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FOR THEIR EYES ONLY: INQUEST HELD IN CAMERA TO PROTECT THE 'SECRETS' OF TEN MI6 OFFICERS?



Ten former and serving MI6 officers will 'testify at the Diana Inquest from 26-29 February but the hearings will be held behind closed doors and no members of the press or public are allowed to attend. This is to 'protect' information from being released into the public domain which may harm national security. That is the official line at least....

But many people simply do not accept that any matter of national security is at stake here. On the contrary, what is at stake is the continued power of the Establishment and the Monarchy's 'right to rule'.

It should be remembered that Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed were in fact NOT terrorists or agents of a foreign power. This being the case it is hard to stretch even the most furtive imagination to believe that any matter of national security is at risk at this Inquest, which has proved so damaging to the ailing British Establishment.

At least half of the MI6 officers due to 'testify' behind closed doors are still in the service and it is perhaps understandable and acceptable that measures are taken to protect their identities but the same is not true of the former MI6 officers. Why should their 'testimony' be held in camera given the fact that last week Sir Richard Dearlove, former MI6 Controller, 'testified' to an open inquest with the press and public allowed to attend. His comments were made public immediately but then the powers that be wanted his flat denials to be on public record.

As a result of ten MI6 officers 'testifying' behind closed doors the Inquest will forever be mired with accusations of cover-up and secrecy to withhold the relevant facts from seeping into the public domain.

The better alternative would have been to allow the serving MI6 officers to give 'evidence' behind a screen and their comments could have been made public. Their identities would have remained secret to ensure their safety in the apparent 'war on terror'. But the Coroner, always eager to please his Establishment paymasters, has limply agreed to this unnecessary and unacceptable secrecy.

Lord Justice Scott-Baker, a time-served Establishment judge, will now and forever be mired with accusations of allowing a cover-up to take place under his very nose. His recent rejection of Labour MPs' demands to halt the Inquest should be seen as nothing more than theatre designed to show the public that he is a single-minded man who will not bow to pressure from higher authority. This is utter nonsense given the fact that he has allowed this latest farce to take place behind closed doors. What is at stake here is not the safety of serving MI6 officers but rather the secrecy of what they have to say....

This Inquest has indeed descended into farce for very different reasons than those suggested by Labour MPs. The real farce is that anyone with half a brain cell could possibly believe this has been an open Inquest. At the crucial moment of the Inquest, its Coroner authorised a cover-up to protect not national security but rather the security of his beloved Establishment from which he has drawn so much succour across the years he has lived off the public purse.

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