Iran Iraq cease fire operational

Part 51 – AUGUST 22, 1988 ''The cease-fire is operational. I have no information about violations and everything is going very fine.'' - Maj. Gen. Slavko Jovic, Yugoslav commander of the monitoring force Iraqi and Iranian officials are accusing each others of violations of the cease fire. But UN officials monitoring the border have reported no such incidents so far.

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The Race to the White House

After months of trailing Dukakis in the polls, Vice President Bush is now leading Michael S. Dukakis by almost 10 points. According to Newsweek magazine, of 1,000 registered voters polled after the Republican National Convention, 51 percent favor Bush to 42 percent who intend to vote for Dukakis. The selection of Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana as Vice President has apparently a neutral effect on the voters. 36 percent said the nomination of Quayle made them more likely to vote Republican. 33 percent said it made them less likely to do so.

Back to the Present

Yesterday, an English court overrode the secrecy claim made by the Foreign Secretary and ordered disclosure of documents regarding the detention and interrogation of Binyam Mohamed, the last UK resident imprisoned at Guantanamo. The Foreign Secretary had issued a PII certificate to prevent this information to be supplied to the defense team because "disclosure, even on a limited basis ... would seriously prejudice the viability of the United Kingdom's liaison relationships with highly valued partners ... and the importance of keeping secret information received on a confidential basis from informants and liaison intelligence agencies so as to protect the operational effectiveness of the United Kingdom security and intelligence agencies." This is also the basis of the Foreign Secretary's PII certificate in the Lockerbie appeal. Thus, there is some hope that the Court will also order the disclosure of the secret documents provided by a foreign country. "My best guess is still that the court will order some form of disclosure of the documents to the defense, and not simply to security-vetted special counsel. But I wouldn't be too surprised if I'm proved wrong," Pr Black commented on his blog.   Neither Dr Swire nor Pr Koechler believe that a meaningful and fair further appeal could be held under the Scottish criminal justice system, should the High Court today decide against sharing this information with the plaintiff's defense team.     NOTES AND REFERENCES   With Gulf War Quiet, Foes Grapple Verbally Voters Now Give Bush Edge over Dukakis- August 22, 1988