Whistle blowers wronged

While Tony Blair still thinks he's basking in the limelight following his announced departure from 10 Downing Street, two courageous men have been convicted to jail terms, not because they broke any laws, but because they exposed the lies, the spin, the duplicity of Blair and his subservience to the White House.

David Keogh (50) was sentenced to six months in prison for copying a secret 4-page document detailing discussions in April 2004 between Tony Blair and George Bush, who notoriously proposed to bomb the headquarters of the Al-Jazeera TV station in Qatar because he didn't like their reporting. Keogh passed the memo to Leo O'Connor (44), who was sentenced to three months in jail. Both men were convicted for breaching Britain's Official Secrets Act. Keogh was a cabinet office communications officer, O'Connor a researcher for Labour MP Tony Clarke, who eventually returned the memo to Blair.

Every country has its secrets act, protecting state secrets from its enemies. Fair enough. But in each and every case of a breach of the law, one has to ask the question: who benefits and who loses out.

In this particular case, the two defendants were shocked by the warmongering nonsense they discovered in the conversation between two war criminals and decided that they could not remain silent and thereby be accessories to mass murder. In the higher interest of their country, they decided to act. Bush and Blair were left standing naked for all the world to see their true colors: criminals planning war, aggression and crimes against humanity.

Because Blair lost his (ugly) face, two whistle blowers face jail. Far from endangering British troops, their actions could have saved their lives and the lives of hundreds if not thousands of Iraqi civilians killed by the British aggressors.

Keogh and O'Connor served their country well and now they face jail. They can still appeal and they deserve our support. It is judge Richard Aikens who should be arrested and brought to justice for illegally persecuting a whistle blower and shielding the reputation of a war criminal.

We'll leave the last word to David Keogh: “It was to help my country”. (CNN: Jail for Blair-Bush memo leak man); (The Independent: Men who tried to leak Bush memo jailed); (The New York Times: 2 Convicted of Leaking Memo on Bush-Blair Talk).