https://www.frontlineclub.com/emma-sky-the-unravelling-of-iraq/ Championing Independent Journalism Wed, 01 Jul 2015 13:31:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://www.frontlineclub.com/emma-sky-the-unravelling-of-iraq/#comment-14082 Wed, 01 Jul 2015 13:31:00 +0000 https://www.frontlineclub.com/?p=50809#comment-14082 On page 245 Sky notes: ‘DFID had contracted me to serve as General O’s POLAD, but had no real interest in what I had been doing.’ Come again? Even Tony Blair was surprised to discover Sky was working for the US military! The US State Department couldn’t work out Sky’s status either it seems (p 313). Her spat with Ambassador Hill is coloured by his desire to ‘normalise’ the US Embassy in Iraq: ‘”Normal” also meant no foreigners at the embassy.’ Particularly foreigners like Emma Sky who seems to have repeatedly flouted security rules on the base who describes with relish how she faked credentials as part of her masquerade.

]]> https://www.frontlineclub.com/emma-sky-the-unravelling-of-iraq/#comment-14081 Wed, 01 Jul 2015 13:17:00 +0000 https://www.frontlineclub.com/?p=50809#comment-14081 She also mentions in her book (p20): ‘After working for Palestinian NGOs, I took a job at British Council to manage a project aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the Palestinian Authority’s public services. I went on to design and manage initiatives to help strengthen the Palestinian civil service, the Palestinian Legislative Council and Palestinian human rights organizations, and to build relationships between Palestinians and Israelis’. Did she mention that not only was her ‘PAID’ project described by Emma Sky herself as ‘non-existent’ in internal British Council/UK DfID documents released under FOI- but that Sky challenged the very experienced Task Force Director UK DfID had appointed within 48 hours of his deployment in the field and forced his resignation after only five days; and was then caught redhanded requesting a budget increase for an ‘additional post at Ministerial level’ for this ‘non-existent’ aid project?

]]> https://www.frontlineclub.com/emma-sky-the-unravelling-of-iraq/#comment-14080 Wed, 01 Jul 2015 12:56:00 +0000 https://www.frontlineclub.com/?p=50809#comment-14080 @ ‘Sky spoke briefly about how she achieved her position as Governorate Coordinator of Kirkuk, a city north of Baghdad with a large natural supply of oil. In 2003, the British government requested volunteers to travel to Iraq and administer the country before handing it back to the Iraqi people. Sky thought, “Here’s my opportunity to go out to Iraq to apologise for the war.” What was intended to be just a three-month stint became a decade.’ Sky was working for The British Council – and being paid by UK DfID I gather. Did anyone bother to ask how this could be reconciled with British Council’s charitable status or the rules on overseas aid which preclude UKDfID engaging in counter-insurgency activities of the kind she describes?

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