5 AUGUST

HOME SECRETARY JACK STRAW LIES OVER THE UK’S INVOLVEMENT IN RENDITION AND TORTURE. 13 December 2005 – Home Secretary Jack Straw lied to the House of Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs, telling MPs that “there simply is no truth in the claims that the UK has been involved in renditon, full stop.” It was…

PINOCHET CAN’T BE PROSECUTED FOR WHAT HE DID AS HEAD OF STATE On this day in 1998, Britain’s High Court cleared the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, responsible for the disappearance, torture and murder of thousands, on the bizarre grounds that he was head of state when he committed the crimes. Labour MP Tony Benn noted…

GENERAL ADMITS THE FUTILITY OF ‘ACTS OF GREAT VIOLENCE’ IN IRELAND [ 10 January 1798 ] Major General John Moore disapproved of the enthusiasm with which other British officers committed atrocities in Ireland while suppressing local uprisings against British rule. On 10 January 1798, he made an insightful observation in his diary. KITCHENER ARRIVES IN…

  BRITISH TROOPS SACK SAN SEBASTIAN, RAPING MANY OF THE WOMEN. [ 1 September 1813 ] [ Some of the fires and killings may have started on 31 August ] On this day in 1813, British troops, under the command of the legendary Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington, ransacked and burned the Basque city of…

BRITISH MAJOR IN INDIA RECOUNTS WITH PRIDE HIS EXTRA-JUDICIAL HANGINGS. 10 September 1857 – The Globe newspaper carries a report by Major MacDonald commanding the third irregular cavalry, in which he proudly recounts how he carried out executions of Indian suspects to a murder without any legal authorization. As he put it “I took on…

CABINET BACKS UK’S SUPPORT FOR AMERICAN BOMBING OF NORTH VIETNAM [ 3 February 1966 ] In the Cabinet minutes, it’s described as ‘considerable disquiet’ and in Transport Minister Barbara Castle’s diaries as ‘the most spirited wrangle yet.’  Please feel welcome to post comments below.  If you have any questions please email alisdare@gmail.com © 2020 Alisdare Hickson All…