caroline Lucas.
Local contacts:
Stop the War Coalition have called for another mass demo in London on 15 February 2003. Voices in the Wilderness are holding a Whitehall Die-in on 2 December 2002.
Don't Attack Iraq Actions Across Country, UK Indymedia, 31 October 2002
Assault and Pepper, Schnews, 8 November 2002
The worst atrocities Saddam Hussein has committed has been the unprovoked attacks on Iran and Kuwait and the gassing of the Kurds. In all cases he has had the explicit approval of the West.
The West was aiding and abetting Iraq, albeit illegally, in the war against Iran.
The US gave Iraq the nod and the wink to invade Kuwait, a dispute between neighbours.
The West turned a blind eye to the gassing of the Kurds. The Kurds are expendable people, even worse, they are an inconvenience that at times get in the way of the Wests's ambitions for the region. At the moment the Kurds in northern Iraq are protected (but only from attacks from Iraq, not from Turkey), but for how long? Turkey is being offered Iraqi Kurdistan as part of the prize for backing the war on Iraq.
In all cases when Saddam Hussein has engaged in atrocities or used weapons of mass destruction, he has done so with the explicit approval of the West. Saddam has never used the weapons when his own survivals was at stake. He did not use them during the last Gulf War. Defecting Iraqis have said there were strict instructions not to use the weapons unless Baghdad came under attack.
The US Senator who was leading the attack against the war on Iraq was recently killed in a plane crash.
[BVEJ newsletter #0030 November 2002]
It has been a theme ... that contrary to what UK media have been saying there is an massive undertow of rebellion in the US as left and right agree that they do not want the global US-led military empire proposed by Bush/Blair. US politics has always been crime-ridden and, after Watergate and Iran-Contra, many thinking Americans have noticed how convenient the 911 attacks were for an unpopular Republican administration that faced a recession, the exposure of the Florida voter frauds and the Enron scandal. -- Ian Henshall, chair INK
The main obstacles to investigating Islamic terrorism were US oil corporate interests and the role played by Saudi Arabia in it. -- John O'Neill
The FBI concedes that a San Diego case agent appears to have been at least aware that Saudi visitors were renting rooms in the informant's house. -- Newsweek
The Bush cabal have lied, and lied, then lied some more when they claimed they knew nothing in advance. What is surprising, or maybe not with today's media, is what has not been reported, like Bush ordering the FBI to back off Saudi terrorist links, that the FBI with Jeb Bush riding shotgun, swept all incriminating documents up to Washington from the Florida flying school, a school that may have been used for covert operations and certainly had strong CIA links.
Whenever anything does seem in danger of bubbling to the surface, events overtake us - an anthrax attack by bin Laden (which turns out to be US military grade anthrax) an attack with a dirty nuclear bomb (which at best the 'suspect' may have been thinking about).
How much was known? It was known that an attack of the type carried out was planned, several of the attackers had known terrorist links, the attackers were known to be in the US.
Two names come to the fore in the cover up - John O'Neill and Special Agent Robert G Wright Jnr.
The career of former FBI counter-terrorism chief John O'Neill took off in 1993, when O'Neill, a lifetime FBI agent, was brought out from the Chicago field office to New York City as one of the FBI's six lead investigators of the World Trade Center bombing, which left six dead and over 1,000 injured. His success in the investigation into the first WTC bombing, he coordinated the Pakistan arrest of Ramzi Yousef, propelled him two years later to head the FBI's counter-terrorism section in Washington.
In 1997, O'Neill continued his ascent, moving to the FBI's National Security Division office in New York where he became the special agent in charge of counter-terrorism. His speciality was Islamic extremism.
In 1998, O'Neill headed the FBI's investigation into the bombing of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which were blamed on Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. O'Neill was already familiar with bin Laden from his investigations into the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers barracks in Saudi Arabia, in which 19 American servicemen died.
O'Neill became the US government's leading expert as well as its lead investigative weapon in the fight against al-Qaeda and bin Laden.
O'Neill led the investigation into the bombing of the USS Cole, which again was attributed to Osama bin Laden.
It was in Yemen, that O'Neill's career started to slide. As O'Neill and his team stared to dig deeper and uncover Saudi involvement his investigation was brought to an abrupt halt by the US Ambassador to Yemen. Neither was the FBI allowed to return to Yemen until ambassador Barbara Bodine left her post in August 2001. That is the FBI's lead al-Qaeda expert is barred from investigating the terrorists attack from November 2000 until August 2001, that is, until the next attack.
At the very least, information from the USS Cole investigation could have led to information about the 9-11 plans.
