Consider me humbled by the fashion gods of STW! I am not worthy heh.

did you purchase a new bike whilst over here @ crimbo

Nahh – although I was kind of promised a bonus at work it never appeared. Not that it’s the end of the world or anything but it would have been nice.

I am not in the market now for a new bike as I am back in the UK this summer as I’ll be doing an MSc and obviously have to fund that myself. I did though buy some Juicy 5s for my Kona and it’s still rocking. To be honest, I never found a bike that felt more comfy than my Kona so although I don’t have a new one I am still happy on my Caldera (although a full suss would have been nice).

I think that’s for us to decide once we see the photo!

I would but don’t have the airbrushing or photoshopping skills that Beckham benefits from for his undies ads 😀

Er – page 17 of this Mugshots thread FoxyChick 😉

Oh yeah i forgot about the zoo – I used to love the zoo too.

Jojo

Here’s a photo of them (from my One Photo a Day compilation)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonralli/3259229411/in/set-72157612015799085/

😀

Well I lived there from 4 years old to 8 years old and always used to love

The Botanical gardens
Princess Street gardens play park
Jenners (big toy store)
The museum with the massive whale skelton and loads of contraptions to play with
Goin up Arthur’s Seat
Going up the staircase in Scott’s Monument
Playing in the massive Commonwealth Swimmingpool
Going over the Forth railway bridge and then walking back over the suspension bridge

Am sure some locals though will have more up to date info

Smell of bonfires really works for me, as does when you can smell the fire when walking past an old cottage.

Do you think Jojo would like to borrow my pair of STW underpants? I feel it would be least I could do for the good of humanity.

I couldn’t give a monkeys

Think i’ll stick with older men from now on…………….Thats if I can ever find a decent one!!

38! Tick
Single! Tick
A decent one! Errrrrrrrr – dang – I’m more XC than downhill

Boom boom

Someone at work who I think is 28 didnt know what a sloan ranger was today. The phrase didnt ring any bells at all.

How the flock did that happen?

I seem to recall the fillings of poptarts being quite hot the last time I had one.

Coyote

Hi – I can’t see where I wrote that so I will sign off now. This isn’t going anywhere.

I did of course write this

“What is the best way to try and educate the public about the fact that it was British and American policy not just to torture male Iraqis, but to rape and torture the children of women in front of the women prisoners. (Seymor Hersh, the journalist who revealed the initial photos, and has watched all the videos, has been touring the US lecturing on what he saw on video but that was not reported in the press.)”

So I do feel what I should have written in the first place, and what I have been trying to say in subsequent posts, but clearly failing to do, was that while American soldiers comitted atrocities towards male, female and child prisoners of war, those at the very top stood by and did nothing to prevent it.

There are only so many times I can say I do not hold the British troops to account, so I’ll sign off now. The word “policy” was wrong in this instance, as to me it means one thing and to others another, so yes, here is my apology for using that word when trying to describe something slightly different.

I have given you the links to Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh to back up my claims, but if that is not enough then we have to try and peacefully agree that we do not agree on this.

Peace to you

Which brings us back nicely to the OP.

Were the protestors right to protest?

Well they were protesting at people who do not decide where and when to fight but who believe, maybe sometimes rightly or sometimes wrongly, that they are signing up to protect the British people. So I would say no, and that we need to find peaceful ways to stop the decision makers and stand up and say no to the decision makers.

Why do you? To make crass generalisations easier?

No – I am talking about those at the very top. They are working towards the same objectives, the same plan. Hence the British support for rendition flights for example, and those at the top of the British army not willing to speak out about the crimes in Iraq. More recent examples of torture currently in the news also demonstrate this.

Blair and Bush always emphasised that it was a “coalition of the willing” no? We are also the coalition of the torturers, although no, I say it again as I already have done twice before, I do not hold the regular Army to account. I don’t know how many times I have to say I am not generalising, I am looking at the actions of those at the very top.

Obviously not that much is going to be written down. But you have to look at the British and the American’s as a single unit.

It is those at the very top I have a problem with, and they acted as one, emphasising their unity.

“Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, head of coalition forces in Iraq, issued an order last October giving military intelligence control over almost every aspect of prison conditions at Abu Ghraib with the explicit aim of manipulating the detainees’ “emotions and weaknesses”, it was reported yesterday.”

And

“Taguba discovered that guards have also videotaped and photographed naked female detainees. The Bush administration has refused to release other photographs of Iraqi women forced at gunpoint to bare their breasts (although it has shown them to Congress) – ostensibly to prevent attacks on US soldiers in Iraq, but in reality, one suspects, to prevent further domestic embarrassment.

Earlier this month it emerged that an Iraqi woman in her 70s had been harnessed and ridden like a donkey at Abu Ghraib and another coalition detention centre after being arrested last July. Labour MP Ann Clwyd, who investigated the case and found it to be true, said, “She was held for about six weeks without charge. During that time she was insulted and told she was a donkey.”

