Britain's special relationship 'just a myth'

Daily Telegraph (UK) ^ | 30/11/2006 | Toby Harnden

[fragrant abuse]

Britain's special relationship 'just a myth' Toby Harnden in Washington

A senior American official has spoken of "the myth of the special relationship" between the United States and Britain, arguing that Tony Blair got "nothing, no payback" for supporting President George W Bush in Iraq.

Kendall Myers, a leading State Department adviser, suggested that Mr Blair should have been ditched by Labour but the party had lacked the "courage or audacity" to remove him.

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, was "shrewd, astute" to have distanced himself from America.

In candid comments that will embarrass Mr Bush and Mr Blair, the veteran official said America "ignored" Britain, and he urged Britain to decouple itself from the US.

He asserted that the "special relationship", a term coined by Sir Winston Churchill in 1946, gave Britain little or nothing.

"It has been, from the very beginning, very one-sided. There never really has been a special relationship, or at least not one we've noticed."

The result of the Iraq war would be that any future British premier would be much less cosy with Washington than Mr Blair had been, and the Prime Minister's much vaunted view that Britain was "a transatlantic bridge" was now redundant.

[Dog]

Who the hell is Kendall Myers? Soon to be an ex-State Dept official.

[fragrant abuse]

"I do."

Thanks, friend. And the same from me for your own countrymen's service and sacrifice.

"But it remains that it was Neville Chamberlain who precipitated the war."

Well, I take 'precipitate' to mean 'hasten' so I wouldn't put it that way. Chamberlain was a fool who couldn't see that war against fascism was inevitable and necessary. He hamstrung Britain's self-defense by deceiving himself and others of Hitler's real nature.

Ulimately, I think we can agree that the person who really precipitated World War II was Adolf Hitler.

[snugs]

Well with the BBC left wing tendencies I would not take notice what they say about the Conservative Party Leader or for that matter infer he has said.

We all know that sound bites can give a completely different perspective to what someone has actually said.

Having said that there are a lot of aspects of Cameron that I do not agree with but he seems to be getting more of country's support than Howard did so power to his elbow if this is what it takes to get us back in then I will support him.

[sageb1]

I'm not sure I'd call it a "collective shoulder." I think most conservatives hope both countries have leaders who simply insist on doing the right thing. Unfortunately, the anti-war crowd has done much damage and politicians in both countries have suffered for it by becoming unelectable - or at least having a difficult time of it. There isn't a real anti-Brit attitude in the US or in the world that I see. To be sure, the anti-war people lump the Brits in with their rants, but it is really an anti-American rant more than anything else.

[sageb1]

America has plenty of its own Chamberlains.

[ScaniaBoy]

An excellent analysis of this article can be found here at Eureferendum:

Shoddy pieces of work

Richard North finds out much more about Mr Myers than the journalists in the Times and the Daily Telegraph (a surprise - not!). And what do you know - it appears that Dr Myers is associated with the European Union. A State - EU collusion acting against the interest of the elected US government. What a surprise!

Dog may actually be right. Myers appears to be on his way out. Good thing, too.

[MadIvan]

It may very well be that Myers is not high on the food chain. That's irrelevant - if he is acting as an advisor to the US government, if he is being paid by the US taxpayer, and if indeed he is a US government employee, he should have had enough sense to not say such inflammatory things. The State Department shouldn't just disown him - they ought to sack him.

Regards, Ivan

[ScaniaBoy]

Agree, but we are talking about State. What diplomats ought to do and what they will do is often - if not always - two different things.

BTW that does not apply to John Bolton, which is why I like him, and why he will never be confirmed by the Congress.

[metesky]

Nice catch.

[JSteff]

Thanks, did not know that. Would like more info if you have any links.

[piasa]

Kendall Myers & mediot ping

[Fedora]

Thanks for the ping!

[piasa]

"Who the hell is Kendall Myers?"

Soon to be an ex-State Dept official.

YEP...

