Interesting People mailing list archives
"Famous But Incompetent"
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 05:35:03 -0500
------ Forwarded Message From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell () newcastle ac uk> Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 10:23:02 +0000 To: farber () cis upenn edu Subject: "Famous But Incompetent" Hi Dave: The two main stories here in the UK today may both be of interest to a number of your IPers. The first, characterised by the rather splendid headline that I've used as my subject line, concerns a 72-year old English pensioner (senior citizen) who has just been released after three weeks in a South African jail where he had been incarcerated at the request of the FBI. This was initially a result of identity theft, but very harsh statements are being made about the way FBI has handled the case: See, for example, from the Guardian newspaper: http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,2763,903699,00.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,2763,903754,00.html The other, much larger story, is about yesterday's vote in the House of Commons, when there was a huge rebellion by members of the ruling party regarding The Prime Minister's Iraq strategy. I don't know how fully this rebellion is being featured in the US Press, or will be understood by the US President and his senior colleagues, but it is certainly making an impact here. See, again from the Guardian:
Rebel vote stuns Blair 121 Labour members vote against war · Biggest ever revolt against a government · Tory support helps save PM Michael White, Patrick Wintour and Nicholas Watt Thursday February 27, 2003 The Guardian Tony Blair's Iraqi war strategy was shaken to the core last night when 121 Labour backbenchers defied a three-line whip to join a cross-party revolt and tell the prime minister that the the case for military action against Saddam Hussein is not yet made. The vote, which came at the end of an impassioned and impressive six-hour debate in the House of Commons, dramatically reshapes the debate for the three crucial weeks ahead. The scale of the revolt, the biggest within a governing party for more than a century, saw Mr Blair's plea for endorsement of his pro-UN approach to disarming the Iraqi regime rejected in favour of a "not yet" amendment by 198 rebels, including 121 Labour MPs, 52 Liberal Democrats, 13 Conservatives and 12 nationalists. The vote against the amendment was 393, with Iain Duncan Smith leading most Tory MPs into the Blairite lobby. Jubilant rebels rubbed home their point when the bland main motion backing Mr Blair's position was carried by 434 to 124. Fifty-nine Labour MPs voted against. The rebellion spread far beyond the hard core of 30 to 40 leftwing MPs who have consistently opposed western military interventions. It easily surpassed the 67 who rebelled against disability cuts in May 1999, and the 47-strong revolt over lone parents' benefit in December 1997. The vote "demonstrates there is no public support for a war. The prime minister has failed to convince the public or the party. It's time for him to think again", said the leftwinger Jeremy Corbyn, who has been campaigning against Saddam Hussein's brutality since the 1980s when his regime was backed by the west. But satisfaction was not confined to rebels. "This is a really sophisticated vote. Tony now knows he has to go along the UN route, which he didn't know on his own. It needed the demonstrations and this vote and it's what Britain should do," said one senior minister. The scale of the rebellion undermines Mr Blair's belief that he can send 40,000 British troops into action even if an "unreasonable veto" by France or Germany denies him the vital second UN resolution. He remains confident that he will get it. . . . .
The full story is at: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,11538,903844,00.html Different national newspapers will of course have handled this story in different ways, but the only one I've heard quoted by the BBC as encouraging Tony Blair to ignore the rebellion is the Sun, a popular tabloid. cheers Brian Randell -- School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK EMAIL = Brian.Randell () newcastle ac uk PHONE = +44 191 222 7923 FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/ ------ End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To unsubscribe or update your address, click http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
Current thread:
- "Famous But Incompetent" Dave Farber (Feb 27)