AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCES "DUPED" BY PRIME MINISTER'S RUSH TO GO TO WAR IN IRAQ

PRE-EMPTIVE WAR A "BETRAYAL OF THE AUSTRALIAN WAY"

HOWARD BROKE "MORAL CONTRACT" WITH AUSTRALIA'S SOLDIERS

The truth-telling from Australia's betrayed, furious defence forces now begins.

One of Australia's most respected SAS officers has revealed that teams searching for Saddam's WMDs' regarded their mission as a "standing joke", knowing full well that there was unlikely to be any stockpiles of consequence to be found, and that in the months before the war, the proof of WMDs was virtually non-existent.

There are literally hundreds of Australian defence force personnel who want to tell the truth about what they know of the lies and deceptions spun out by the Howard government to con the Australian public, politicians and defence force leaders into backing the illegal 'War On Iraq'.

You can expect many more Australian defence personnel to know come forward and tell the truth of what they know, and how betrayed many of our soldiers feel about the war.

From the Australian :

The former SAS officer who devised and executed the Iraq war plan for Australia's special forces says that the nation's involvement has been a strategic and moral blunder.

Peter Tinley, who was decorated for his military service in Afghanistan and Iraq, has broken ranks to condemn the Howard Government over its handling of the war and has called for an immediate withdrawal of Australian troops.

"It was a cynical use of the Australian Defence Force by the Government," the ex-SAS operations officer told The Weekend Australian yesterday.

"This war duped the Australian Defence Force and the Australian people in terms of thinking it was in some way legitimate."

As the lead tactical planner for Australia's special forces in the US in late 2002, Mr Tinley was in a unique position to observe intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program and the coalition's military preparations in the lead-up to the war.

In Iraq in 2003, Mr Tinley served as deputy commander for the 550-strong joint special forces task group that took control of western Iraq.

Part of his command was 1 SAS Squadron, which was awarded a US Meritorious Unit citation for its "sustained gallantry", contributing to a comprehensive success for coalition forces in Iraq.

During war planning with US and British special forces at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in 2002, Mr Tinley says he never saw any hard intelligence that Saddam Hussein's regime possessed weapons of mass destruction.

"When I pressed them (US intelligence) for more specific imagery or information regarding locations or likely locations of WMD they confessed, off the record, that there had not been any tangible sighting of any WMD or WMD enabling equipment for some years," he said.

"It was all shadows and inferenced conversations between Iraqis. There was an overwhelming desire for all of the planning staff to simply believe that the Iraqis had learned how to conceal their WMD assets away from the US (surveillance) assets."

Coalition special forces troops were charged with hunting down Scud missiles and Saddam's suspected WMD arsenals, operating from just west of Baghdad all the way through to the Jordanian border, and between the Syrian and Saudi frontiers.

After the initial invasion, the search for WMD became something of a "standing joke" with neither coalition troops nor the Iraq Survey Group turning up anything of consequence.

"The notion that pre-emption is a legitimate strategy in the face of such unconvincing intelligence is a betrayal of the Australian way," he said.

He said the Government had broken a moral contract with its defence force in sending it to an "immoral war".

The Government's stance on Iraq and later on issues such as the Tampa had gradually allowed fear to become a motivating factor in the electorate, he said.

Mr Tinley said the Howard Government had failed to be honest with Australians about Iraq and "you can't separate the sentiment of the defence force from that of the people".

Australia's soldiers have a job to defend the people of Australia, the Australian way of life and Australia's honour and respect on the world stage. It is not their job to cover-up or to keep silent about the ways the Howard government decieved the Australian people, and their fellow soldiers into becoming involved in this war.

It is now their duty to come forward and tell the truth. They will lose no honour, nor respect, from the Australian people for doing what they know they must.

Go To The 'Fourth World War' Blog For A RoundUp Of The Latest 'War On Iraq' News


Australian Troops Are Being Sucked Into Iraq's Civil War

Australian Diplomat, Businessmen Knew Australian Was Going To War On Iraq More Than A Year Before Prime Minister Claimed He Decided To Commit Troops

Iraq Mosques Torched, Worshippers Burned Alive

Howard Has No Regrets About Iraq War - Says He Wouldn't Admit It Even If He Did

US Helicopters Shoot Up Funeral Procession In Iraq

30 Slaughtered As Gunmen Rampage Through Baghdad

Howard Continues The Spin - Withdrawal From Iraq Would Be Victory For Terrorists

AUSTRALIA LEFT BEGGING TO BE AT THE BIG TABLE ON FIGHT TO STOP GLOBAL WARMING

THE RUSH TO GET IN ON THE ACTION OF THE FUTURE WORLD CURRENCY - CARBON TRADING CREDITS

The Australian treasurer, Peter Costello, has sheepishly, but finally, admitted that Australian will join the Kyoto Protocol.

They won't sign up, of course, but they will take part, they will ensure carbon emissions meet Kyoto targets and they will officially acknowledge that carbon emissions are adding to the effects of the climate change inducing reality of global warming.

Only hours before the announcement by the treasurer on ABC's Lateline, Australian prime minister, John Howard was still pretending that he was one tough negotiator when it came to this global warming business, and it was in fact he that was insisting that rapidly growing, mass-industrialised nations like India and China do something about their emissions for the sake of future generations.

It was all pure Howard theatre. China was one of the first countries in the world to join a then experimental carbon credit trading system, more than four years, when Howard was still smirking and snorting about environmentalists and the dreaded Greeeennnsss, mocking them all for having panic fits about something called global warming.

After years of insulting the Europeans over their insistence that the Kyoto Protocol must be taken seriously, and that countries like Australia need to get on board, the harsh reality has well and truly dawned on the money men of the Australian government that they are about to miss out, bigstyle, on becoming part of the new unofficial world currency known as 'carbon trading credits'.

It doesn't even matter anymore whether John Howard believes global warming is a reality, or if he acknowledges that rapid industrialisation using coal as a key energy source (Australia's leading export industry) is adding to the problems. Most of the rest of the world has well and truly left skeptics like Howard far, far behind.

Which is why Howard, five to eight years late, is rushing to catch up.


Australian environmentalists, and climate scientists, are still shaking their heads in disbelief that John Howard has so quickly taken up the mantra of "Something must be done about global warming".

All this comes, of course, after the Howard government spent years trying to block the truth from emerging out of Australia's leading scientific body, the CSIRO, about climate change and the dire long-term environmental, and economic, effects of global warming.

Howard has an agenda, and that agenda is using the reality of global warming to push for the rapid and massive expansion of nuclear power as an alternative energy source.

Australia is already one of the world's leaders when it comes to mining uranium. Howard wants Australia to become the world leader for uranium exports. a market worth, literally, hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade.


Austraila's reputation as an international pariah, thanks to a decade of near inactivity on the key issues of climate change, will take many years, and probably a change of government, to shake off.

Short of two or three Australians cities getting bombed, global warming will be a far more important issue at the 2007 federal elections than international terrorism, or the 'War On Iraq'. Howard knows this, of course. He will flog global warming to death, regardless of whether or not he believes it is an economy shredding reality. Most Australians believe, so Howard does too. Now.

Go To Your New Reality For The Full Story


China Blasts Australia Over For Emissions Criticism, Says By Population Comparison Australia Emits Far More Greenhouse Gases Than China

PM 'Not Credible' On Global Warming And Climate Change At APEC Conference

Climate Change Threat As Serious As Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Debunking The Vast Left Wing United Nations Conspiracy Called Global Warming

John Howard To Embrace Carbon Trading At APEC

Bush Loses Australia As Key Player In Opposition To Kyoto And Reality Of Global Warming

NOW AND THEN - JOHN HOWARD ON THE IRAQ WAR

The Australian prime minister, John Howard, once said we had to go war against Iraq to stop Saddam Hussein using weapons of mass destruction and to stop him giving such weapons to terrorists.

