Taking Liberties (Since 1997)

Revolver Entertainment - 101 min - Feb 7, 2008

TAKING LIBERTIES is a shocking but hilarious polemic documentary that charts the destruction of all your Basic Liberties under 10 Years of N...all » TAKING LIBERTIES is a shocking but hilarious polemic documentary that charts the destruction of all your Basic Liberties under 10 Years of New Labour. Released to coincide with Tony Blair's departure, the film and the book follow the stories of normal people who's lives have been turned upside down by injustice - from being arrested for holding a placard outside parliament to being tortured in Guantanamo Bay. THIS IS WHAT YOU DON'T READ IN THE PAPERS! THIS IS WHAT YOU DON'T SEE ON TV! AND IT'S HAPPENING TO YOU!



Waking_life

The British Law is An ASS , It Allows her to support the Terrorist , and lie to and cheat its citizens and The World

British Aid Mocks Sanctions Threat Against Iran : November 18, 2007 : Times : Jonathan Leake and Sarah Baxter

The government faces a diplomatic row with America over disclosures that it has provided the Iranian regime with financial support worth about £290m while at the same time calling for sanctions. The money was offered by the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) to support British firms exporting to Iran, mainly to the country’s petrochemical industry.
Many of the loans were being negotiated while British ministers were threatening sanctions against Iran for creating a nuclear enrichment facility to make atomic weapons. Last week Gordon Brown called for new sanctions against Iran in addition to those already imposed by the United Nations security council. The prime minister wants a ban on investment in the oil and gas industries if Iran does not agree to end the production of enriched uranium. This weekend government sources signalled their embarrassment over the ECGD’s activities. “There is clearly a gap between our actions and our rhetoric,” said one Whitehall insider. The US administration has been privately lobbying Britain to end the financial support. Stuart Levey, the US Treasury official responsible for terrorism and financial intelligence, stepped up the pressure in private discussions with British ministers in London in July, claiming that such export credits were inconsistent with UN sanctions. Danielle Pletka, an expert on trade links with Iran at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute, said: “You can’t subsidise with one hand and sanction with the other. Britain is saying the European Union needs to do more but it needs to lead by example, not just by its mouth.” The government is also under political pressure at home. William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, said: “Our government must make up its mind about export credit guarantees to Iran. Britain should lead the way with a clear, unequivocal commitment to banning new export credit guarantees to Iran.” The ECGD underwrites bank loans to enable overseas buyers to purchase goods, often including military hardware, from UK companies. It stopped providing support for Iran in 1994 but resumed in 2000. Much of the support was for the National Iranian Oil Company and a subsidiary, the National Petrochemical Company.
The decision to start pushing hard for new business came in 2003, the year of the second Iraq war. It coincided with a declaration by the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran had been secretly constructing a nuclear enrichment plant. The same year, however, the ECGD announced a £72m deal for a plastics plant in Iran. It then sent John Weiss, its business group director, to Iran to speak at a petrochemical conference to drum up more business. Weiss said then: “The petrochemical sector in Iran is a key target for the ECGD, but we are also keen to look at sectors including oil, gas, transport, power, water and telecommunications.” Such optimism contrasted with warnings throughout 2003 from Tony Blair, then prime minister, that Iran should halt its nuclear ventures. He also accused it of supporting terrorist groups attacking British troops in Iraq. In the same year the ECGD negotiated a series of deals involving the National Iranian Oil Company that were worth another £63m. In 2005 the ECGD extended credit worth £109m to the oil company, with more to other Iranian firms.
Parliamentary records show that the ECGD received 153 requests for credit guarantees from firms dealing with Iran between 2002 and March 2007. Most of the contracts are still in force and Britain’s total “exposure” to Iranian deals is now valued at £290m. Last week the Foreign Office said that money earned by the Iranian oil industry was used to support its nuclear enrichment programme and the Iraq insurgency.
The ECGD, however, said it had acted “completely within the law”.

