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Beat-ups and panic grips Oz agencies as APEC approaches
by yarra Tuesday, Jul 10 2007, 12:36am
national / social/political / commentary

The local conservative voice, the Bulletin magazine, has a cover beat-up that is worthy of the best and worst of Cheney’s lies and misrepresentations regarding Saddam and Al-Qaeda. Our outstanding security agencies have determined – all by themselves – that approximately (note the figures) “..22 to 25 .. [suspects] have evil intentions," brilliant! That figure is sure to instil confidence in the hearts of all grannies and Alzheimer's victims. Imagine, in a population of 21 million our skilled security buffoons have found 22-25 possibles – any statistician could tell you that is a definite under estimation in a population the size of Australia’s. I have personally heard numerous people in bars stating out loud that if Howard walked into the bar they would personally strangle him with their bare hands, such is the hatred felt by average Aussies for this racist, lying, war criminal.

The seventies saw around 50 ultra-right-wing Croatian terrorists actively engaged in bombing targets in George St. Sydney. Standard policing resulted in numerous arrests. A number of real terrorist bombers who were also involved in military training in rural NSW were extradited to their country of origin to face the swift justice of the culture from which they sprang. The State special branch and Gough Whitlam resolved that little problem with the minimum of fuss.

Today’s idiots masquerading as security agents with Howard at the helm run like the timid incompetent shits they really are; the article cites attacks in Indonesia to back their argument that home grown cells exist – I see no relation – but I’m no party pooper! The current conservative Howard racist, lying, murdering, government forgets that every pub in the nation harbours so-called terrorists while Howard and his ministers remain in government!

Almost in the same report came news of Julian Moti, suspected child sex offender, being sworn in as the highest legal officer in the Solomon Islands – our sanctimonious foreign minister, ‘cream puff’ Downer expressed righteous indignation at the appointment – while supporting his mass murdering boss Howard! Howard also took a jibe at the Solomons government. What a hide these two racists have, they have been unsuccessfully meddling in the affairs of a number of Pacific nations; most people with a modicum of intelligence would interpret this appointment as a clear message to Howard and his meddling ministers to go take a flying jump!

Howard may have succeeded with Timor-Leste (in the short term) but no other Pacific nation will have a bar of him. Howard seems to think that Aussies are unaware that he is directly responsible for the deaths of thousands of children and other civilians in Iraq – few regard a mass murderer as holding the moral high ground in the circumstances – perhaps Howard should retire to the USA where mass murderers are tolerated by the majority of the population.

The flagrant hypocrisy of Howard and his ministers knows no bounds, the following articles provide interesting reading for informed Australians:

Homegrown terror cell

by Paul Daley

Security forces are keeping tabs on 25 Australians ahead of the APEC summit. A group of up to 25 Australian men and women is under surveillance by security forces after being assessed as posing a potential terrorist threat to national security, The Bulletin can reveal.

"This group is the subject of detailed counter-intelligence - phone, email and mail intercepts, and constant surveillance,'' an intelligence source told The Bulletin.

A government figure privy to Australia's tightly held counter-terrorism intelligence assessments confirmed the size of the group, telling The Bulletin: "We don't have any specific intelligence on any plot. But there are people in Australia, perhaps 22 to 25, who we know have evil intentions and who are capable of carrying out very bad acts.

"You've got to remember, we've had Willy Brigitte, we've had the [car bomb] attack on the [Australian] embassy in Jakarta, there were plans to blow up the [Australian] embassy in Singapore - that was a much more serious plot than ever reported. Then, of course, there was Bali one and Bali two."

Intelligence sources say that no member of the group has yet been in contact with a bomb-maker who could transform their sinister thoughts into deeds.

The revelations come amid fears of terrorists in our midst, in light of the detention of doctors over suspected links to the failed attacks in Britain and as the nation's security forces gear up for the mammoth task of preventing a terrorist attack in Australia around APEC, which 21 world leaders, including George W. Bush, will attend in September.

They also come as the major parties position themselves ahead of the federal election to showcase their national security credentials and debate whether John Howard's commitment to the war in Iraq has made Australia a bigger terrorist target.

Despite having no evidence that a terrorist attack is being planned to coincide with APEC, members of the intelligence community believe the event has become the top target for the world's radical jihadis.

The fact that APEC is meeting during an election year makes Australia all the more appealing as a target, intelligence officials believe.

In a speech on July 4, John Howard declared that Australia would not cower in the face of any terror threat surrounding APEC or next year's World Youth Day celebrations, also in Sydney and due to be attended by Pope Benedict XVI.

"If we stop doing the things we normally do, the terrorists and the evil people in our community and elsewhere are victorious," he told a community meeting in Bega on the NSW South Coast.

Honiara appoints Moti as law chief

by Michael McKenna

JOHN Howard has accused Solomon Islands of being provocative and insensitive after Australian fugitive Julian Moti was sworn in as the Pacific nation's Attorney-General yesterday.

The Fijian-born, Sydney-educated lawyer vowed not to abuse his position as the country's top legal officer and to stand aside when a decision is made on Australia's outstanding request for his extradition to face a Brisbane trial on child rape charges involving a 13-year-old girl.

"I know enough about my ethical obligations to excuse myself from any involvement in that matter," he said.

After being sworn in at a ceremony attended by the full Solomons cabinet, Mr Moti declared his innocence and, without giving details, said islanders would be "horrified to learn" of who was responsible for the renewed investigation into the charges he first faced in Vanuatu in 1998.

Australian police allege that in 1999 Mr Moti bribed Vanuatu magistrate Bruce Kalotrip to dismiss the seven child sex charges against him.

Mr Moti - who this year told The Australian ASIO had "trumped up" the charges to thwart his growing influence in the region as a legal adviser - and Mr Kalotrip have previously denied the bribery allegations.

"Justice will finally triumph as well when the responsible Australian prosecutorial authorities confront our Government's lawyers to discuss what was fact and what was fiction in the case which they want to mount against me," he said.

"I am legally advised that there is no legal justification for the institution of any charges against me on the evidentiary material supporting Australia's request for my extradition."

Earlier this month, the Solomons Government of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare - a close friend of Mr Moti - sent a letter to Australian commonwealth prosecutors setting out more than 40 questions about the investigation after cancelling several scheduled meetings in Canberra this year.

Relations between the two countries plummeted after Mr Moti jumped bail in Papua New Guinea last September, en route to take up his appointment, before fleeing on a secret flight to Honiara aboard a PNG military plane. The escape strained relations between Australia and PNG.

A leaked copy of a PNG defence force report into the escape last week concluded that PNG Prime Minister Michael Somare gave the orders to fly Mr Moti to safety - something Mr Somare has repeatedly denied.

Tensions between Canberra and Honiara are now expected to heat up again.

Mr Sogavare, who has claimed the charges against Mr Moti are "politically motivated", is understood to have ignored Australian diplomatic pleas as recently as last week to order his extradition. Instead, Mr Sogavare overturned the Solomons' Public Service Commission's 10-month suspension of Mr Moti's appointment.

Mr Howard yesterday expressed his dismay at the "extraordinary" decision to appoint a man wanted on child sex charges as the country's top legal officer. "It is a very provocative and insensitive thing for somebody who is wanted on a criminal charge in this country to be sworn in as the attorney-general," he said.

But Mr Howard said he did not believe Mr Moti's appointment would have a direct effect on the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands, deployed to rebuild the country after the ethnic violence of 2003.