Report of Milan Rai Book Launch - Yeovil April 20th, 2006
Organised in conjunction with Yeovil Stop The War Coalition
Milan opened the meeting by speaking for about 30 minutes on the way in which the media manipulates public awareness of key events by using techniques such as:
- Burying key information deep inside the paper/article.
- self censorship.
- speculation and conjecture presented as fact.
- manipulation of facts to influence readers opinion.
Interestingly over 90% of the references in Milan's book on 7/7 are quoted as being from newspapers. When a member of the audience asked him whether he had contacted the journalist over a specific issue, he stated that he had not!
The local Chairman then proposed that Milan take three questions at a time and then respond to each. After about nine questions , the Chairman gave me an opportunity to address my question to Milan
I opened by reminding Milan of a comment he made in his book on Naom Chomsky, where he wrote:
I asked Milan why he had not then quoted the subsequent report issued by Hasib's ex-Headmaster in which he refutes the earlier reports:
I pointed out, in detail, why this was not possible and asked why he had not checked or sourced his comments before commiting them to print?
I closed by asking Milan whether he was concerned that he was perhaps unwittingly becoming a party to the process of 'Brainwashing under Freedom"?
Milan failed to see the irony of his part in creating the perception of a disaffected youth with his wrongful statements about Hasib Hussains education record and rambled through a not too coherent dismissal of my point. However, I let it go because I was really more interested in his response to my comments with regard to the train times.
To cut a long story short; I might as well have been listening to Rachel North stating for the umpteenth time that she "doesn't care" how they got there ...'cos it was them wot did it'!
I managed to get three challenges in before he resorted to looking at the Chairman and said, "Look, did I come her just to get into a debate with this one guy?"
When the Chairman hesitated, Milan turned to the audience and said, "Do you come here just to hear what he (pointing at me) has to say?"
I quickly asked why he had not sourced his comments about the train & CCTV times. His response:
I could only shake my head in disbelief.
At the end of the evening I gave him an A5 page containing the following information and asked him to check it out for himself:
It is actually quite disturbing that he (and Rachel) appear to be almost actively campaigning for a Public Inquiry that specifically does not address these anomolies.
Milan appears to be extremely cavalier with the basic tenet of British justice that the case against any alleged perpetrator must, at the very least, produce evidence that they had the opportunity to be at the scene of the crime. The evidence that is presently in the public domain actually provides two of the four alleged bombers with alibis that would appear to 'prove' that they could not have been on their respective Circle Line trains! I refer. of course, to the allegations against Mohammed Khan (Edgware Road) and Shezad Tanweer (Aldgate).
I also advised Milan that the information on the train times had not only been in the public domain since last September but that the information had been sent to the Editors of all major UK newspapers. So why is it that the official 'pre-narrative' version of events still holds that they caught a train from Luton, which two Thameslink and two Transport for London sources have confirmed, did not arrive at Kings Cross until after the two bombed Circle Line trains had already departed?
Milan asked whether it was possible that the 7:24am train from Luton was late? So he appeared to acknowledge that the claim that they boarded the 7:48am does not stand up to scrutiny; as did Rachel North in her farewell missive posted on the Alex Cox forum yesterday (Thursday) morning.
...or will witnesses miraculously appear to claim that they were seen on the 7.24? Maybe Mark Whitby and Richard Jones could be pulled out of retirement to provide the necessary soundbites!
It was quite apparent that I was the only person in the room who had read Milan's book and there is no doubt that I was presenting questions regarding the official 7/7 account which had not previously troubled the assembled group.
The good news is that every one present took a copy of the flyer for my talk in Frome on May 3rd and three people (including the Chairman) came up to me after the meeting to express their interest in the points that I had raised.
When the meeting finished at 9.45pm, we all adjourned to the bar. Funnily enough, Milan elected to sit at the far end of the table from me ... I guess that I must have been wearing the wrong deoderant!
I do not question Milan's motivation in acknowledging the illegality of the invasion in Iraq and the tragedy and trauma caused by the presence of British and American troops. The scenario of disffected young muslims pepetrating atrocities in the UK (or the US) is entirely plausible ... it's the lack of questioning of the 'newspaper reports' (so criticised by Milan in his oppening address), that causes me to be concerned. If this limited curiosity is representative of youthful political analysis, it perhaps serves to highlight the magnitude of our task in awakening the wider populous to the reality of the deeper poltical agenda.
7/7 - The London Bombings, Islam & the Iraq War is based almost entirely upon newspapaer reports cobbled together into a book. The basic tenet of the book is that everything occured just the way it has been portrayed by the media. One can only speculate why it is that any media report which would cast doubt on the official account has not found it's way into Milan's musing. There is very little objective analysis of what has been presented to the British public, despite his opening remarks!
I can only hope that Milan will reflect upon what he is hearing at these meetings and that he might decide to apply a more objective analysis of available information ... but I regret to say, I won't be holding my breath!
Ian R. Crane
Organised in conjunction with Yeovil Stop The War Coalition
Milan opened the meeting by speaking for about 30 minutes on the way in which the media manipulates public awareness of key events by using techniques such as:
- Burying key information deep inside the paper/article.
- self censorship.
- speculation and conjecture presented as fact.
- manipulation of facts to influence readers opinion.
Interestingly over 90% of the references in Milan's book on 7/7 are quoted as being from newspapers. When a member of the audience asked him whether he had contacted the journalist over a specific issue, he stated that he had not!
