Archival Rescue 12 ~ Aus Intel

Going back to May 2003...

A lack of intelligence
May 31 2003 Sydney Morning Herald

Australia's spies knew the United States was lying about Iraq's WMD programme. So why didn't the Government choose to believe them? Andrew Wilkie writes.

Intelligence" was how the Americans described the material accumulating on Iraq from their super-sophisticated spy systems. But to analysts at the Office of National Assessments in Canberra, a decent chunk of the growing pile looked like rubbish. In their offices on the top floor of the drab ASIO building, ONA experts found much of the US material worthy only of the delete button or the classified waste chute to the truck-sized shredder in the basement.

Australian spooks aren't much like the spies in the James Bond movies. Not many drink vodka martinis. But most are smart - certainly smart enough to understand how US intelligence on Iraq was badly skewed by political pressure, worst-case analysis and a stream of garbage-grade intelligence concocted by Iraqis desperate for US intervention in Iraq.

It wasn't just the Australians who were mystified by the accumulating US trash. The French, Germans and Russians had long before refused to be persuaded by Washington's line. British intelligence agencies were still inclined to take a more conservative position. And the chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, even went so far as to say during a late April interview that "much of the intelligence on which the capitals built their case seemed to have been shaky".

So it was no surprise in some of the more mysterious corridors of Canberra last week when news broke about the CIA investigation into the US intelligence failure over Iraq. In fact, there was probably some relief, given the importance to Australian security of having the US intelligence system work properly.

After all, the Australia-US intelligence relationship is supposed to be one of the main reasons for the broader alliance between the two countries.

The CIA had clearly lost the plot if its October 2002 report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program was anything to go by. Either that, or the agency was party to a disinformation campaign designed to encourage support for a war. How else to explain the excerpt quoted by the Prime Minister in early February: "All key aspects ... of Iraq's offensive biological weapons program are active and most elements are larger and more advanced than they were before the Gulf War."

The CIA's public acknowledgement of a review smells more like early positioning for its day of reckoning than a genuine interest in continuous improvement. The CIA can't afford another serious blunder so soon after its failure to pick up the September 11 attacks.

Condoleezza Rice was smart enough to attempt her U-turn weeks ago. According to the US National Security Adviser, WMD bombs, missiles and drones are out. Dual-use technology and just-in-time manufacturing are in. Find a pesticide factory, for instance, and you find a chemical warfare facility. And don't be concerned about looters. The more the place is trashed, the more difficult will be any dispute about the evidence. More recently, the US Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, has said publicly that Iraq may have destroyed its WMDs prior to the war.

The Howard Government will not be keen for an inquiry into Australian assessments on Iraq. Much better to let the whiff of US intelligence failure drift across the Pacific in the hope it implies that Australia was the victim of advice beyond its control. The last thing the Government wants is too much scrutiny of its claims about Iraq's WMDs and links to al-Qaeda, or the fact these claims were in the main contrary to advice from the Government's intelligence community.

Some in the Australian intelligence community had latched onto the dodgy American intelligence, resulting in partial contamination of assessments with an overestimation of Iraq's WMD capability. But Australian intelligence agencies made it clear to the Government all along that Iraq did not have a massive WMD program (that dubious honour remains restricted to at least China, France, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Syria, Britain and the US). Nor was Saddam Hussein co-operating actively with al-Qaeda. And there was no indication Iraq was intending to pass WMDs to terrorists.

There could not have been any doubt whatsoever about all this in the mind of the Prime Minister or of any member of the national security committee of cabinet. Report after report from the bureaucracy made it abundantly clear that the US impatience to go for Iraq had very little to do with WMDs and an awful lot to do with US strategic and domestic interests. John Howard's suggestion yesterday that the Government strong line on WMDs matched intelligence advice is contrary to the more moderate line contained in ONA reporting.

Yet Australia was happy to go along with George Bush. Shame it put thousands of Australian troops at risk, cost nearly a billion dollars and has increased the terrorist threat to Australia.

Howard's February statement on Iraq was like something out of a time warp - one Gulf war and 12 years of international sanctions and UN weapons inspections out of date. "Iraq has form. Saddam Hussein has without provocation invaded Iran and Kuwait. He has fired missiles at Saudi Arabia, Israel, Bahrain, and Qatar," he told Australians.

THE ONA was central in the lead-up to war. It understood months before it commenced that war was inevitable and Australia would be involved.

Despite Howard's protestations that no decision had yet been made, the ONA's people in Washington were frantically calling on their best contacts in the State Department and the CIA. Analysts in Canberra were preparing assessments almost daily; briefing teams were tramping back and forth to Parliament House constantly. Staff were gearing up to run a round-the-clock intelligence assessment function.

Now the WMD claims are unravelling. All that US intelligence garbage is on the nose. Coalition forces in Iraq have not found thousands of chemical artillery shells ready to be fired or ballistic missiles loaded with deadly bacteriological agents.