In August 2001, a clearly-coordinated smear campaign was mounted against O'Neill.
O'Neill's own explanation, offered to a French journalist, Jean-Charles Brisard, as to why he had been barred from continuing his investigation: 'All the answers, everything needed to dismantle Osama bin Laden's organization, can be found in Saudi Arabia.'
During interviews in June and July of 2001 with Brisard, published in his book Bin Laden: Hidden Truth, O'Neill complained that his investigations into bin Laden were thwarted from above by senior American government officials and oil interests who didn't want to embarrass the Saudis or those American officials and companies tied to the royal family.
In the media, O'Neill was portrayed as an unreliable drunk. He was finally forced out of his job at the FBI and took a post as head of security at the World Trade Centre.
On 10 September 2001, former FBI counter-terrorism chief John O'Neill started his first day as head of security for the World Trade Towers. He worked on the 34th floor of the North Tower. One day later he was dead, killed by the very people he had spent the peak of his career fighting.
But even in death, mystery surrounds John O'Neill. According to friends and colleagues, who he called, he was alive after the planes hit. Some witnesses place him outside the building. His body was found one week later in the rubble.
Al Capone was caught through his false tax returns. FBI agent Robert Wright decided to nip terrorism in the bud by seizing the money. If you can't touch terrorists for their terrorist activities, why not catch them for other criminal activities.
Various not-for-profit groups in the US have simply been fronts for terrorist activities and sources of funds for terrorists. Special Agent Wright, is the first and only FBI agent to use civil forfeiture laws to seize terrorist assets. He has seized $1.4 million destined for HAMAS. The seized funds were linked to Saudi businessman Yassin Kadi (aka Yassin Al-Qadi) who has been identified as a source of funds for Osama bin Laden.
Special Agent Wright has been unable to seize any further assets as he been stopped in his tracks by the FBI hierarchy. As it was, his investigation had to be funded out of his own pocket as he was obstructed at every stage by his superiors, including denying access to vital information. He has subsequently been removed from all antiterrorist activities. A book by Wright has also been blocked by the FBI.
The role of the FBI in antiterrorist investigations, seems to be keep the suspects under surveillance, never intervene, but at least we will know who to arrest when the balloon goes up.
As we have reported in the past, the Venice Flying School in Florida at which the 9-11 hijackers were trained appears to have been used as a US 'terrorist' training school (BVEJ newsletter #0019 December 2001). Evidence is now emerging that it was also used as a drug smuggling centre to which DEA and FBI turned a blind eye. Why the FBI turned a blind eye we do not know. They may have been simply watching the DEA and not wished to have intervened, they may have been keeping terrorist suspects under observation.
Mohamed Atta is known to have been in the US at least three months before FBI place him in the US. Witnesses to this fact have either mysteriously disappeared or been warned to keep their traps shut by the FBI. Why?
Sometime in the middle of March 2000, Amanda Keller rented an apartment at the Sandpiper Apartments across the street from the Venice Airport. Two weeks later terrorist ringleader Mohamed Atta moved in with her, beginning a stormy relationship which came to a abrupt end six weeks later with Amanda dumping his two suitcases and one gym bag from her second floor balcony down onto the building's asphalt parking lot, where, according to eyewitnesses, Atta stood waiting for a taxi to whisk him away.
A domestic tiff off little interest to anyone, except, as the MadCowMorningNews has reported, this little 'domestic' between 'terrorist ringleader' Atta and 'out-call lingerie model' Keller occurred a full three months before the FBI says Atta first arrived in the US.
How did Atta move in only 2 weeks after the pink-haired bimbo? The tale told to neighbours that they met in a local bar has proved false as the bar was closed at the time for refurbishment. What's a raving Muslim fundamentalist nutter doing shacked up with a pink-haired bimbo?
The apartment manager who has recalled these events has been called a liar by the FBI and told to keep his mouth shut. Neighbours who have confirmed the sequence of events have also been warned by the FBI to keep quiet.
Johnelle Bryant, a Dept of Agriculture loan officer, has said that Mohamed Atta applied for a USDA loan to buy a crop duster, 'between the end of April and the third week of May of 2000'. She is very certain of the period as she took notes of the interview. Apparently Ms Bryant spoke a little out of turn during her ABC TV interview. USDA official Johnelle Bryant has since been transferred within the Agriculture Department to an undisclosed location, where, according to one government source, 'she is most assuredly not talking with reporters any more'.
Johnelle Bryant is not the only witness to have gone missing, Amanda Keller has gone missing, as has the bartender at the Ft Lauderdale bar where Atta got drunk three nights before the Twin Towers attack.