Now Howard says we have to stay in Iraq....so the United States doesn't look bad.

...my policy is to be part of a coalition that does not leave Iraq in circumstances where it is seen as a defeat for the West and a boost for the terrorists. That is the most important responsibility I have at the present time.

So what is the 'War On Iraq' now then? Some frigging marketing campaign?

When more than 500,000 Australians (out of a population of 20 million) marched in opposition to the (then upcoming) illegal invasion of Iraq in early 2003, Howard infamously said all these people - including thousands of World War 2, Korea and Vietnam War veterans - were giving "comfort to Saddam".

We know now, of course, that at the same time as Howard was making these despicable comments, he was ignoring repeated warnings from Australia's intelligence agencies that an Australian corporation had been (and were continuing to) funnel bribes totalling some $300 million to the regime of Saddam Hussein.

That's a lot of comfort.

Australia has some of the most brilliant anti-terrorism and military intelligence minds in the world. But Howard clearly doesn't pay much attention to their reports, or briefings.

If he did, he would know that the 'War On Iraq' is already being widely viewed as a defeat for the West and "a boost for terrorists" across the world.

Does he really believe that the 'War On Iraq' is going to be resolved in a way that can be seen as some great victory for the West?

Yes, he clearly believes that this is how history will view this fiasco.

So what else does Howard have to say about the 'War On Iraq' these days?

Pretty much the exact same guff he was spouting back in February, 2003.

Here's Howard on November 11 this year :

"...if the coalition leaves Iraq, in circumstances where it is viewed by the rest of the world, and particularly by terrorists, as a defeat, that will have enormous and negative ramifications for the prestige and the authority of the United States in the world."

Here's Howard on February 20, 2003 :

"...if the world walks away from this (war), the damage to the authority....of the United States will be huge."

So, if the United States walked away from an illegal invasion of Iraq in February, 2003, the damage to the "authority" of the United States would have been "huge".

Now he claims if the United States (and Australia) leaves Iraq, the damage to the "authority" of the United States will have "negative ramifications".

The "authority" and "prestige" of the United States was damaged when it became clear only weeks after the invasion of Iraq that there were no WMDs, just as Saddam Hussein and United Nations weapons inspectors said.

The "negative ramifications" Howard so fears have been piling up for more than two years, as Iraqi, Iranian and Al Qaeda fighters armed with homemade bombs took on the greatest military force in the world and destroyed hundreds of American tanks, trucks and Humvees, killing thousands of mostly unarmoured US and British troops.

Howard is clearly living in a fantasyland if he truly believes that the Coalition can leave Iraq with its "authority" and "prestige" intact.

He is deluding himself and he is attempting to delude all Australians.

For the record, a few paragraphs below you will some more Howard fantasyland quotes from the first six months of 2003. A period during which he was being briefed and fed reports telling him (if he had bothered to actually read them) that the Iraq War was not going to work out the way he was dreaming it would.

Of course, Australia's intelligence agencies - like those of the United States, France, Germany, Israel, Russia and United Kingdom - foresaw the rise of the Iraqi insurgency before it became an exploding reality, and repeatedly warned the leaders of Australia, the UK and the United States that Iraq would become a live-field training ground for Al Qaeda terrorists should the war continue beyond the end of 2003.

Our children, our grandchildren, will be living with the legacy of The War HowardBushBlair Had To Have.

Considering this terror-laden legacy, it would be honourable of John Howard to start telling the truth about the 'War On Iraq' instead of continuing to spout the kind of twaddle that makes senior ranks of Australia's Army and intelligence services cringe every time they hear him opining on this incredibly damaging fiasco.

Howard's attempts to continually spin the the reality, and the generations-long blowback we can now expect from the 'War On Iraq', would be laughable, if it wasn't so utterly, horribly tragic. For the people of Australia, and the people of Iraq.


THE VERY BEST OF JOHN HOWARD

THE IRAQ WAR - THE FIRST SIX MONTHS

"....our goal is to make certain that the weapons that Iraq now has, chemical and biological and a capacity to develop nuclear weapons, are taken from Iraq." - January 23, 2003

"..if as a consequence of that military action the current regime disappears, that circumstances in Iraq could well be a lot better, I’m certain they will be a lot better and that in a relatively short period of time the situation could stabilise in the way that it did in Afghanistan." - February 7. 2003

"I think there’s a very big connection between Iraq and North Korea and the connection is this, if the Security Council and the world community can’t discipline Iraq it has no hope of disciplining North Korea." - February, 16, 2003

"Iraq must be disarmed. We cannot afford to allow a rogue state like Iraq to retain chemical and biological weapons. Others will do likewise. North Korea will not be disciplined by the world community if Iraq is not disciplined." - March 14, 2003

"I have no doubt at all in my mind, and many would agree with me, that the Iraqi people will suffer less if Saddam Hussein is removed." - March 17, 2003

"...we don’t have any quarrel with the ordinary people of Iraq, we don’t want to inflict any avoidable pain, injury or death on them. We do have a big quarrel with the regime because it’s the regime that has defied the world in relation to its chemical and biological weapons. We mustn’t lose sight of what this is all about." - March 20, 2003

"....on the scale of suffering I have believed for a long time that the people of Iraq will suffer less if he’s gone than if he’s left there." - March 21, 2003

"...it is a very tyrannical regime and once it’s gone the people of Iraq will I’m sure have a much better life." - April 2, 2003

"...if Iraq had disarmed and fully cooperated, then I don’t think people would have been arguing on its own for regime change." - April 2, 2003

"...getting rid of the regime and thereby ensuring that Iraq does not retain chemical and biological weapons or a capacity to develop them in the future, that is the goal....I would say victory once the regime is gone." - April 6, 2003

"...we won't be making a significant peacekeeping contribution....I'm not talking about a period of 12 months or two years...we certainly don't intend to have a significant army of peacekeepers." - April 10, 2003

"...the same thing with the civilian casualties. Of course there were. But you have to put that in the balance against the tens upon tens of thousands who have died in different ways as a result of this regime." - April 13, 2003

President Bush estimated months ago that more than 30,000 civilians had died as a result of the US-Australian-UK led invasion of Iraq. The Iraqi Healthy Ministry estimated earlier this month that more than 150,000 civilians had been killed.

"It was inevitable that when you topple a tyrannical regime and you took the lid off, it was inevitable there was going to be a period of some upheaval..." - April 16, 2003

Two years and seven months have now passed since Howard predicted "a period of some upheaval."

"...it was a remarkable military victory, and a great tribute to the American military leadership." - May 2, 2003


Howard : Defeat Of Coalition In Iraq Will Spoil US Reputation

Howard : "By All Means Let Us Talk To Syria And Iran"

Bribing Saddam - The Greatest International Scandal In Australia's History

"MARINES DON'T GET KILLED IN IRAQ. I CAN LOOK AFTER MYSELF...I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING"

The brave and supremely confident words of Corporal Ben Novak, a 27 year old Oz-Brit (dual citizenship). He was a Royal Marine and he died in Southern Iraq last Sunday, along with three other Royal Marines on the Shatt al-Arab waterway outside of Basra.

Corporal Novak had been in Iraq for just one week.

His mother said Ben was "so proud to be a Royal Marine. He would wear that uniform whenever he could."

Rupert Murdoch : United States Takes Australia For Granted

Warns Australians About Dangers Of Becoming More "Anti-American"

By Darryl Mason

Rupert Murdoch, head of News Limited and one of only a handful of Australians who have ever renounced their Australian citizenship purely to make more money, said in a speech tonight that the United States is guilty of taking Australia "too much for granted".

During his speech at the first American Australian Association dinner in Sydney he said "America takes Australia too much granted....the best way to keep a friend is to be a friend."

He said the United States "should not come calling only when in need."

He also lectured Australians about what he believes to be a rising tide of anti-Americanism in this country, admitting that a lot of this sentiment is a result of the 'War On Iraq' he so fervently backed.