Moreover Rumsfeld's deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, has explained the WMD justification as a bureaucratic compromise, while a senior British spook has been reported as saying his country's public dossier on Iraq's WMD programme was manipulated by Downing Street to make a more compelling case for war.

There is no big al-Qaeda apparatus - not even a box of plans for spiriting WMDs to terrorists. Only a broken country and a disgruntled people. Oh, and lots of oil.

That explains Howard's lurch towards his much-broader muddle of reasons for involvement in the war.

This is not to say that Iraq was of no concern or that some WMD-related materials will never be found in Iraq. Iraq had what's known in the business as a breakout WMD capability in its many dual-use facilities. The Fallujah III castor oil production plant near Baghdad, for example, was, like similar plants elsewhere in the world, suitable for conversion to a ricin toxin factory.

And Iraq, again like many countries including Australia, probably still has stockpiles of potential WMD ingredients - the chlorine needed for clean water, for example, can also be used to make deadly chemical agents.

Moreover, Iraq almost certainly had other WMD-related materials. US claims about mobile biological warfare facilities could yet prove true, though the implication that Iraq's biological weapons program relied on a handful of trailers tends to confirm the program was limited.

The trailers, and any other finds, will remain irrelevant until scrutinised by independent officials. The same goes for the interrogation reports of former Iraqi scientists, including those now detained in Morocco. With so much at stake, the possibility can't be ruled out that a zealous coalition official might attempt to tamper with the evidence.

Claims by Iraqis in custody that the WMD program was dismantled before the war could be true, especially if Saddam thought he could survive the war and achieve some sort of moral victory. But that would mean the program must have been much smaller than US assessments. Just as elusive is hard evidence of active co-operation with al-Qaeda. This was always an extraordinary proposition, not least because Saddam was a secular dictator intent on eradicating Islamic fundamentalism.

Another mystery is the Howard Government's enthusiasm for playing up the more general risk of WMD terrorism. It was well-advised, in briefing after briefing by ONA, that the risk of such an attack was - and still is - low, and that any such attack would almost certainly involve an unsophisticated device incapable of causing mass casualties. The chemical, biological or radiological device used was not likely to be a true WMD. The Government had also been advised of the many reasons countries do not pass WMDs to terrorists, not least the fear of massive US retaliation.

One of the major concerns about the war now is the way it will encourage the proliferation of WMDs. America's adversaries are being encouraged to acquire WMDs to deter US aggression. Mutually assured destruction kept the US and Soviet Union from each other's throats for decades. And, for now, Iran's and North Korea's arsenals seem to be influencing the US to back off.

Not that the US has any interest in multilateral arms control. The neo-cons in Washington think arms control doesn't work and is contrary to US interests.

Hence the US's lack of interest in the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban and Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaties. Washington's determination to develop new battlefield nuclear weapons is an especially alarming development.

"This is not going unnoticed and will come back to haunt us," says Richard Butler, the former head of the UN weapons inspection team in Iraq. "It's simply preposterous for the US to take the stand that it does on other people's WMD and ask the world to believe that its such weapons are of no such concern ..."

Another big concern is the dumbing-down and politicisation of Australia's intelligence. Most junior analysts try to offer frank and fearless advice. But the process is flawed. It involves so many layers of politically astute managers that the final result is often a report so bland as to be virtually worthless, or skewed ever so subtly towards the Government's preferred line. Better that, management would argue, than a brave report prepared in good faith that contradicts Government thinking or is likely to prove wrong over time.

Not that leaving the sharp edges on the intelligence reports would make much difference if a government chooses to believe only what it wants to believe and selects from the intelligence only what best suits its political purposes. The Federal Government pays much more attention to the mush of politicians' and advisers' views, public opinion and media commentary. And it applies a good dose of pro-US sycophancy. The result can be a fine compost indeed, as this whole Iraq business has proven.

Andrew Wilkie is a former analyst at the Office of National Assessments who resigned in protest at the Federal Government's actions over the Iraq war.

Archival Rescue 11 ~ Outsourcing Detention

Khazal bailed in Sydney, jailed in Lebanon
February 24, 2005 - 7:14PM

A former Qantas baggage handler awaiting trial in Sydney on terrorism charges has been sentenced in absentia to 15 years' jail in Lebanon for terror-related activities.

Former Qantas worker Bilal Khazal was sentenced by a Lebanese military court overnight for forging an Australian passport, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said.

It was the second time Khazal had been convicted in absentia in Beirut, Mr Ruddock said.

Khazal was found guilty of forging a passport for fellow Australian citizen Saleh Jamal, who was sentenced overnight to five years' jail in Lebanon on terrorist-related charges, Mr Ruddock said.

Jamal is wanted by NSW police over the 1998 drive-by shooting of a Sydney police station.

A third Australian, Lebanese-born Hayssam Melhem, was sentenced to one year in jail overnight as part of the same case, Reuters reported.