Two of the hijackers, Khalid Almidhar and Nawaf Alhazmi, lived in San Diego in the fall of 2000 and were taken in by a Muslim man after he met them at a local Islamic centre. The landlord had been an informant for the FBI, supplying information about the Islamic terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
US intelligence officials said that in January of 2000, when Almidhar and Alhazmi attended a meeting of known terrorists in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that fact was communicated by the CIA to the FBI. Yet it was not until 23 August 2001, that the CIA warned the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to watch for the two men, and that they might try to enter the United States. By that time, Almidhar and Alhazmi had been in the US for more than 11 months.
The FBI contends the agency was never told about the two men before 23 August 2001 and says it can find no record of any such communication between CIA and FBI to show the information might have been overlooked. The FBI has maintained that position in its dealings with congressional investigators and has asked the CIA to document, if possible, having sent word earlier.
The San Diego landlord, when contacted by CNN, refused to comment.
One of the many mysteries of the 9-11 attacks was the behaviour of the Bush entourage in the first hours of the attacks. Bush was left in a Texas schoolroom on a public engagement near an airport while iconic American targets were under attack. Why not the President? Where were the Secret Service?
Chief of staff Andrew Card was caught on video whispering the news into Bush's ear. The problem was that Card whispered so little, hardly more than three or four words, not enough to convey the unprecedented situation which we are assured was such a total surprise to BushCo. The video, which apparently shows a relaxed Bush in no great hurry to leave the classroom, has been removed from its original site, but is still stored on the emperor's new clothes web site.
Then Bush made things much worse by his attempted explanation: that he had seen the first hit on a video in the corridor before he entered the classroom (would he have carried on with the engagement?). The problem was that the news media had not obtained any of the rare footage of the first WTC impact at that time. Had Bush seen it on a private link-up? Or was this a false memory, simply more evidence of alcohol and cocaine abuse?
Now BushCo has given some photos to the Times (London) to back up the official story, apparently showing Bush with his top aides just before he went into the schoolroom. But it has rebounded again. The website propaganda matrix had an impressive list of withering criticisms (obviously staged, jacket the wrong colour, why were so many top officials at an unimportant schoolroom, clock shows wrong time etc). Then the pages vanished with no explanation.
Remember the Lee Harvey Oswald staged photo of him brandishing a gun, only the shadows were all wrong?
9-11, BVEJ newsletter, October 2002
Alex Jones Show Interview of Greg Palast, Infowars.com, 5 April 2002
BBC: Did Bush turn a blind eye to terrorism?, BBC Newsnight, BBC2, Tuesday 6 November 2001
Bush Administration Hampered FBI Investigation into Bin Laden Family Before 9/11, Project Censored #4 News Story, Most Censored News Stories of 2001-2002, 28 August 2002
Dana Bash, Kelli Arena and David Ensor, Sources: Hijackers' ex-landlord was FBI informant, CNN, 11 September 2002
Guerrilla of the Week: Guerrilla News Network Speaks With Greg Palast, Guerrilla News Network, 16 November 2001
Ken Guggenheim, Probe: US Knew of Jet Terror Plots, Associated Press, 18 September 2002
Ian Henshall, Action newsletter: Attention all UK publications, businesses and individuals opposed to the Iraq war and the Bush/Blair invasion plans, 10 September 2002
Daniel Hopsicker, Barry & 'the boys': The CIA, the Mob and America's Secret History
Daniel Hopsicker, 'Draining the terrorist swamp' should start in Venice FL, MadMorningNews, 18 September 2002
Daniel Hopsicker, Mohamed Atta and the Venice Flying Circus, New York City Indymedia, 14 November 2001
Larry Klayman et al, Fatal Neglect, Judicial Watch, 2002
John O'Neill - the man who knew too much, UK Indymedia, 25 September 2002
Dana Priest, 9/11 Report Says Agencies Received Credible Clues, Washington Post, 18 September 2002
The Saudi connection, BVEJ newsletter, December 2001
They [FBI] knew what was going on here. Hell, they were parked in a white van outside my house less than four hours after the buildings collapsed. -- Huffman Aviation insider
The dark specter of the drug trade is throwing an increasingly long shadow across the terrorist conspiracy's activities in Venice, where Mohamed Atta and his close associates, many of whom were German, frequently used cocaine. According to a credible eyewitness, when their supplies ran low they would procure more from a flight school at the Venice Airport. -- Daniel Hopsicker
These guys [Atta and his friends] had money flowing out their ass. They never seemed to run out of money. They had massive supplies of cocaine. Whenever they'd run out, they'd go over to the flight school. I followed them one day with Sabrina [a German friend of Atta's] to see where they were going, and saw them go into Florida Flight Training. -- Amanda Keller, Mohamed Atta's former live-in girlfriend
We heard that 16 of the 19 terrorists had been on Interpol's Most Wanted list. But early on I gleaned that these guys had Government protection. They were let into this country for a specific purpose. It was a business deal. -- Huffman Aviation insider
As we have reported in the past, the Venice Flying School in Florida at which the 9-11 hijackers were trained appears to have been used as a US 'terrorist' training school (BVEJ newsletter #0019 December 2001). Evidence is now emerging that it was also used as a drug smuggling centre to which DEA and FBI turned a blind eye.