“I am well aware that the Iraq war was and is unpopular among many Australians," Murdoch said.

Incredibly ironic, of course, because it was his media empire that so relentlessly and ruthlessly promoted the need for a 'War On Iraq' through 2002 and the first few months of 2003 and undeniably helped to pave the way for it to become a reality.

And it was his newspapers in Australia that so consistently savaged those who tried to warn that attacking Iraq would lead to exactly the kind of bloodshed and destruction, carnage and monstrous death tolls that he now recognises as helping to spread anti-Americanism through Australia, Europe and the UK.

Why do people like Murdoch and Australia's prime minister John Howard continually insist on calling it anti-Americanism when it should be more honestly defined as anti-Bushism?

Australians on the whole do not hate Americans. American tourists are not regularly abused or attacked on the streets of our cities. It is President Bush, and his odious doctrine of pre-emptive war and global domination by military force, that infuriates so many Australians.

"...I am well aware that not every Australian sees the current American administration in a favourable light," Murdoch said. "But wars end. Administrations come and go.”

Administrations do come and go, and Murdoch's incredible media power in the United States and Australia usually ensures he gets exactly the kind of administration he wants, for the benefit of his business and ideological interests.

"The Australian people must not allow their perfectly legitimate doubts about one policy or one American administration to cloud their long-term judgment...Australians must resist and reject the facile, reflexive, unthinking anti-Americanism that has gripped much of Europe...Australian sentiment is thankfully nowhere near Europe's level of hostility, but it could get there. And it mustn't."

Well it won't, as long the United States doesn't insist on smashing sovereign countries based on a filthy pack of lies and distortions.

Murdoch was in Australia to launch a $50 million Centre for United States Studies at the University of Sydney. He said the centre will be valuable to the United States because it will
"raise awareness, dispel myths, groom new leaders...."

It will be extremely interesting to see just what "myths" the Centre for United States Studies tries to dispel.


Here's what Australian PM John Howard had to say about Australians and anti-Americanism :

"While anti-Americanism seemingly finds a ready outlet in every age, we should not pretend that it is cost-free. For some, a bit of armchair anti-Americanism may be nothing more than a mild indulgence. But … be careful what you wish for."

Armchair anti-Americanism? What about wheelchair anti-Americanism? Or toilet seat anti-Americanism? Do you have to be sitting comfortably in an armchair to spout of anti-Americanisms?

Nice try, but that's really not going to catch on as a popularism.

Did Howard actually consider what effect the possibility of him pushing forward on committing Australian troops to a war on the other side of the world, agaisnt a nation that did not threaten us, might actually have on the locals?

Of course he did. But he did it anyway.

And he regrets nothing. Just like Rupert.


Go To 'Your New Reality' For More


Some background on the American Studies Centre from the Melbourne Age :

Mr Murdoch was horrified by last year's Lowy Institute poll showing that the only countries generating less positive feelings about the US than Australia were Indonesia, the Middle East, Iran and Iraq. It found that of the 39 per cent of Australians who felt negatively towards the US, almost all thought Australia paid too much attention to Washington's views.

Mr Murdoch raised the issue with the American Australian Association, which led to the idea of creating a US Studies Centre, to be based at Sydney University with a $25 million commitment from the Federal Government.

Guests at last night's dinner included former prime ministers Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, Andrew Peacock, Frank Lowy, Sol Trujillo, James Packer, Mr Murdoch's son, Lachlan, and Lachlan's friends Collette Dinnigan and Baz Luhrmann.

The dinner, for which guests paid up to $35,000 a table, also raised money to support a fellowship program for Australian and US postgraduate scholars to study in both countries.

Sydney University Wins Bid For US Studies Centre

Australia Is Not America

Friends In Need : Howard, Murdoch Stand By US

Australian American Studies Centre Installed By Murdoch's Demand After Shock Poll Revealed 39% Think Negatively Of US, And Fear US Almost As Much As they Fear Iran

BORAT LAYS DOWN 'TESTES SATCHEL' CHALLENGE TO JOHN HOWARD

Kazakhi TV reporter Borat has challenged Australian PM John Howard to show his true strength.

Funny, yes, but this is definitely something no Australian wants to see broadcast on television.

If Howard takes up the Borat challenge, let him do it away from the cameras, if that's possible for Australia's most infamous media whore.

From news.com.au :

...Borat has questioned whether Prime Minister John Howard has the balls to govern Australia.

Borat threw down the weighty challenge to Mr Howard at the Australian premiere of his mockmentary Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan in Sydney last night.

"In our country it is not the man with the most votes who wins, it is the man who can suspend the heaviest weight from his testes satchel," he said...

"Our current premier can carry a car battery for almost eight seconds ... how long can (John Howard) suspend from his?"

ABORIGINES FIND THEIR PARADISE IN UTOPIA

BUT THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT WANTS TO TOSS THEM OUT

The Australian media rarely has a positive story on Aborigines. Which seems remarkable when you consider that Aborigines have survived and thrived for more than 60,000 years or longer, in some of the harshest environments in the world.

The ancient knowledge of the Aborigines has much to offer the Australian government now panicking over an horrific combination of widespread drought, massive crop failures and unprecedented water shortages.

Obviously, the Aborigines were doing something right for those centuries of centuries.

You would think that such a world rarity of vital ancient knowledge would be a treasure trove of information for the Australian government struggling now to deal with the end fatal results of two hundred years of land-clearing, river diversions and the near ceaseless logging that has wiped away more than 90% of Australia's ancient rainforests and woodlands.

But you'd be wrong.

Many Aborigines are thriving still, despite the overwhelmingly negative victimisation and stereotyping served up by most Australian media. It is their own fault, a seemingly endless stream of dull-headed 'opinion makers' inform us, because too many Aborigines reject Western culture and 'civilisation'. They don't want to step into the 21st Century, apparently.

There now seems to be a few very good reasons why this resistance is essential to the survival of their race.

New studies show that many Aborigines have a far better shot at a longer, healthier life once they turn away from Western processed foods, alcohol-fuelled leisure and inactive lifestyles.

The example to support this argument is rarely mentioned in the Australian media.

Welcome to the Aborigianl paradise of Utopia.

From the London Times :

Researchers have found such clear indicators of the wellbeing of the people of Utopia — a 1,160 square mile (3,000 sq km) former cattle station in the red desert dust north of Alice Springs — that policy-makers are having to reconsider the worth of an ancient Aboriginal way of life that rejects much of comfortably off Australia’s eating, working and leisure habits.

Yet those healthy traditions may be under threat. Ministers in the Howard Government have declared small Aboriginal communities to be unsustainable and argued for their closure and the removal of inhabitants to enlarged townships. There, they suggest, better services could be provided.

In Utopia’s 16 tiny settlements — known as outstations — infants are fed the blood of kangaroos hunted by their relatives. Old women catch and cook big goanna lizards. People wander the spinifex grasses and dig out succulent honey ants and witchetty grubs for eating. Women make batches of Aboriginal medicines from desert plants, relying on ancestral recipes. Not many people smoke, and only a few drink.

Many in Utopia spend the bakingly hot days in rough shelters, alongside dogs. Houses are often crowded and dirty. Most struggle to pay for food and petrol from the single store. Yet these people are 40 per cent less likely to die prematurely than other Aboriginals in the Northern Territory.

According to researchers at the University of Melbourne, their health approaches — and even exceeds in crucial respects — that of white Australians long expected to outlive Aborigines by 15 to 20 years.

Lennie Jones, a senior elder, is certain of the source of his community’s health: “Out here, we live on bush tucker. Old fellows and kids still hunt. We don’t have white tucker.”

Another, Albert Bailey, whose 76 years represent longevity unusual among Aborigines, says: “In the big communities the young fellows get on the grog all the time. Here we stop ’em. We stay on the land of our grandfathers, always.”

