I can see more clearly now

When posting on Peter Tinley the other day I resisted the temptation to ask when he was going to nominate for federal parliament although I did say that if ex Army Officers critisize the government of the day they should do so quoting their political aspirations rather than their military qualifications. I was so sure he was an ALP member I even googled his name looking for an association but couldn’t find any. I obviously need better intelligence that would allow me to follow up a persons obvious political leanings – is there a list of party members anywhere on the net? Todays press announces Peter’s intention to seek preselection for the crucial marginal seat of Stirling in Western Australia for the ALP and in fact mentions he joined the Fremantle branch of the ALP in 2001. He should’ve resigned his commission then as the army officers code holds us to being apoliticial – can’t do the job otherwise. Why is none of this a surprise?

He also claims to have been traumatised by his deployment to the MV Tampa which happened just after his joining the ALP He was scathing about that “frightful” experience yesterday, saying it played a big part in his political awakening. “We were effectively invading the sovereign soil of Norway … the Government was using us as a political tool,” he said.

Yeah, right and what sort of mission brief did he give his troopers for that deployment? A more honest headline in the Saturday’s Weekend Australian might have read ALP member with left wing tendencies says Iraq is a blunder and buried in the article could’ve been a mention of his military background. That way it wouldn’t have been so embarrassing to the Corps.