During the Summer RTE radio rebroadcast a series of programmes entitled WHISTLEBLOWERS. [First broadcast in 2006] Having heard it advertised I decided to tune in each Thursday night after the 10 o’clock news.  As you are aware in recent weeks the British Commons rejected the government’s motion to authorise military action in Syria.  Immediately I wondered if that vote was influenced by Craig Murray, one of the subjects of the Whistleblowers series.

Craig Murray, British political activist and a former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, challenged the British Government.  He accused it of basing decisions, in the so called war on terror, on information extracted through torturing innocent people in Uzbekistan.  The British Government responded by claiming that it was legal to use such information, provided that Britain was not involved directly in the torture chambers.  It was intelligence, provided by the Uzbek authorities that helped build a fraudulent case for invading Iraq.

Craig Murray made a deliberate decision to ignore warnings from London.  He continued to receive details of innocent people being tortured in detention centres.  He also travelled extensively through Uzbekistan and uncovered malpractice in the area of funding.  Uzbekistan received overseas aid to help rebuild the country, but the Uzbekistan government, having received the money, closed down many ventures or made them inoperable.  In reply to the above information, London sent a memo saying that “he (Craig Murray) was over focused on human rights to the detriment of British interest.”

The die was cast, when at a well publicised meeting Craig Murray publicly contradicted the US ambassador. The US ambassador had praised the Uzbekistan government’s stance on human rights. (Up to this point in the meeting, people just quietly continued to chat to each other, ignoring the speakers-obviously not expecting to hear anything new.) However when Craig Murray started to speak a silence descended on the gathering and he had the attention of all present, including members of the Uzbekistan government. He contradicted the US ambassador, stating that the Uzbekistan was not a functioning democracy. He claimed, having correlated the evidence presented to him, that between 7,000-10,000 people were in detention, mostly innocent people.

Eventually he was recalled to London and accused of gross misbehaviour (18 allegations listed.) He suffered a break down and spent time in hospital.  His psychiatrist, having listened to his story, told him to find a good solicitor.  He later suffered a serious physical illness, but still refused to resign.

The final show down came when Jack Straw stated in Parliament that “Britain was totally against torture.”  Craig Murray was furious and decided to appear on the BBC Today programme and so ended his career as Ambassador.

Craig Murray, a flawed human being like each one of us, had a threefold passion – for justice, whiskey and women.  To quote him “I sacrificed my own pretty decent career to the cause of human rights, but in my personal and family life I was by no means the most moral of individuals.”  The truth is he was prepared to sacrifice everything to uncover injustice and hopefully to affect change.

I still wonder did his passion for justice influence the British Parliament in its decision recently regarding Syria.  I have also come to realise how I and I believe most of us need to evaluate what we sometimes take for granted in media reports.  Very often the whole story is not in the public demesne.  Do we have an obligation to take the time to educate ourselves, expand our horizons and develop the capacity to question rather than accept everything we read and hear.

Catherine Dooley rsm
South Central Province