And as Jerry would say… June 3, 2007
Posted by Gavin in Australian Opinion.add a comment
Final thought time.
As I bring my short blogging career to a close (well, for the time being anyway), it would only be fitting – as well as relieving – two throw in my two cents.
Undoubtedly, terrorism has been the hot topic in the news lately. George W has definately led us on a wild ride to rival that of Mr. Toad’s, and the media has zealously followed every step of the way.
However, I don’t think George could quite have predicted the hate figure he would become because of this, nor how unpopular his war is now. But he has stood firm in his desire for ‘democracy to prevail’ (whatever the heck that means), and not taken a leaf from Bill Clinton’s Cirque du Soleil book of backflips.
Yes, if you had noticed, I am a Bush supporter, and don’t find the war itself too shabby. While I admit there have been some pretty blaring mistakes made, I think a bigger mistake would have been not going to war, and leaving the Middle East the problem that it was, and still remains to be.
What frustrates me, and what I found blatantly apparent in my research for this blog, is the trendyness of anti-Americanism and criticism of the war in Iraq. There has even been a phrase coined for it – ‘Bush-bashing’. I find that too many media organisations are attempting to play up to this trend by openly criticising Bush, even for the most insignificant of things.
While I concede that on a matter as significant as terrorism, objectivity is virtually impossible, I believe there once existed an equilibrium between those for, and those against. But this equilibrium seems to have been lost, as the mass audience have all seem to have succumbed to what is ‘cool’.
While I have attempted to remain as objective as I can, I admit that my conservative side has perhaps leaked out occasionally in my blogs. My dad, a self-professed left-wing ’60s-hippy, tells me that that’s the Wilkinson gene in me – a natural tendency to oppose our political environment.
He frequently calls me a fascist. I call him a commie. If only the media could do as well at questioning each other, then maybe we could find a middle ground on the issue of terrorism and national security.
Maybe just a coincidence, but… June 3, 2007
Posted by Gavin in David Hicks.add a comment
Just an intruiging article that appeared The Advertiser on June 2, 2007:
What do confessed terrorism supporter David Hicks and a “body in the barrels” Snowtown killer have in common?
Both spent time in Adelaide’s Gepps Cross Abattoirs – bizarre but true.
This was no ordinary meatworks.
For almost 90 years it was not simply a slaughterhouse but a place of great intrigue, dodgy deals and dicing with death.
It had a culture of its own, alive with colourful characters, wild, notorious and hilarious; Ratbags and raconteurs.
A young Hicks worked briefly in the stockyards of Gepps Cross before heading overseas looking for adventure as a mercenary soldier and ending up captive in America’s top-security Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
Hicks now is a resident of Yatala Prison, just uphill from the abattoirs’ site.
In the late 1980s, a sinister character with good knife skills named John Bunting carved up carcasses at Gepps Cross.
In September, 2003, Bunting was convicted for his role in one of Australia’s most horrific serial killings of 12 people, including eight bodies found in barrels in a disused bank vault at Snowtown in the Mid North.
Adelaide author Richard Maurovic has compiled a “blood-and-guts” history of the Gepps Cross Abattoirs and Livestock Markets in The Meat Game.
Maurovic left school at 16 to work as a livestock drover at the Gepps Cross saleyards, proudly calling himself a “nine-to-five cowboy”. In 1986, aged 23, while on horseback in the cattle-yards Maurovic hit his head on an overhead walkway, broke his neck and became a quadriplegic.
On Saturday, July 12, 1913, a huge crowd gathered at Gepps Cross for the grand opening of the Metropolitan Abattoirs.
As one of SA’s biggest ventures, at one time it was the biggest government employer, processing meat for more than 200 Adelaide suburban butcher shops.
“It was a world of its own,” Maurovic says. “It was exciting, with wild cattle and wild characters.
“It had the good, the bad and the ugly. There were a lot of good people but there were some tough bastards.
“One bloke locked me in the boot of his car with a wild dog just to test me, to see if I would break.”
Outsiders knew little of what went on at Gepps Cross such as the SP bookmakers and ruthless money-lenders, the greed and the corruption. “It was a cut-throat business, with everyone out to make a quid,” Maurovic says.
“This story is for people who have an intelligent interest in where their food comes from – from the farm gate to the dinner plate.
“It was actually a very clean place, not gruesome and animals were treated humanely. There were some nasty accidents where meatworkers died and fingers were lost.”
