from Crikey ….. 

Andrews left naked by innocent Haneef 'secret dossier' 

“And also I salute somebody, in President Musharraf, who has led a transition of his country to a democratic state. Pakistan has not always been democratic, something the President freely acknowledged. And I do not think enough credit has been given to Pakistan under President Musharraf's leadership for the transition over recent years…" 

John Winston Rattus 

The truth is that the campaigns of both Barack Obama and John McCain are being inundated with cash from more or less exactly the same gorgons of the corporate scene.  

After years of claims and counter-claims, new figures show cotton became the thirstiest crop in the whole Murray-Darling Basin two years ago, guzzling 20 per cent of all the water used for agriculture in region. 

Consigliere of the Bushit Crime Family, Dick Cheney, called Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to express US solidarity in the conflict with Russia & told him "Russian aggression must not go unanswered," the war criminal’s office said on Monday. 

Operation Brimstone ended only one week ago.  

This was the joint US/UK/French naval war games in the Atlantic Ocean preparing for a naval blockade of Iran and the likely resulting war in the Persian Gulf area.  

Collaborating with torturers or conducting torture in Australia or abroad could be made a separate criminal offence by the Federal Government. 

In a new hardline approach against torture, the Government will also ratify the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture — an extra treaty that allows United Nations or domestic inspectors to visit prisons and detention centres. 

from Crikey ….. 

Time for Wong to come clean on the Coorong 

Now that military officers selected by the Bush Pentagon have reached a split verdict convicting Salim Hamdan, a onetime driver for Osama bin Laden, of supporting terrorism, but innocent of terrorist conspiracy, do you feel safe?

Or are we superpower Americans still at risk until we capture bin Laden’s dentist, barber, and the person who installed the carpet in his living room?  

CNN's Barbara Starr, in a Thursday report, examined what the US military is calling 'segregation boxes': small, wooden crates being used in Iraq to hold prisoners, which the US military insists are 'humane.'  

Measuring 3 feet square and about 6 feet tall, the military claims that prisoners isolated in the chambers are checked frequently, but the practice is raising concern among human rights advocates. 

In the immediate aftermath of the 2001 anthrax attacks, White House officials repeatedly pressed FBI Director Robert Mueller to prove it was a second-wave assault by Al Qaeda, but investigators ruled that out, the Daily News has learned. 

There is now a growing discomfort about the role of speculative finance in the US, the capital of global finance. In an open letter addressed to all airline customers, leaders of airlines in the US have recently requested the passengers to join them in pushing legislation to add more transparency and disclosure in the oil markets. 

Also, global warming is a myth. That’s right. Cardinal George Pell said so.  

from Crikey ….. 

AFP keeps Haneef cards close to its chest 

Greg Barns writes: 

Our government really does not support democracy, except rhetorically.

When the Palestinians had a free and fair election and chose Hamas members to man their government, we refused to recognize the new government.

Apparently, the Bush administration's definition of a free election is one that provides the results the president wants.