A CLEAR AND A DIRECT WORNING TO THE MULLAH MAFIA'S OF IRAN

US Mideast Military Chief Says Iranian Behavior Unhelpful
November 18, 2007 The Associated Press International Herald Tribune

CAIRO, Egypt -- The Iranians need to realize that the U.S. is ready to stand up to them and the region is concerned about their radical rhetoric, the top American commander in the Middle East said Sunday. Speaking at a press conference in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Central Command chief Admiral William J. Fallon said that Iran's behavior since he assumed his post eight months earlier has not been helpful. "I don't want the Iranians to make a mistake and feel that we are afraid of them or not willing to stand up for things that we should in this region," he said. "There's concern over the Iranian behavior, concern in the region from the radical talk that is constantly threatening other people." Fallon was in Egypt for the massive regional Bright Star military excercises held every two years between Egypt and the United States that include several other nations. "Iran is a challenge to us, to me as a commander in chief in this area," he added. "Iran's behavior has not been very helpful in the region." The U.S. accuses Iran of supporting armed groups in Iraq that attack American forces — a charge the Iranians deny.

Iranian militants demand return of British diplomatic compound

· Area was handed to UK illegally, say hardliners
· Officials offer to swap gardens for Hyde Park

Robert Tait in Tehran : Wednesday July 18, 2007 - Guardian

Britain's tense relations with Iran are likely to be further strained next week by an officially linked campaign demanding the handover of the British embassy residence compound in Tehran. Hardliners will stage a conference demanding the return to Iran of Gholhak gardens, a 200,000 sq metre (50-acre) compound providing accommodation for British diplomats and their families. The compound, in north Tehran's up-market Shemiran district, was presented to Britain at the height of its imperial might by the Qajar monarchy in the 19th century. It is separate from the sprawling British embassy complex several miles further south.

Bordered by high walls and guarded round the clock by Iran's diplomatic police, the grounds are home to the British Council. They also contain a school and a graveyard, where the remains of British soldiers killed in the first and second world wars are buried. But the hardliners say Britain's ownership was asserted illegally during the reign of Reza Shah in the 1930s. "During the Reza Shah period the British embassy, without going through the proper legal processes, registered this area under its name," Muhammad Mehdi Shirmohammadi, the conference secretary, told the Guardian. "This is while they could have bought it. They can buy it now if they like. But first they should accept that the historical process was wrong and then they are free to buy." British diplomats have avoided commenting on the controversy. But organisers of the conference on Monday are seeking to end the official silence by inviting Geoffrey Adams, Britain's ambassador to Iran, to attend, along with Iranian experts in Islamic and civil law. A British embassy spokesman said Mr Adams had yet to decide whether to go. The event is being organised under the auspices of the Foundation for the Preservation and Publication of Sacred Defence Works and Values, a state body ultimately controlled by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It follows a long-running campaign spearheaded by pro-government groups such as the Islamist Basij volunteer militia and fundamentalist MPs. Several demonstrations have been staged outside the gardens by militant student groups. Last year, 162 MPs wrote to the parliamentary speaker, Gholamali Haddad-Adel demanding an investigation into the gardens' status. Last month MPs tabled a bill calling on the government to force Britain to return Gholhak and turn it into an anti-colonial museum. Iranian officials have been reported as saying they would be prepared to grant Britain ownership in exchange for Hyde Park in London. The row is symbolic of the resentment felt by many Iranians towards Britain, which is still widely seen as an arrogant colonial power, and comes amid a prolonged period of tension between the two countries, particularly over Iran's nuclear programme.Britain has supported security council sanctions over Tehran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment. Last month, Iranian guests attending the Queen's birthday party at the British embassy were harassed by demonstrators after an officially orchestrated campaign aimed at urging invitees to boycott it. A British embassy spokesman said Iran had not mounted an official challenge to Britain's ownership of the gardens. "As far as we're concerned, there is no question about their ownership," he said. "Our lawyers have looked up all the proper legal documents and found no problem at all," he said.

Work begins to uncover secrets of Silbury Hill

Work began yesterday to save an ancient landmark in Wiltshire from collapsing.

Silbury Hill, which at 130 feet high is the largest prehistoric man-made construction in Europe, continues to mystify archaeologists. English Heritage is to spend £600,000 this summer trying to preserve the mound. Specialist engineers will enter the mound through a tunnel which was dug in 1968 by a team led by the archaeologist, Prof Richard Atkinson. That tunnel was the last of three made over two centuries by archaeologists. The original purpose and use of the hill, which is south of the village of Avebury, is still a mystery. Theories suggest it was either a burial mound, a solar observatory or a representation of a Neolithic goddess.
(sounds like a Zoroastrian burial place. bahramerad.)