A victim of the State Bank disaster, the meatworks and saleyards were sold by the state government in 1996.
Private operators struggled and Gepps Cross Abattoirs closed in 1999.
Hicks living in ‘luxury’ June 3, 2007
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David Hicks’ new digs, Adelaide’s Yatala Labour Prison, is known as one of the roughest in Australia, housing South Australia’s nastiest criminals. Yet it will seem like a paradise for Hicks, many believe.
He will spend 23 hours a day in a solitary two-by-four metre cell, as well as being constantly watched on CCTV, Big Brother-style.
Even though, most say he it will be a far better life than that which he experienced in Guantanamo.
At least he won’t have to wear that horrendous orange jumpsuit anymore.
Hicks arrives home in style June 3, 2007
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The long-running saga over David Hicks’ (a.k.a Abu Muslim al-Austraili, a.k.a Muhammed Dawood) release from Guatanamo Bay has finally come to an end. To the satisfaction of many, the convicted terrorist returned to Australia on Saturday, May 20 to serve the remainder of his 9-month sentence in Adelaide prison.
However, it was his manner of return that triggered a surge of anger and criticism amongst some, who believe Hicks was treated more like a movie star than a convicted criminal. The former Guantanamo Bay inmate was delivered home on a luxury jet – previously used for a number of travelling sporting stars such as Lleyton Hewitt - costing taxpayers an estimated AU$500, 000.
Hicks’ lawyer David McLeod reported that whilst being transported on the Gulfstream G550 jet, Hicks ‘watched a movie, sampled the menu, and chatted to the Australian Federal Police officers guarding him’.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer responded, saying that there were no other ‘practical’ and ‘reasonable’ ways to bring Hicks home.
“He is unable to go on a commercial flight because of the security issues.”
There were also other expenses, amounting to AU$20, 000, paid for Hicks’ ‘accompanying parties’ to be flown from the US to Australia
Howard ‘puts foot in mouth’ over Obama comments May 29, 2007
Posted by Gavin in Australian Troops in the Middle East.add a comment
The war in Iraq was all going so smoothly for Prime Minister John Howard [cough] – perhaps this is why he felt it necessary to publicly ridicule US Presidential candidate Barrack Obama over his election promise to withdraw American troops from the war-torn country.
“If I was running al-Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008 and pray, as many times as possible, for a victory not only for Obama but also for the Democrats.” the PM blustered on Channel 9’s Sunday program.
Howard’s comments triggered a massive reply, with accusations that the PM was anti-Democrats, Bush-worshipping, racist, agist, trigger-happy, and probably just a silly old fool.
Obama retorted in his own kind, requesting that ” if he is ginned up to fight the good fight in Iraq, I would suggest that he calls up another 20,000 Australians and sends them to Iraq.”
And it was definately not Obama who lost credibility over the comments, as Howard came under fire in Australian Parliament, as well as the Australian media and public opinion as having put international relations with the US at risk.
US civil rights veteran Jesse Jackson also noted that Howard may have aided in Obama’s presidential hopes, claiming that “in a strange kind of way it really helped Obama, because he gave him even more international stature – the fact that his candidacy would evoke from the leader of another nation a response.”
After Bush finishes his tenure in the White House, Howard may have to look elsewhere for somone to cosy up to.
Here’s the story that appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald on the 11th February 2007:
Prime Minister John Howard has launched a broadside against US presidential hopeful Barack Obama, warning his victory could destroy Iraq and prospects for peace in the Middle East.
Mr Howard’s stinging attack against the popular Democrat, who formally launched his bid for the Democratic candidacy overnight, also appears to commit Australian troops to staying in Iraq well into 2008.
Only days after saying Australia’s alliance with the US was about more than his personal friendship with US President George Bush, Mr Howard warned that an Obama victory would be a boost for the terrorists.
The man who wants to be America’s first black president has pledged to withdraw US troops from Iraq by March 2008, a timetable Mr Howard believes is dangerous.
“I think that would just encourage those who wanted completely to destabilise and destroy Iraq, and create chaos and victory for the terrorists to hang on and hope for (an) Obama victory,” Mr Howard told the Nine Network.
“If I was running al-Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008, and pray, as many times as possible, for a victory not only for Obama, but also for the Democrats.”
Labor described Mr Howard’s attack against Senator Obama as unprecedented.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Robert McClelland said Mr Howard was virtually telling people not to vote Democrat.
“It’s the first time that I can recall that an Australian prime minister has engaged in American politics in such a partisan way … actually telling American people what side of politics they should vote for,” he said.
