Craig Murray and 'Murder in Samarkand'

[fifty5]

This afternoon's Saturday Play on BBC Radio 4 was about Murray's time as UK ambassador to Uzbekistan.

It dealt with Britain's (via US intelligence) reliance on information on information gathered from torture.

Among other facets it contrasts the Allies action in Iraq with their treatment of the regime in Uzbekistan, led by dictator President Islam Karimov.

Craig Murray was prepared to pay the price of his principles and was first sacked as Ambassador and then resigned from the Foreign Office. He is now a freelance journalist and speaker on human rights issues.

David Hare wrote the play, based on Murray's memoir of the events, but excluding all aspects that he, Hare, couldn't verify from other sources. (Listen to http://www.kasiminfo.co.uk/DT/2010/Audio/DH.mp3 grabbed from the Radio 4 interview with Hare last Monday.)

You can 'Listen Again' to the play via http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qs5x7

Both the US and the UK have been mislead by politicians with personal, semi-private agendas!

Murray wasn't perfect himself, but in his own words (taken from a daily Mail article, see http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...il-tyrant--No-wonder-called-Doctor-Who.html): "I was stunned that the Foreign Office tried to blackmail me. My entire faith in the British Government had been destroyed. What I could not get my head round was the fact that New Labour Ministers who supported the use of intelligence from torture, and supported the bombing of urban areas, professed moral outrage that I liked nightclubs."

What reaction, from either side of the pond?

 

[Handley_Page]

Since when has anyone actually believed a politician ?
I'll give the repeat a dose of 'earing I think.

 

[fifty5]

Since when has anyone actually believed a politician ?

True, but there's still a difference between common sense disbelief and documented evidence of specific lies.

Craig Murray's website claims something like 1.3M deaths in Iraq due to our invasion (and supports that number, even though only approximately) which also adds some further significance.

Churchill and Roosevelt never told us the whole truth, but were still, more than less, trustworthy. I have less faith in Blair and Bush.

 

[Boxlicker101]

True, but there's still a difference between common sense disbelief and documented evidence of specific lies.

Craig Murray's website claims something like 1.3M deaths in Iraq due to our invasion (and supports that number, even though only approximately) which also adds some further significance.

Churchill and Roosevelt never told us the whole truth, but were still, more than less, trustworthy. I have less faith in Blair and Bush.

I believe that 1.3M is too high, which makes me doubt this person's accuracy. Here is another source, which seems rather low: http://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/

 

[Handley_Page]

Damn good play, that.

I have to say our man in Uzbec came over as a bit of a twerp.
An innocent one, at that.
Even if he was morally right.

 

[fifty5]

I believe that 1.3M is too high, which makes me doubt this person's accuracy. Here is another source, which seems rather low: http://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/

So, somewhere between 100k and 1M.

Each one of those is a tragedy to a family - assuming that someone from that family survived.

The same goes for families of servicemen who have died or were injured.

To the rest of us in the US and the UK (and other UN nations), the point is that our national contributions have been negative - AND THAT THE ACTION WAS BASED ON TORTURE, as documented by Craig Murray from his personal experience in Uzbekistan and that THE POLITICIANS IN POWER LIED ABOUT IT ALL!

I hope that Obama will be better for the States.

With a General Election due very soon in Britain, I hope that people here will realise that our government at the time colluded with the deception and that our biggest opposition party went along with them (and as the previous government, they knew about how much intelligence is little more than guesswork).

I support our third party, the Lib Dems. Unlike the others, I believe they are a party of principle.

I may be wrong, but hope I'm right - and that the electorate at large comes to share my hope.

 

[Boxlicker101]

So, somewhere between 100k and 1M.

Each one of those is a tragedy to a family - assuming that someone from that family survived.

The same goes for families of servicemen who have died or were injured.

To the rest of us in the US and the UK (and other UN nations), the point is that our national contributions have been negative - AND THAT THE ACTION WAS BASED ON TORTURE, as documented by Craig Murray from his personal experience in Uzbekistan and that THE POLITICIANS IN POWER LIED ABOUT IT ALL!

I hope that Obama will be better for the States.

With a General Election due very soon in Britain, I hope that people here will realise that our government at the time colluded with the deception and that our biggest opposition party went along with them (and as the previous government, they knew about how much intelligence is little more than guesswork).

I support our third party, the Lib Dems. Unlike the others, I believe they are a party of principle.

I may be wrong, but hope I'm right - and that the electorate at large comes to share my hope.

However many there are, it is too many and, yes, those deathys are usually tragedies to the families involved. I say "usually" because some of the deaths are people blowing themselves up deliberately.

I don't know the exact figures, but I think it is safe to say that most Iraqi deaths are murders by other Iraqis.

 

[JackLuis]

I think Murray 'sexed' it up a bit for radio, yet it still comes off a a squalid tale.

He seemed remarkable naive and uninformed for an Ambassador.

Didn't he realize that the American Ambassador was saying that he needed the airfields and didn't give a shit about anything else. He was fighting a war and the Uzbek's could do what ever they wanted. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out!"

Didn't he ever read about it?

Then he fell into the trap of the "Tea Company", and went native for the pussy.