I'd like to show you the levels that My Fine DFAT Friend will go to
protect his reputation.  Given the opportunity to effectively ban a
movie that made his point of view look wrong, Downer leapt at the
chance.

This entry was originally posted  on my private blog in early May 

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[From News.com.au]

From the ABC …..

Bush talks up progress in Iraq 

Americans can expect steady
progress in Iraq but it would be unrealistic to hope for "zero
violence", President George W. Bush said after a surprise trip to Baghdad
to bolster the new Iraqi Government. 

From the ABC

Howard should convert to Islam: Bashir
By Geoff Thompson in Solo, Central Java

Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir says Prime Minister John Howard should become a Muslim if he wants to avoid going to hell.

The cleric was speaking after his release from a Jakarta prison where he had been serving a sentence related to the 2002 Bali bombings.

While holding a late night press conference in his Ngruki religious boarding school, Abu Bakar Bashir was asked by the ABC if he had a message for Mr Howard when the Prime Minister visits Indonesia later this month.

"I think John Howard should convert to Islam," he said.

‘The presence of U.S. troops in Iraq is considered a
greater threat to Mideast stability than the current government in Iran,
according to a new poll of European and Muslim countries.

The poll found that people in Britain, France, Germany,
Spain and Russia rated the presence of troops in Iraq higher than the
government in Iran as a threat, according to polling by the Pew Research Center
for the People & the Press. Views of U.S. troops in Iraq were even more
negative in countries like Indonesia, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and Pakistan.’  

This map from the South Australian Defence site holds a thousand word painting picture- a line through the middle of Australia, owned by Halliburton, along which every freight container leaving Darwin needs to pass. 

South Australia - the Transport Hub of Australia

" Completion of the line increases accessibility to the Cultana Training Area and positions it as a major asset both for South Australia and the Australian Army." proclaims the website.  It doesn't say that every tank and  every boxcar of uranium waste will line the pockets of the company once run by the U.S. Vice President.

‘The US-led "war on terror" is increasing the
risk of terrorist attacks and distracting governments from greater threats to
global security such as climate change, a think-tank warned in a report. 

The Oxford Research Group urged
countries, especially the United States and Britain, to rethink their security
policies to counter future instability. 

"The war on terror is a
dangerous diversion and prevents the international community from responding
effectively to the most likely causes of future conflict," a press
statement about the report said. 

This week, Alexander “don’t
know, didn’t see, no-one told me” Downer told Lateline’s Tony Jones that
David Hicks might have some back
ailment but otherwise he was fine – according to Australian Consular
reports. 

Last night, Alfred McCoy,
Professor of history at the University of Wisconsin, told Jones that: 

‘Gandhi once said if Christians lived according to their
faith, there would be no Hindus left in India. He knew how powerful the
fundamental tenets of Christianity - fighting poverty, caring for the least
among us, loving your enemies, eschewing materialism and embracing humility -
could be if everyone who called themselves a Christian truly followed them. 

The new documentary, Jesus Camp,
which chronicles a North Dakota summer camp where kids as young as 6 are taught
to become dedicated Christian soldiers in "God's army," is an
illustration of this sentiment in the extreme. 

 
Meanwhile in the parallel universe of conservative
bed-time history for right-wing raised kiddies... 

From the New York Times 

Bush Discusses Iraq With Top War
Commanders ….. 

CAMP DAVID, Md. (AP) -- President
Bush declared Monday to a nation weary of war that democracy in the Middle
East is worth the high price to the United States. He also said Iraq's
neighbours should be doing more to help.

The author of this missive is a
kindred spirit: 

Fear US Down
Under  

I am sitting
at my computer in Melbourne, Australia, and I just read this archived article a
friend forwarded to me about Casey Sheehan. It's oddly moving. The author
is to be commended. (See “Casey
Sheehan,” by Neil Freese, August 26, 2005.) 

A classic example of sneaky al-Qaeda asymmetrical terrorist
attack: one stretcher-strapped terrorist 'takes out' three defenceless Guantanamo guards.

‘The last few weeks have seen
disastrous news breaking over the Bush administration, like Katrina come again.
This time, though, it's not hurricane winds and surging seas, but waves of
innocent blood overtopping the banks of the Tigris and the Euphrates to turn
the White House crimson. Report after report of horrific atrocities - long held back
by a levee of lies, fear, obfuscation and the natural confusion of war - has
broken through, flooding the imperial capital with the reeking, corpse-filled
backwash of the vast criminal folly committed by its grubby little Caesar. 

Hamas ends truce after beachside shelling .....

Islamic militant group Hamas has
called off a 16-month-old truce with Israel after attacks blamed on
Israeli forces killed 10 Palestinians, including three children playing on
a beach. 

Israel's army, which had been
shelling northern Gaza to curb rocket fire by militants, says it is
investigating the deaths. 

There is more
to the Prime Minister's family history than modesty, honesty and hard work,
writes David Marr. 

‘The corner of Ewart Street and
Wardell Road in Sydney's Dulwich Hill is sacred ground for John Howard and the
modern Liberal Party. For nearly 30 years, the Prime Minister's father ran a
service station on this spot, setting an example his son thinks Australia
should follow.