A Learjet belonging to Huffman Aviation owner Wallace J. Hilliard, confiscated with 45 pounds of heroin onboard on 25 July 2000 at Orlando Executive Airport, was procured by Hilliard from the same source which, two decades earlier, provided the Learjet used by infamous drug smuggler and CIA agent Barry Seal.
Hilliard got his Learjet from World Jet Inc owned by the notorious drug smuggling Whittington brothers of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who in their heyday in the early 1980s commanded fleets of fishing trawlers, sailboats, power boats, and jets. After being indicted for smuggling and tax evasion, their prized Learjet had gone to a man soon to become the biggest drug smuggler in American history, Barry Seal.
The plane had made approximately 30 trips in 9 months to South America. Each run was paid for in hard cash.
One week after 11 September 2001, the FBI was pointedly stating that they knew about terrorists rotating through Rudi Dekkers' flight school in Venice, Florida. According to the Washington Post, 'Federal authorities have been aware for years that suspected terrorists with ties to Osama bin Laden were receiving flight training at schools in the United States'. Evidence of FBI 'prior knowledge' is that they were on site, within hours of the Twin Towers attack. But according to Daniel Hopsicker, 'the FBI was on the scene even earlier'.
For whatever reason, the Hilliard/Dekkers drugs operation had a 'green light' from the DEA at the Venice Airport. The local Venice Police Department (which mounted round-the-clock patrols at the Airport after 11 September) were warned to leave them alone.
A drug operation may explain how Magic Dutch Boy Rudi Dekkers, whose various businesses have all been utter and abject failures, managed to live in a $2.5 million mansion in a private gated community. Were it not for the drug trafficking, the World Trade Center attack could have been prevented through the simple expedient of arresting known terrorist Mohamed Atta.
Could it be that not only were the CIA aware of the thousands of Arab student pilots who began pouring into the US to attend flight training beginning in 1999, but were in truth running the operation. If so, it would be nothing new. The CIA were quite happy to allow, nay encourage, drug trafficking in Afghanistan, same again in Latin America, and before that in South East Asia. Gen Noriega, eventually pulled by the US when like Saddam Hussein he had outlived his usefulness, was a major drug trafficker.
William Blum, Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Intervention Since World War II, Common Courage Press, 1991
William Blum, Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower, Common Courage Press, 2000
Noam Chomsky, Deterring Democracy, Verso, 1991
Alexander Cockburn, White-Out: CIA, Drugs and the Press, Verso, 1997
Leslie Cockburn, Out of Control, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987
John Cooley, Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism, Pluto Press, 1999, 2000, 2002
Michael Levine & Laura Kavanau-Levine, The Big White Lie: The CIA and the US Cocaine/Crack Epidemic, Thunder's Mouth Press, 1993
Alfred McCoy & Alan Black (eds), War on Drugs: Studies in the Failure of US Narcotics Policy, Westview Press, 1992
Daniel Hopsicker, Barry & 'the boys': The CIA, the Mob and America's Secret History
Daniel Hopsicker, Mohamed Atta and the Venice Flying Circus, New York City Indymedia, 14 November 2001
Daniel Hopsicker, Mohamed Atta snorted coke; Seized Learjet came from same source as Barry Seal's, MadCowMorningNews, 14 November 2002
Daniel Hopsicker, Terror flight school owner implicated in 'protected' drug trafficking ring, UK Indymedia, 15 November 2002
Ahmed Rashid, Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia, Yale University Press, 2000
Ahmed Rashid, Bin Laden: How the U.S. Helped Midwife a Terrorist, The Public i, 13 September 2001
The Saudi connection, BVEJ newsletter, December 2001
Gary Webb, Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion, Seven Stories Press, 1998
The mark of the School of the Americas is engraved in the minds and bodies and in the histories of the families of the tortured, killed, and disappeared. -- Brazilian human rights group
The order was to take everyone: parents, grandparents, kids, wives, everyone. It was very rare that anyone survived after being taken by my battalion. At first the children were abandoned in the park or the marketplace. But then General Alvarez Martinez said 'These seeds will eventually bear fruit'. So we had to eliminate the children as well. -- School of the Americas (SOA) graduate who was once a member of Battalion 3-16, a secret death squad in Honduras
If any government sponsors the outlaws and killers of innocents, they have become outlaws and murderers themselves. -- George W Bush on the day he began bombing Afghanistan
Last month, nearly 10,000 people marched to shut down the USA's number one terrorist training camp, the School of the Americas. Located in Fort Benning, Georgia, the US- Army-operated SOA has been around for the last 56 years, training Latin American paramilitaries whose victims total tens of thousands. As of January 2001, the SOA officially closed its doors and reopened almost immediately as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Co-operation, or WHISC - an attempt by school and military officials to confuse public criticism and distance the school from its violent past. Nice try, guys, but did you really think we were that thick?
