The Prime Minister of Australia has been requested to give a written statement to a Royal Commission.  He will be answering questions regarding possible negligence and corruption within his own Department.

Mr Howard's announcement follows the advance printing of an incriminating broadcast scheduled to be televised on the ABC tonight.  The UN Oil-For-Food program's Customs Officer says national governments are responsible for any bribes sent to Saddam.

Mr Howard has said in a media conference this morning that he will appear personally before the Cole Inquiry if requested to do so.

Selected quotes
from an
Interview: Iraqi blogger Riverbend

By Firas Al-Atraqchi

Sunday 09 April 2006, 11:41 Makka Time, 8:41 GMT

Riverbend's blog Baghdad Burning began to make waves in late 2003 and quickly became one of the most read Iraqi blogs. She offered an Iraqi woman's perspective on the US invasion and the first months after the fall of Baghdad.

Since then, her blog has been adapted into book form by UK-based publishers Marion Boyars and New York-based Feminist Press.

In March 2005, the blog was adapted into a play by a New York-based theatre production company.

The administration of President George W. Bush
is planning a massive bombing campaign against Iran, including use of
bunker-buster nuclear bombs to destroy a key Iranian suspected nuclear weapons
facility, The New Yorker magazine has reported in its April 17 issue. 

‘As Morpheus explained: “The
Matrix is a system Neo, and that system is our enemy. When you are inside, you
look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters, the
very minds we are trying to save. Until we do, these people are part of that
system and that makes them our enemies. 

You have to understand that most
of these people are not ready to be unplugged and many are so hopelessly
dependent on the system, they'll fight to protect it.”’ 

 
‘From the beginning, there were
ominous signs that the Iraqis weren't going to play the game right. More than a
few neo-con hearts were broken by the Iraqi refusal to greet us with flowers
and champagne as we marched into Baghdad, and the snub still hurts. Just this
week, Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum and an unrepentant hawk,
complained about "the ingratitude of the Iraqis for the extraordinary favour
we gave them: to release them from the bondage of Saddam Hussein's
tyranny." 

From today’s SMH
Letters page …… 

In the firing line

Apart from cameras that should always be working, one of the key airport
security measures is to check for gunpowder residue on selected travellers. A
few days ago airport security guards stopped me for a check even though I had
not fired a gun for 40 years, but the Irish clay pigeon shooting team was
allowed to pass. 

From American Progress …..
American
Progress 

The US Withdraws Support From UN Human Rights
Council  

In 1946, under the leadership of Eleanor
Roosevelt, the United States led the way in creating the first U.N. human
rights commission.  

It's a horrible question to ask, but upon hearing that Messrs Downer and Vaille are to testify at the AWB Commission next week, and on rereading Haifa Zangwana's piece on the assasinations of academics ( currently on page 3 of Webiary home page) I was struck by one of those horrible trains of thought.

Kays Juma was a Professor of Agriculture in Iraq. He would have had a detailed knowledge of the status quo of agriculture-based aid activities in Iraq, and the fact he was also an Adelaide-resident probably would have motivated him to be aware of details such as the differences in Ausaid and USaid agriculture programs and the methodology of their implementation. As an academic he would have been privy to more information than would have been supplied to the CPA.

For the first time an Australian minister of the Bush Administration will face a true battle- telling the public what he wants to without being forced to resign.

Trade Minister Mark Vaille will appear befor the Australian Wheat Board Inquiry on Monday, and Foreign Minister Downer on Tuesday. They will be speaking on the issue in an environment in which our society considers lack of honesty to be the greatest taboo- A sworn oath.

ABC reports that the inquiry wishes to question Mr Downer on diplomatic cables sent by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to the Office of the Prime Minister of Australia. The cables raised the department's concern over involvement in the Austalian Wheat Board's bribes to Saddam Hussein.

from the ABC ….. 

Govt to slash business red tape 

Prime Minister John Howard and
Treasurer Peter Costello will today announce a package to cut red tape for
business and make it easier for small firms to access the new workplace
relations laws. 

From the ABC ….. 

PM defends right to override
state IR laws 

Prime Minister John Howard says
there will not be any dramatic consequences for the states if they lose
the industrial relations challenge in the High Court. 

The states are fighting plans for
a national industrial relations system. 

From the New York Times

Algeria Forbids Efforts to Convert Its Muslims

By REUTERS
Published: April 6, 2006
ALGIERS, April 5 (Reuters) — Algeria has passed a law prohibiting efforts to convert Muslims to another religion, the country's chief of religious affairs said on Wednesday. The move seems aimed at maintaining stability after the Islamist violence that had plagued the country for a decade.

Muhammad Aissa, director of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, told the state radio network that the measure, passed on March 20, was prompted by the activities of Christian evangelists, particularly in the restive ethnic Berber region of Kabylie.

From the ABC ….. 

Record petrol prices expected
over Easter!!

Melbourne's petrol prices are
expected to hit new highs over Easter. 

The price of unleaded petrol
reached a record high yesterday of $1.34 in the city and at Wheelers Hill. 

‘Opposition politicians and human rights
campaigners reacted with dismay Tuesday to British Defense Secretary John
Reid's call for international
laws, including the Geneva Conventions, to be redrawn to
ensure states could counter global terrorism and undertake military
interventions.  

The threat of terrorism should
not be used as justification for a watering-down of fundamental human rights,
Liberal Democrats Shadow Defense Secretary
Nick Harvey warned.