Category: War on Terror

THE Howard Government has used immigration laws to keep Gold Coast doctor Mohamed Haneef behind bars. Seems reasonable to me and this is backed up by the fact that the decision prompted outrage from Dr Haneef’s lawyers, many in the legal fraternity, the Greens and the Australian Democrats. Dr Haneefs lawyers have a responsibility to be outraged; their task, after all, is to get him off charges and free and they are paid to do this. The others of course have an ideological base to their outrage and are only reacting as programmed. The rest of us should be happy; that while doubt exists as to the involvement of Dr Haneef in the latest attempts by radical Moslems to murder infidels in Brittain; he is not free to wreak havoc or escape on a false passport given to him by supporters from a mosque somewhere near Lakemba. The passing on of a still valid sim card is, on the face of it, not usually considered as a crime, however to do so and have that card turn up in a vehicle that was intended to murder infidels in Scotland is cause for concern. The Australian claims online communication between Dr Haneef and the bomb plotters was prolific and that authorities have gathered significantly more evidence against him than has been disclosed publicly.

This includes evidence that Dr Haneef’s attempt two weeks ago to leave Australia for India on a one-way ticket after the terror attacks in Britain was not linked to family issues, as his relatives have claimed. Authorities believe Dr Haneef knew of the British plot, but have yet to determine whether he played an active part.

At the very least, whatever happens in the coming trial, after it’s all over and he has done his time, if indeed that is the result, then I would expect my Government to send him back to India – just in case. Melbourne barrister and former National Crime Commission chief Peter Faris QC gave Mr Andrews’ decision his full support.

“The truth is, we don’t want anyone here, coming into this country, who we suspect is a terrorist. That’s different to saying we can prove they’ve committed terrorist offences,” he said.

Faris QC is a conservative type of chap and believes in maintenance of the system, not in bringing it down as many of his cohorts try to do. The Magistrate in this case, Jacqui Payne, has an anti-police track record and whereas I wouldn’t have accepted the surrendered passport as proof-positive that Haneef wouldn’t fly the coop, she has and I’m sure it’s a legally supported stand. It’s just not a smart stand A side issue…. Haneef is here on what is known as a 457 visa and I note there are at least 4000 foreign doctors working in Queensland, most after being granted 457 visas. 4000! What on earth is going on Beattie?

MAMDOUH Habib and his psychiatrist are at loggerheads with the federal Government over an attempt by the commonwealth to obtain the former Guantanamo Bay detainee’s medical file. The psychiatrist, Chris Tennant, professor of psychiatry at Sydney University, shows his colours with this statement;

He has sought advice from the Medical Defence Union and plans to resist any attempt to force him to provide the file. “I’m happy to give it to the AAT, but not to the Government. I’m not prepared to hand it over, in effect, to ASIO, because that’s where it would end up — in the hands of Mr Habib’s enemies,” he said.

I don’t know about the good doctor but Habib’s enemies are my friends. Marvelous isn’t it. a digger suffers from PSTD occasioned by fighting enemies of Australia and eventually gets to see a garden variety psychiatrist; a guy who trained with al-Qa’ida claims PTSD and gets Emeritus Professor Chris Tennant. Strange world!

Iranian naval forces in the Gulf tried to capture an Australian Navy boarding team but were vigorously repelled, the BBC has learned. The incident took place before Iran successfully seized 15 British sailors and Marines in March.

The Australians, though, to quote one military source, “were having none of it”. The BBC has been told the Australians re-boarded the vessel they had just searched, aimed their machine guns at the approaching Iranians and warned them to back off, using what was said to be “highly colourful language”

From the West Australian;

Petty Officer Andrew Keitley was awarded one of the military’s highest honours, the Distinguished Service Medal, for his actions as part of an Australian boarding party in the Persian Gulf in 2004.

PO Keitley led a party onto a ship in the Shatt al-Arab waterway when they were surrounded by five Iranian armed boats.

The Iranians menaced the Australians for about four hours and made a number of attempts to force their way on board. The Australians were eventually winched off the cargo ship by an Australian Seahawk helicopter.

The chopper pilot, Lt-Cdr Tony Johnston, was also awarded a DSM. Well done guys!