Remember Windscale or was it Sellafield?
The name may have changed, but the underlying purpose of the school remains the same - to control the economic and political systems of Latin America by aiding and influencing Latin American militaries. Or put another way, to make Central and South America 'safe' for US interests by supporting the rape, torture, and genocide of so-called dissidents.
Since 1946, the School of the Americas has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers and policemen. Among its graduates are many of South and Central America's most notorious torturers, mass murderers, dictators and state terrorists. In 1996, the Pentagon was forced to release SOA training manuals which included top tips on the use of torture, blackmail and execution. As hundreds of pages of documentation compiled by the pressure group SOA Watch shows, groups trained by the SOA have ripped Latin America apart. Here are just a few highlights from some of the SOA's former students:
Meanwhile, protesters who dare to speak out against their government's support and orchestration of such acts are promptly arrested and jailed. Last month's demo in Georgia saw the arrest of 90 protesters, including a 12-year-old who we're quite sure posed a grave threat to the State. One man was arrested when he refused to submit to a police metal detector scan and bag search. Later, in a court hearing to determine the legality of searching protesters, police officers testified that they had never experienced a single act of violence or even the threat of violence in the past 13 years of protests against the SOA. They justified the searches, however, by saying they felt that hostility had been growing with the increase in numbers of anarchists and 'bare breasted women'. Bare-breasted women being decidedly more dangerous than military death squads trained and armed to the teeth by the US government, of course.
William Blum, Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Intervention Since World War II, Common Courage Press, 1991
William Blum, Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower, Common Courage Press, 2000
Noam Chomsky, Deterring Democracy, Verso, 1991
Noam Chomsky, Rogue States: The Rule of Force in World Affairs, Pluto Press, 2000
Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, School of Assassins, Orbis Books, 1997
Murray Polner and Jim O'Grady, Disarmed and Dangerous, Basic Books, 1997
[BVEJ newsletters October, November and December 2001]
Europe's largest car show being held now in Birmingham, was targeted by protests coinciding with the UN climate Change talks being held in New Delhi, India. While world leaders are trying to stitch-up an agreement about controls on greenhouse gases, it is business as usual for the global car industry which is marketing ever more and ever larger cars. Activists from Rising Tide (national network of grassroots groups against climate change) linked up with local Friends of the Earth'ers to demonstrate at the entrance of the NEC displaying banners and umbrellas to highlight climate chaos by motor cars at the largest motor show in UK.
Protests highlight motor industry's failings, UK Indymedia, 25 October 2002
Too many CDs are now being sold with some form of copy protection to stop you from copying them. Too often they do not play.
These CDs should be regarded as faulty. Phillips, inventors of the CD, regard them as worthless pieces of plastic. They do not confirm to the Red Data Book standard.
With these CDs you are likely to have problems. They may or may not play on your audio equipment. You may have problems playing under Windows, owners of Macs have found their machines lock up and may have to be returned for repair.
The copy protection is often not that effective. A felt tip pen can resolve the problem, CDs that do not play under Windows, may play (and thus be copied) on Macs (but note above).
If you buy such a CD (sometimes they have a warning in illegible small print), take it back and demand your money back. You are entitled to a refund as the CDs are non-Red Data Book compliant, thus faulty. The more people that do this, the sooner we can eliminate copy protected CDs.
If the global record companies have a problem because the public is ripping them off (sales of CDs are falling), maybe they should reflect upon the fact that they have ripped us off for the last 20 years.
We have reported in the past on the work of Mike Riley in identifying the polluted run-off from the runways at Heathrow that go into holding ponds, then out to contaminate local waterways.
Recently these holding ponds have been drained. Mike nipped over the fence and grabbed a sample of the contaminated sludge lying at the bottom of the ponds. As far as we know the sample is sitting in Mike's deep freezer for want of funds for chemical analysis.
