Mr Wilkie, who resigned from the Office of National Assessments over his concerns about the Howard government's justification of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, said he had supported the invasion of Afghanistan in November 2001, but subsequent efforts to stabilise the country had been botched after a period of relative calm in 2002.

''The Taliban had been routed, the limited al-Qaeda presence that was there had been routed, but instead very bad decisions were made to go off and prepare to do Iraq. And that created the security vacuum in which the current troubles were born.''

Mr Wilkie said there was no easy solution to the continuing conflict.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/both-sides-lying-about-role-in-war-wilkie/1926716.aspx

--------------------------

Gus: to some extend I have valued Andrew Wilkie to the political debate, but should he choose to go with the coalition of liars, I will not be so sure... Actually I will be furious... Not that it would make any difference, but who cares...

Does the confusion over the Federal election favor the Corporations or the Australian people?

Does the fact that the future of the Australian Government depends on the "attitude" of the independents?

I have said before that Murdoch had ramped up hatred against Kevin Rudd because he could not control him. Clearly this was orchestrated to be at its peak when policies were unacceptable to the Murdochracy.  The timing was as perfect as any uncrontrolled publication could be.  Double Dissolution which Murdoch had planned for.

In an effort to overcome that enormous disadvantage, the Labor Party - unfortunately, accepted Murdoch's trap that Julia was more popular than Kevin Rudd.  Never trust the Murdochracy.  And then, they attacked Julia.  Fair dinkum.

There was only one consideration and that is that, the Murdochracy was intent on removing the elected government of Australia for one which is more subject to Murdoch's control.

As long as it takes. The lies and misinformation of the Murdochracy is - in my opinion - beginning to lessen with the situation which he didn't expect, that independents have not been bought by his lies and while they may have independent opinions, as they should, it is beyond the control of the media mogul.

Not reported in the MSM is the fact that several Liberal candidates could lose their entitlement to accept election due to their ignorance of the electoral laws.  And they want to run the country?

Whatever happens there is only one way that Australia can "move forward" and that is with a Labor government. NE OUBLIE.

Stay calm Gus , wait for the developed photo . There are plenty of people whom care , and they belong to the comrades of the left . The media keep feeding the chooks , (no apologies) with changing and different opinions .The end result is coming , and we need not start drawing conclusions yet . The Conga-Line of R.Slickers seem to be getting excited and should they miss out , then that stuff all over their ugly mugs will not be egg .I am looking forward to some great cartoon-ary .

I guess that only the people who are emotionally involved in this election would be otherwise than calm.

I am one of those and I hate to think that the slow but sure progress towards equal opportunity (and it is opportunity) in our nation is about to go back some 50 years.

I try not to consider that Rupert Murdoch and his vote (by proxy) is worth thousands of mine. Perhaps hundreds of thousands.  I inevitably come back to the class distinction of the haves and have nots because, no matter what we are conditioned to believe, the class distinction still exists with the added problem of the concentration of the haves.

Periodically, Australia has a government which can run our country as a business but, in the case of Labor, with the primary interests of our assets and their value to us. This gives us some feeling of being the "lucky country" until the Menzies - Howard governments sell off our "furniture" to give the false impression of a "surplus".  Meanwhile, all benefits for which we Australians pay taxes, are slashed, discontinued or privatized. 

What does this do? It impoverishes the nation and its citizens to a point where the foreign interests are applauded by the Murdoch Media for giving our people employment, in our own country, to remove our natural resources.

It makes me wonder, when we look at the open cut mines of foreign interests, what next?  Do the people of W.A. and Queensland really believe that the exploitation of our natural resources will continue to give them a “once in a hundred poker machine win?”

As Malcolm Turnbull once said when asked what would happen when all of our natural resources were exhausted, his reply was “I won’t be here”.

NE OUBLIE.  

Wilkie backs Gillard government

Julia Gillard is one step closer to keeping Labor in power after securing the support of independent MP Andrew Wilkie to form a minority government.

Mr Wilkie says he decided to back Labor after Ms Gillard agreed to several requests, including $340 million for the Royal Hobart Hospital and restrictions on poker machines.

His decision means Labor has 74 definite seats, two short of the majority needed to secure power.

The Coalition has 73 seats if West Australian Nationals MP Tony Crook is included.

Mr Wilkie also revealed Opposition Leader Tony Abbott offered him almost three times as much for the Hobart hospital, but he turned it down.

"The ALP best meets my criteria that the government must be stable, competent and ethical," he said.

As well as the $340 million for Hobart hospital, Ms Gillard has promised to open up a funding round of $1.8 billion for other hospitals.

Mr Wilkie says regional and rural hospitals should be considered as priorities in the applications for funding.

A Labor government would also force the states to implement "smart cards" on poker machines to restrict gambling if they do not agree to do it voluntarily

As the Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie stood in a parliamentary courtyard declaring he was a Julia man, it was very nearly possible to hear Tony Abbott banging his head on the wall of his office.

Hadn't Wilkie arrived in Canberra bearing a list of priorities, the very first of which was the replacement of Royal Hobart Hospital?

Hadn't he, Tony Abbott, offered to do just that at the cost of a cool billion bucks?

And what was Wilkie's response? Why, holy hell, he'd taken instead a piddling $340 million from Julia Gillard for a hospital renovation and he was out there in the courtyard claiming it was a superior deal, with the big money going to hospitals far outside his electorate!

Was this the weirdest example of negotiating in the history of political horse-trading? Saintliness ought to have its limits, surely?

