What do captured British sailors, fake water boundaries, a botched US raid in Iraq and a UK political corruption scandal have in common?

April 3, 2007

By Heather Wokusch

What do captured British sailors, fake water boundaries, a botched US raid in Iraq and a UK political corruption scandal have in common? Read on…

Tension mounts between Britain and Iran over the 15 British sailors seized on March 23. While many US media outlets dutifully repeat the claims that: 1) the sailors were in Iraqi waters at the time they were taken captive, and 2) the incident came completely out of nowhere, a closer examination of the facts indicates otherwise.

Here’s a quick overview of recent articles providing important context -

1. The map showing the captured sailors were in Iraqi waters is "fake" and "has no legal force."

Craig Murray was the Ambassador to the Central Republic of Uzbekistan from 2002-04 and "helped expose the vicious human rights abuses by the US-funded regime of Islam Karimov."

He also headed Maritime Section of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1989-92. In other words, Murray knows a thing or two about maritime borders.

Here’s an excerpt from Murray’s March 28, 2007 blog entitled "Fake Maritime Boundaries" (www.craigmurray.co.uk):

The British Government has published a map showing the coordinates of the incident, well within an Iran/Iraq maritime border. The mainstream media and even the blogosphere has bought this hook, line and sinker.

But there are two colossal problems.

A) The Iran/Iraq maritime boundary shown on the British government map does not exist. It has been drawn up by the British Government. Only Iraq and Iran can agree their bilateral boundary, and they never have done this in the Gulf, only inside the Shatt because there it is the land border too. This published boundary is a fake with no legal force.

B) Accepting the British coordinates for the position of both HMS Cornwall and the incident, both were closer to Iranian land than Iraqi land. Go on, print out the map and measure it. Which underlines the point that the British produced border is not a reliable one.

None of which changes the fact that the Iranians, having made their point, should have handed back the captives immediately. I pray they do so before this thing spirals out of control. But by producing a fake map of the Iran/Iraq boundary, notably unfavourable to Iran, we can only
harden the Iranian position.

2. According to the UK’s Independent, "A failed American attempt to abduct two senior Iranian security officers on an official visit to northern Iraq was the starting pistol for a crisis that 10 weeks later led to Iranians seizing 15 British sailors and Marines."

An excerpt from the Independent’s April 3 2007 article entitled "The botched US raid that led to the hostage crisis"
(http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2414760.ece):

Early on the morning of 11 January, helicopter-born US forces launched a surprise raid on a long-established Iranian liaison office in the city of Arbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. They captured five relatively junior Iranian officials whom the US accuses of being intelligence agents and
still holds.

In reality the US attack had a far more ambitious objective, The Independent has learned. The aim of the raid, launched without informing the Kurdish authorities, was to seize two men at the very heart of the Iranian security establishment.

Better understanding of the seriousness of the US action in Arbil - and the angry Iranian response to it - should have led Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence to realise that Iran was likely to retaliate against American or British forces such as highly vulnerable Navy search
parties in the Gulf…

The attempt by the US to seize the two high-ranking Iranian security officers openly meeting with Iraqi leaders is somewhat as if Iran had tried to kidnap the heads of the CIA and MI6 while they were on an official visit to a country neighbouring Iran, such as Pakistan or
Afghanistan.

The raid in Arbil was a far more serious and aggressive act. It was not carried out by proxies but by US forces directly. The abortive Arbil raid provoked a dangerous escalation in the confrontation between the US and Iran which ultimately led to the capture of the 15 British sailors and Marines - apparently considered a more vulnerable coalition target
than their American comrades.

3. Headlines about the captured sailors have conveniently buried reports on Prime Minister Tony Blair’s role in a domestic political scandal, which had him threatening to resign as recently as last week.
(www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/25/nhons25.xml)

The UK’s Sunday Telegraph reported on March 26th: "Detectives have spent a year looking into allegations that Labour promised peerages in return for £14 million in secret loans to fight the 2005 general election ... Police officers investigating the cash-for-honours scandal wanted to
interview Tony Blair under caution but backed off after being warned that it could lead to his resignation."