"It is very unlikely we will ever know why it was built," said Robert Bewley, English Heritage regional director for the South West. "But this project may give us a better idea of when it was built and how it was built. That could provide us with further clues as to why it was built."
On Thursday archaeologists found the small end of an antler outside the tunnel. "This shows they could only use the antlers of deer and pickaxes," Mr Bewley said. "Their tools were very simple so it was a phenomenal achievement to build a mound like that. "We know from Prof Atkinson's investigation there were at least two phases of construction. We hope to clarify how long it took to build the mound, which may have been a generation or more." Engineers yesterday prised open the door of the 1968 tunnel. They will repack every inch of the 40-year-old tunnel as they withdraw to make sure it is stable. A number of craters on the hill will also be refilled. Earlier this year, archaeologists found traces of a Roman settlement at the landmark.
( Gypsies from Persia , Bahramerad.). They believe the site may have been a place of pilgrimage 2,000 years ago.>Mr Bewley said



Roman settlement found next to 'devil's hill' : By Roger Highfield, Science Editor

Evidence of a Roman sacred site has been discovered at the foot of a man-made hill created thousands of years before the Romans arrived in Britain, it was announced yesterday.
Silbury hill: The original purpose and use of the man-made Neolithic hill still mystifies archaeologists . English Heritage called the uncovering of the settlement a "startling discovery", and all the more so because it lies next to 5,000-year-old Silbury hill, which at 130ft is Europe's largest man-made prehistoric monument. The original purpose and use of the Neolithic hill, which took an estimated 20 million man hours to make, still mystifies archaeologists. Yesterday's disclosure indicates that a Roman community was equally taken with the Wiltshire hill and established a sacred settlement in its shadow, some 3,000 years after it was created. The discovery of a settlement the size of 24 football pitches is "quite unexpected" said Dr Amanda Chadburn, an English Heritage archaeologist and team leader. "Although there were hints - the odd Roman coin kicking around - that the Romans were doing something around there we did not know what. This is an important Roman settlement." The site straddled the Roman road from London to Bath where it crossed the Winterbourne River. But it was more than just a way station for weary travellers. The Romans were as intrigued by Silbury as people are today, and there is even a tantalising hint of a temple. "There are a lot of legends about it being built by the devil and you wonder what the Romans thought about it," said Dr Chadburn.

Iran says that the Britons have Confess to Entering Iranian Waters Illegally

Conflict Comes as U.N. Security Council Prepares to Vote on Further Sanctions . By William Branigin, Mary Jordan and Robin WrightWashington Post Staff Writers



Commodore Nick Lambert, commander of the Royal Navy frigate HMS Cornwall, speaks aboard his ship Friday March 23, 2007in this image made from television. Iranian naval vessels seized 15 British sailors from HMS Cornwall, who had boarded a merchant ship in Iraqi waters of the Persian Gulf as part of efforts to protect the Iraqi coastline and its oil terminals, U.S. and British officials Friday March 23, 2007. The British government summoned the Iranian ambassador in London and demanded "the immediate and safe return of our people and equipment." The U.S. Navy, which operates off the Iraqi coast along with British forces, said Iran's Revolutionary Guard naval forces were responsible.(AP Photo/AP Television News) (AP)