Apparently not. Wilkie was painting himself as an ethical man choosing the most ethical path, which is to say, he was going to back a Gillard Labor government while rejecting the very thing he'd asked for - saying Abbott was reckless for agreeing to it.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/hospital-sting-leaves-coalition-nursing-wounds-20100902-14rns.html

Where did that opinion come from?  The Murdoch media?

I quote from Stephen Mayne in Your Democracy…

The other destabilising element is the coming High Court challenge to two new Coalition MPs who foolishly failed to resign their positions on local councils before being elected.

Former Campbelltown mayor Russell Matheson, the new Liberal member for Macarthur, is even promising to stay on Liverpool council despite serving in the Federal Parliament.

And George Christensen, the new CLP member for Dawson, only formally quit the Mackay Regional Council last week after it was clear he'd scored a political promotion.

Both these chaps could fall foul of section 44 (iv) of the Constitution which prohibits anyone enjoying an office of profit under the crown from nominating for Federal Parliament.

Independent Phil Cleary and Liberal Jacqui Kelly both faced by-elections after coming a cropper in court challenges relying on this constitutional provision, but the High Court has never been asked whether this includes councillor stipends. (Fight Labor fight).

The Coalition holds Dawson by just 2.08% and Macarthur by 3.17% so Labor sympathizers would definitely have a crack at the High Court given success would trigger two by-elections in winnable marginal seats that would bring down a minority Abbott Government.

COMMENT.  During an election that is being played by the Murdoch media as a photo finish or an oil painting, why are such blatant abuses above, whether intended or accidental, allowed to pass muster?

In the Murdoch Media, they even seem to be ignored?

This is still a class war as far as I am concerned and the Australian people need to ignore the obvious Murdoch biased propaganda even as the Murdochracy would ignore the propaganda of the Nazi regime they loathed so much.

The only fear I have is that while the Abbott/Murdoch tactics are even as low as to attack the integrity of our Governor-General and even the P.M’s ear lobes (for God’s sake) for Julia and her advisers in the first weeks of this campaign didn’t realise just how desperate were the Corporation’s government to stop the flow of Australian independence by any means possible.

Julia, your opponents are Corporation representatives and the first principle of a corporation is profit by any means.  They will never be honest while they can sell their bullshit.

A good salesperson is classified as one who can sell an object for more than it is worth.

NE OUBLIE.

Crossbench MPs have spoken out in Parliament against Australia's commitment to the Afghanistan war, calling for troops to be brought home immediately.

Debate on the conflict began in Parliament yesterday with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott voicing their bipartisan support for continued involvement in the war-torn country.

But Greens MP Adam Bandt and independent MP Andrew Wilkie have slammed Australia's continued troop deployment as unjustifiable, dangerous and wrong.

Mr Bandt says efforts to train local forces have not been as successful as the Government says.

"I know many Australians ask the legitimate question: what will happen to the population if we pull out? But there's an alternative question - is us being there making the problem worse?" he said.

Mr Bandt will introduce a bill which would require future deployments to be approved by both houses of Parliament.

Ms Gillard warned yesterday that Australia will be involved in Afghanistan for at least the rest of this decade but Mr Bandt said this was not acceptable.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/10/20/3043474.htm

The independent federal member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie, says there is nothing new in reports he will abandon his agreement with the Labor Government if it fails to honour his pokie deal.

Mr Wilkie helped Labor secure government after the August election on the basis it would introduce new technology forcing pokie players to set a spending limit.

Under the deal Labor promised to introduce the changes in all states and territories by 2014.

But Mr Wilkie says reports he is threatening to walk are a beat-up and he is confident the changes will happen.

"My support has always relied on that being implemented and being implemented in full," he said.

"So nothing has actually changed in recent days, if anything, I'm more reassured than ever that the Federal Government is keen to implement the reform."

Mr Wilkie says he has had positive meetings with the panel of experts and government heads about the reforms in the past week.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/11/21/3072234.htm?section=justin

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie says Opposition Leader Tony Abbott offered to double Australia's humanitarian refugee intake during negotiations to form government earlier this year.

Yesterday Mr Abbott called for a return to Howard-era border protection policies in the wake of last week's Christmas Island boat disaster, in which at least 30 asylum seekers lost their lives.

This morning Mr Wilkie accused the Opposition of playing to "dark sentiments" in the electorate, and said Mr Abbott should publicly restate his refugee offer.

"I'm interested to hear these comments from the Opposition at the moment, because during my negotiations with Tony Abbott immediately after the federal election ...one of the issues he raised with me in an attempt to get my support was to double the humanitarian intake into this country from about 13,500 a year to about 27,000," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/12/20/3097262.htm

see toon at top...

Rumours that General Petreaus is quitting  command of the US forces in Afghanistan are an indication of the turmoil over Afghanistan policy.

The Petraeus' troop "surge" has not led to a military breakthrough. Attempts to build up anti-Taliban Afghan forces are in tatters, after in-fighting broke out amongst rival groups in Helmand this week.

Meanwhile violence in Afghanistan is at an all time high. Recent figures show civilian casualties have increased by 31 percent since last year. The number of children killed in the war is up 55 percent.

Seven British soldiers have died in the last week - hardly reported in the media - bringing the total to 357, almost double the number of those killed in Iraq.

Fighting is due to restart in earnest in the spring and US Admiral Mike Mullen issued a warning this week that 2011 will be even more violent than 2010 - the worst year of the war so far.

stopwar.org.uk