"Under caution" means that Blair would have been "treated as a suspect, rather than simply as a witness." That would be undesirable for Blair, because "The fact that Mr Blair has not been interviewed under caution means it is unlikely any of the answers he has given so far could be
used against him to bring charges. Legal experts say any solicitor is likely to argue that evidence from a routine interview - not treating someone as a suspect - should be declared inadmissible by a judge."

According to a Sunday Telegraph source, "Make no mistake, Scotland Yard was informed that Mr Blair would resign as Prime Minister if he was interviewed under caution."

The plot thickens…

Related
Allegations that Lord Levy is suffering anti-semitism divide British Jews
It’s Anti-Semitism, Stupid!

'Anti-Semitism is blamed for furore over Lord Levy'

Commit crimes. Yell 'anti-semitism'. Get away with it. Works for Israel.
---
By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor
Published: 10 March 2007

As the man at the centre of the most high-profile political scandal for years, Lord Levy has enjoyed precious few public expressions of support in recent weeks.

But yesterday the peer found comfort in the form of his many allies in London's Jewish community as a succession of voices claimed that a witchhunt against him was being fuelled partly by anti-Semitism.

Sir Alan Sugar, the Amstrad tycoon and hard-hitting star of the reality television series The Apprentice, said he feared that Lord Levy would be made a "scapegoat" in the police investigation into the cash-for-honours affair.

The famously outspoken businessman claimed that some attacks were being made in newspapers with a record of being "negative" about Jews and Asians. "I think they rub it in when either the Asian or the Jewish community get themselves into some form of trouble," he said.

Lord Levy's rabbi, Yitzchak Schochet, writing in The Jewish Chronicle, denounced "the blatant nastiness in some of the tabloids and the recent seeming trial by media". Rabbi Schochet, of Mill Hill synagogue in north-west London, where the embattled peer is a congregant, earlier accused "sinister corners" for the leaks, and claimed: "The Jewish community is becoming increasingly more sensitive that there is one Jew, who has been called the most dynamic Jew in Anglo-Jewry, seemingly being hung out to dry here."

The Jewish community in north London, where Lord Levy lives and has raised millions of pounds for charity, has praised him in the Chronicle for the work he has done for good causes in their community. Louise Ellman, a Labour MP and member of the all-party Parliamentary group on anti-Semitism, said he had "attracted tremendous jealousy". Asked whether anti-Semitism was behind the smears, she said: "I don't think it is possible to be certain about it, but the whole matter does create a great deal of uneasiness."

Sir Alan, a friend of Lord Levy, mounted an attack on Tony Blair on BBC Radio for failing to do more to protect the fundraiser from damaging leaks which reached fever pitch this week over his arrest on suspicion of perverting the course of justice in the cash-for-honours affair.

Downing Street denied being behind leaks that Lord Levy "bullied" Ruth Turner, the Prime Minister's "gatekeeper" to change her version of events about the nomination of Labour donors for peerages. But some observers said the impression was left that Lord Levy was being made the fall guy.

Sir Alan said Lord Levy had a "blind devotion to Tony Blair who claims to be his friend; looking at the newspaper reports and television reports now, with friends like him, you don't need any enemies.

"I have a lot of respect for Blair. I think he is a decent man. But he will go down in my estimation if he allows this nonsense to continue in respect to Levy. Levy has raised a lot of money for his party and assisted him to get elected. It looks like he's the scapegoat, particularly this last week with allegedly some woman he's been allegedly bullying."

Sir Alan said he hoped the police "don't come up with some trumped-up charge to make it look like they are doing their job".

He added: "When you think about it, what's in it for Levy? This is not a man who has lined his pockets. This is a man who got blind devotion to Tony Blair and blagged people for money for the Labour Party; that to me is his worst crime."

Lord Levy is still officially the Prime Minister's envoy to the Middle East, for which he is not paid. He has been arrested twice in connection with Scotland Yard's high-profile inquiry, the second time on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. He has been at the centre of a series of allegations about the affair this week, but he has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.