Hi Richard.

I reckon Hill will earn every cent of his pay in Washington. It's one thing to survive as something of a moderate in the rodent's entourage but quite another when you're up against neanderthal 'black hats' like John Bolton.

Hill's successor will be the 3rd Defence Minister that I'll be corresponding with over the continuing 7 year-old investigation into allegations of torture & murder made against members of the ADF when operating in East Timor.

Federal Labor has today called for members of Indonesia's special forces, Kopassass, to be 'vetted' for human rights abuses, prior to their being allowed to participate in the upcoming Dawn Kookaburra joint exercises, yet again exposing Australia to charges of hypocrisy.  

I've seen one NZ report that the resignation has occurred, but as it's not on the radion yet, I'll wait for more..

Meanwhile, in today's Australian

[extract] 

THE reason most often given for Robert Hill's
decisions to turn down a succession of top diplomatic posts was that he
could not stomach the idea of picking up Alexander Downer at the
airport every time he came to town.

The quietly spoken moderate denies making the quip about his fellow South Australian, but it's too late - it has stuck.

The first two offers rolled in immediately after the Coalition won
the 2004 election. He could choose between high commissioner to London
or ambassador to Washington.

After 25 years in parliament and 10 as a minister and leader of
the Government in the Senate, Hill, 59, was in no mood to be pushed
out. He turned down the prestigious posts.

London went to former communications minister Richard Alston,
while former ASIO boss Dennis Richardson was appointed to Washington

From Chirac hints at nuclear retaliation:
"The leaders of states who would use terrorist means against us, as well as those who would consider using in one way or another weapons of mass destruction, must understand that they would lay themselves open to a firm and adapted response on our part," Chirac said in a speech at a nuclear submarine base in Brittany. He mentioned no countries by name. "This response could be a conventional one," he said. "It could also be of a different kind." The Elysée Palace said that the remarks represented a regular exercise in nuclear doctrine, which takes place every five years. But it was the first time that a French president publicly spelled out the possibility of nuclear retaliation against a state-backed terrorist strike. In the past, France has usually said that nuclear weapons could be used if its "vital interests" were at risk.

From Richard Clarke On Iran:

From Security turnaround  at BitterLemons (Saudi Arabia under Abdullah):

In Guardian, Bin Laden talks of truce but threatens US with new attacks.

What has he got in store for when the US rejects his offer of truce? A more condescending offer? UBL may suggest that Bob steps into the breach, as chief negotiator. He successfully negotiated considerable increase in Dick Cheney's assets.

Choppers for the minister with a hole in the head

From the ABC

Defence faces $1.6b helicopter blow-out
The auditor-general has revealed a $1.6 billion army helicopter project has hit a series of delays and exposed the Defence Force to the risk of budget blow-outs.

The Australian Defence Force is buying 22 Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters, but an auditor-general's report has revealed the first three helicopters delivered did not meet contractual requirements relating to weapons operability, proven crash resistance and the ability for long flights over water.

The aircraft's main engines do not meet contract specifications because they are under powered.

Replacing the engines would cost $110 million, but the Defence Materiel Organisation which buys all Defence equipment expects the supplier to deliver engines that meet maximum operational requirements at no extra cost.

The project has become more complex because the Australian Defence Force was the first in the world to accept the helicopters.

Yes Gus, but given that the entire Defence
Materiel Organisation, as well  as the majority of Australians, suffer from ADD, this bungle will just join the long list of similar disasters funded by taxpayers & through which the american military defence establishment continues to grow fat.

From the ABC
Equipment supplier to ADF admits making mistakes
The Federal Government organisation that supplies equipment to the Australian Defence Force (ADF) has admitted it has made a lot of mistakes over the past year.

In a briefing to Defence industry suppliers, the head of the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO), Dr Stephen Gumley, said the DMO had at times behaved inappropriately.

Fairfax newspapers and the ABC have obtained a poor quality recording of the briefing.

In it, Dr Gumley says front-line Australian troops have missed out on equipment, Army budgets had been mishandled and management was flawed.

"We are going to let the troops down if we don't work together to improve the reliability, quality, safety of our equipment," he said.

Last month, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said the equipment used by Australian troops was the best they had ever had.

But Neil James from the Australia Defence Association (ADA) says the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) is facing systemic problems.

--------------------
Gus:
We hope Admiral Nelson can fix the problem by ordering more elastic bands for the troops.