The cost of the analysis is £500. Mike approached HACAN. The most they would pay was half, ie £250. He then approached FoE and AEF for the balance. Both declined to cough up.
The recent crash in Luxembourg, if replicated locally, would have crashed on Mytchett.
Stansted and campaigners in Kent are fighting in court to unpick the legal agreement that protects Gatwick from expansion for the next 20 years. This is the height of stupidity. The effort should be put into fighting expansion plans everywhere. For Kent, it is also gross hypocrisy as the local council is pushing for airport expansion in Medway.
What is AEF doing? They should be coordinating opposition. They were the focus of a meeting some weeks back (which unfortunately coincided with the huge London anti-war demo), a meeting to which the few able campaigners across the country, who are doing all the work, were not even invited.
AEF are sent reports of what people are doing. Funny how these never receive a mention in the nigh useless newsletter that AEF sends out. AEF have an article on their web site praising the effectiveness of Heathrow pollution control!
The excellent work that has been done locally, should be made available to everyone via AEF. No links, no mention, no nothing.
The Heathrow night flying case has gone back to the European Court on appeal. A result is not expected until early next year.
The deadline for the consultation on the Future of Aviation ends at the end of November. The Transport Secretary has refused to extend the deadline. A Parliamentary debate took place on the subject on Tuesday 19 November 2002.
Before the expiration of the consultation period, a few thousand protesters took to the streets of Central London to protest at planned airport expansion. The numbers would have been considerably higher had any attempt been made to properly co-ordinate and publicise the event.
This is not an exercise in checking the validity of either the NATS model or the validity of the data. It is an exercise in bullshitting, wrapped up in integral equations and probability density functions. -- Keith Parkins
A risk assessment has been submitted by TAG, closely followed by an independent report submitted by ERM. Surprise, surprise, the 'independent' report, agrees with the TAG report. Could it be because both used the same NATS model and inputted the same TAG data? Apart from being an exercise in stupidity, not a lot seems to have been achieved.
We are still waiting for an independent report of ground safety to be carried out. Rushmoor officials are still maintaining the fiction that a flawed study of risk contours is a ground safety study.
Rushmoor are touting for candidates for their airfield consultative committee. Richard Short is vetting all appointments to the committee, the same Richard Short who misled the Council on the format, function and membership of the committee. [BVEJ #0030 November 2002]
Rushmoor are now getting distinctly edgy. At great expense to the local taxpayer, David Bedford QC has been engaged.
TAG have being flying in conditions of extremely poor visibility when their ILS is known to malfunction or is turned off. During the recent airshow the ILS had to be turned off because aircraft parked on site were disrupting the beam. Now there's a novelty, aircraft parked on the airfield, who could have though of that when installing the ILS?
TAG have being flying during the firefighters strike.
As with previous winters, Southwood Golf Course is flooded as water flows through the airfield into Cove Brook. The surrounding heathland is now so saturated that any heavy downpour flows off the heathland, into the canal and into Cove Brook and through the airfield. The extra culverts under the road around the northern perimeter of the airfield and the drainage work on the airfield is accelerating the run off into Cove Brook. [BVEJ newsletters passim]
Consideration is being given to setting up an anti-airfield group. FARA, which is supposed to serve this function, has been an unmitigated disaster. Does anyone know what they are doing? Farnborough must be the only place with an expanding airport that lacks an airfield opposition group.
FARA have recently excelled themselves by engaging in behind the scenes talks with Rushmoor councillors and officials. Do we hear 'stitch-up'?
Rushmoor have given the go-ahead for the destruction of Farnborough town centre. A presentation was made by planning official Daryl Phillips working hard on behalf of the Kuwaiti developers KPI, councillors fell over backwards to compliment the scheme, just what Farnborough wants. The vote was unanimous. No consideration for the residents of Firgrove Court whose homes are to be demolished for a car park (they can piss off and live somewhere else), no consideration for the people who live in the flats above the shops (they were not even mentioned), no consideration for the small retailers (they can go bust).
The entire northern end of the town (from The Mead to Victoria Road) is to be demolished for a superstore, Firgrove Court is to be demolished (for a car park for the superstore). Above the superstore, offices, above the offices, 96 flats. This is supposed to provide choice - two superstores and nothing else.
Daryl Phillips blatantly lied (nothing new there) claiming there would be no loss of open space. He did though slip up when he let slip that if the residents of Firgrove Court refused to move, the entire scheme would collapse.
Rushmoor have only granted Minded to Grant, thus it could be scuppered. Nothing can start until Firgrove Court are rehoused, but what of those living above the shops whose lives are currently being made hell, and are scheduled for eviction?