“It’s most inappropriate, it demeans the Australia-United States alliance to suggest its a relationship between political parties rather than an enduring relationship between two people.”
Mr Howard’s comments also suggest he anticipates Australian troops will remain in Iraq well into 2008.
He has repeatedly vowed to stay the course with the coalition forces in Iraq and predicted there was no way America could withdraw in a little over a year.
“There’s no way by March 2008, which is a little over a year from now, everything will have been stabilised so that America can get out in March 2008,” Mr Howard said.
“And, if America is defeated in Iraq, the hope of ever getting a Palestinian settlement will be gone.”
Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd indicated that if Labor won government, the troop rotation in place at that time was likely to be the last.
However, he would not give a definitive timetable for withdrawal.
“What we would do with the Americans is consult with them … about our removal of the Australian force on the ground,” Mr Rudd told the Ten Network.
He pledged that Australia, under his leadership, would maintain its security detachment of around 110 personnel guarding the Australian embassy in Baghdad.
It would also provide some form of security assistance to the Iraqis.
Mr Rudd indicated that other troops would only remain in Iraq for up to six months at most after a Labor victory.
“Rotations of troops are normally in six-month cycles, (so it) depends on where you are in that cycle,” he said.
“All I’m saying is we’ll be taking those troops out of there but we’ll do so in close consultation with our American ally.”
The REAL killer of Australian troops May 29, 2007
Posted by Gavin in Australian Troops in the Middle East.add a comment
This story appeared in the Daily Telegraph on the 10th of April 2007, and really brought to light the obsessiveness we have developed over the war in Iraq. For a nation so worried about the safety of Aussie troops in this much-hated war, we seem to be ignorant of something that should be of more concern – the safety of Australian roads. This story really highlights this hypocrisy:
“Three of Australia’s top special forces troops, including a hero from the Afghanistan campaign, are dead following a car crash at a top-secret training base.
The men were returning to the joint SAS-Australian Secret Intelligence Service facility at Swan Island near Queenscliff in Victoria when their hire car left a causeway and plunged into Port Phillip Bay about 1.30am yesterday.
They were SAS soldiers Sergeant Craig “Crackers” Linacre, 34, Corporal Michael McAvoy, 32, and Corporal Dave O’Neil, in his early 30s.
Sergeant Linacre was awarded a Commendation for Gallantry for his work against the Taliban in Afghanistan last year and also served in East Timor and Iraq.
All three were members of Number 2 SAS Squadron and were regarded by comrades as absolute professionals and dedicated fitness fanatics who loved their jobs and country.
The men were at Swan Island on a training course and had been in a rental car after a night out at a local pub. Soldiers in a second car travelling behind tried to rescue the men, but they were dead by the time they broke a window and got two of them from the sinking vehicle.
Acting Inspector Jeff Smith said: “They just tried everything they could. You can only imagine how hard it must have been for them — it was dark, it was cold, they were in deep water and they were trying to get their friends out.”
The third body was recovered by police.
Sergeant Linacre was a member of SAS rock band “The Externals”. According to mates he was able to lift the spirits of comrades during even the toughest of operations with a quick tune.
The 11-year SAS veteran married a year ago and had a step-child.
Corporal McAvoy was married with children and joined the SAS six years ago after a nine-year army career. He served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Corporal O’Neil was also married with children and was a friend to everyone who met him.
Special Operations Commander Australia, Major-General Mike Hindmarsh, said the tragedy was a blow to the Australian Special Forces community.
“The loss of any young life in circumstances such as these seems such a horrible waste — these were fine young Australians who had served their nation with great distinction and my heart goes out to their families,” he said.
“What is equally tragic is that all three of these soldiers survived some of the toughest combat the ADF has seen since Vietnam, yet they died tragically in a motor vehicle accident.”
As of the 10th of April 2007, only two Australian soldiers have been killed in Iraq. That makes Australian roads a bigger killer of Australian troops than the war itself. Perhaps those stone-throwing critics of the war in Iraq should step outside of their glass houses and take a look at what we’re doing to ourselves in our own backyard.
Australian Defence Force say they are not neglecting mental health May 29, 2007
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An SAS soldier who was part of a failed operation in Afghanistan, which resulted in 11 civilians being killed, has commited suicide after experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Australian reported this story on the 21st of April 2007:
”An SAS soldier has committed suicide after allegedly suffering post-traumatic stress disorder sparked by his involvement in a firefight in which 11 Afghan civilians were killed.