At least, until the Australian government comes to try and force them from their traditional lands and into the cities.

Sometimes it pays to listen to those who know more than you do, particularly about a land as vast and resource-wealthy and bush food-rich as Australia.

If you ever get the chance to go on a 'Bush Tucker Tour' in Australia with an Aboriginal guide, don't pass it up. To take a walk through what seems like fairly barren scrub, and then to learn that there is a rich variety of food in the form of berries, roots and leaves all around you is to see the country through new eyes.

They mystery of how Aborigines managed to survive for so long in the harsh climates of Australia becomes clear when you learn just how much food and water there is to be found, when you know what you're looking for, and you know where to look.

As for dealing with the drought, at least in the decades to come, there is a simple and clear truth in what an Aboriginal elder in the Blue Mountains told me, a few years back :

"If you got the trees, the rains will come. More trees, more rain, it's always been this way."

Go Here For The Full London Times Story

IRAQ WAR BLOODSHED HAS RAISED LOCAL TERROR THREAT, TENSIONS IN MUSLIM-DOMINATED SUBURBS

AUSTRALIAN SPY AGENCY WARNS THEY CANNOT STOP TERRORISTS FROM ATTACKING

ASIO SAYS AL QAEDA INSPIRATION, NOT GROUND TROOPS IN TERROR WAR

The chief Australian spy agency, ASIO, has recruited a record number of new agents and operatives through 2005-2006. Some 247 new staff have joined the more than 1000 Australians already working for the agency.

The ASIO annual report for 2005-2006 claimed that Indonesian terror groups were gaining in strength, that the threat of terrorist attacks in Australia had increased, partly due to the blowback from the extreme violence of the 'War On Iraq' and that while Osama Bin Laden remained a source of inspiration for jihadists worldwide, the much-hyped Al Qeada 'network' is actually nothing of the sort, instead being a chief source of inspiration and motivation, but not a grand co-ordinator of jihabist attacks.


From the Sydney Morning Herald :

Spy agency the Australian Security Intelligence Agency (ASIO) has warned the war in Iraq has raised tensions within Australia's Middle Eastern community.

The intelligence organisation has also continued to warn of the danger terrorism poses, cautioning that Jemaah Islamiah (JI) remains a serious threat to Australian interests here and overseas.

"The ongoing violence in Iraq continues to have an impact on the Middle East community in Australia," ASIO says in its annual report to parliament.

"During 2005, in the lead-up to the elections in Iraq, tensions increased between members of the Sunni and Shia communities in Sydney, particularly in the Auburn area."

The agency said individuals in Australia continued to adhere to an extreme interpretation of Islam that advocated violence.

"Some of these are Australian-born and others have lived here for most of their lives. Some are associated with extremist groups and terrorist identities overseas and some have trained with terrorist groups in other countries," the report said.

The spy group said the radicalisation of some individuals had been a very short process, making it hard for authorities to detect them.

From news.com.au :

Australia's chief intelligence agency ASIO says global bogey man Osama bin Laden now inspires others to act rather than doing so itself.

"Al-Qaeda's current ability to undertake operations itself outside certain restricted areas is reduced," ASIO says in its annual report. "It's primary role now consists of inspiring or encouraging others to engage in terrorist acts or to view their local insurgencies on nationalistic or ethnic issues in global strategic terms."

ASIO says in global terms, terrorists are relatively disorganised with links based on shared experiences and personal connections.

But the lack of a central, definable organisation makes it harder for intelligence organisations to snare a terrorist.

Both the Madrid bombings of March 2004 and the London bombings of July 2005 were conducted by largely self-sufficient groups with low security profiles.

"Jihad doctrine asserts the individual duty of Muslims to undertake Jihad in any country in which it is possible to do so," the ASIO report says.

From The Australian :

The annual report from the country's chief spy agency says the terror group Jemaah Islamiah remains a serious threat to Australian interests and continues to foment violent jihad in parts of Indonesia.

ASIO says it is now clear that Islamic extremists see Australian interests around the world and Australia itself as targets for terrorist attacks.

In its review of the global terrorist threat, ASIO concluded that al-Qa'ida had a reduced ability to undertake terrorist operations, with its primary role now largely inspirational.

In the past year, attacks had occurred in London, Mumbai in India, Sharm el-Sheikh and Dahab in Egypt, Iraq, Tel Aviv in Israel, Sri Lanka, southern Thailand and Turkey. Other planned targets included Britain, Germany, Denmark, Canada and Australia.

Mr O'Sullivan said anticipating a "dynamic and increasingly complex" global threat would require imagination and novel approaches

Former ASIO Boss Backs US Intelligence

ASIO Monitors Muslim Web Surfers

COR BLIMEY, COBBER!

IS THE AUSTRALIAN LINGO DISAPPEARING UNDER AMERICANISMS?

Interesting column from Ray Chesterton on how the old Aussie lingo and slangology is dying out. But how many Australians really talk the talk the way Ray says he remembers it? And how many ever did?

"Bloody Hell", "bugger", "crikey" and "flippin' heck" still get a regular workout by the oldies at my local, but I don't ever remember anyone, even the blokes who were World War One veterans talking in Aussie 'strine like you would have heard in cliched Australian comedies of the late 60s and early 70s.

If the old Australian language is dying out, it's been a long slow death, no doubt helped along by the domination of American and British TV shows on the box, and the rich and colourful slanguage of US and UK rap and hip hop artists.

Anyway, here's what's troubling old Ray :

"My cobber is crook as Rookwood somewhere near the Black Stump and I'm going to get him."

"I hate the Mulga but this bloke's blood's worth bottling, even if he's sometimes a sandwich short of a picnic.

"It'll cost big bikkies but I'll chuck a sickie and hope no bludger gives me up."

Ah. The resonance of the majestic English language. Its rhythms, its unmistakable cadence, its nuances so easily understood by Australians.

Nowadays Australian colloquialisms are going down the same path to extinction as the Tasmanian tiger.

No one calls anyone a "mutton-headed galah," as Nino Culotta did in Gone Fishin', " any more.

Instead, it's "Hi bro" when teenagers meet instead of "Hello mate".

Americanisms are an unimaginative substitution for genuine wit and humour.

Why steal from others when we have a rich cultural verbal heritage of our own?

At a time when we're saving water, trees and anything else that walks, flies or swims could we spare some time and effort to save the language.

Stone the crows, it would be worth it.

THE 'PLAGUE' OF THE GREY NOMADS

PARKING SIGNS CUT DOWN BY PENSIONERS FOR FREE BONDI BEACH HOLIDAY

The truth about The Plague Of The Grey Nomads - mostly elderly pensioners chasing the sun around Australia's coastlines in huge holiday vans - is so shocking it's been kept out of most of Australia's media. We had to turn to the English media to get this story.

Okay, we're exaggerating. A bit.

The 'grey nomads' are doing pretty much what tens of thousands of Australians used to do in VW vans, but parking restrictions and the decimation of caravan parks around some of Australia's more populated beaches have forced the travellers to go to extremes.

It is kind of freaky, though, this idea of all these oldies, cashed up in superior homes-on-wheels, linked up by e-mail and text messaging, moving in packs around the coast, watching out for each other, reporting the locations of good sites to invade and the cheapest lunches in the nearest towns.

The retirees who sell their homes and blow the children's inheritance on huge $200,000 vans are creating their own new mobile society, where outsiders are rarely welcome and new arrivals to their clans have to prove their worth, by the kilometres clocked up on their travels.

Amazing stuff.

From the UK Independent :

As summer approaches, camper vans are invading the popular beachside suburb and squatting on some of Bondi's best streets. Visitors can only park legally for a couple of hours, but no worries, as they say here. Just chop down the parking sign.

The culprits behind this spate of vandalism are not feckless young tourists, they are pensioners - the "grey nomads" who travel around Australia following the sun. "Quite a number are older people," said Kerryn Sloan, a local councillor. "It's a new phenomenon, and quite surprising.

