On Monday May 10th David Keogh and Leo O'Connor were sent to prison for six and three months respectively for offences against the Official Secrets Act. Since the main news story that day was the resignation of Tony Blair, was this ‘a good day to bury bad news'?
What was their crime? They were trying to get the truth out to the British people. Most of the hearing was behind closed doors. As soon as they were sent down, the judge imposed gagging orders on the press so as not to reveal the case on which they were convicted.
Keogh was a civil servant. He saw an account of a meeting between Bush and Blair in 2004. It horrified him as it discussed plans he describes as ‘criminal and abhorrent.' They don't want us to know what these plans were.
David passed on to the plans to O'Connor, a research assistant to the MP Anthony Clarke. Instead of blowing the whistle, Clarke grassed up Keogh and O'Connor.
The trial was heard in secrecy because of claims of ‘national security.' The representative of the Foreign Office argued the meeting details were ‘confidential even if the plans were criminal or abhorrent'!
It is believed that Bush was proposing to blow up Al- Jazeera news agency in Qatar, a neutral country. Understandably, David described Bush as a ‘madman'. So the government goes to court to hush up the fact that we are in alliance with a criminal madman. And the courts (who you were probably told at school are there to promote justice and prevent crime) see it as their job to cover up a conspiracy to mass murder.
The court's action is not only criminal, but also absurd. Though ‘Bush is bonkers' is hardly news to millions of people throughout the world, the attempt at suppressing the story will give wings to a tale that brings British and US foreign policy into massive disrepute. This is not really about ‘national security'. It is about national stupidity.
Hundreds of thousands have died in Iraq as a result of the illegal invasion. Nobody has been punished. Tony Blair is set to earn millions on his post-retirement lecture tour of the USA. Now these two courageous men are in prison for trying to make the truth heard.
Don't let the authorities get away with it!