Khazal, from Lakemba in Sydney's south-west, is currently on bail facing unrelated charges under Australian law of knowingly collecting or making documents connected with terrorism.

Lebanon has requested his extradition from Australia but Mr Ruddock said the request would not be considered until Khazal had been tried in an Australian court.

Khazal will face committal proceedings in June.

"This is the second occasion in which he has been convicted in absentia in Lebanon," Mr Ruddock told reporters.

"On this occasion, subsequent to the first penalty of 10 years penal servitude, he has been convicted and sentenced to a further 15 years' jail associated with the issues of ... arranging for the documentation in relation to Jamal's travel to Lebanon and presumably facilitating his presence there.

"In the case of Mr Khazal there has been a request by Lebanese authorities for his extradition. That's still being processed.

"Obviously, in the meantime, he had been the subject of charges here and he would not be free to be extradited under any arrangements until the issues that need to be resolved before our courts have been completed."

Khazal's lawyer Adam Houda said it would be a joke if Australia considered the extradition request, as it knew evidence was forced out of witnesses.

"He knows he's got no hope of getting an extradition," Mr Houda said.

"We have the transcripts of people giving evidence against Khazal while they admitted being tortured.

"It's an absolute joke and for the government to even take it seriously, it's shameful and typical of this government."

Mr Ruddock said Australia would try to extradite Jordanian-born Jamal over the Lakemba police station shooting when his five-year jail sentence had been served.

Jamal, 29, was convicted in Beirut on charges of possessing weapons and explosives, forging an Australian passport, forming a group and planning acts that endangered state security.

Jamal fled Australia on a fake passport last March while on bail for alleged involvement in the attack on the Lakemba police station.

"NSW authorities have issued documentation seeking his apprehension," Mr Ruddock said.

"That documentation is with authorities in Lebanon.

"Obviously, the arrest warrant is something we would seek to execute but it would only really be possible when the sentence has been served."

Mr Ruddock said he had received no evidence Jamal had been planning a terrorist attack in Australia.

He indicated Australian authorities could use evidence from the Lebanese investigation into Jamal to help their case against Khazal, who has been charged under federal laws with knowingly collecting or making documents connected with terrorism.

Australian Federal Police allege the document, published on the internet, included a list of countries Khazal considered "the enemy" and encouraged the killing of infidels.

If Khazal was cleared of charges in Australia, Mr Ruddock said Lebanon's extradition request would be processed in the normal way.

AAP

Archival Rescue 10 ~ Iraq

Major General Alan Stretton says more troops just like Vietnam. PM says "well it won't" but is not "giving absolute guarantees" and Oz Foreign Minister tells Straw man to "send me a note".

PM hits back as general warns of disaster
February 24, 2005 - 12:39PM Sydney Morning Herald

Iraq would not become a bottomless pit for Australian troops, Prime Minister John Howard said today.

Major General Alan Stretton told John Laws Australia's involvement in Iraq would end in disaster just like Vietnam.

But on Perth radio, Mr Howard said he had made his reasons for sending an additional 450 troops to Iraq clear.

While he said he did not think it was likely any further troop deployments would be necessary, the prime minister could offer no guarantees.

"Well it won't become a bottomless pit," Mr Howard told 6PR. "I am just exercising proper caution."

"I don't think it is at all likely that we will send any more people but I am not going to get into this business of giving absolute guarantees and having everything I say on that analysed in the future.

"I am simply saying that we have had reasons to change our earlier view that we wouldn't send a significant number of additional troops and I have explained those reasons."

Mr Howard said it would be irresponsible to give a guarantee when he did not know what the future held for Iraq, even though the situation appeared to be improving.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he met Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on January 29 in London and discussed Australia's troop strength.

"It was clear from that discussion that the British wanted us to make a bigger contribution," Mr Downer told ABC Radio today.

"My response was of course to articulate what our policy was at that time, but at the end of the discussion I said 'Look, the best thing to do is to send me a note about it and I can discuss it with my colleagues when I get back to Australia'."

Mr Howard has said the British were initially told Australia was unlikely to support the request for more soldiers.

The Australian government's policy at the time was not to provide any significant increase in its troop numbers in Iraq.

Asked if he turned down a request for more soldiers, Mr Downer said: "It wasn't quite the nature of the discussion, really".

"The nature of the discussion was more, when it came to the issue of the troops, me explaining what our policy was and saying ... send me a letter about it, let me see what a specific proposal would look like and I'll take it up with my colleagues.

"I did speak to the prime minister about this either that evening or the next morning.

"I must say his response to sending any more troops was very negative, but of course this in the end is a matter for the national security committee of cabinet and the cabinet."

The government's position of not sending a significant number of extra troops to Iraq changed after the huge success of Iraq's election on January 30, Mr Downer said.

"We didn't really anticipate sending any more troops until, (it) would've been the following week and ... we sat down and we talked this issue through," he said.