NOVEMBER 20, 2009 FRI : (SPIES FOR CUBA WALTER KENDALL MYERS aka AGENT 202 & HIS WIFE GWENDOLYN STEINGRABER MYERS aka AGENT 123 / AGENT E-634 PLEAD GUILTY) WASHINGTON – A former State Department official and his wife have pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from their roles in a 30-year conspiracy to provide classified U.S. national defense information to the Republic of Cuba....
At a hearing before Judge Reggie B. Walton, defendant Walter Kendall Myers, 72, aka “Agent 202,” pleaded guilty to a three-count criminal information charging him with conspiracy to commit espionage and two counts of wire fraud. His wife, Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, 71, aka “Agent 123,” and “Agent E-634,” pleaded guilty to a one-count criminal information charging her with conspiracy to gather and transmit national defense information.
----- "Former State Department Official and Wife Plead Guilty in 30-Year Espionage Conspiracy; Former Official Agrees to Serve Life Prison Sentence," PRESS RELEASE, Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Friday, November 20, 2009 http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/November/09-nsd-1262.html

[piasa]

RE-PING

[wardaddy]

DAMN...look what the cat drug up....

I don’t think you guys owe us diddly... we owe ya’ll.

Even thought modern deconstructionists lived to denigrate western civilization in general and anglo civilization in particular as one who has lived the world over it ain’t hard to see plainly that where the Brits colonized the folks are better off than otherwise period.

And that especially includes the US of A.

So thanks.

I am very happy to live in a nation spawned from those traditions..

(former resident Tottenham Court/Hampstead Lane)

[Dog]

This opens up a whole new can of worms...

[piasa]

2002 : (DOWNING STREET MEMO & SPY FOR CUBA WALTER KENDALL MYERS) Myers attended the “Downing Street Memo” meeting lead by John Conyers.
13 posted on Saturday, June 06, 2009 1:15:53 AM by kcvl

[piasa]

The wife , also convicted in the espionage case, worked as a staffer for S Dakota's former Senator Abourezk.

JANUARY 10, 2006 : (POLITICAL STUNT "CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY/IMPEACH BUSH/CHENEY MEME"- See VIPS' RAY MCGOVERN, ABU GHRAIB'S KARPINSKI, NION, JAMES ABOUREZK)
To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor
Contact: Connie Julian, 917-449-9064, Janet Yip 212-941-8086 or commission@nion.us
News Advisory:
From: International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration
WHEN: January 10, 2006 at 1:30 p.m.
WHERE: The White House, Walk-in Gate, across from Lafayette Park
WEBSITE: http://www.bushcommission.org

An unprecedented series of indictments alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity, in five separate areas, on moral, political, and legal grounds, will be delivered by a citizens' tribunal to President Bush at the front gate of the White House this Tuesday, January 10th. Named in the indictments are: President of the United States George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, U.S. Army Major General Geoffrey Miller, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, et al.
The indictments will be delivered to the White House by: Retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern, authors William Blum and Larry Everest, Code Pink, Mike Hersh (Progressive Democrats of America/After Downing Street), Kevin Zeese (Director, Democracy Rising; candidate for U.S. Senate in Maryland), Travis Morales (World Can't Wait -- Drive Out the Bush Regime) and others TBA.
A press conference will follow delivery of indictments, which will also be delivered to the Department of Justice.
The indictments result from preparatory work and testimony presented in New York City in October 2005, before the International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration which featured former UN envoy to Iraq Denis Halliday, Guantanamo prisoners' lawyer Michael Ratner, and former State Department officer Ann Wright. The Commission's second tribunal will be held at Riverside Church and the Columbia University Law School in New York, January 20- 22. Witnesses will include Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, former British ambassador Craig Murray, and former arms inspector Scott Ritter, among many more. The indictments allege war crimes and crimes against humanity authorized by the Bush Administration in relation to:

1) Wars of Aggression, particular reference to Iraq and Afghanistan;
2) Torture and Indefinite Detention;
3) Destruction of the Global Environment, particular reference to distortion of science and obstruction of international efforts to stem global warming;
4) Attacks on Global Public Health and Reproductive Rights, particular reference to the potentially genocidal effects of enforcing abstinence only, global gag rule, distortion of science, and restriction of generic drugs; and
5) Failure of Bush administration, despite foreknowledge, to protect life during and after Hurricane Katrina.