Farnborough town centre looks more like a bomb site than a town centre, and that is before the demolition of the northern half takes place. Westmead, at the back of the shops (between Queensmead and ASDA), has mud on the road, contractors cars parked on the pavements, ASDA lorries have difficulty turning etc. Highways are turning a blind eye, as are the traffic wardens, as are planning. Just one more example of the level of corruption in the Rotten Borough of Rushmoor.
Over Christmas there will no security in the town centre, the police are providing no cover and KPI security are providing no cover. Currently, KPI are providing no security at night. If you want to nick stuff, then Farnborough is the place to be.
We are aware of several retailers who will be gone after Christmas, some are trading courtesy of the liquidator, others courtesy of the bank. Others, like camp(ing) shop Staffords, will be gone by March.
It is not only the retailers who are feeling the dead hand of KPI and their Quislings in the planning department. The Tuesday Market is also feeling the pinch and is close to collapse.
A recommended stall on the Tuesday market is the music stall. Lots of good, hard to find music, at better prices than High Street stores.
To add insult to injury a French Market was held in the town. No notification or consultation with the local retailers or the local community. Apart from the high quality, but extortionately expensive cheeses, the market was not even selling French goods or produce. The standards of food hygiene left much to be desired. Unlike other market stall holders, the French do not pay for their pitch.
About the only good news is that the Farmers Market is coming to Farnborough monthly. But a little too late. We wonder, with little else left, how long will the Farmers Market last?
Squatters have moved into several of the doomed flats at the northern end of the town. There are many more empty flats sitting waiting for squatters.
The Government is committed to enhancing the vitality and viability of urban areas. It wishes to see the quality of the residential environment improved and the retention of existing and provision of new open space, the planting of trees and grassed areas, and recreational provision within urban areas. -- PPG3 (housing)
Open spaces, particularly public open spaces and playing fields, are essential amenities within urban areas. Government policy as set out in PPG17: Sport and Recreation stresses the need to ensure adequate provision and that only where there is no deficiency in the community's longer-term needs for accessible playing fields or open space should such areas be developed for housing. Local planning authorities should have clear policies for the protection of open spaces and playing fields. Proposals for change of use to housing should only be allowed where there is clear evidence that adequate local provision of open space and playing fields would remain. -- PPG3 (housing)
We feel it regrettable that many of the councillors who voted for the application excused their decision by blaming government policies. -- Janet Leggett, AMPLE
We are obviously very pleased to have received planning consent. We have worked very closely with the planners to achieve a development that is right for this important site. -- Barratt Homes
Aldershot is 40% down on its requirement for urban open green space. Manor Park is important urban open green space. One would expect therefore Rushmoor to protect it against all threats, especially when it lies within a Conservation Area. But no, Rushmoor have granted planning consent for an unwanted Barratts housing estate.
On site are stag beetles, bats, an important wildlife site for the local urban population. Bats and stag beetles are protected species, stag beetles are protected by an EU directive.
A Barratts housing development will add to local traffic, overload local facilities.
All this, and more, was highlighted in an excellent well researched report produced by AMPLE, the group opposing the development. A far superior report than Rushmoor planners would be capable of producing.
Was any of this placed before the committee, or appeared in the agenda? Of course not, this is after all the Rotten Borough of Rushmoor.
The presentation by Rushmoor planning official Daryl Phillips was the usual hard sell on behalf of the developers. When he wasn't promoting the development, he was slagging off AMPLE.
The councillors were little better. If any of them had actually read AMPLE's well written and well researched report, which AMPLE had taken the trouble to hand deliver to every single councillor, it wasn't apparent, as they all talked out of their arses.
With the exception of Patrick Kirby, John Starling and Charlie Fraser-Fleming, the committee voted for the development.
The comment by Barratts that: 'We have worked very closely with the planners to achieve a development that is right for this important site' sums it all up.
AMPLE aren't a group to take this lying down. They are gearing up for a big fight. Since the committee vote they have gone into the planning department and demanded and got access to all the documents on this project.
They have already unearthed one glaring example of maladministration. NE Hants Architects Panel were consulted on the development. They were not impressed by the design of the buildings. They asked for a deferment of the planning consideration, pending further information. The only matter discussed at the planning meeting was the superficial design of the buildings (the limit of councillors' ability). Whether the buildings should be built at all was strictly off limits. The comments by the panel were not passed to the committee.