Wrong! You can never make it up to me – treason is treason and doesn’t come with an ‘Oops, I was wrong’ backout clause. The only way Muhammad Dawood (nee Hicks) could make it up to me is to rewind to the day of his capture and for him to fall on his sword. Unlike some prisoners who find God, Muhammed has lost his God and found education. He wants to finish his high school education and perhaps go to uni. The humanization of a terrorist continues – now he’s just a young man trying to improve himself.

Double reason for these guys to remember ANZAC Day TWO Australian soldiers were injured when a roadside bomb went off near their armoured vehicle in southern Iraq, the Department of Defence said today. One soldier suffered lower leg injuries while the other suffered less serious wounds in the attack north of An Nasariyah in Dhiqar province yesterday. Their injuries are not believed to be life threatening. The soldiers were evacuated to the US hospital at the Tallil air base and may be moved to Baghdad for further treatment, Defence said. One Australian light armoured vehicle was destroyed in the blast and subsequent fire, while a second was damaged.

I must say I feel uneasy about the Brit sailors captured and subsequently released by the Iranians. The RN doesn’t look good and the MOD has ricocheted back and forth about letting the hostages sell their story to the press. First they can and now they can’t which means two have sold their story for a motza and the other 11 can’t. People are furious that the hostages were initially allowed to sell their stories forcing the Admirals hit the rewind button. Second Sea Lord Vice Admiral Adrian Johns said earlier today that the review of procedures was under way. All of a sudden we need a review of procedures that have stood the Brits in good stead for hundreds of years. HMS Cornwall is a type 22 ‘stetched’ frigate and is reasonably well armed with 114mm (4.5 inch) MK 8 gun Goalkeeper close-in weapons system (CIWS) Sea Wolf anti-missile system 2 x Quad Harpoon missile launchers 2 x 20mm Close range guns NATO Seagnat Decoy Launchers She has a cruise speed of 18 knots and a sprint capability of 30 knots and has tons of radar sensors which raises the question: why the hell didn’t the Captain move in and cover his troops. Am I to believe that it is RN Standard Operating Procedures to allow crew to approach unknown shipping without ‘Mother cover” or sufficient heavy weapons to guarantee their own safety? Some RAN or RN readers may correct me here but I cannot begin to imagine how the Captain could allow crew members to wander around the ocean miles from their ship in rigids armed only with personal weapons. Surely risk assessment would consider the possibility that some ships may not like being bordered and might fight back. I would if all I could see from horizon to horizon was a couple of rigids. Over at LP armchair warriors have picked up on a new military buzzword ‘ROE’ (Rules of Engagement) and point out that ROEs in force precludes the Captain firing on Iranian shipping. Of course it does, the Brits aren’t at war with Iran but that doesn’t stop the captain keeping an eye on his sailors. Full steam ahead…move the frigate over…..staring down the barrel of a 4.5 in quick firer backed up by heavy machine guns would tend to take the revolutionary zeal out of the Iranian Navy. Why didn’t he? If he was too far away to do it, why was he? Reports state he was ordered not to fire and that’s reasonable but why couldn’t he adopt an aggressive posture and frighten the Iranians off. Maybe because he was out of range which gets back to the original question. Why? Remedial Step One: Never let anyone come between you and your off-ship troops (look at the radar screen to see if there are any unknown boats nearby) and never let them get out of range. Interesting article from MOD Oracle

Iranian intelligence officers told the 15 British captives they first became suspicious about their activities after watching an interview with one of them on British television. On 13 March – 10 days before the 15 were seized – Channel 5 broadcast an interview with Captain Chris Air, one of the captured Royal Marines, in which he stated that his crew’s role was to liaise with Iraqi vessels to ‘let them know we are here to protect them, protect their fishing and to stop any terrorism or any piracy in the area’.

Remedial Step Two: Keep the media off the ship. They tend to feed intelligence to the bad guys – some even do it deliberately. The days of number, rank and name only are obviously over but I would’ve thought that Jack Tar could have waited a bit before rolling over. Coming home with ‘Show Bags’ like they’d been to the local fete didn’t help their image nor does the happy snaps provided by the Iranians. Did they ever, for a moment, consider the reputation of the Navy. A local Bishop personifies what is wrong with the Brits at the moment;

A leading Church of England bishop has claimed the Iranian president showed a better understanding of “moral and spiritual” values at the end of the naval hostage crisis than Britain’s political leaders.