"They want a seaside holiday for free, and bad luck to anyone who disagrees with them. They don't want to move on, and they know the law and how far they can push it. They can be quite confrontational. They are absolutely brazen, and they won't be intimidated."

The elderly anarchists operate in packs, travelling in convoy and texting each other tips on the streets with the best views. On arrival, they saw down signs, leaving parking inspectors impotent. It is usually two weeks before a new sign can be put up. By then the campers are ready to move on.

Towns and cities up and down the coast are afflicted, but Bondi - with its famous beach and numerous amenities - has been particularly badly hit. It is one of Sydney's most densely populated neighbourhoods.

One despairing local man said yesterday that he had had seven camper vans parked in his street. Removing parking signs is only one sin.

Once the unwelcome visitors have commandeered a street, they make themselves quite at home. They set up little tables and chairs on the pavement. They string up makeshift clothes-lines. They cook themselves meals in the street. They urinate and defecate in backyards and on the grass verges.

"We think that they have a network, telling each other where to go. They find the right street and all group together. Some of them quite openly taunt the residents... We've even had illegal campers in our cemetery."

George Newhouse, the local mayor, said that some campers played hide and seek with parking inspectors, dodging them when they approached. He said the council needed stronger powers to crack down on "inappropriate camping". It had also asked the state government to provide land for camp-sites.

"At the moment there's nothing we can do to stop them," he said.

"We can ban camping in our parks, but if they're on a public road in a registered vehicle, we can only regulate the hours they can park."

Go Here For The Full Story

The Life Of The Grey Nomads - 14 Years On The Road

Golden Years For Two Grey Nomads - A Lifetime Of Work For An On The Road Retirement

DONT BLAME AUSTRALIAN MUSLIMS FOR TERROR, SAYS AUSTRALIA'S TOP COP

"TERRORISM IS A CRIME", NOT AN ACT OF WAR

Australia's chief cop has told The Australian that Muslims shouldn't be singled out when it comes to the 'War On Terror' :

Federal police commissioner Mick Keelty has urged people to back off Muslims, insisting Islamic Australia is not to blame for terrorism.

...Mr Keelty said racial profiling was self-defeating because it risked alienating mainstream Muslims while ignoring the real danger of homegrown non-Muslim terror.

"I remind people that the firstperson who was convicted of a terrorist offence in Australia was a person with the unlikely name of Jack Roche," the police chief said.

And Mr Keelty said he did not like the phrase "the war on terror", because it did not apply in Australia.

"Unless people understand what is happening here, we risk alienating the Islamic community, we risk branding the Islamic community," he said.

Unlike most Australian politicians, Mr Keelty well understands how the endless terror-branding of Australia's Muslims translates to trouble on the streets for police, and risks ignoring threats rising from other parts of the Australian community.

As numerous polls have shown, and as Australia's Prime Minister has failed to publicly acknowledge, the vast majority of Australian Muslims reject terrorism, and reject the concept of violent jihad.

But trying telling that to the headline-addicted senior politicians. They've got so little to say, so few new ideas to discuss, they can't stop themselves from banging on about Muslim terrorists and trying to scare the shit out of people, particularly children.

Spreading terror is an act of terror, whether you use bombs or your supreme access to the television sets of most Australians.

Prime Minister John Howard, September 11, 2006 :

"People in Australia are in no doubt that extreme Islam is responsible for terrorism. We shouldn't pussyfoot around. We are not attacking Muslims generally, but you have to call terrorism for what it is - it is a movement that invokes, in a totally blasphemous and illegitimate way, the sanction of Islam to justify what it does."

What's so shocking about statements like that is Howard is supposed to get briefed by Australia's intelligence services and senior police and international experts. You'd think he would have heard about the Christian terrorists, the Hindu terrorists and the aethiest terrorists as well.

Of course, John Howard would never dream to mention extremist Catholics and the IRA terror bombings across England and Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s.

But Howard's not alone. It's the rare senior Australian politician who has recently acknowledged the fact that hundreds of thousands of Australian Muslims live peaceful, non-violent lives while adhering to the beliefs of their religion.

If anything was going to drive people to extremism, you'd think seeing your friends and relatives shot and bombed and killed and burned in Iraq and Lebanon would do it. But so far, the fallout in Australia from the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Muslims in these conflicts has been minimal here.

John Howard, of course, has to do everything he can to distract Australians from real issues causing great distress to Australians everyday, like the decimating house market, climbing interest rates, storming petrol prices and the fact that he is indirectly linked to a bribery scandal that saw an Australian company pay Saddam Hussein hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes, even after Australian soldiers had deployed to the Iraq region in early 2003 to find his non-existent weapons of mass destruction.

Top Cop Mick Keelty well understands that false assumptions about violence and Australian Muslims, and connections to terrorism in general, are dangerous - for the innocent and for the peace and welfare of Australian society in general :

"One of my biggest fears is how we apply the anti-terrorism legislation in Australia," he said. "If we have major operations and people are arrested, I think it's vitally important for us in our organisation - I can't speak for other organisations - to consider carefully how we portray that in the media. I think it's equally important as to how the media portrays it."

Mr Keelty said the danger of mistreating people who felt "the least bit alienated" was that they would become permanent outcasts in the community.

Keelty caused a storm of faux-outrage inside the Howard government in March, 2004, when he had the temerity to suggest that Australia's involvement in the Iraq War increased the chances that Islamic terrorists would launch attacks on Australian targets.

Howard denies to this day that the 'War On Iraq' has increased the threat of terrorism in Australia, despite the fact that virtually every military, terrorism and conflict expert in the world says, "Of course it does, moron."

Keelty is clearly concerned about terrorism. But it's not just Islamic extremists he's worried about.

He believes, as does the Attorney General, that there is a risk of non-Muslim terror inside Australia as well.

"...that's one of the reasons why you have to be careful about racial profiling in policing, because if you do, you risk profiling to the exclusion of people who are motivated to commit the crime," he said.

"Some of the best examples of (terror originating beyond the Muslim community) are coming out of Canada and the UK where people have, for whatever reason, converted to Islam almost as a step towards committing a crime they probably would have committed anyway."

"Some of these people harbour resentment of Western liberalised democracies in any event, or feel alienated or isolated within their own environment for whatever reason.

"Anti-social behaviour can manifest in a number of ways, and what it (terrorism) has unfortunately done is given these people reason to consider other options to be heard or to be seen or to be made martyrs."

"True Islam denounces murder, it is not practising the Koran to commit murder or to commit atrocities," he said.

"I am against racial profiling for crimes because (it) risks missing the true cause of the crime and risks focusing (on) an aspect of the community that may not necessarily involve itself in the crime while the crime is being committed."

Keelty also refuses to use the war-spin terminology of the Bush-Howard-Blair Hydra.

There is no such thing as a 'War On Terror', says Keelty. There can't be. It's impossible.

"I think a statement like the war against terror is an easy statement to make. But terrorism is a crime, it's murder. It's more about a mindset and a motivation than it is about a war ...

"As an Australian what is so important to us, I think, is that we maintain the quality of life that we have and we continue to capitalise on the benefits of multiculturalism, that we look to be embracing of all cultures."

Cheers to that brilliant burst of refreshing reality, and cheers to our Top Cop.

There is a plague of extremists in Australia causing great damage to our peace and the stability of our communities, but they aren't congregating in the mosques.

They're congregating in Australia's most expensive building ever built, right there in Canberra.

AUSTRALIA FOOD CROPS DESTROYED BY DROUGHT AND FROST

1/3 OF WHEAT CROP LOST

1/2 OF STONE FRUIT CROP LOST

In little more than two weeks, Australians have learned that almost $1 billion worth of food crops have been lost to the effects of drought and an unexpected severe frost, which came without warning.

Prices that Australians pay for cereal-based products and stone fruits are expected to soar in the coming year.

