Campaigners claim that the Canadian federal authorities, aware of the controversy created by images of seals being battered by hunters, have, in effect, scotched their efforts to witness the hunt by refusing to provide them with permits.An estimated 140,000 harp seals were due to have been killed by late yesterday with no media or independent observers present to record the hunt. An additional 100,000 seals will be killed over the coming days by hunters armed with high-powered rifles and clubs known as hakapiks.Two decades ago, activists including Brigitte Bardot brought an effective end to the trade in seal skin products with a campaign that created a global outcry. So they leave them to rot on the ice, or dump them in the ocean Hundreds of thousands of them. Rotting because all the sealers want is the skins.”Those were the words of Rebecca Aldworth, a woman who grew up in a Newfoundland fishing community where, every spring, men from the town would take to the ice floes to club to death baby seals and take their skins.Now, as the biggest seal hunt for 50 years takes place off the coast of eastern Canada, Ms Aldworth spends her time trying to draw public attention to the hunt.This year her job is more difficult than ever.

Every few feet as you walk across the ice, you pass by large pools of blood and carcasses lined up in open graves Their eyes stare up at you. It’s a dirty little secret the Canadian government doesn’t want you to know.
“The sealers don’t take the carcasses, because the meat is practically worthless. “It is horrible to see the aftermath of this slaughter There is blood everywhere. “The problem is somewhere in that mushy middle, somehow stuff doesn’t get up and doesn’t get action from the top.” Mr Ashcroft sought to rebut criticism, suggesting that when the Bush administration took office, it inherited a “failed policy [and that] for nearly a decade our government had blinded itself to our enemies”..

“They have some wonderful, wonderful agents in the FBI out in those field offices,” the panel’s chairman, Thomas Keen, said before yesterday’s hearings, which included testimony from several senior law enforcement officials. insufficient training, an overly complex legal regime and inadequate resources.” The comments by the 11 September panel are an early indication that much of the eventual blame for failing to prevent the al-Qa’ida attacks on New York and Washington will fall on the FBI. There is an expectation that the agency’s director, Robert Mueller, will face intense questioning when he testifies today. “Those working [in] counter-terrorism matters did so despite limited intelligence collection and strategic analysis capabilities, a limited capacity to share information … She said: “The British Government had no information that could have prevented the attacks. Prior to 9/11, the US did not seek information from us as a priority There was no significant information about this individual. Post 9/11, the United Kingdom provided significant information to the US immediately ­ as soon as the information was obtained.” The commission’s allegations were made as it strongly criticised the FBI and the Justice Department, headed by the Attorney General, John Ashcroft, accusing them of repeatedly failing to react to the growing threat from al-Qa’ida.”On 11 September 2001, the FBI was limited in several areas critical to an effective, preventative counter-terrorism strategy,” the commission said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office denied last night that Britain had failed to act. In the aftermath of 11 September, the French authorities revealed they had warned Britain about the French national ­ who lived in London ­ and his alleged links with terrorists but these warnings were ignored.The criticism within the commission’s report is the first time an official body has gone as far as to suggest that a more expeditious response by the British authorities could have helped disrupt the plot, about which Mr Moussaoui allegedly had information He remains in US custody. “The publicity about the threat also might have disrupted the plot. But this would have been a race against time.” It is not the first time that Britain has been accused of failing to deal with warnings about Mr Moussaoui, the only person to have been charged in connection with the attacks.