‘So the old man will be buried this afternoon on the edge of the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in a desert graveyard of no memorials.

The strict Wahhabi tradition - to which, of course, that far more famous Saudi, Osama bin Laden, belongs - demands no statues, no gravestones, no slabs. So Fahd will be laid in the desert sand, his head touching the earth, covered over and left for the after-life. Not a single stone will mark his place.

The Lord Chancellor told BBC News under new laws people “attacking the values of the West

‘The pre-emptive doctrine overturns the conclusions of the Nuremburg Tribunals that "War is the Supreme Crime" from which all the lesser crimes naturally flow. It elevates war to a viable form of foreign policy; an acceptable means of establishing one state's superiority over another. In the case of Iraq, where the theory was applied with the most appalling results; it has been exposed as a cruel facsimile of unprovoked aggression against a defenseless enemy. The horrific after-effects have been the destruction of Iraqi society, the death of over 100,000 civilians and an enduring conflict with no end in sight. These are the predictable consequences of a pernicious theory that glorifies force above all else. 

Well, the point of view of the ‘light unto nations’ is an interesting appropriation of a religious Jewish point of view taken by the secular Zionist movement in order to convince a lot of European powers, to support a colonialist project in the midst of the Arab world. So you needed this image, I think first of all in order to win international legitimacy.

‘Since the London bombings, the elected leaders of nations that invaded Iraq are sinking deeper into the swamp, grinning wildly as they go, taking our freedoms with them.

Long used to lying to their own citizens, George Bush, Tony Blair and John Howard, are also lying to themselves. How can it be claimed that the upsurge in terrorism is unrelated to our presence in Iraq?

‘Lieutenant Colonel Lance Collins is one of the army’s top intelligence analysts.

Last year he emerged as the central figure in a major unfolding controversy about the quality of Australia’s overseas intelligence - and an alleged culture of cover-up, bullying and recrimination in the defence Force and beyond.

The Editor

Sydney Morning Herald                                                              July 26, 2005

Sir,

Your editorial (‘The death of Mr de Menzes’, Herald, July 26) could be construed as support for the introduction a ‘shoot to kill policy’ for law enforcement officers, arguing that it may justified as a policy ‘of last resort’ in these perilous times.

How much more evidence is needed?

Before the invasion, Blair was warned by the Joint Intelligence Committee that "by far the greatest terrorist threat" to this country would be "heightened by military action against Iraq".

Why do they hate us?

Distinguished social scientist & public intellectual Chalmers Johnson, joins host Harry Kreisler for a conversation on the nature of the American Empire & its costs & consequences for the future of American democracy & power in the world, including the ‘blowback’ from America’s secret foreign policy.

‘The fact that Bush would engage so openly in such murderous cynicism was a telling revelation: it showed, or rather confirmed, that America was being led by a brutal, mocking, heedless Caligula, a spoiled, shallow, vain & selfish fool, a moral psychopath incapable of ordinary human empathy.

‘Iran has long been a focus of the small clique of "global dominationists" - led by Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney and their acolytes - who engineered the invasion of Iraq.

This group is determined to "whack Iran", as one insider put it & they're not at all discouraged by the debacle in Iraq; indeed, to them it's a rousing success. Their first objective - openly stated years ago, before Bush took office - was the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime & the planting of a US "military footprint" in Iraq. This has now been done.

‘Although tyranny, because it needs no consent, may successfully rule over foreign peoples, it can stay in power only if it destroys first of all the national institutions of its own people.’

Ironically, there is an attack being mounted against our ‘freedom & values’ but it is an attack sponsored by our own politician leaders & their intelligence services, ostensibly to protect us from the marauding terrorists.

We are told that permanent coercive powers are required by our intelligence agencies to protect us. We are told that secret arrests, detention & interrogations’ will keep us safe from the hidden ‘cells’ of evil-doers lurking in our midst. We are told that secret renditions, torture, indefinite detention & suspension of the rule of law are essential powers our government’s must have to protect our ‘freedom’.

US media interests are today concentrated as never before & deserve the title 'big media' or, even more succinctly, a self-interested 'corporate media' family, rather than the common but misleading tag - 'mainstream media'.

An analysis of the boards of the 10 biggest media players in the US reveals that their directors serve on the boards of 288 major national & international corporations, whilst 8 of the 10 share 'common directors'.

The Editor

The Australian                                                                                     July 11, 2005

As usual, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock wants it both ways (‘May be terrorists here: Ruddock’, Australian, July 11).