In Iraq, the existence of photographs of women detainees being abused has provoked revulsion and outrage, but little surprise. Some of the women involved may since have disappeared, according to human rights activists. Professor Huda Shaker al-Nuaimi, a political scientist at Baghdad University who is researching the subject for Amnesty International, says she thinks “Noor” is now dead. “We believe she was raped and that she was pregnant by a US guard. After her release from Abu Ghraib, I went to her house. The neighbours said her family had moved away. I believe she has been killed.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/may/20/iraq.gender

Compelling new evidence emerged yesterday that torture techniques used at Abu Ghraib prison were either endorsed or encouraged high up the US military chain of command, and that complaints by at least five military policemen assigned to “soften up” prisoners for interrogation were disregarded by their superiors for several months.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/abu-ghraib-torture-was-approved-at-senior-military-level-732024.html

New evidence that the physical abuse of detainees in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay was authorised at the top of the Bush administration will emerge in Washington this week, adding further to pressure on the White House.

The Telegraph understands that four confidential Red Cross documents implicating senior Pentagon civilians in the Abu Ghraib scandal have been passed to an American television network, which is preparing to make them public shortly.

According to lawyers familiar with the Red Cross reports, they will contradict previous testimony by senior Pentagon officials who have claimed that the abuse in the Abu Ghraib prison was an isolated incident.

“There are some extremely damaging documents around, which link senior figures to the abuses,” said Scott Horton, the former chairman of the New York Bar Association, who has been advising Pentagon lawyers unhappy at the administration’s approach. “The biggest bombs in this case have yet to be dropped.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1464409/Interrogation-abuses-were-approved-at-highest-levels.html?mobile=true

I was asked to provide source information. Here it is.

After their initial claims last week, Mr Blair said any misconduct in British ranks was “exceptional” and limited to a handful of servicemen.
But the two soldiers said the photographs were “just the tip off the iceberg”.

They claim troops serving in southern Iraq had swapped hundreds of pictures among themselves. The soldiers, who last night said they stood by “every single word of our story”, insisted it was not a hoax and that the Army knew a lot more had happened.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/soldiers-say-pictures-are-tip-of-the-iceberg-562059.html

America was braced last night for new allegations of torture in Iraq after military officials said that photographs apparently showing US soldiers beating an Iraqi prisoner nearly to death and having sex with a female PoW were about to be released.

The officials told the US television network NBC that other images showed soldiers “acting inappropriately with a dead body”. A videotape, apparently made by US personnel, is said to show Iraqi guards raping young boys.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1461371/US-soldiers-seen-raping-woman-in-new-jail-photos.html?mobile=true

Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, head of coalition forces in Iraq, issued an order last October giving military intelligence control over almost every aspect of prison conditions at Abu Ghraib with the explicit aim of manipulating the detainees’ “emotions and weaknesses”, it was reported yesterday.

The memorandum came to light as more details emerged of the extent of detainee abuse. Formal statements by inmates published yesterday describe horrific treatment at the hands of guards, including the rape of a teenage Iraqi boy by an army translator.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/may/22/iraq.usa1

Hersh gave a speech last week to the ACLU making the charge that children were sodomized in front of women in the prison, and the Pentagon has tape of it. The speech was first reported in a New York Sun story last week, which was in turn posted on Jim Romenesko’s media blog, and now EdCone.com and other blogs are linking to the video. We transcribed the critical section here (it starts at about 1:31:00 into the ACLU video.) At the start of the transcript here, you can see how Hersh was struggling over what he should say:

“Debating about it, ummm … Some of the worst things that happened you don’t know about, okay? Videos, um, there are women there. Some of you may have read that they were passing letters out, communications out to their men. This is at Abu Ghraib … The women were passing messages out saying ‘Please come and kill me, because of what’s happened’ and basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys, children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. And the worst above all of that is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror. It’s going to come out.”

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2004/07/15/hersh/index.html

Thing about fast riders is that they miss all the nice views and scenery and fall off a lot. Think tortoise and hare 🙂

You’ve not seen my latest video have you?

I got dumped on Valentines Day in 2003, age 33. Wanted to get married and have a family but that whole situation got me v down. Sold the house and went travelling for a year. I just felt like a wage slave and was stressed out at work and hated the commute into London etc, and I wasn’t earning for a reason, i.e. to look after a family. (That’s the short version).

6 years on and still not managed to settle down despite wanting to. Am about to give up work for a year or so and do an MSc.

Don’t know if this helps or not.

This may help?

When I get home from work I’ll dig out the articles from a number of sources and as yes, I do of course expect to be held to account for any opinions expressed. People are absolutely right to ask for sources.

Ah sorry, I’ll stop reading The Telegraph and Guardian then on the web. Thanks for the tip.

This is me sat at a table at the airport cafe/bar where Bonzo was so drunk he failed to notice that big thing outside the window 🙂

As far as I know it was American troops (and some British intelligence officers who were witnesses) in the prisons not British troops. That is why I specifically said I was not in protest against their actions. There is only so many ways of saying I am not anti troops so wont say any more here as I really tried hard to say I am against the atrocities being comitted and want to play a part in bringing those to an end. I don’t have a solution and I don’t know what the best way to protest is.