"Particularly on the basis of the success of the elections and the Japanese angle to it, we could see that it might make some sense."

The United States played no part in the government's decision to send the troops.

"The Americans didn't ever ask me about it," Mr Downer said.

"No doubt they hoped we would send more troops but the Americans didn't ever make a request at the ministerial level."

AAP

Archival Rescue 9 ~ Iraq

"Bloody mess" says ex-Vietnam general. "This talk about fighting for democracy, that is absolute, to use a phrase, bullshit," he said.

Retired general warns of Vietnam-style disaster
February 24, 2005 - 12:35PM Sydney Morning Herald

Australia's involvement in Iraq would end in disaster just like Vietnam, a retired general said today.

Major General Alan Stretton said the government would eventually bow to public pressure and withdraw the troops, leaving behind a bloody mess.

Prime Minister John Howard has rejected comparisons with Vietnam, saying such analogies are misplaced.

Maj Gen Stretton, who served as chief of staff of the Australian force in Vietnam from 1969-70 but is best remembered for his role heading relief operations in Darwin following Cyclone Tracy in 1974, said there could never be democracy in Iraq.

He said the government was being irresponsible in sending even more troops.

"I really believe it will go the same way as Vietnam," he told the John Laws radio program on 2UE.

"It will get no better - (only) worse - and eventually public opinion in both the US and Australia and elsewhere will demand our troops come back and when they do they will be pretending that the locals can handle it all themselves, and we will just leave a bloody mess."

Prime Minister John Howard this week announced that Australia would send a 450-strong task force to southern Iraq to protect Japanese engineers rebuilding the largely peaceful Al Muthanna province.

Mr Howard said Iraq was at "tilting point" following last month's democratic elections.

Maj Gen Stretton said Australia should not have been involved in Iraq in the first place as there were no weapons of mass destruction and no links with al-Qaeda.

"The whole lot of it has turned into a bloody civil war," he said.

"All we are doing is reinforcing disaster. I just cannot understand it."

Maj Gen Stretton said Iraq was already going the way of Vietnam.

"You would have noticed the prime minister use a new word ... tilting. That is the same as the graduated response in Vietnam," he said.

"In other words you just put a bit more in to stop it tilting the wrong way. It will end up exactly the same way. The whole thing is flawed strategy."

He said Iraq could never be democratic.

"This talk about fighting for democracy, that is absolute, to use a phrase, bullshit," he said.

"You have three different people in three virtually different areas. The most you could have would be some sort of loose confederation."

Mr Howard said last night there was no analogy between Iraq and Vietnam.

"I don't wish to be disrespectful to a retired major-general who's fought for his country, but I think these analogies with Vietnam are misplaced, and many other people think they are, too," he told ABC's Lateline program.

"I accept the historical facts about Vietnam. I also know the historical facts about Iraq, and they are totally different situations."

AAP

Archival Rescue 8 ~ Iraq

Australia to send new taskforce to Iraq
February 22, 2005 - 3:58PM, AAP, Sydney Morning Herald

Australia will send another 450 troops to Iraq to provide security for Japanese military engineers in the southern province of Al Muthanna.

Prime Minister John Howard said the troops would deploy in 10 weeks' time and stay for six months, followed by a second six-month rotation.

Mr Howard said he knew the decision, triggered by the Netherlands' decision to withdraw 1,400 troops from the task of rebuilding Iraq, would be unpopular and admitted that lives could be lost.

But he said Al Muthanna was one of the safer parts of Iraq and was far less dangerous than areas around Baghdad and further north.

"It's remained relatively benign," he told reporters today.

"It's a lot better and this is a much safer part of Iraq than the Sunni triangle."

Australia already has some 900 personnel in the Middle East, including about 400 inside Iraq, engaged in a variety of roles including training Iraq forces and providing security.

The new deployment will more than double Australian boots on the ground.

Mr Howard said the deployment, drawn mainly from the Darwin-based 1st Brigade, would comprise a headquarters element, cavalry squadron, infantry company, training team plus 40 Australian light armoured vehicles, known as ASLAVs.

Key elements are likely to be drawn from the 2 Cavalry Regiment and the Army's 5/7 Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment (5/7 RAR).

Soldiers from both have served recently with the Australian security detachment in Baghdad and have valuable experience of operations inside Iraq.

The province remains under overall British responsibility and the Australian group will need to draw on British logistic support.

Mr Howard said their job would be to assist Japanese forces engaged in the rebuilding process, such as constructing new roads and schools.

The taskforce will also help train Iraqi security forces.

Mr Howard said the rebuilding process was even more essential now, following the elections in Iraq last month.

"The government believes that Iraq is very much at a tilting point and it's very important that the opportunity of democracy, not only in Iraq, but also in other parts of the Middle East, be seized and consolidated," he told reporters.

Australia's fresh contribution to Iraq was triggered by the Netherlands' decision last November to withdraw its forces.

Mr Howard said the new contribution had been requested by the Japanese government, which indicated it could not stay without adequate protection.