Saturday, The Iranian military asserted today that British naval personnel captured in the Persian Gulf "confessed" to entering Iranian waters illegally after being transferred to Tehran for interrogation, an Iranian news agency reported. But Britain insisted that its 15 sailors and marines were seized in Iraqi waters and demanded their immediate release.There was no immediate independent confirmation of the Iranian claim that the British detainees had admitted entering Iran's territorial waters in the northern part of the gulf, and the two sides issued conflicting statements citing proof from satellite positioning systems.The standoff came as the U.N. Security Council prepared to vote this afternoon on a resolution imposing further sanction on Iran because of its nuclear program. The proposed resolution requires Iran to halt its programs to enrich uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel within 60 days or face additional penalties. It would also ban Iranian arms sales and freeze the assets of 28 Iranian individuals and entities, including several commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iranian news media reported that a Revolutionary Guard naval force carried out the capture of the 15 Britons Friday morning in the Shatt al-Arab waterway in the northern Gulf. State-run news agencies did not quote any officials as linking the seizure with the U.N. Security Council action or any other issues. However, hard-line Iranian student groups called on the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad not to release the 15 until U.S forces freed five Iranians captured in Iraq earlier this year and the U.N. Security Council dropped plans for sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. About 500 Iranian students gathered on the shore of the Shatt al-Arab and shouted slogans such as "Death to Britain" and "Death to America," the Fars News Agency reported. In Tehran, Ali Reza Afshar, a senior military spokesman, said the 15 "have confessed that they have aggressed against the waters of the Islamic Republic of Iran," the news agency said. It identified Afshar as "manager of the cultural and defensive propaganda division" of the general staff of the Iranian armed forces. Two other Iranian news agencies also quoted Afshar as saying the Britons "are being interrogated and have confessed to aggression into [Iranian] waters." The Fars News Agency earlier reported that the eight British sailors and seven Royal Marines, including one female marine, were transferred to Tehran today to "provide more explanations" of their actions. A spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, charged that the British had made an "illegal and interventionist" incursion into Iranian waters in a "suspicious move" that violated international commitments, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. He said Iran was conducting "further investigation of the blatant aggression." According to the Iranians, global positioning devices carried by the British proved that they were on the Iranian side of the Shatt al-Arab, which Iran calls the Arvand River, when they were seized. However, British officials said there was no doubt that the sailors and marines were in Iraqi waters, where they had just completed a routine inspection of an Iraqi merchant ship for possible smuggling. The officials said the 15 were on their way back to the HMS Cornwall in two rigid inflatable boats when the Iranians raced out, seized them and took them to the Iranian side of the waterway. The Cornwall is a frigate that helps patrol the Persian Gulf, along with U.S. Navy ships, under a U.N. Security Council mandate. In London, the Foreign Office summoned Iran's ambassador to a meeting today to demand the immediate release of the captured Britons. The European Union also called for the "immediate liberation" of the captured sailors and marines. U.S. and Western officials said the 15 may have been seized in reprisal for the U.S. detention of five Iranian Revolutionary Guard operatives during a January raid of the Iranian government's liaison office in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil. The five, picked up as part of an intensifying U.S. effort to counter Iran's growing influence in Iraq, were members of the elite al-Quds Brigade that officials said has been deeply involved in arming and aiding Shiite Muslim militias in Iraq. Iran has been demanding their release publicly and in private meetings, including at the first conference of Iraq's neighbors in Baghdad on March 10, a senior U.S. official said Friday. Two other al-Quds members had been picked up by the United States in Baghdad in December, but were released after a formal request by the Iraqi government. Iran's Revolutionary Guard naval corps, which carried out Friday's capture, operates separately from Iran's navy. The Revolutionary Guards Corps is the hard-line wing of Iran's multifaceted military and security services. British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said Friday that Britain had left Iran "in no doubt that we expect the immediate and safe return of our personnel." Other Western capitals have also weighed in with Iran, and the incident was discussed Friday on the margins of U.N. talks on a new punitive resolution against Iran for failing to suspend uranium enrichment. Enriched uranium can be used for both peaceful nuclear energy as well as a weapons program. U.S. officials said they believe Iran's move was calculated to get something in return. "This was deliberate, no kidding. Anyone with six working brain cells understands that. The Iranians raced in and seized these guys and raced back," said a senior U.S. official who requested anonymity because of the sensitive diplomacy. "The Iranians are under significant worldwide pressure over their failure to comply with demands of the International Atomic Energy Agency and now the U.N. Security Council. The radicals are particularly under enormous pressure." In 2004, eight British servicemen were held for three days after their boats strayed into Iranian waters. They were freed after being blindfolded, interrogated, and forced to read apologies on Iranian TV. Some of the sensitive British equipment from 2004 has not been returned, British officials say. Commodore Nick Lambert, the commander of the Cornwall, told the BBC Friday that he hoped the latest detention was the result of a "simple mistake" over the border between Iran and Iraq.
"There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they were in Iraqi territorial waters. Equally, the Iranians may claim they were in Iranian waters," Lambert said. "I hope we find this is a simple misunderstanding at the tactical level."

