Progress has been made in fighting terrorism since the outrages of September 11.

Time not only heals wounds but also changes perspectives. The greatest apprehension felt by Americans after the attacks of September 11, 2001, was that there would be further attacks on their country; the questions were when and where, rather than if. Understanding this is central to a proper historical analysis of American actions, and those of her allies such as Australia, over the past 10 years.

Europe's human rights chief launched a blistering attack Thursday on European governments' counterterrorism actions, accusing them of helping the United States commit "countless" crimes in the past 10 years.

The 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks is an occasion to analyze whether the official responses have been proper and effective, said Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe's rights commissioner.

It is not hard to picture Tony Abbott bouncing awake each morning and spinning a large chocolate wheel to see which of the government's competing misfortunes he should exploit that day. They include:

Asylum seekers: The High Court has killed the Malaysia solution, putting the sword to Julia Gillard's pledge for a regional solution to people smuggling. Now presiding over a split party, her options are to backflip and embrace Nauru, or allow onshore processing.

News Ltd owns 70 per cent of the circulation of major newspapers in Australia. If Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, were an apolitical or a distant figure, this might not matter, but he has a powerful set of ideological beliefs and is determined to maintain tight control over the political line of all his papers on issues that interest him.

The Holy Triumvirate - The United States, NATO and the European Union - recognizes no higher power and believes, literally, that it can do whatever it wants in the world, to whomever it wants, for as long as it wants, and call it whatever it wants, like "humanitarian".

from Crikey .....

News Ltd strengthens the case for media inquiry

Crikey Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

At least 83 people died as human guinea pigs in macabre US research on sexually transmitted diseases in Guatemala in the 1940s, a commission ordered by President Barack Obama concluded Monday.

Nearly 5,500 people were subjected to diagnostic testing and more than 1,300 were exposed to venereal diseases by human contact or inoculations in research meant to test the drug penicillin, the presidential commission found.

Within that group, "we believe that there were 83 deaths," said Stephen Hauser a member of the commission, which has pored over 125,000 documents linked to the shocking episode since being set up by Obama last November.

Sameer Shilu, 12, was asleep when the soldiers smashed in the front door of his house one night. He and his older brother emerged bleary-eyed from their bedroom to find six masked soldiers in their living room.

Checking the boy's name on his father's identity card, the officer looked "shocked" when he saw he had to arrest a boy, says Sameer's father, Saher. "I said, 'He's too young; why do you want him?' 'I don't know,' he said". Blindfolded, and his hands tied painfully behind his back with plastic cords, Sameer was bundled into a Jeep, his father calling out to him not to be afraid. "We cried, all of us," his father says. "I know my sons; they don't throw stones."

Lack of trust in politicians was a significant factor behind the riots that erupted in England this month, according to an academic report expected to be studied by the Government.

Although poverty and lax moral values played a part in people's decision to join the disturbances, a stronger influence was their attitude towards politicians, researchers at Essex University and Royal Holloway University of London found.

Tony Abbott has little trust for his front bench and is paranoid about being double-crossed, according to a number of senior members of his team who have expressed a growing unease over the Opposition Leader's style.

Some shadow ministers as well as numerous backbenchers have told The Canberra Times that Mr Abbott is nervous about many of those around him and that he is making too many unilateral decisions.

But the Opposition Leader denies the allegations, his office saying yesterday that the claims were ''self-evidently false''.

The way Tony Windsor recalls it, Tony Abbott begged crossbench MPs to make him prime minister, joking ''the only thing I wouldn't do is sell my arse - but I'd have to give serious thought to it''.

In interviews to mark the anniversary of their decision to back Julia Gillard to run the country, independent MPs have revealed startling new details of their reservations about the Opposition Leader, including that joking plea.

And Bob Katter - one of the crossbenchers who backed Mr Abbott - is now deeply disenchanted, accusing the Liberal leader of welching on a deal to put up laws mandating ethanol in petrol.

No sooner had not-so-long-ago stockmarket darling, Bluescope Steel, announced its dismal profit result for 2011, along with news that more than a 1,000 jobs were to go, than Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, leapt out with her announcement that the federal government would provide Bluescope with a $100 million cash injection to "prevent further job losses".

The Federal Bureau of Investigation employs upwards of 15,000 undercover agents today, ten times what they had on the roster back in 1975.

If you think that's a few spies too many - spies earning as much as $100,000 per assignment - one doesn't have to go too deep into their track record to see their accomplishments. Those agents are responsible for an overwhelming amount of terrorist stings that have stopped major domestic catastrophes in the vein of 9/11 from happening on American soil.

Another thing those agents are responsible for, however, is plotting those very schemes.

from Crikey .....

The shadows of '75 are creeping across an angry political landscape

Crikey Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

from Crikey .....

Menadue: urgent need for a new approach to asylum seekers

On August 26, 2001, MV Tampa rescued 438 asylum seekers from their distressed vessel Palapa 1. Since then Australia's asylum policy has been a tale of human tragedy, political opportunism, policy failure and great cost. Today's stalemate around our treatment of asylum seekers and refugees represents one of this country's greatest moral failures.