"There have been discussions between the Australian government, the British government - bearing in mind the United Kingdom forces have overall security responsibility for the Al Muthanna province - and the Japanese government over recent weeks," Mr Howard said.

"The prime minister of Japan, Junichiro Koizumi, telephoned me last Friday night and amongst other things invited and requested this Australian contribution.

"Likewise the British prime minister Mr Blair telephoned me in Auckland yesterday morning to confirm the request that had previously been conveyed by both Jack Straw to Alexander Downer and Geoffrey Hoon to Robert Hill, the defence minister."

Mr Howard said the decision could cost at least $250 million to $300 million a year.

AAP

Archival Rescue 7 ~ Outsourcing Detention

Former ballet dancer detained.

I was tortured in Pakistan, says terrorism suspect
By Steve Butcher
February 15, 2005 Sydney Morning Herald

Melbourne terrorism suspect "Jihad Jack" Thomas was freed yesterday on $100,000 bail after claiming he was tortured in Pakistan.

Joseph Terrence Thomas, 31, told a psychiatrist last week he was threatened with execution and that his wife would be raped after his arrest in Pakistan two years ago.

Consultant psychiatrist Mark Ryan reported Thomas spoke of "intrusive memories" about incidents in Pakistan during his time in solitary confinement at Victoria's Barwon Prison.

Authorities recently admitted that ASIO officers and Australian Federal Police members conducted interviews with the married father of two in Pakistan between January and February 2003.

Thomas's untested allegations, which do not suggest the involvement of any Australian official, formed part of his third application for bail last Thursday which was granted yesterday in Melbourne Magistrates Court.

Thomas, the accused "sleeper" agent allegedly recruited by Osama bin Laden, broke down and sobbed the moment Chief Magistrate Ian Gray announced he would get bail.

Mr Gray found that Thomas, who faces two terrorism-related charges with a total maximum sentence of 50 years jail, had shown exceptional circumstances that justified his release on bail.

Mr Gray yesterday ruled that a combination of factors made Thomas's application stronger.

Mr Gray read excerpts from Dr Ryan's report in which Thomas recalled being hooded, handcuffed, shackled and chained in Pakistani custody and of hearing the screams of others being interrogated.

Thomas, of Werribee, was released under conditions that include he report twice daily to police, not leave Australia or apply for a passport. His committal hearing was set for March 22.

Who is Jack?

* Joseph Terrence Thomas, also known as "Jihad Jack" Thomas.

* Age 31, married with two children. Last occuptation, taxi driver.

* Accused of attending al-Farooq terrorist training camp in Afghanistan in 2001, meeting Osama bin Laden several times.

Archival Rescue 6 ~ Outsourcing Detention

"Outsourcing".

Airliner said to fuel CIA ghost jail system
February 22, 2005, Agence France-Presse, Sydney
Morning Herald.

Washington: The CIA allegedly whisked foreign terrorism suspects to clandestine interrogation facilities using a Boeing 737 dedicated for that purpose, according to Newsweek magazine.

The allegation, if proven, is "further evidence that a global 'ghost' prison system, where terror suspects are secretly interrogated, is being operated by the CIA", Newsweek reported.
The magazine wrote that it had obtained the aircraft's flight plans, indicating that the CIA had used the plane "as part of a top-secret global charter servicing clandestine interrogation facilities used in the war on terror".

It said US Federal Aviation Administration records showed the plane was owned by Premier Executive Transport Services, a now-defunct company based in Massachusetts. US intelligence sources told the magazine the company fitted the profile of a suspected CIA front. The plane's records date to December 2002 and show flights up until February 7, the magazine said.

Newsweek also noted previously disclosed flight plans of a smaller Gulfstream V jet used for similar purposes.

The magazine quoted Khaled el-Masri, a German of Lebanese descent, who claimed to have been abducted by US operatives while on holiday in Macedonia on December 31, 2003. Three weeks later, Mr Masri said, he was put on a plane to Afghanistan, where he was shackled, punched and interrogated about extremists at his mosque in Ulm, Germany, Newsweek said. Masri said he climbed high stairs "like onto a
regular passenger airplane". He was released months later and dropped off on a deserted road leading into Macedonia, he told the magazine. The dates in the flight information obtained by the magazine confirm Mr Masri's story. Last month Mr Masri told The New York Times that when he was left on the road, he tried to explain his situation to a border guard who made light of his story. "The man was laughing at me," he said. "He said: 'Don't tell that story to anyone because no one will believe it; everyone will laugh'."

Agence France-Presse

Archival Rescue 5 ~ Aus "Intell"

John Howard ~ making up it again?

Australia's lone stand on terror threat
By Matthew Moore, Mike Seccombe Mark Metherell and Matthew Thompson
February 21, 2005

The Indonesian Government and United States intelligence cast doubt yesterday on Australian claims of an increased terrorist threat to aid workers in tsunami-devastated Banda Aceh.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, said he had seen intelligence reports suggesting a possible bomb attack against Australian and other aid workers in the region.