Psyche

The Guardian and The Telegraph, plus Seymour Hersche.

I watched this and have often wondered about how to continue protesting aginst the war.

What is the best way to try and educate the public about the fact that it was British and American policy not just to torture male Iraqis, but to rape and torture the children of women in front of the women prisoners. (Seymor Hersh, the journalist who revealed the initial photos, and has watched all the videos, has been touring the US lecturing on what he saw on video but that was not reported in the press.)

How do you protest about the effects of depleted uranium on unborn children?

How do you protest about the white phosphor that was used to decimate Falluja?

The government have done quite well on the propaganda side, and members of the public are outraged as they see our boys fighting against Saddam Hussein, who was a torturer. But he used to be our tyrant some years ago, and of course there are British and American troops stationed around the world in countries where the tyrants there still torture, but they are our tyrants and serve the interests of our governments, so our boys are not called into action against those ones.

So yeah, I still very much want to protest, but that particular protest I feel did not have much effect in reaching the people it needed to reach.

Would I have joined in? Probably not.

For clarity I do not see our troops as muderers. My problem is with a very small number of people calling the shots at the top. I have joined many an anti war demo in support of our troops, i.e. trying to prevent them having to go into illegal wars in the first place.

I still need to find ways to protest against those who are guilty at the very top, and try and find peaceful ways to fight the propaganda too so that people can really understand the message of the truth seeking genuine protesters.

Tails

Yeah – I have a helmet cam but that footage seems to come out really jerky and with the cam on my handlebars the footage is all over the shop. Roper has offered to come and help film sometime too – that may make it more interesting if he holds the camera so you see more riding in a single shot. We will have to give it a go.

Sharki – yeah – I am sure a faster rider with a proper helmet cam could show that it’s a good ride. You also have one heck of a steep climb to get there with some great views of Africa and the straighs but again I’ve never managed to make a climb look interesting.

Mr Nutt – I do have some of that type of music and was almost going to use it. I may do an ultra chilled video for a ride I have in mind so watch this space 🙂

Keva – cheers

Buzz – yeah – the trail is actually quite good for improving my skills as there are drops and rocks to negotiate.

Bonzo – that is pretty severe if you flew out of Gib and actually missed the fact that there is a flipping great big rock there!

Muddy Fox – yeah – Mr and Mrs Agreeable came over last weekend and Roper and I took them out around Algecieras. There the singletrack is much more technical and steep!

Yeah – the cloud even has it’s own name – the Levanta. Gibraltar has it’s own climate separate to the Costa del Sol, and even has its own little micro climates too

CFH Yeah – The weekend before last I took Roper to Montes de los Barrios. It’s not on any UK mountain bikers’ radar but both Roper and I love the area and once the clay dries out there will be some great tracks to discover with some amazing views and lots of wildlife. (Roper normally has his binoculars – we’ve seen some gorgeous eagles and vultures in our parts).

Kit – yeah – it’s one of my fave tops that one, and seems to be fine for riding.

I do love watching all the faster jumpy stuff, it’s just I’m not that great a rider really. I like the views, the exercise, the company, and I like my singletrack to be swooshy and flowy.

What you may not know is that on much of the singletrack in the video there is a sheer drop and if you dab on the left hand side well your foot wont have anything to dab onto and you are basically heading down the rock into pretty rough undergrowth. Hence some pretty cautious riding in places.

Are you sure you all have the right video? Normally they get a slating. I think I need a sit down 🙂

Cheers. One of my better ones I feel. Wasn’t too sure what the STW masses would make of it as I am no MTB god to say the least.

Using my video camera meant I could keep the sound of the riding on and I quite like having that in there.

Well I am sure that monkey is saying

“Ah! Mr Nutt!”

any, just what totnes needs, another stinking hippy

I’m no stinking hippy. I spend a fortune on personal hygene products don’t you know 😆

Well to be honest, I am not too sure the word “legendary” is apt. Not as far as mountain biking goes anyway.

I offered to guide Mr and Mrs Agreeable and Roper around one of my local rides in Spain this weekend. However, Roper and Mr Agreeable shot off in the distance, and I also then lost sight of Mrs Agreeable too.

I did manage to find the “JanetStreetPorter” singletrack but then both Mr and Mrs Agreeable are DH as well as XC riders and they were doing jumps down the woody singletrack, while all I managed to do was ride into a particularly thorny bush.

I did see Knottie and friend try and clear a tree from a trail. Mr and Mrs Agreeable went looking for boulders and turned one tree blocking our route into something to ride over!

But yeah, I am of course really looking for ward to the very best the SW has to offer in terms of both trail and riders.

Si – I’ll be living at the college through till maybe March. I think that is best as much of the course is about the discussions outside of lectures.

I will be going to Peru in Spring 2010 to work on my dissertation and then will probably need somewhere for a month in the summer as I write it all up.

Snaps – crumbs no – I have no idea what happens in Saltash!

Devs – I feel a deep afinity with my front teeth and couldnt bear to be parted from them. That and I have a very low pain threshold 😀

Thanks Aleigh – just trying to turn things around and be somewhere that is right for me. Feels like I am getting there now.