Libya fallout: British ministers distance themselves from spooks

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Libya fallout: British ministers distance themselves from spooks

September 13th, 2011

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

Richard Norton-Taylor and Nick Hopkins
Guardian
September 13, 2011

In the world of spies, art and reality, fact and fiction, can be exchanged more easily than in most walks of life.

There is a scene in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, the (in my view excellent) film adapted from John le Carré’s novel which is on general release later this week, where the spies ask the minister for the green light to conduct a particular operation. Ministerial cover for particularly controversial operations is regarded by MI6 as essential, Whitehall officials say.

They are therefore far from happy about how present and former ministers are distancing themselves from the way MI6 helped to “render” two Libyan dissidents to Gaddafi’s secret services in 2004 at a time the Blair government was cuddling up to the Libyan dictator. Abu Munthir and
Abdul Hakim Belhaj (a leader of the anti-Gaddafi militia supported by Britain and Nato), had been leaders, it is alleged, of the militant LIFG [the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group].

Whitehall sources insist that in its dealings with Libya, MI6 was complying with “ministerially authorised government policy”. Tell-tale documents were found in the abandoned offices of Moussa Koussa, Gaddafi’s former intelligence chief, who became close to MI6 during talks in 2003 which led to Libya giving up its nuclear and chemical weapons programmes.

On 5 September, the day after newspapers quoted extensively from the documents, Jack Straw, foreign secretary at the time, stated: “No foreign secretary can know all the details of what intelligence agencies are doing at any one time”.

The foreign secretary is constitutionally accountable for the actions of MI6, (as the home secretary is for MI5). Straw had consistently dismissed those (including this reporter) who questioned the government’s involvement in sending terror suspects to places where they risked being tortured.

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