Simultaneously, the Department of Foreign Affairs posted a travel advisory warning that only those aid workers with large, recognised agencies with comprehensive security plans and Indonesian military support should stay. All others, particularly individuals intent on doing good work, should get out.

However, the intelligence that led to the upgraded assessment appeared to be unknown to the Indonesians yesterday. The head of the Indonesian military's relief efforts in Aceh, General Bambang Darmono, said he had "never heard" anything about it.

Asked if he had received any information on the matter from Australian intelligence or military forces, he replied "none".

General Darmono's remarks echo those of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who told a press conference in Aceh late on Saturday he was unaware of any threat. "There is no evidence that there will be a threat to aid workers, but of course I do ask my apparatus to maintain the harmony, to maintain co-ordination synchronising all emergency relief efforts done by many organisations," he said.

The Indonesian Army also said it was unaware of any information about a planned attack. "We heard some rumours, but we haven't got any hard facts on the threat to foreign workers," Brigadier-General Hotma Panjaitan told Reuters.

Similarly, a spokesman for the Indonesian national police, Inspector Lubis, as well as the chief spokesman for the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Department, Dr Marty Natalegawa, said no warnings had been passed on.

A spokesman for the United States embassy in Jakarta, Max Kwak, said the US had been told the Australian information was not new. "We will not be changing our travel warnings or anything like that," he said.

But a spokesman for Mr Downer, Chris Kenny, said last night: "We put the warning out there in good faith, and we stand by it. I can't talk specifically about this piece of information, but you can rest assured we would share information like this with the Indonesians."

The Prime Minister, John Howard, damned those responsible for the threat. "It is immensely distressing that at a time like this, people should be threatening violence and terrorism," he said from New Zealand. "It is a reminder of who we are dealing with. It is beyond the pale in every sense of the word, given the absolute horror that the people of Aceh have been through."

He said the threat of violence by terrorists was "a reminder of the depraved human beings they are".

Despite the warning and Mr Howard's alarming words, the executive director of the Australian Council for International Development, Graham Tupper, said he knew of no affiliated agencies withdrawing from Aceh. "They'll have to review their security arrangements, but I don't think it makes a very big impact at this stage."

However, at least one big international aid agency in Aceh was on alert last night after Australia's warning.

CARE International said it had seven Australians and other foreign staff working in Aceh and outlying islands, and security arrangements had been upgraded.

Mr Tupper said agencies signed up to the council and its code of conduct - including World Vision Australia - were likely to have credible security plans and be in touch with the authorities about threat levels.

However, there were "any number of other groups that we haven't had any history with", he said. These groups are not signatories to the council's code, which requires organisations to protect the safety of their staff and refrain from using aid to promote a political group or religion.

One organisation operating in Aceh without being a signatory is the Church of Scientology, whose website reports Australians as being among its ministers in tsunami-affected areas to "alleviate the present time discomforts" and teach locals to become counsellors. The church could not be reached yesterday for more detail.

Archival Rescue 4 ~ Book Burning

Inquiry no witch-hunt, says Nelson
By Kelly Burke, Education Reporter
February 18, 2005 Sydney Morning Herald

A national inquiry into teacher training sparked by the comments of a Sydney academic will examine whether education faculties in universities have become "quasi-sociology" departments.

The federal Education Minister, Brendan Nelson, announced the House of Representatives Standing Committee inquiry yesterday, but dismissed suggestions the move was an ideologically driven exercise in rooting out Labor-voting teachers.

Dr Nelson said the inquiry was about raising the status of the teaching profession.

"What I'm trying to do, perhaps in a sense using my former profession of medicine as some sort of template, is to bring the same kind of professionalism to teachers, because goodness knows they need it," he said.

The inquiry would, however, examine "in particular the people that are being attracted to teaching", along with a careful examination of the philosophical underpinnings of teacher training.

"In too many instances I've had teacher-education faculties described to me as quasi-sociology departments," Dr Nelson said. "We've had some, obviously anecdotal, evidence ... [but] there is no doubt in my mind that there is a problem in terms of standards, scientific and academic rigour and indeed the resourcing of education faculties."

Dr Nelson flagged the inquiry on Monday after being questioned over an article published in a teachers' trade journal last year by University of Western Sydney academic Wayne Sawyer. In the article, Professor Sawyer, who is also president of the NSW English Teachers Association, questioned whether English teachers were equipping students with critical thinking skills, given that young people had helped return the Coalition Government to power at last year's election.

The Opposition education spokeswoman, Jenny Macklin, yesterday described the inquiry as an outrageous diversion of desperately needed funding.

As one of three inquiries called by the minister in the past two years, the latest was one inquiry too many, she said.

"Brendan Nelson is yet to demonstrate that he will listen to the advice any of his welter of inquiries provide," she said.