Questions have been raised about whether Geffrey “G” Gregg was thoroughly trained when he was caught in the gunfight in May 2002.
The Australian edition of Time, which first reported on the allegedly bungled SAS patrol known as Redback Kilo Three, has in its latest issue revealed the signaller’s identity and his suicide.
A veterans activist, John Ryan, said he knew of the suicide and had spoken to Gregg’s partner.
“It was caused by his service — there is no doubt about that,” Mr Ryan told The Weekend Australian yesterday.
Gregg’s death is the most dramatic outcome of many tragedies for those involved in the 2002 mission. In 2005, claims emerged that the SAS patrol was part of a botched operation that triggered a bloody tribal firefight and left 11 civilians dead and many more wounded.
There were claims the soldiers, relying on poor intelligence, thought they were flushing out al-Qa’ida and Taliban fighters. Instead they reignited a shooting war between rival Afghan tribesmen over rights to the area’s forests that ended with deadly coalition air strikes.
The event sparked a series of recriminations and denials among the soldiers involved, and an internal army inquiry.
Some soldiers, including one who “souvenired” a turban from one of the dead, were disciplined.
When the turban was confiscated, the accused trooper and three other SAS men on the patrol complained to senior officers that their leader had made poor decisions under fire and put men at risk. The patrol leader denied the claims, but later applied for a discharge.
In a 2005 Senate estimates hearing, then Defence Force chief Peter Cosgrove said “tactical actions were reviewed after the incident and it was determined by army to be in accordance with the rules of engagement”.
“Some internal aspects of the Patrol Kilo Three were investigated fully at the time and appropriate disciplinary action was initiated,” he said.
Time reports that Gregg later quit the army and was granted a temporary pension. When it ran out, he got a job as an apprentice carpenter but, according to friends, suffered post-traumatic stress disorder.
It is understood that at the time of the firefight he was not SAS-qualified, although he later became so. Sources said family members might be considering a compensation case based on alleged lack of full training.
Efforts to contact the family last night were unsuccessful.
When Time interviewed Gregg in 2005 about his role in Redback Kilo Three, he expressed grave concerns about the incident.
He said after the patrol he had been pressured to write a report that reflected badly on the patrol commander. “That poor bugger the patrol commander has been through hell and back,” he said at the time.
Gregg also said he was pressured by other soldiers who believed a young signaller such as himself should never have been sent on the patrol.
“I was put in that position and none of it was to do with me or was my fault,” he said.
He told Time he was enthusiastic about leaving the army but was having trouble finding work due to an injury sustained during training. “There’s no actual civilian employment I can slot back into with my military training that interests me,” he said.
A spokesman for Veterans Affairs Minister Bruce Billson said Gregg’s death was a tragedy, and that his partner had been provided with a war pension.”
This story prompted questions over whether or not the Australian Defence Force had properly addressed mental health issues of soldiers. Their response was documented by ABC radio on the 30th April:
“The Australian Defence Forces have denied claims that they are neglecting mental health issues with returned soldiers. Four soldiers that have returned from the Middle East have committed suicide. Dozens of others have been discharged on mental health grounds. Bruce Billson, Federal Minister for Veterans Affairs, says that comprehensive support is provided for soldiers suffering post-traumatic stress. A former SAS soldier, ‘Adam’, says that therapy is not offered, and soldiers who ask for help are victimised. Billson says that the ADF has one of Australia’s ‘best mental health programs.’ “
‘Australian Cricket Team’ to turn guns on Mugabe? May 29, 2007
Posted by Gavin in Australian Opinion.add a comment
Who says there’s no room for humour when dealing with war?
A caller who went by the name ‘Danny’ has phoned into 2BL Radio talkback host Virginia Trioli on the 10th of May with a novel alternative to the standoff with Robert Mugabe - send Australian troops disguised as the Australian cricket team, and overthrow the Zimbabwean dictator that way. ‘Danny’ recommended to Foreign Minister Alexander Downer that he send a ‘pretend Australian cricket team’, comprised of undercover SAS soldiers, and invade from inside the country.
Perhaps not a realistic idea, but at least Danny recognises that Mugabe is one of the bad guys and that SOMEONE needs to do SOMETHING about his brutal regime, and stop turning a blind eye to this problem.
