Did 9/11 make us all go mad? How fitting, in a weird, crazed way, that the apotheosis of that firestorm nine years ago should turn out to be a crackpot preacher threatening another firestorm with a Nazi-style book burning of the Koran. Or a would-be mosque two blocks from "ground zero" - as if 9/11 was an onslaught on Jesus-worshipping Christians, rather than on the atheist West.

At the insistence of the Greens, we are about to get a full-scale parliamentary debate on our military involvement in Afghanistan some time soon - the only foreign policy demand in our 17 days of political haggling.

So let's hope our kinder and gentler MPs do their homework and make the best of it, instead of resorting to the usual pieties about standing behind our fighting soldiers until the job is done.

The question is: what is the job? Fortunately, some very good discussion papers are starting to come out of respected think tanks and policy groups to guide our thinking. And some bad ones too.

In a normal country, war is front-page news. It is a big deal to invade and bomb another nation. Most of the world's people can probably name all the foreign governments their own government is at war with.

"America's strategic and economic interests in the Mideast and Muslim world are being threatened by the agony in Palestine, which inevitably invites terrorist attacks against US citizens and property."

Ever since 9/11, readers keep asking me my views on these attacks. I have been barraged with emails until my head spins with engineering studies about melting steel, controlled explosions, claims about nefarious plots, and wreckage analysis.

One of the most colorful theories comes from Gen. Hamid Gul, former director of Pakistan's intelligence agency, ISI. He insists that 9/11 was staged by Israel's Mossad and a cabal of rightwing US Air Force generals.

Two conflicting urges struggled within Tony Abbott's breast on Tuesday evening as he dealt with the news that Julia Gillard would form the next government.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Abbott began his press conference at Parliament House. "The longest election is finally over. The Coalition won more votes and more seats than our opponents, but sadly, we did not get the opportunity to form a government."

This was the first urge, to frustration and anger, as Abbott promised to hold the government "ferociously to account".

The atmosphere was speech day at a minor Christian college as Tony Abbott handed out prizes for most "indefatigable" (the member for Swan, Steve Irons); "outstanding" (the member for Macquarie, Louise Markus); and a new award - "first indigenous" - won by the member for Hasluck, Ken Wyatt.

By a clear margin, the Wyatts stole the applause. Death Stare was all smiles. Bygones were bygones. Peter Dutton, Sophie Mirabella, Alby Schultz and Don Randall, who all walked out of the Reps during the apology, joined the warm applause. So did Eric Abetz.

from Crikey .....

Gillard thanked us for being fair and balanced: The Oz editor

Jason Whittaker writes:

A decision on who forms government could be delayed with a squabble breaking out over parliamentary reform.

Labor and the coalition have previously indicated they would support changing parliament's rules, but today the opposition declared some of the reforms could strengthen the hand of future governments.

Rob Oakeshott wants both sides of politics to sign off on the reforms before he and fellow independents Tony Windsor and Bob Katter announce whether they'll back Prime Minister Julia Gillard or Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

The Australian Jewish News (AJN) was outraged. Its editorial in late July condemned the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) for a resolution calling on Australians to boycott Israeli goods made in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The AJN wrote that the move contributed to a global campaign to 'delegitimise' Israel and lent 'credence to the perception of an apartheid state.'

from Crikey .....

Keane essay: the myth of governmental competence

Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

from Crikey .....

A key element of Bob Katter's regional development wish-list presented to the major parties will directly benefit companies owned or controlled by Katter's brother-in-law, and was spruiked by the Member for Kennedy for months in 2009 before Katter acknowledged the conflict of interest.

from Crikey .....

Much of the Coalition's enormous success in becoming not merely electorally competitive but to reach the verge of forming government lies in its successful selling of the idea of competence - Labor is incompetent, we are competent. Simple.

Conservative NSW MP Fred Nile has denied that he has been accessing pornographic websites on his parliamentary computer, saying someone else must have used his log-on.

Mr Nile, from the Christian Democrat party, says reports in today's Daily Telegraph that porn websites have been accessed from his office 200,000 times are impossible.

Mr Nile is well known in NSW for his conservative stance on social issues, having been a long-time opponent of things such as the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

In what would have to rank as one of the most obscene public statements made by any US President, Barack Obama announced the end of America's combat mission in Iraq, notwithstanding the fact that 50,000 American troops & countless "contractors" will continue to occupy the country.

Obama acknowledged that the war had cost America in blood & treasure: 4,400 members of its armed forces killed, 34,000 wounded & maimed: all at a cost in excess of US$1.12 trillion.

"Ending the war was not only in Iraq's best interests but also in America's", he said. "We have met our responsibility; now is the time to turn the page."

Turn the page indeed.

An extraordinary document has been sent to the BBC - a carefully detailed and forensic-like analysis of the transcript of the Panorama programme "Death on the Med", broadcast on 16 August 2010.

Below is the transcript of this programme, together with the resulting dissection and complaint of bias and lack of impartiality which is now in the hands of the BBC.