A national inquiry into literacy was set up by Dr Nelson in December, and is still accepting public submissions. He said yesterday the new inquiry would complement the existing literacy inquiry, which is expected to report its findings towards the end of the year.

But the Opposition called on the Federal Government to instead guarantee the $100 million recently promised for teacher training would be spent on students and not rolled into universities' general grants.

Dr Nelson said the inquiry's terms of reference included following the money trails from university bank accounts to education faculties.

The chief executive officer of the Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee, John Mullarvey, said the committee did not foresee any problems with an inquiry.

But the senior vice-president of the NSW Teachers Federation, Angelo Gavrielatos, called on the Government to rectify a funding model that delivers 73.7 per cent of federal recurrent funding to private schools, which educate 32 per cent of students.

The inquiry is expected to take 18 months.

Archival Rescue 3 ~ Aus Interrogation

Hill lied about Iraq interrogations: expert
By Tom Allard
February 14, 2005 Sydney Morning Herald

The Defence Minister, Robert Hill, lied to Parliament when he said no Australians had interrogated Iraqi prisoners, an Australian biological weapons expert says.

Rod Barton, a former Defence Intelligence Organisation specialist, has also painted a picture of a servile Australian, US and British military hierarchy, prepared to suppress the truth to protect their political masters.

Mr Barton says he interrogated prisoners at Camp Cropper, near Baghdad airport, when contracted to work for the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) and told the Defence Department when he returned in March last year.

Yet two months later, Senator Hill told Parliament: "Defence has thoroughly reviewed the information and has confirmed the key facts in this issue. Australia did not interrogate prisoners."

That statement was made to correct earlier false remarks by Senator Hill to the Senate about when Australians became aware of the prisoner abuse scandal, exposed in a series of Herald reports.

But Mr Barton says Senator Hill followed a falsehood with more lies.

"I immediately phoned up the department and reported that I was annoyed," Mr Barton said.

He said the Defence Department responded by saying he had conducted "interviews", not interrogations.

"Someone was brought to me in an orange jumpsuit with a guard with a gun standing behind him," Mr Barton said. "I believe it was an interrogation. The Iraqis regarded it as an interrogation," he said.

Moreover, he says he has since learnt that other Australians were involved in interrogations in Iraq.

A spokesman for Senator Hill said last night: "He [Senator Hill] will look at the details of the story but there was nothing to suggest any error or omission in relation to matters that went before Parliament."

Also, Mr Barton complained to a senior defence official, who he named to the Herald, that he saw abuse in Iraq about one month before the Abu Ghraib scandal became public last April.

"No one asked me any more questions about prisoner abuse," he said.

Mr Barton worked as a weapons inspector in Iraq after the first Gulf War, and then for Hans Blix, the UN weapons inspector whose inconclusive findings on Iraq's alleged WMD programs were ignored by the US, Britain and Australia.

He later joined the ISG but resigned after his reports saying Iraq had no WMD were censored.

After he told the Defence Department why he had resigned, Mr Barton said: "I wasn't the most popular person when I got back ... they weren't very happy with me."

Mr Barton said he clashed with the ISG's head, Charles Duelfer, who wanted a report with "no conclusions in" when Mr Barton knew they had "found out a lot" about the missing weapons.

In particular, he was told to suppress his knowledge that claims that Iraq had mobile WMD labs and aluminium tubes used for uranium enrichment were false.

Archival Rescue 2 ~ Aus Detention

Ana Schmidt.

Vanstone "knew Rau was being held at Baxter"
February 7, 2005 - 8:06AM, AAP - Sydney Morning Herald

A refugee advocate today said Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone knew for 10 months that a mentally ill Australian woman was locked up in immigration detention.

The federal government has promised an inquiry into how Cornelia Rau came to be locked up at South Australia's Baxter detention centre, despite being listed as a missing person.

She spent six months in a Queensland jail before being sent to Baxter, where she was held for four months after telling authorities she was a German woman named Anna Schmidt.

Asylum Seeker Resource Centre spokeswoman Pamela Curr today said she believed Senator Vanstone knew about Ms Rau's case for 10 months.

"You have to put to the minister that she knew for the last 10 months, because even when Cornelia was in the Brisbane prison system she was under the care and custody of the Immigration Department," Ms Curr told Channel Nine.

"Because what they do is they make the prison a place of (immigration) detention.

"So, for 10 months the department has had this woman in their care."

Ms Curr said she and her colleagues had asked Senator Vanstone's office in January this year for help in their mission to find Ms Rau's family and identify her.

She said a refugee advocate told her last night that the minister had sent them an email about their search.

"Now the minister was acknowledging what was happening (in the email)," Ms Curr said.

"I did not personally speak to the minister, but I did speak to her advisers."
Ms Curr said if Senator Vanstone did not know about Ms Rau's detention, her competence as a minister should be questioned.

"And I don't think many question her competence," Ms Curr said.