Assessment of the Performance of Rushmoor Borough Council in the Matter of the Proposed Development of the Manor Park Annexe, Ample, 24 October 2002
Detailed Analysis of the Report No PLN0286 to the Members of the Development Control Committee, Ample, October 2002
Development Control Committee's vote on the Manor Park Annexe site 30/10/02, Ample, October 2002
Simon Coughlin, Green light for housing, The Rush, 7 November 2002
Revision of Planning Policy Guidance Note 3: Housing, DETR, 23 March 1999
Sustainable Development: The UK Strategy, DETR, January 1994
[BVEJ newsletter #0030 November 2002]
Innisfail Laundry is a brown field contaminated industrial site in Aldershot. The level of contamination was casually dismissed in the agenda put before the committee, not a mention of the excellent environmental work carried out by Adrian Ashurst.
As with Manor Park, the discussion by councillors revolved around design details of the proposed housing. Apparently the design of the buildings was horrendous and out of keeping with the area (similar designs to Manor Park), the density was too high (lower than that for Manor Park), there would be problems with traffic generation (an order of magnitude fewer houses than Manor Park). The only difference between the two sites is that Manor Park is valuable urban open green space within a Conservation Area, whereas Innisfail Laundry is a badly contaminated industrial site. The other big difference is that Manor Park was approved by the committee, whereas Innisfail Laundry was rejected!
Both sites should have been rejected. The level of inconsistency, at the same planning meeting, is in itself grounds for investigation.
The behaviour of Neville Dewey begs many questions. For Manor Park he attacked AMPLE (we would have a hard working councillor if he did a fraction of the work as AMPLE on behalf of the local community), he claimed the design of the buildings showed much improvements, and that the criticisms by AMPLE were not justified. For Innisfail Laundry he slammed the horrendous designs. This is not the only time there has been grounds to question Neville Dewey. Over the airfield he launched an attack on Keith Parkins for forcing the Council through a successful High Court challenge to carry out an independent ground safety study (which they have yet to do). He backed KPI over the destruction of Farnborough town centre. The Lib Dems should give serious consideration to deselecting Dewey, as he is not doing the party any favours (and is costing them votes), and representing the local community he certainly ain't.
Simon Coughlin, Green light for housing, The Rush, 7 November 2002
Simon Coughlin, Laundry plans washed out: Council slams design, Aldershot Courier, 13 November 2002
[BVEJ newsletter #0030 November 2002]
Spean is an empty bungalow on Church Road East in Farnborough with a large garden. The garden was the owner's pride and joy. For the last couple of years since the owner's death the bungalow has lain empty and the garden left to fall into rack and ruin.
In the grounds were several substantial outbuildings and an Edwardian greenhouse. Pavilion Housing Association have trashed all the buildings and damaged neighbouring property in doing so.
Pavilion, much to the horror of the neighbours, wish to demolish the bungalow and erect a block of 8 flats and three 3-bedroom houses. Similar plans were hastily withdrawn following strong local opposition.
The proposals by Pavilion would destroy a lovely garden and the trees by the road, generate traffic, and be completely out of character with the neighbourhood.
The plans are strongly opposed by the neighbours who do not wish to see the character of their neighbourhood destroyed. On a cold wet mid-November night, over 50 people turned out to a meeting to discuss opposition to the plans.
Objections to Keith Holland (Rushmoor Head of Planning):
kholland@rushmoor.gov.uk
The site would be ideal for a smallholding. It would have been even more so if Pavilion had not gone in and trashed all the outbuildings and the Edwardian greenhouse (which no doubt is why they trashed them).
The site is an open invitation to squatters, the sort who would respect the land and respect the neighbours. The area is very quiet and peaceful (apart from the aircraft for Farnborough Airport). No drugs, no noise and you'd be welcomed by the neighbours.
Spean is located in an attractive part of South Farnborough. Nearby park a couple of minutes walk away. North Camp 10 mins, Farnborough town centre 20 minutes. North Camp Stn 20 mins, Farnborough Stn 25 mins, Ash Vale Stn 30 mins. Not far away the Basingstoke Canal, Farnborough is surrounded by open heathland.
Pavilion have a very bad reputation locally as landlords, as any councillor can testify. Their properties are in very poor state of repair. They are currently trying to evict their tenants from Firgrove Court in Farnborough town centre so their homes can be demolished for car park for a superstore (BVEJ newsletters passim).
Schnews of the World: Schnews Yearbook 2002, SchNEWS, 2002
A must have. Issues 301-350 plus lots of articles, pictures, and delightful cartoons. At the back the infamous Schnews Yellow Pages of useful contacts (funny we ain't in it).
Why buy the Beano Annual when you can have Schnews of the World instead?
Excellent Christmas present, all year round value.
@nti copyright - information for education and action - copy and distribute