Ocean
The Living Force
09/09/2008
Iraq security man silences FO maverick
_http://londonersdiary.standard.co.uk/2008/09/iraq-security-m.html?cid=129827428#comments
Timspicer Scots Guards officer-turned-mercenary Lt-Col Tim Spicer (pictured, left), OBE, seems to have prevailed in his ongoing legal spat with erstwhile British diplomat Craig Murray (pictured, right) over his forthcoming book.
Murray, who was Our Man in Uzbekistan until he resigned after making off-message remarks about government brutality there, and his publishers, Mainstream, have been threatened with legal action from Schillings, Spicer's lawyers. They say Spicer, a former SAS man who has made millions running Aegis, the defence contractors who protect civilians in Iraq, would be caused "profound distress and anxiety" by excerpts about him in the book, due out early next month.
Now, after a summer of threat and counter threat, Mainstream has apparently decided to edit out some of Murray's comments in the forthcoming book, The Catholic Orangemen of Togo and Other Conflicts I Have Known.
Murray, who was similarly threatened by Schillings last year over claims he made about Arsenal suitor Alisher Usmanov, is not best pleased.
"It appears that my publisher may not be prepared to publish key points in The Catholic Orangemen of Togo," he says.
"The problem is fear of the cost of defending a threatened legal action by Tim Spicer, who has made many millions from taxpayers for running mercenary operations in Iraq and can afford the rich man's suppression of free speech through libel law."
Murray will not be easily silenced. He says he will publish the edited excerpts on his website in nine days time, and adds: "I do hope other bloggers will mirror or re-publish to help get the truth out there."
After he resigned as ambassador, Murray was involved in continuing clashes with the Foreign Office, when it tried to censor his first autobiography, Murder in Samarkand, currently being filmed by Michael Winterbottom.
Iraq security man silences FO maverick
_http://londonersdiary.standard.co.uk/2008/09/iraq-security-m.html?cid=129827428#comments
Timspicer Scots Guards officer-turned-mercenary Lt-Col Tim Spicer (pictured, left), OBE, seems to have prevailed in his ongoing legal spat with erstwhile British diplomat Craig Murray (pictured, right) over his forthcoming book.
Murray, who was Our Man in Uzbekistan until he resigned after making off-message remarks about government brutality there, and his publishers, Mainstream, have been threatened with legal action from Schillings, Spicer's lawyers. They say Spicer, a former SAS man who has made millions running Aegis, the defence contractors who protect civilians in Iraq, would be caused "profound distress and anxiety" by excerpts about him in the book, due out early next month.
Now, after a summer of threat and counter threat, Mainstream has apparently decided to edit out some of Murray's comments in the forthcoming book, The Catholic Orangemen of Togo and Other Conflicts I Have Known.
Murray, who was similarly threatened by Schillings last year over claims he made about Arsenal suitor Alisher Usmanov, is not best pleased.
"It appears that my publisher may not be prepared to publish key points in The Catholic Orangemen of Togo," he says.
"The problem is fear of the cost of defending a threatened legal action by Tim Spicer, who has made many millions from taxpayers for running mercenary operations in Iraq and can afford the rich man's suppression of free speech through libel law."
Murray will not be easily silenced. He says he will publish the edited excerpts on his website in nine days time, and adds: "I do hope other bloggers will mirror or re-publish to help get the truth out there."
After he resigned as ambassador, Murray was involved in continuing clashes with the Foreign Office, when it tried to censor his first autobiography, Murder in Samarkand, currently being filmed by Michael Winterbottom.