Confusion over Iran's intentions : By Frances Harrison BBC News, Tehran

This is not the first time Iran has seized British sailors for allegedly intruding into its territorial waters - the same thing happened to eight UK servicemen in 2004. But this time there are reasons why it could be more serious. The incident comes just two days after Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave an unusually aggressive speech to mark the new Persian year. He said: "In case the enemies of Iran intend to use force and violence and act illegally, without a doubt the Iranian nation and officials will use all their capabilities to strike the invading enemies." It was an oddly defiant and hostile tone to strike for a new year speech.
One commentator, Sayeed Laylaz, has drawn a parallel with President George W Bush's state of the nation address in January, which was followed immediately by a US attack on an Iranian office in Irbil in northern Iraq and the seizure of five Iranians who are still being held by the US.
So far Iran has not indicated what political capital they plan to make out of the captured sailors
Mr Laylaz points out that the speech of Mr Khamenei was swiftly followed by the capture of the British sailors. Then there is the timing of the capture of the sailors, the day before a key vote in the UN Security Council on imposing a second raft of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme. Iranian political scientists say there are factions in the Revolutionary Guards who are spoiling for a fight - extreme hardliners who think if a confrontation with the West is inevitable it is better it happen over the nuclear issue than Iran's human rights record.
There has also been more international condemnation this time, whereas in 2004 it was treated as a bilateral issue between Britain and Iran.
Trump card
Some in Iran argue that the authorities have much less to lose from aggressive behaviour now, with no negotiations currently underway on the nuclear issue. Sayeed Laylaz compares Iran to a cornered cat that has no option but to strike back. The argument is that Tehran is so isolated internationally that it needs an asset - a card to play to force the West to engage. If this is the thinking it might explain why it is British military forces who've been seized and not Americans, because the British still have diplomatic relations with Tehran - unlike the US. So far the Iranian authorities have not indicated clearly their intentions, what if any political capital they plan to make out of the captured sailors. The worry is that the situation will worsen considerably if Iran links the fate of the British to that of the five Iranians held by the Americans in Iraq. The US says those five men are elite Revolutionary Guards up to no good in Iraq. Tehran says they are diplomats. The situation could complicated further if a clear link is made to UN action against Iran's nuclear programme.

Latest News

Britain meets Iran ambassador over seized sailors National Post 15:28
5 to 10 minutes old
Crude prices cross $62 a barrel after Iran captures British sailors The Earth Times 15:24
Britische Soldaten in Iran: London fürchtet Geiseldrama sueddeutsche.de 15:23
10 to 15 minutes old
Iran says British sailors admit illegal entry Channel NewsAsia 15:17
15 to 30 minutes old
Iran Protests 'Aggression' in Case of Seized Britons The New York Times 15:09
Talking to Iran PBS Online - NOW 15:01
30 minutes to 1 hour old
Iran says sailors admit illegal entry canada.com 15:00
UN council sets Iran sanctions vote IOL 14:51
Iran says arrested British troops were illegally in Iranian waters Belfast Telegraph 14:50
Iran defeats US in the world wresting tournament IRNA 14:49
Iran insists British sailors were in its water, denounces ''blatant aggression'' Santa Barbara News Press, California 14:45

Sailors admit mistake, says Iran Northern Territory News 14:42
Iran's president cancels U.N. address InsideBayArea.com, California 14:41
Iran Protests ‘Aggression’ in Case of Seized Britons The New York Times 14:38
1 to 2 hours old
Iran unrepentant over detention of British sailors (AFP) Yahoo! US 14:30
Security Council set to approve new UN sanctions on Iran (AFP) Yahoo! US 14:30
(UPDATE) Iran says British sailors admit illegal entry ABS-CBNNEWS.COM 14:27
British SOS to Iran: Set Our Sailors free The Sydney Morning Herald 14:19
Iran Claims UK Troops "Admit" Trespassing The Huffington Post 14:19

Iran's military says Britons "confessed" entry (Reuters) Yahoo! US 14:18
Iran unrepentant over detention of British sailors AFP 14:18
Iran crisis National Post 14:17
Kurdish leader Massoud Barazani to "Al Hayat": "We are not part of the Sunni-Shiite... Dar Al Hayat 14:15
Confrontation in no one's interests, says Iran envoy IRNA 14:15

Les marins britanniques ont "avoué" être entrés illégalement en Iran L'Orient Le Jour 14:10
Iran: UK Troops Illegally Entered Waters The Sentinel, Pennsylvania 14:09
Krise um inhaftierte Briten im Iran verschärft sich Reuters 14:09
Iran in sailors' 'confession' claim Leicester Mercury 14:08
Iran seizes 15 British sailors The Daily Herald, Utah 14:05

Iran dice che britannici "confessano" ingresso illegale Reuters 14:01
U.N. Security Council Set To OK Iran Sanctions KCAL TV, Los Angeles 13:59
Iran: Captured British Detainees Confess to Entering Iranian Waters Illegally WTVR CBS 6, Virginia 13:59
Iran Moves British Sailors To Tehran Radio Free Europe 13:59
Iran: U.K. Sailors Confessed to Illegally Entering Waters Fox News Channel 13:58

Iran's military says Britons "confessed" entry The Mirror 13:58