From the Australian :

The Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics today downgraded its last forecast for the winter cereal crop, made in June, from 36 million tonnes to 26 million tonnes.

Wheat production is predicted to be 16.4 million tonnes, 35 per cent lower than last year.

But even this gloomy forecast is based on reasonable spring rainfall, and the Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting below average rains for all but the south west of Western Australia.

And more worrying are indications of a late-developing El Nino.

The Bureau reported August 2006 was the driest August on record. Record low winter falls were recorded over West Australia, and parts of eastern Australia.

ABARE reports West Australia, the biggest wheat producing state, should produce 8.4 million tonnes, down 39 per cent on last year's bumper crop.

WA canola is down 60 per cent, and lupins down a massive 77 per cent.

South Australia experienced the opposite, with a good start to the season, but no useful rain over winter. The winter brought a series of frosts, and crops in the south east are struggling.

The SA wheat crop is forecast to be down 30 per cent, barley down 44 per cent and canola down 38 per cent.

Victorian wheat is down 26 per cent, barley down 45 per cent and canola down 30 per cent.

The NSW wheat crop is forecast to be cut by one third, to 5.3 million tonnes, barley is down 40 per cent and canola 41 per cent.

Central Queensland crops have had adequate rains, but southern Queensland is dry.

...the area sown to rice expected to fall by 57 per cent, and cotton production is expected to fall by 29 per cent.

From news.com :

Temperatures unexpectedly plunged to minus five degrees celsius on Sunday night, ruining healthy young fruit – including apricot, plum, peach and plum crops – across the region.

Federal Murray MP Dr Sharman Stone said she had written to Victorian Premier Steve Bracks calling on him to declare a natural disaster to "open the door to financial assistance for orchardists".

The frost was expected to have destroyed half the region's output of fruit, Dr Stone said.

"This follows five years of drought, hail last year at Shepparton East, the devastating frost of 2003 and record prices for water," Dr Stone said in a statement.

The news of these spectacular losses have barely registered in the Australian media.

These events will result in the loss of hundreds of permanent jobs and raise the prices Australians pay for everything from fresh bread to canned fruits, though there has been no mention yet whether these losses will result in the food shortages that drought and unexpected severe weather conditions have delivered in the US, Russia, China and the EU.

The routing of Australia's food industries by natural disasters continues...

Bird Flu Scare At Sydney Airport

Emergency Response Plan Goes Into Action

UPDATE : BIRD FLU SCARE OVER

The man taken to a Sydney hospital with a suspected case of bird flu is instead feeling the effects of a burst bag of drugs in his stomach, reports Yahoo7News.

The 36-year-old arrived from Vietnam this morning and remained in isolation while he underwent tests which revealed he had swallowed heroin.

The passenger was allegedly a drug mule, carrying a stomach full of heroin-filled condoms which burst mid-flight.

It is understood he was unconscious for several hours during the flight before being taken to St. George Hospital, in Sydney's south.

The man's wife claimed her husband had recently visited a farm in Vietnam and eaten chicken.

Fellow passengers were initially quarantined but have now been allowed to leave.

That the other passengers on the flight were "initially quarantined" is a fact not revealed in any of the media reports earlier today, as I highlighted at the bottom of the original story below.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Earlier....

As a major centre of international travel, Sydney has one of the most comprehensive response plans to the arrival of bird flu in the world. Today, the Bird Flu Response Plan got a full workout.

A man travelling from Vietnam to Sydney was already ill before he boarded the plane. Passengers have told ABC news that he was unconscious for most of the trip. The pilot, as required by law, radioed ahead to say there was an extremely ill person on board. He was taken off the flight at Sydney International Airport, by bio-suited medical staff, and taken to St George Hospital, which has a quarantine facility specifically set up, last year, to deal with international travellers who might be sick with bird flu.

The man is reported to have admitted he and his wife had visited a poultry farm in Vietnam, shortly before travelling to Australia, and they had eaten chicken at the farm.

All the passengers on the flight in question have had their personal details collected, but have not been tested for bird flu, or isolated, as the Bird Flu Response plan would require were any of them also showing signs of infection. It appears none were.

It is highly unlikely that the man, under quarantine for the time being, is carrying an infectious form of bird flu. That he is sick with the bird flu virus has not yet been ruled out, but the health authorities are not concerned enough to have quarantined all passengers and flight crew, as per the response plan.

The man is currently being tested for the H5N1 virus at St George's Hospital.

From smh.com.au :

Jeremy McAnulty, director of communicable diseases at NSW Health, said the man was in his 30s and is being assessed by clinicians in an isolation ward at a Sydney hospital.

"We understand that the person was relatively well but had some flu-like symptoms potentially in the last few days - the history is a little bit vague," Dr McAnulty told a media conference.

"[He] was on the plane and then was difficult to rouse in waking up in the morning time as [the plane] was about to land in Sydney.

"For that reason and the reason of a history of flu-like illness and being in Vietnam, in a place particularly around chickens, we wanted to exclude the possibility of avian influenza."

He said further information since then suggested it was "very unlikely to be avian influenza".

Under Australian quarantine laws all airlines are required to report ill passengers to the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service prior to landing.

But then there's this from a news.com.au story :

"This person has a recent history of being in an area with chickens in Vietnam and of having a previous influenza-like illness," the spokeswoman said.

The avian influenza virus is expected to have the highest chance of mutating into a pandemic-ready form when a person already suffering from flu-virus infection comes into contact with the H5N1 virus (most likely from infected birds) and then the two viruses merge.

Bird Flu Diagnosis Unlikely, Says NSW Health

We Must Remain Vigilant On Bird Flu, Say Experts

Go To The 'Bird Flu Blog' For More

Boy : 'Save Me From The Cannibals!'

TV Networks : Hello Ratings Bonanza And Major CatFight

By Darryl Mason

A massive public brawl has broken out between the two highest rating 'current affairs' programs in Australia over which one would, or would not, help rescue a six year old boy allegedly under threat of being "consumed by cannibals."

Yeah, that's right. A six year old boy, Wa-Wa, living in a remote region of Papua has been determined by his tribe - one of the last in the world to supposedly still practice cannibalism - to be full of evil spirits and therefore he must be eaten in some kind of tribal feast.

What better story to enjoy on the tele at dinner time?

'A Current Affair' claims they were never interested in doing the story of Wa-Wa's rescue. 'Today Tonight' claims they had the means and the contacts to rescue the kid. Presumably they would have had permission from little Wa-Wa's parents or guardian to feature him so prominently in such a controversial story. They must have. Otherwise it would be...exploitation or something.

And 'Today Tonight' would never stoop so low.

And just how did Today Tonight find room in its packed schedule of quality stories detailing 'society falls apart', 'dodgy councils' and 'bogan mum with ten kids to ten different dads' to fit in this heartwarming tale?

Child in danger. Lost tribe. Cannibalism. Heroic rescue by glamour gal talking head.

How could they possibly resist?

But the 'Today Tonight' team didn't get "We Saved Wa-Wa From Becoming Dinner" story.

They got another story instead. About their craptacular adventure.

A better story?

Maybe not. But it's far more entertaining.

'Today Tonight' host Naomi Robson was busted by Indonesian authorities trying to enter Papua on a tourist visa and was briefly jailed, then tossed out of the country.

Now Robson's team now claims that their rival, 'A Current Affair', dobbed them in to the Indonesian authorities to screw up their story and embarrass the star host.

Mission accomplished!

Read on.

From the Sydney Morning Herald :

The head of Seven's news and public affairs, Peter Meakin, said his crew had secured a team of locals to help Wa-Wa "or whatever his name is".

"I can't think of too many people who had a motive to shop us into the authorities for trying to save a child from being eaten other than ('A Current Affair')," Meakin said.