Appended to these indictments will be the demand for investigation of the war crimes of Tony Blair and George Bush submitted by prominent British citizens to the UN Secretary General and the UK Attorney General.
The commission was organized by the Not in Our Name Statement of Conscience and is endorsed by: Center for Constitutional Rights, National Lawyers Guild, After Downing Street.org * and others, including Former Sen. James Abourezk, former British MP Tony Benn, authors Gore Vidal and Howard Zinn, poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and actor Edward Asner.
[Charter, full indictments, standards for judgment, and audio and video coverage of the first session: http://www.bushcommission.org]
----------Citizen's Tribunal Indicts Bush Administration for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity US newswire ^ | 1/9/06
* The spy for Cuba, Walter Kendall Myers, was involved in the Downing Street Memo org's special event.

[piasa]

MAY 1, 2005 SUN : (UK : SUNDAY LONDON TIMES ARTICLE APPEARS ON "DOWNING STREET MEMO" [IT'S NOT A MEMO BUT IS ACTUALLY THE MINUTES OF A MEETING] -- See CONYERS KANGAROO "HEARINGS") Iraq.On May 1, 2005 a Sunday London Times article disclosed the details of a classified memo, also known as the "Downing Street Minutes", recounting the minutes of a July 2002 meeting of Prime Minister Tony Blair with his advisers that depicted an American president already committed to going to war in the summer of 2002, despite contrary assertions to the public and the Congress. ------- --------Live Thread: John Conyers' Downing Street Memo Circus, C-SPAN 3, 2:30 p.m. EDT 6/16/05 C-SPAN ^ | Thursday, June 16, 2005

JUNE 16, 2005 Thursday : (JOHN CONYERS JR. PRESIDES OVER UNOFFICIAL & PARTISAN MOCK "HEARING" ON THE DOWNING STREET MINUTES aka DOWNING STREET "MEMO"; JOSEPH WILSON WAS ON THIS FOUR-PERSON PANEL) "Opponents of the war in Iraq held an unofficial hearing on Capitol Hill on Thursday to draw attention to a leaked British government document that they say proves their case that President Bush misled the public about his war plans in 2002 and distorted intelligence to support his policy. In a jammed room in the basement of the Capitol, Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, presided as witnesses asserted that the 'Downing Street memo' -- minutes of a July 23, 2002, meeting of Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top security officials -- vindicated their view that Mr. Bush made the decision to topple Saddam Hussein long before he has admitted. 'Thanks to the Downing Street minutes, we now know the truth,' said Ray McGovern, a C.I.A. analyst for 27 years who helped organize a group of other retired intelligence officers to oppose the war." ------------ "Antiwar Group Says Leaked British Memo Shows Bush Misled Public on His War Plans, " by Scott Shane, NYT, Friday, June 17, 2005
********
Shane ignored some of McGovern's outlandish comments as a member of that group, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. In April 2003, McGovern suggested to Agence France Presse that the United States would plant WMD if they failed to find it: "Some of my colleagues are virtually certain that there will be some weapons of mass destruction found, even though they might have to be planted." ...
... There was another noteworthy omission by the Times. Reporter Scott Shane didn't even mention the inconvenient presence on the four-person panel of discredited anti-war voice Joe Wilson, whose wife, Valerie Plame, suggested he be sent to Niger to investigate possible uranium purchases by Saddam Hussein. Wilson had said she had not played a role. In addition, the Senate found Wilson's report from Niger actually bolstered the case that Hussein had sought uranium from Niger, though Wilson claimed his trip should have buried that idea and accused Bush of ignoring his findings in a rush to war. -------------- For the full Shane report, click here: http://tinyurl.com/a67ba
*********
The session took an awkward turn when witness Ray McGovern, a former intelligence analyst, declared that the United States went to war in Iraq for oil, Israel and military bases craved by administration "neocons" so "the United States and Israel could dominate that part of the world." He said that Israel should not be considered an ally and that Bush was doing the bidding of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "Israel is not allowed to be brought up in polite conversation," McGovern said. "The last time I did this, the previous director of Central Intelligence called me anti-Semitic." ------ "Democrats Play House To Rally Against the War ," Dana Milbank , Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/16/AR2005061601570.html
*****
As I said, the Post knows that McGovern's an anti-Semitic crank. But they still trot him out when they need him for cover.---20 posted on 04/23/2006 10:52:18 AM PDT by Sam Hill | To 17

[piasa]

I think that 2002 should be 2005