What’s gone wrong? And this;

The youngest captive, Arthur Batchelor, 20, sold his account to the Daily Mirror, and described how guards had mocked him, calling him “Mr Bean”, and said that he had he cried himself to sleep at night.

Poor Arthur. The reputation of the once great Royal Navy has just flat-lined.

Muhammad Dawood (nee Hicks) pleads gulty..uh uh. Doesn’t matter, guilt can be denied….his Australian Cheer Squad will just say he pleaded guilty to get out of Guantanamo Bay. Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t, but guilty is guilty and to suggest he pleaded guilty to get home doesn’t detract from the guilt.

He is a self confessed terrorist.

It is suggested that he may well be able to do his time in an Australian prison for the term the judge gives him. That’s fine, it takes the pressure off Howard and deprives the cheer squad of some oxygen but I can promise you there are whole mobs of human rights lawyers burning the midnight oil right now in preparation for appeals against whatever he is awarded. As soon as he is in Australia there will be a swarm of activity. They won’t let go.

Of course they are going to have to act very quickly because Muhommad’s time in prison won’t be all that nice. Standard crims are also Aussies and won’t take kindly to a self confessed terrorist in their midst. The answer to that, of course is solitary, protective custody…..more ammo for the cheer squad…..inhuman will be their cry but me, I’m barracking for the crims.

sic him boys.

I’ve yet to hear of a criminal claiming his trip to from the the courthuose was inhumane. Never a word about the airconditioning being too high or too low and I’ve never heard of bad guys suffering from dehydration or getting ill to the point of hospitalization on the way to court. Until now.

Victorian Supreme Court judge Bernard Bongiorno gave the caution after being told several of the men became ill after they were transported from court in a vehicle without airconditioning or water in temperatures above 30C. Lawyer Greg Barns, for one of the accused men, Ezzit Raad, told the court the incident occurred last Thursday.

If that’s a grave intended denial of human rights then I trust no-one invloved ever has to endure a long army convoy It’s a well known that terrorist leaders instruct their people to claim “torture” as soon as they can after capture. It creates a queue of human rights lawyers to come to their assistance even if the torture is totally invented. Every time a terrorist suspect is required to answer to the law for his alleged crimes against humanity or his intent to committ such crimes his lawyers modus operandi, the first step for defence, is to appeal to the weak amongst us by claiming “torture” or “lack of human rights” A sound tactic but ethically questionable because it is designed to take the emphasis away from the alleged intent to conduct a terrorist activity and shift it to the conditions of incarceration. Articles waxes philosophically about the accused. Nice guy,…astounded that he would be considered a suicide bomber….. shock and indignation…..their right to a fair trial had been irreparably damaged……His father said his son was an “angel”…. The HRLRC is gravely concerned that the type, length, conditions and effects of the Detainees’ detention amount to serious ongoing human rights violations, including in relation to: and they list a standard litany of rights from the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. All of the above is fine and I don’t deny the alleged terrorists their human rights but at the moment the entire debate is about their rights and little mention of their alleged terrorist acts. I’m of the opinion that every article printed in the media should remind readers of the alleged intent as in “poor little Mohamed was denied a glass of water under the covenant of blah…blah…blah but it is alleged he was a part of a plot to blow up Australian infrastructure and/or innocent Australian women and children. Some perspective, don’t you think?

JOHN Howard is expected to announce this week a major increase to Australia’s military deployment in Afghanistan, including a 200-strong special forces taskforce.

The special forces task group, drawn from the Special Air Service Regiment and 4RAR commandos, will be deployed to Oruzgan province, where NATO forces are expecting a fresh offensive from Taliban insurgents in the coming months. They will bolster the Australian reconstruction taskforce currently based at Tarin Kowt. In addition, Mr Howard is expected to announce the deployment of a 150-strong air defence radar unit.

As Afghanistan is accepted by the ALP as a ‘good’ war rather then Iraq which is a ‘bad’ war, I wouldn’t imagine the increase will get much coverage….no political mileage for the ALP here. In fact Iraq, Afghanistan, the Philipines, Indonesia, the Pacific Islands, London, Spain, Australia’s law courts, Iran, Southern Thailand and any where else they raise their ugly heads are all theatres of the one war. I wonder if the ALP Defence policy paper has a stand for each and every theatre based on it’s probablity of making Howard and Bush look incompetant….who knows.