Here's Channel Nine's head of news and current affairs in reply to Meakin's allegations :

"They get off a plane and they have at least a dozen camera cases … If you try to do that in Jayapura with your hair extensions hanging off you and you say, 'We are here to write a story on cannibals', what do you really expect them to say?"

But what about Wa-Wa, Mr Meaking? You remember, "Whatever His Name Is"?

"What's going to happen to the little boy is now in the lap of the gods," Meakin said.

There you go. Australian journalism at its finest.

Angry Australian Soldiers Blows Whistle On Top Secret Taliban Fight

Six Diggers Wounded As Australian Special Forces Kill 150 Taliban

"Most Intense" Battles Since Vietnam War




By Darryl Mason

A soldier involved in the fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan has revealed his anger at the decision to pull an Australian Special Forces team out of an area now shaping up as the largest battlefield in the 'War On Terror'.

He's angry because the Australian Defence Force is not going to send in replacement forces when the task force leaves.

"It's not right to pull out. We shouldn't just go there for a shoot 'em up and then come home..."

The soldier is referring to news only now reaching Australian media.

In July, Australian special forces and commando units were involved in a nine day long battle against the Taliban in Southern Afghanistan.

150 Taliban are reported to have been killed by the Australian teams, with six Australians suffering serious wounds during the fighting.

From news.com :

"In the most intense battles since the Vietnam War, Diggers from the Special Forces Task Group used superior weapons and overwhelming airborne fire support from USAF AC-130 Hercules Spectre gunships.

Codenamed Operation Perth, the hardest fighting took place in July during search-and-destroy missions in the Chora district, about 40km northeast of the Australian base at Tarin Khowt, in southern Afghanistan.

During the year-long operation the three rotations of the task group have sustained 11 casualties, including several men seriously wounded.

One commando had part of his jaw blown off, another was shot in the buttocks and an SAS specialist was hit in the abdomen. Amazingly, the round missed his vital organs.

In one action, six commandos, including the company sergeant major, who sustained leg injuries, were wounded by an enemy rocket-propelled grenade.

...at the height of the battle, three AC-130 Spectre aircraft ran out of ammunition.

The task group includes a commando platoon of 50 men from the Sydney-based 4RAR and 40 SAS troopers from the unit's No.3 squadron. The 100 support soldiers include chemical weapons experts from the Incident Response Regiment.

If the Australian government is so committed to the 'War On Terror', why are they pulling special forces teams out of battlefields where the fighting appears most intense?

Running out of money? The Australian government has committed more than $20 billion to defence and war-fighting in the next few years. This may be a key reason why they are so enthusiastic about flogging valuable assets of the Australian taxpayers, like Telstra and Medibank Private.

Or does the Prime Minister, John Howard, in particular, fear the reaction of the public if the body count of Australian soldiers killed fighting the 'War On Terror' starts to rise?

One thing is clear. Australian special forces are not happy at all about being wrenched away from the battlefields where the fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda is so vitally important, and proving to be extremely decisive.

No doubt they fear a repeat of what happened last time, in late 2001, when the focus for Australia's military was pulled away from the war in Afghanistan to prepare for the 'War On Iraq'.

A clear majority of military analysts across the world now believe moving the 'War On Terror' fight away from Afghanistan to focus on deposing Saddam Hussein is chief amongst the key reasons why the Taliban have been able to gain back so much ground in Southern Afghanistan.

Australian special forces have a hard-won and highly respected reputation amongst the world's military forces for never walking away from a fight.

But now it seems at least some those forces don't have a choice when it comes to leaving Southern Afghanistan.

Howard and his 'War On Terror' chiefs have made their decision.

They're out. Presumably to prepare for deployment elsewhere.

Syria and/or Iran perhaps?

Steve Irwin Gets A Touching Campfire Goodbye

Steve Irwin spent thousands of nights of his life in the middle of the Australian bush, jungles, rainforests and deserts. When he wasn't tracking crocodiles and nocturnals by torchlight, he enjoyed sitting around a fire, chatting with his wife, his camera crew, his friends, or just listening to the sounds of the night wilderness.

So it's wonderfully fitting, then, that as part of the farewell for Steve, his family and friends gave him a send-off around a campfire.

From the Sydney Morning Herald :

On Saturday, (Steve's wife and kids) were among a small group of family and friends who took part in a funeral in the grounds of Mr Irwin`s Australia Zoo.

Bob Irwin, the wildlife celebrity's father, told a media conference today that the intimate farewell "was held just like he would have wanted with everyone telling their favourite stories about him around a candlelit fire.

Soon after his death, the Irwin family turned down offers by the Queensland and Federal Governments for a state funeral, saying he had regarded himself as "just an ordinary bloke" who would not have wanted such a fuss being made.

A PETA spokesman was asked for his thoughts on Steve Irwin as a conservationist, and on the way he lost his life. Not much sympathy here :

“It comes as no shock at all that Steve Irwin should die provoking a dangerous animal....He made a career out of antagonizing frightened wild animals, which is a very dangerous message to send to kids.”

“If you compare him with a responsible conservationist like Jacques Cousteau, he looks like a cheap reality TV star.”

Cheap? Far from it.

Steve didn't blow his money staging demos and handing out leaflets to mostly disinterested people to promote his cause. He did something that obviously shocked PETA. He made his education of children to all things environmental FUN.

Yeah, PETA's idea of a "responsible conservationist" obviously doesn't include someone like Steve who spent millions of dollars buying up tens of thousands of acres of wilderness across Australia and the US, and a few Pacific Islands, to ensure vast pristine tracts of endangered animal environments will be protected forever.

Does that sound like a "responsible conservationist" to you? Hell, no!


Steve's sudden death has apparently shocked the hell out of the Jackass team, no strangers to throwing themselves in amongst the some of the most dangerous animals on the planet.

Here's Johnny Knoxville's reaction :

"God bless Steve Irwin. All the guys were really upset about that. We had so much respect and love for the guy.

"We were all talking about it and thought, 'If he's going to go it's the way he'd want to go'. He's got kids and that's horrible, but he was doing what he loved.

"I know it's cliche, but if there's any man who was doing what he loved it was Steve."

It ain't a cliche when it's that true.

One member of Jackass, Steve-O has been so shocked by the death of Irwin that he's thinking about throwing in his own blood-soaked encounters with some of the most dangerous animals on the planet :

"I think I'm generally going to close the book on wildlife encounters,"

Steve-O had a nasty brush with death recently when he offered himself up as 'human bait' to a Mako shark during the filming of a Jackass movie. The Mako nearly took his leg off. He managed to kick it away in time.

The 'Crocodile Hunter' Is Being Remembered, And Celebrated, Right Around The World

Steve Loved His Surfing - 250 Australian Surfers Give A Special Ocean Memorial 'Service' In His Honour

Steve Irwin To Be Replaced On Animal Planet By....Ted Nugent!

Six Australians To Be Shot On A Bali Beach

Indonesia's War On Terror Vs War On Drugs




8 TO 18 YEARS FOR BALI TERRORISTS

DEATH SENTENCE FOR DRUG COURIERS

By Darryl Mason

The story of 20 year old Australian Scott Rush is an unfolding tragedy. He got busted in Bali, part of a gang hired to smuggle heroin out of the Indonesian province and into Australia. His father knew what he was going to do and dobbed him in to the Australian Federal Police.

But the AFP didn't intervene, like his father had hoped they would. Instead, they gave Indonesian police the information and Scott wound up being busted in Bali and sentenced to life in prison. The Indonesian police managed to lose track of the suppliers of the heroin.

Rush appealed the sentence, against his own gut instinct, and now he is facing the death penalty - a bullet in the head on a Bali beach at dawn - along with five other Australians who also acted as drug couriers.

But there's another sting in the tail to this story.

Yesterday, the same day that the new death sentences were made public, two Indonesians involved in the Bali terror attacks of last year, were also sentenced for their crimes.