"She must have been aware of it."

Ms Curr said Ms Rau's case was not unique, with many other asylum seekers being refused medical treatment despite being suicidal and depressed.

"What happened to Cornelia is not unique," she said.

"Sure it happened to a blonde, iconic (former) Qantas air hostess ... but it's happening every day to asylum seekers."

AAP

Archival Rescue 1 ~ Outsourcing Detention

You never know when this might disappear.

Terrorism suspects may be detained forever
By Dana Priest in Washington
January 3, 2005 Washington Post and Sydney Morning Hreald

Bush Administration officials are preparing long-range plans for indefinitely imprisoning suspected terrorists whom they do not want to set free or turn over to courts in the US or other countries.

The Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency have asked the White House to decide on a more permanent approach for potentially lifetime detentions, including for hundreds of people now in military and CIA custody whom the Government does not have enough evidence to charge in courts. The outcome of the review, which also involves the State Department, would also affect those expected to be captured in the course of future counter-terrorism operations.

A senior Administration official involved in the discussions said the current detention system has strained US relations with other countries. "Now we can take a breath. We have the ability and need to look at long-term solutions."

One proposal under review is the transfer of large numbers of Afghan, Saudi and Yemeni detainees from the military's prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, into new US-built jails in their home countries. These would be operated by those countries but the State Department, where this idea originated, would ask them to abide by recognised human rights standards and would monitor compliance.

In addition, the Pentagon, which holds 500 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, plans to ask Congress for $US25 million ($32 million) to build a 200-bed prison to hold detainees who are unlikely ever to go through a military tribunal for lack of evidence. The new prison, dubbed Camp 6, would allow inmates more comfort and freedom than they have now, and would be designed for prisoners who the US Government believes have no more intelligence to share. It would be modelled on an American jail and allow socialising among inmates.

"Since the global war on terror is a long-term effort, it makes sense for us to be looking at solutions for long-term problems," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman. "We are at a point in time where we have to say, 'How do you deal with them in the long term?"'

The Administration considers its toughest detention problem to involve the prisoners held by the CIA. The CIA has been scurrying since September 11, 2001, to find secure locations abroad where it could detain and interrogate captives without risk of discovery, and without having to give them access to legal proceedings.

Little is known about the CIA's captives, the conditions under which they are kept or the procedures used to decide how long they are held or when they may be freed. That has prompted criticism from human rights groups, and from some in Congress and the Administration, who say the lack of scrutiny or oversight creates an unacceptable risk of abuse.

The CIA is believed to be holding most, if not all, of the senior captured al-Qaeda leaders, including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, Ramzi Binalshibh, Abu Zubaida and the leading South-East Asia figure Hambali.

Places of detention include Afghanistan, ships at sea and Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean.

The Washington Post

The link that made me do it

The link that made me do it.

http://http//smh.com.au/news/Anti-Terror-Watch/Habibs-credibility-under-fire-from-MPs/2005/02/16/1108500123456.html

"The web page might have moved or had it's name changed".

I originally linked this link, before this link disappeared, because a short excerpt from the article it belonged to fueled a web-diarisation. A diarisation written in a fit of cheesed-offness at some MP's who were trying to pretend that shit doesn't happen. In their names. I was also a bit brassed off at some other media sources who seemed to be pretending along with some MP's, for a while.

Either some lawyer pulled weight and asked the SMH to pull an article which appeared to be helping some MP's besmear some other peoples names, or the SMH just decided some people who are not MP's had been through a rough enough time already and deserved a break.

Whatever the reason, the disappearance means we now have a gaping rift in the space-time blog continuum. People could be in danger of forgetting what a shameful disgrace to human rights some MP's are.

Lost - a resource that we (ok, me) could've harked back on, over 'n again, in holding some MP's accountable for their outrageous and libelous language.

I can't help feeling that someone just wiped fingerprints of the revolver.

Free Blog Service ~ Inter-mediating

Sometimes when some people write about some stuff that some other people have written the original stuff that the some other people wrote mysteriously disappears and some people are left with a brief excerpt and a link to the original material that just "hangs" there, leading to nowhere.

So. Am providing free service to the Sydney Morning Herald by posting "back-up" copies of some Sydney Morning Herald articles, which I educate myself with. Is always nice to give a little something back in return for what I learn.

This blog has no blog-ads. It is a totally not-for-profit free'd information liberational service. All postings will include original title, author and date. All postings posted "unedited", appearing as they appeared originally in the Sydney Morning Herald. Link of origin will be posted with each article. Remains to be seen what remains of links over time. Please visit the real Sydney Morning Herald to read their fresh publishings which have not disappeared yet (Syd Morn Herald site registration required, it's free too).

Articles chosen on whim, as per norm blog habit.

This log is independent and in no way associated with the real Sydney Morning Herald. It is just sort of like what my grandma used to do, when she collected press-clippings of the Queen.

Blessed be ye with peace, non-denominationally.