Interrogating British 'Security' Policies
Why did the 7/7 terrorist attack happen?
Like the 11 September 2001 attack, was this a 'blowback' effect of government policy?
What is being protected by British 'security' policies? What alternative policies could protect us?
6.30pm Wednesday 12 July
Committee Room 3, House of Lords, Westminster, SW1
Hosted by Lord Rea
Why did the 7/7 terrorist attack happen?
Like the 11 September 2001 attack, was this a 'blowback' effect of government policy?
What is being protected by British 'security' policies? What alternative policies could protect us?
6.30pm Wednesday 12 July
Committee Room 3, House of Lords, Westminster, SW1
Hosted by Lord Rea
Speakers:
Nafeez Ahmed, author of The War on Freedom and The War on Truth and the new book London Bombings - An Independent Inquiry,
http://www.independentinquiry.co.uk/
Milan Rai, co-founder of Voices in the Wilderness UK; author of Chomsky's Politics; War Plan Iraq; Regime Unchanged; and 7/7: The London Bombings, Islam and the Iraq War
Gareth Peirce, human rights lawyer
Asad Rehman, Chair of Newham Monitoring Project
Representative of Charles de Menezes Family Campaign
Saghir Hussain, lawyer and Stop Political Terror
Prof. Bill Bowring, Human Rights & Social Justice Research Institute
Les Levidow, CAMPACC
Anomalies and inconsistencies continue to plague the government's explanation of what happened on 7th July 2005, and why it failed to anticipate the London tube bombings. The government has since used the attacks to promote increasingly draconian powers, justified on the basis of protecting 'national security'. This strategy does not protect us, but instead alienates and even criminalizes communities, especially by creating and persecuting more 'terror suspects'. As the most extreme cases, the shootings at Stockwell and Forest Gate have disturbing parallels.
There is still no coherent, verifiable public account of the 7th July terrorist attacks. In his book, The London Bombings: An Independent Inquiry, Nafeez Ahmed demonstrates how the authorities' explanations have shifted continuously and inexplicably. In this context, the absence of a credible narrative has fueled wild speculation and left the public in the dark. Meanwhile leaks from security services and journalistic investigations continue to undermine the government's claims that the bombers were 'clean skins'.
Ahmed argues that the attacks can only be fully understood in the light of extensive co-operation between Islamist extremists and Western intelligence in the Balkans, Central Asia and Northwest Africa before 7/7. In reality, government policies promote terror abroad and tolerate extremism at home. Looking beyond the platitudes of the 'war on terror', Ahmed asks what exactly the government means by 'national security'.
This meeting will hear critical perspectives from Nafeez Ahmed and Milan Rai and other leading experts. They will explore links between government policies that were already undermining our security before 7/7, and that are backfiring drastically after 7/7. The participants are calling for an independent public inquiry to unearth the failures that may have facilitated the London bombings, and which point towards an anti-terrorist strategy which could truly protect us.
The meeting has been called by CAMPACC (Campaign Against Criminalising Communities) and is supported by HRSJ (Human Rights & Social Justice Research Institute), Stop Political Terror, 1990 Trust, The Muslim Parliament
Information: estella24 at tiscali.co.uk, http://www.campacc.org.uk/
Tel 020 272 4131, 020 7586 5892
All are welcome to attend the next organizational meeting, 7-9pm Monday 24th July at Camden Town Hall, Judd St, near Kings Cross station. Ask for the room booked by UNISON.
Nafeez Ahmed, author of The War on Freedom and The War on Truth and the new book London Bombings - An Independent Inquiry,
http://www.independentinquiry.co.uk/ Milan Rai, co-founder of Voices in the Wilderness UK; author of Chomsky's Politics; War Plan Iraq; Regime Unchanged; and 7/7: The London Bombings, Islam and the Iraq War
Gareth Peirce, human rights lawyer
Asad Rehman, Chair of Newham Monitoring Project
Representative of Charles de Menezes Family Campaign
Saghir Hussain, lawyer and Stop Political Terror
Prof. Bill Bowring, Human Rights & Social Justice Research Institute
Les Levidow, CAMPACC
Anomalies and inconsistencies continue to plague the government's explanation of what happened on 7th July 2005, and why it failed to anticipate the London tube bombings. The government has since used the attacks to promote increasingly draconian powers, justified on the basis of protecting 'national security'. This strategy does not protect us, but instead alienates and even criminalizes communities, especially by creating and persecuting more 'terror suspects'. As the most extreme cases, the shootings at Stockwell and Forest Gate have disturbing parallels.
There is still no coherent, verifiable public account of the 7th July terrorist attacks. In his book, The London Bombings: An Independent Inquiry, Nafeez Ahmed demonstrates how the authorities' explanations have shifted continuously and inexplicably. In this context, the absence of a credible narrative has fueled wild speculation and left the public in the dark. Meanwhile leaks from security services and journalistic investigations continue to undermine the government's claims that the bombers were 'clean skins'.
Ahmed argues that the attacks can only be fully understood in the light of extensive co-operation between Islamist extremists and Western intelligence in the Balkans, Central Asia and Northwest Africa before 7/7. In reality, government policies promote terror abroad and tolerate extremism at home. Looking beyond the platitudes of the 'war on terror', Ahmed asks what exactly the government means by 'national security'.
This meeting will hear critical perspectives from Nafeez Ahmed and Milan Rai and other leading experts. They will explore links between government policies that were already undermining our security before 7/7, and that are backfiring drastically after 7/7. The participants are calling for an independent public inquiry to unearth the failures that may have facilitated the London bombings, and which point towards an anti-terrorist strategy which could truly protect us.
The meeting has been called by CAMPACC (Campaign Against Criminalising Communities) and is supported by HRSJ (Human Rights & Social Justice Research Institute), Stop Political Terror, 1990 Trust, The Muslim Parliament
Information: estella24 at tiscali.co.uk,
http://www.campacc.org.uk/ Tel 020 272 4131, 020 7586 5892
All are welcome to attend the next organizational meeting, 7-9pm Monday 24th July at Camden Town Hall, Judd St, near Kings Cross station. Ask for the room booked by UNISON.
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