SAS Geared for APEC Summit May 29, 2007
Posted by Gavin in Australian National Security.add a comment
The Daily Telegraph – 18 May 2007
The SAS will be on standby in Sydney barracks in an unprecedented security net being cast over the city for the APEC world leaders summit in September.
Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock, in Sydney yesterday for a counter-terrorism exercise, revealed the military would be involved in ensuring the safety of visiting delegates. Defence experts have also revealed new legislation introduced last year could, for the first time in Australia’s civil history, see heavily armed troops deployed to the streets. Mr Ruddock would not confirm whether soldiers would be issued with shoot-to-kill orders.
“There is a total involvement, which includes all elements of the military and they have expertise in a range or areas … and capabilities which are unique,” Mr Ruddock said.
“I’m not going to go into operational issues … the military would be required in whatever capacities they have to operate under the same constraints as other organisations operate. They don’t operate with shoot-to-kill powers as you express them … they have very clear instructions in how to deploy weapons in circumstances.”
The news of military involvement in securing Sydney for the meeting of 21 world leaders in September came after warnings from a defence expert that people could expect to see SAS troops on the streets.
The Daily Telegraph yesterday revealed the State Government would introduce special legislation to allow police to detain and search people in “declared zones” throughout the CBD. University of Western Sydney Associate Professor Michael Head said new powers, including expanded rights to shoot to kill, were given to the Australian Defence Force (ADF) in last year’s military call-out legislation.
“The troops have considerably wider and legally protected rights to use lethal force,” Professor Head said. “Any perceived security threat to the APEC participants, whether an alleged terrorist plot or political protest, could see the heavily armed SAS Tactical Assault Group called out on Sydney streets.”
Mr Ruddock and Premier Morris Iemma yesterday inspected a purpose-built mobile APEC security command post — a hi-tech bus. The strict security surrounding the media event at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair was a demonstration of what to expect for APEC. A Botanic Gardens worker, with hedge trimmer in hand, was ordered away from the area by police and men in dark suits.
The counter-terrorism exercise, Blue Luminary 2, run by the Commonwealth and state governments, is a two-week operation to test state and national capabilities to respond to a range of scenarios during the event.
“It is to test APEC planning and preparation to act in relation to any acts of terrorism that might possibly occur,” Mr Ruddock said. “It involves a series of high-level discussion and decision-making exercises to test our co-ordination and also the way in which we deal with issues if they were to arise.”
Australians Fickle About Airport Frisks May 28, 2007
Posted by Gavin in Australian National Security.add a comment
I previously posted a story about results to a survey where 98% of Australians stated that they would like to see an increase in airport security. However, this article appeared in Sydney MX on the 4rd Mar, 2007, somewhat contradicting the findings of the survey. It seems that Australians would like more security, but would not like to encounter this security themselves, as it is too ‘inconvenient’, or too‘traumatic’:
Tougher anti-terrorism security measures saw the number of complaints about airport officials and the treatment of passengers double in one year, an ombudsman’s report found.
Acting Commonwealth Ombudsman Dr Vivienne Thom said there was a dramatic rise in the number of formal complaints about security measures lodged by passengers, from 48 in 2003/04 to 119 in 2004/05.
The report also revealed many passengers don’t make a complaint because they are too stressed to remember the officers’ name and agency and the complaint lodgement process is too complex.
Many passengers did not make complaints because they were rushing to catch a flight.
“The circumstances of each complaint varied, but there was a common theme, an inability by the passengers to identify the officers complained about and the agencies to which the officers belonged,” Thom said.
“Preliminary research by the ombudsman’s office suggested that the number of airport-related complaints was rising and that increased security measures, including check-in, screening and baggage handling were a major contributor.”
The report has called on agencies to make it easier for passengers to complain about how they are treated and improve uniforms so officers can be more easily identified.
“It was apparent to the Ombudsman’s office that there were no obvious locations in airport terminals at which passengers could make complaints,” the report said.
One case investigated involved officers telling an elderly man if they had a reasonable suspicion they could “detain, strip and photograph his granddaughter”.
The man could not identify the agency the officers worked for and made a complaint to the Prime Minister’s office.
As much as I can sympathise with geunuine trauma – and I do condemn the threatening behaviour of the mentioned security personel – I would just like to highlight that this level of security was what was asked for. Also I recognise the fact that the previous survey was obviously conducted on different people to those mentioned in this particular story. Yet the survey is still representative of an Australian public opinion, which leads me to the conclusion that Australians seem to want more of the IDEA, and less of the REALITY when it comes to airport security.
