Terrorist Propagandists

Did Bush really want to bomb the al Jazeera offices in Qatar? The Mirror reported yesterday that they've been warned not to publish any further details of the memo. The Times (along with many others) report that the UK government has threatened to invoke the Official Secrets Act against any newspaper which publishes details of the memo.

THE Attorney-General was accused last night of using the Official Secrets Act “big stick” to gag newspapers in an attempt to save President Bush from further embarrassment over Iraq.

It seems that the Government is very determine to keep the details of this memo secret. And yet, they are the ones who love to remind us that if you've nothing to hide... How odd.

I thought it'd be illuminating to see how al Jazeera has been reporting the story. Here we go. Rabid terrorist propagandists? The claim is laughable.

And that led me to wonder about something else. As I mentioned in my previous post, Frank Gaffney, an influential neo-con, clearly and unequivocally advocated the use of violence against al Jazeera staff during his Newsnight appearance on Tuesday 22nd November.

Offences Against The Person Act 1861
Section 4 - Conspiring or soliciting to commit murder.
All persons who shall conspire, confederate, and agree to murder any person, whether he be a subject of Her Majesty or not, and whether he be within the Queen's dominions or not, and whosoever shall solicit, encourage, persuade, or endeavour to persuade, or shall propose to any person, to murder any other person, whether he be a subject of Her Majesty or not, and whether he be within the Queen's dominions or not, shall be guilty of a isdemeanor, and being convicted thereof shall be liable ... to [imprisonment for life].
[my emphasis]

That law is still in effect and has been used to prosecute muslims for incitement to violence (as recently as 2004). As such, it would appear that Mr Gaffney may have committed a serious crime. I intend to write to the relevant authorities to ask whether steps are being taken to investigate this possible criminal activity. At this stage I'm not sure who to contact but I'm sure I'll work it out. In the meantime, if anyone knows, I'd be most grateful if they could pass on that information.