Inquiry Urged Into Lockerbie Bomber Release
THE INDEPENDENT: A UK public inquiry should be held into the release of the Lockerbie bomber, a backbench Tory MP said today.

Daniel Kawczynski, who chairs the Westminster all-party group on Libya, also called on Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill to apologise for the "huge error" in releasing Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi almost a year ago.

David Cameron is expected to face criticism from American politicians over claims that BP lobbied for the release of Megrahi to secure an oil deal, as the Prime Minister flies into the US today for his first official visit since taking office.

Mr MacAskill has already said he would be prepared to assist any inquiry held into circumstances surrounding Megrahi's release.

But Mr Kawcynski, the MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, told BBC Radio Scotland today: "Clearly Mr MacAskill has made a huge error which has impacted on British foreign policy. Continue reading and comment >>> Scott Macnab, Press Association | Monday, July 19, 2010

LE POINT: Attentat de Lockerbie - La libération de Megrahi a été une "erreur complète", pour Cameron : La libération, en 2009, du Libyen Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, condamné pour l'attentat de Lockerbie, a été "une erreur complète et totale", a affirmé lundi le Premier ministre britannique David Cameron, avant de s'envoler pour sa première visite officielle aux États-Unis. >>> AFP | Lundi 19 Juillet 2010

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Tony Blair looking haggard in the build-up to the Chilcot Inquiry. Photograph: Mail Online
’Judgment Day’ for Tony Bliar
MAIL ONLINE: Taxpayers face a £250,000 security bill to protect Tony Blair from attack at the Iraq Inquiry.

Intelligence officers have picked up 'domestic chatter' suggesting his appearance warrants a high state of alert.

Thousands of anti-war protesters are expected to form a gauntlet of hate for the former Prime Minister on Friday as he attempts to justify Britain's involvement in the controversial conflict.

He is also a target for Muslim extremists raging at his decision to invade Iraq.

Mr Blair's six-hour appearance before the Chilcot Inquiry is being described as his 'Judgment Day' for sending British forces to topple Saddam Hussein, which cost the lives of 179 troops.

Demonstrators will be met by police road blocks, exclusion zones, armed officers and rooftop surveillance teams. The operation will cost at least £150,000 and could reach £250,000 depending on the number of protesters.

Mr Blair's long-awaited testimony comes days after security chiefs advised the Government to raise the level of terrorist threat from 'substantial' to 'severe' following the Christmas Day attempted plane bombing.

The inquiry panel, led by retired civil servant Sir John Chilcot, will put the former Premier on the rack over suspicions that he misled Parliament on the reasons for going to war before MPs narrowly voted in favour of military action. £250,000 ring of steel for Tony Blair's grilling: Huge security operation as Judgment Day looms for ex-PM over Iraq War >>> Ian Drury, Stephen Wright and Tim Shipman | Sunday, January 24, 2010

Another Stitch-up That'll Let Off Blair Once Again
MAIL ONLINE: As the great and the good of the Chilcot inquiry began their earnest deliberations yesterday, one conclusion could be drawn before a single person had said a single word: Tony Blair will get away with it. Again.

The man who led Britain into five wars in his first six years in Downing Street, the man who manipulated and massaged the evidence to suit the needs of a simpleton friend in George W. Bush has emerged completely unscathed from the Iraq conflict.

Since the war in 2003, every new revelation, every new accusation, has met the same the slithery response - 'I did what I thought was right at the time.'

Rather than feeling chastened, he has strutted the world stage, pretending to bring peace to the Middle East (which remains as elusive as it has ever been) and portraying himself as the saviour of the European Union.

When he is not preening himself across the globe, he is spending the millions he has made from his consultancies and showbusiness lectures on grand country estates and fine furniture.

This latest inquiry, established with great reluctance by Gordon Brown, comes far too late in the day to make any political difference. And the sad truth is that Blair has all the impunity he needs.

We have, after all, been here before. >>> John Kampfner | Wednesday, November 25, 2009

President Ahmadinejad Orders Inquiry into 'Suspicious' Death of Neda
TIMES ONLINE: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has ordered an inquiry in to the "suspicious" death of Neda Soltan, the woman shot by government militiamen during a protest in Tehran.

The President sent a letter to the chief of Iran's judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, requesting a serious investigation to help to identify and prosecute “the elements” behind the killing earlier this month.

“Given the many fabricated reports around this heartbreaking incident and the widespread propaganda by the foreign media... it seems there is clear interference by the enemies of Iran who want to misuse the situation politically and tarnish the clean image of the Islamic republic,” the president wrote.

“Therefore I am asking you to order the judicial authorities to probe the killing of this woman with utmost seriousness and identify and prosecute the elements behind the killing." >>> Joanna Sugden | Monday, June 29, 2009

'The Catholic Church Failed Me. I Despised Myself and Lost All Confidence'
THE TELEGRAPH: An inquiry into child abuse by Catholic priests is published today. Its impact will be seismic, says victim and author of new book, Colm O'Gorman.

In his autobiography, Colm O'Gorman courageously describes being abused by a Catholic priest . Photo credit: The Telegraph
Few men have made such an extraordinary personal journey. Raped and abused in his early teens by Father Sean Fortune, one of Ireland's most notorious paedophiles, Colm O'Gorman ran away from home when he was 17 and lived rough on the streets of Dublin. It was the Seventies, when both church and state were in full-blown denial that any priest could be guilty of sexually abusing a child, and Colm felt only shame and fear. His future could not have been bleaker.

Yet, with effort and determination he fought back, spoke out about the abuse, and in 2002 even tried to sue the Pope arguing that, by moving paedophile priests like Fortune to different parishes and deliberately concealing their actions from the local authorities, the Vatican had failed to protect children like him. He was outraged when the Pope claimed diplomatic immunity but, undaunted, continued to campaign that the authority of the Irish church should not be above that of the State.

Today, nearly 30 years since he was abused, Colm's hour has finally come with the publication of a long-awaited inquiry into child abuse by Roman Catholic priests. The investigation has taken nine years, during which time it has heard the testimony of thousands of former residents of state schools and orphanages over more than 60 years in the Irish Republic.

A second report, due to be published in the summer, is expected to criticise the handling of sex-abuse complaints in cases involving up to 500 priests. Colm believes the result of the inquiry will be "seismic."

"It will show that the state has an obligation of care to those who live in the country and can no longer declare that religion and politics don't mix, or that the abuse of children by Catholic priests was not a matter for the state."

The report coincides to the day with the publication of his extraordinary autobiography, in which Colm courageously describes the lows and highs of his remarkable life – a life that has included founding a charity for victims of sexual abuse, becoming a Senator, making a documentary for the BBC called Suing the Pope, and being appointed Ireland's director of Amnesty International. >>> By Angela Levin | Wednesday, May 20, 2009