From the Jakarta Post :

Judges sentenced two Islamic militants to up to 18 years in prison Thursday for involvement in the 2005 terrorist attacks on Bali...

Mohammad Cholili and Dwi Widiarto were among four men charged in the attacks on the Indonesian resort island, which killed 20 people and wounded nearly 200 others.

Death for drug couriers.

Prison, with the chance of parole, for convicted terrorists.

The Indonesian judge who tossed aside the life sentences and handed down death instead said :

"Drug problems are a very dangerous crime against the Indonesian community, and not just for Indonesia but also for other countries and communities," Judge Kamil said.

"This is a serious case. The amount (of heroin) is quite large. Heavy crimes must be paid with similar punishment."

Obviously, blowing people up figures lower down the "heavy crimes" chart than being a drug courier.

For the families of those now facing death by firing squad, the way they found out was a total fiasco.

The father of Scott Rush was not told by lawyers or any government official that his son's appeal against a prison sentence had been commuted to the death sentence. No.

Like the parents and families of the three other young Australians who also just learned they are now facing the death penalty, Scott's father knew nothing had changed until he was informed by the media.

The federal government, including the prime minister, the foreign minister and the justice minister also claimed they knew nothing about the horrific changes to the sentences, even though the decision had been made some three weeks earlier in Jakarta.

It is a mark of acknowledgement of just how Indonesia feels about Australia that the key Australian ministers were not even briefed, off the record, about what has already proved to be a public opinion bombshell in Australia.

Nobody from the Indonesian government contacted their Australian compatriots because they obviously have no respect, or time, for them at all.

The news that drug couriers copped a death sentence, but terrorists got less than twenty years in jail has caused has caused widespread angst, disgust and plenty of dissent in Australia.

Prime Minister Howard has said he has little sympathy for convicted drug smugglers, but has been careful not to stir up anymore trouble in Jakarta than is necessary to try and appease his public, who in the majority are firmly opposed to death sentences.

Australia, and the Howard government, clearly have little influence in Jakarta now.

Particularly since tens of millions (if not hundreds of millions) of Indonesians were outraged to see Howard, and numerous other ministers and opposition politicians, on television parroting the Bush Co. mantra that : "Israel has the right to defend itself" last month, while Israel reduced Southern Lebanon to rubble and massacred hundreds of Lebanese Muslims.

Australians are mostly unaware of just how often clips of their politicians defending Israel's actions were shown on Indonesian television, followed by graphic footage of dead Lebanese women, children and the elderly.

In the space of one week in Bali, I saw such a sequence of images on the news at least a dozen times, in the course of less than 20 newsbreaks. The destruction of Lebanon by Israel, with the backing of the US and Australia, was the biggest story across Indonesia for weeks.

For the prime minister to now kick up a fuss about convicted drug smugglers being put to death in Indonesia is clearly going to increase tensions between the two countries.

It won't help, either, that the government backs the US in slagging and lie-mongering about Iran.

Indonesia views Iran as a closer friend, and a far more important strategic ally and trading partner than Australia.

The Indonesian president can use clemency provision to free the Australian drug couriers, or clear them of the death sentence. It's not going to happen, even though it would be a huge favour to Howard.

Howard will say little that may offend the Indonesians, even though he insists he will push pleas for clemency, knowing it won't matter an iota.

This is why Howard has now started his spin campaign about Australians living on "false optimism" that the death sentences will be wiped.

He wants, and needs, to get Australians used to idea that all too soon Indonesian police volunteers will execute six young Australians.

Howard can hope that the brutal execution of these six young Australians will not take place while he is still prime minister of the country. Death sentences in Indonesia can take years to be carried out.

But widely respected QC Lex Lasry believes the executions may come even sooner than most people expect, including Howard.

"I'm not confident that there's two years to go, I think it might well be less time than that and I think it's therefore important that we do the things we have to do reasonably quickly.

Scott Rush is ready to beg for his life, awestruck at the extremely short future he now faces :

"If there is anything people can do to prevent this, please make it happen because I need a second chance at life...they won't give us a second chance …"

This is going to get very, very ugly.


Scott Rush : "Don't Bury Us Before We're Dead"

A Mass Execution Of Australians?

Final Throw Of The Dice For Bali Nine

Australians Need Threats & 'Realities of Terrorism ' & War To Feel United

By Darryl Mason

This is downright weird, and a little disturbing.

A piece in today's 'The Australian' claims that our "sense of well-being" has plunged, mostly because we feel so distant, so unconnected with our fellow Australians.

Something called the 'Wellbeing Index' has recorded the "lowest personal wellbeing" ratings since April, 2001 :

"...the marked drop was directly linked to how we feel about our relationships and connection to the community.

It was also linked to the fact Australians were feeling less threatened by external events and were subsequently less attached to each other.

This in turn caused their personal wellbeing to drop, he said. As people felt more secure within the world, their sense of wellbeing was more attuned to the quality of personal relationships.

"(The Index) showed a marked rise in personal wellbeing following the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Bali bombing and the early stages of the Iraq war...."

Go here for the whole story.

Does this explain why John Howard is apparently planning to use National Security as a key platform in next year's federal election?

There may well be a serious threat of terrorism in Australia - we don't really know for a fact if this is true because the details of such threats are now off-limits to the public, journos, lawyers, even those accused of being a threat - but it is a little creepy to think that all a politician has to do is ramp up the "You Will Be Bombed Soon" mantras to unite the country and install a sense of national unity.

Or can they?

In the US and the UK right now, President Bush and Prime Minister Blair are learning that The Threat Of Terror isn't uniting the masses like it used to.

At least, The Threat is not uniting the public behind their leaders.

Recent polls in the UK exposed a mind-blowing statistic : Only about 20% of all Brits believe their Prime Minister when he talked about the threat of terrorist attacks in the UK. And that's after the July 7 bombings last year.

Very, very strange.

One of John Howard's closest mates, and former staffer, is Sydney Morning Herald columnist Gerard Henderson. He stated a few days ago that :

"....John Howard and (Treasurer) Peter Costello have given clear indications that national security will be an election issue, with a focus on the real threat of radical Islamism..."

If we go the way of the Yanks and the Brits, John Howard may discover that ramping up the rhetoric about terrorism and Radical/Militant Islam Threats To Our National Security won't work to unit the country behind him like it used to.

It's something like the threat of Bird Flu.

The headlines may well say, "1/3 Of Humanity Could Die," and you can then hear of outbreaks killing people in countries around the world, but until it happens in your own country, until you lose someone close to you, or see lines queuing outside of hospitals or bodies piled up in the streets, the Fear Factor fades after a while, the threat doesn't seem so real, so looming.

The hassles of day to day reality intrude on the sense of being in perpetual danger from something deadly that may or may not impact upon your life. The longer it doesn't, the easier it is to treat The Threat dismissively.

When something terrible happens, it's easy to get The Fear, but then it fades, it always does. You move on, you get on, and the talk of The Looming Threat loses its power the longer the danger remains an unreality in the lives of most people.

How many Australians live with a serious fear of a massive meteor strike destroying a population centre?

Or a tsunami smashing coastal communities?

Or out of control bushfires destroying whole towns?

Or perpetual drought causing a whole city to eventually run out of water and result in tens of thousands of people having to relocate?

All of these are serious possibilities, and all would cause a far larger loss of life and have a far greater impact on the economy and the lives of everyday Australians than a terrorist attack the size of most we have witnessed during the War On Terror.

But what if Attorney General Philip Ruddock is right?

"One has to be clearly focussed, we believe that Australia is vulnerable, a terrorist attack in Australia is certainly possible."

What if Australia is hit by a terrorist attack between now and the federal election late next year?

Will Australians' "sense of wellbeing" rise as a result?

Will Australians feel more connected to each other, more united?

And will we then, on mass, unite behind the Howard government?

Or will Australians be like the Brits and, in the majority, blame their leader for any terrorist attack?

Hopefully, we won't have to find out.