The local Chairman then proposed that Milan take three questions at a time and then respond to each. After about nine questions , the Chairman gave me an opportunity to address my question to Milan
I opened by reminding Milan of a comment he made in his book on Naom Chomsky, where he wrote:
I referred to page 46 of Milan's book on 7/7 where he twice states that Hasib Hussain was withdrawn by his teachers from his GCSE studies, referencing his sources as The Times and The Independent.
I asked Milan why he had not then quoted the subsequent report issued by Hasib's ex-Headmaster in which he refutes the earlier reports:
Without hesitating, I then referred to pages 22 & 23, where Milan states (without any reference):
He also states that the bombers ...were caught on CCTV at Kings Cross at 8.20am (again, without reference).
I pointed out, in detail, why this was not possible and asked why he had not checked or sourced his comments before commiting them to print?
I closed by asking Milan whether he was concerned that he was perhaps unwittingly becoming a party to the process of 'Brainwashing under Freedom"?
Milan failed to see the irony of his part in creating the perception of a disaffected youth with his wrongful statements about Hasib Hussains education record and rambled through a not too coherent dismissal of my point. However, I let it go because I was really more interested in his response to my comments with regard to the train times.
To cut a long story short; I might as well have been listening to Rachel North stating for the umpteenth time that she "doesn't care" how they got there ...'cos it was them wot did it'!
I managed to get three challenges in before he resorted to looking at the Chairman and said, "Look, did I come her just to get into a debate with this one guy?"
When the Chairman hesitated, Milan turned to the audience and said, "Do you come here just to hear what he (pointing at me) has to say?"
I quickly asked why he had not sourced his comments about the train & CCTV times. His response:
Milan went on to claim that it was pointless to get too concerned about the details of how they got from Luton to where they set off the bombs because the evidence that they did it is overwhelming!
I could only shake my head in disbelief.
At the end of the evening I gave him an A5 page containing the following information and asked him to check it out for himself:
All in all, it is evident that Milan is trotting out the orthodox 'Stop the War' message without application of any critical thought. The 'leaps of faith' that he appears to take, in the absence of corroborating and/or supporting evidence for his particular viewpoint, is quite staggering.
It is actually quite disturbing that he (and Rachel) appear to be almost actively campaigning for a Public Inquiry that specifically does not address these anomolies.
Milan appears to be extremely cavalier with the basic tenet of British justice that the case against any alleged perpetrator must, at the very least, produce evidence that they had the opportunity to be at the scene of the crime. The evidence that is presently in the public domain actually provides two of the four alleged bombers with alibis that would appear to 'prove' that they could not have been on their respective Circle Line trains! I refer. of course, to the allegations against Mohammed Khan (Edgware Road) and Shezad Tanweer (Aldgate).
I also advised Milan that the information on the train times had not only been in the public domain since last September but that the information had been sent to the Editors of all major UK newspapers. So why is it that the official 'pre-narrative' version of events still holds that they caught a train from Luton, which two Thameslink and two Transport for London sources have confirmed, did not arrive at Kings Cross until after the two bombed Circle Line trains had already departed?
Milan asked whether it was possible that the 7:24am train from Luton was late? So he appeared to acknowledge that the claim that they boarded the 7:48am does not stand up to scrutiny; as did Rachel North in her farewell missive posted on the Alex Cox forum yesterday (Thursday) morning.
Based upon the evidence currently within the public domain, the Narrative may well suggest that the time on Camera 14 (07.21.54) is incorrect and that they did actually board the 7.24am train. If this is the case, why has this not been presented previously? Camera 14 is not the only CCTV camera at Luton station, so where is the corroborating CCTV evidence? To say nothing of the apparent lack of witnesses! It is surely inconceivable that four young lads carrying backpacks (supposedly each containing 10lbs of homemade TATP explosive) went sight unseen by any station staff or other passengers on the 7.24am?
...or will witnesses miraculously appear to claim that they were seen on the 7.24? Maybe Mark Whitby and Richard Jones could be pulled out of retirement to provide the necessary soundbites!
It was quite apparent that I was the only person in the room who had read Milan's book and there is no doubt that I was presenting questions regarding the official 7/7 account which had not previously troubled the assembled group.
The good news is that every one present took a copy of the flyer for my talk in Frome on May 3rd and three people (including the Chairman) came up to me after the meeting to express their interest in the points that I had raised.
When the meeting finished at 9.45pm, we all adjourned to the bar. Funnily enough, Milan elected to sit at the far end of the table from me ... I guess that I must have been wearing the wrong deoderant!
I do not question Milan's motivation in acknowledging the illegality of the invasion in Iraq and the tragedy and trauma caused by the presence of British and American troops. The scenario of disffected young muslims pepetrating atrocities in the UK (or the US) is entirely plausible ... it's the lack of questioning of the 'newspaper reports' (so criticised by Milan in his oppening address), that causes me to be concerned. If this limited curiosity is representative of youthful political analysis, it perhaps serves to highlight the magnitude of our task in awakening the wider populous to the reality of the deeper poltical agenda.
7/7 - The London Bombings, Islam & the Iraq War is based almost entirely upon newspapaer reports cobbled together into a book. The basic tenet of the book is that everything occured just the way it has been portrayed by the media. One can only speculate why it is that any media report which would cast doubt on the official account has not found it's way into Milan's musing. There is very little objective analysis of what has been presented to the British public, despite his opening remarks!
I can only hope that Milan will reflect upon what he is hearing at these meetings and that he might decide to apply a more objective analysis of available information ... but I regret to say, I won't be holding my breath!
Ian R. Crane
