Slight progress today in the Official Secrets Act prosecution of two men for allegedly leaking details of the Bush-Blair summit in which Blair is said to have dissuaded Bush from a plan to bomb al Jazeera headquarters in Qatar. Leaving aside the non-denial denials issued by Bush and Blair, it's clear that the Bush administration has displayed ample motive for wanting to bomb al Jazeera. This is also the case that caused Christopher Hitchens to complain about the "repressive" Official Secrets Act, so we await his reaction to the emergence of essentially the same law as the Espionage Act in the US, and indeed the reaction of other advocates of disclosures that serve only to embarrass governments.
Anyway, to the matter at hand
[BBC] A civil servant and a former MP's researcher have denied making "damaging disclosures" by leaking a secret memo.
David Keogh, 49, and Leo O'Connor, 42, denied three charges under the Official Secrets Act and were given conditional bail. They will face trial in October.
The charges relate to a memo allegedly detailing a conversation between Prime Minister Tony Blair and George Bush.
The trick for the prosecution is show damage from a disclosure relating to a conversation whose content was seemingly denied by the principals, and relating to an event that never actually happened. Court date is set for October, so there's still time for something to come out before the US mid-terms.
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