Britain denies involvement in coup plot

The British Embassy in Pretoria on Monday refuted allegations that the United Kingdom was involved in an attempt to overthrow the government in Equatorial Guinea.

"There is no question of British Government support for the alleged attempted coup against the Government of Equatorial Guinea," the embassy said in a statement.

"We (the British Government) do not condone or support mercenary interventions against sovereign governments".

This follows the detention of an aeroplane in Harare last week, allegedly carrying mercenaries to Equatorial Guinea.

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=32734

The world believes The Poodle!

So either way we'd be denying, so there's really no point in asking us.

HAHA.. then why are their mercenaries stinking up the streets of al-Basrah?

So my choice is believing the Zimbabwe Minister of Home Affairs, or some ridiculous British diplomat? Does anyone have a better source?

Ummm, no: "refute" means something different than "deny".

REFUTE: "To overthrow by argument, evidence, or proof: prove to be false or erroneous."

A press release by a government of criminals does not constitute proof, nor does it prove the allegation to be false or erroneous.

I mean, the press can say what it wants, but Webster's Third International says different.

you get a second meaning: "to deny the truth or accuracy of <refuted the allegations>".

Yes, I think the language would be clearer if just the original meaning existed. But once a lot of people use the new meaning, you have to accept it. I see it used more often as 'deny' rather than 'reject' these days.

SAS guy was bankrolled by a rich british guy who sounds more like a Tory than anyone who had any connection to the gov't. I could be wrong, but compare it to the US end of the deal. In the US the bankrolling sounds like it came from a company that's a CIA front operation, and the links to gov't are relatively clear (the jet was owned by the gov't until recently and its last stop in the US was an AFB).

That isn't the case with the British end. The people involved all sound like former tories who have nothing to do with the gov't today (and if they did, you can bet the papers would have been screaming about it by now). Furthermore, it's not like Blair is screaming at the top of his lungs to get this guy back to the UK.