As Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage sticks up for the
Howard Government again, I start to wonder about him. Armitage, who has
ties to the company that provided the commercial torturers working in
Abu Graibh (including the one from Adelaide)
has attempted to draw a curtain over the Howard Government's
negligences revealed in the AWB Inquiry. Armitage says that nobody in
the USA gives a damn about Australian Government corruption.

Wow, they are just like us Aussies after all

Armitage
told reporters yesterday ""I might know something about it [the AWB
Inquiry]because I am interested in Australia, but as a general matter
this is not something that has caught the imagination of three other
Americans in the whole city."

I wonder if one of Downer's
investment companies has shares in Armitage's CACI ? Given that Alex
made a couple of fast dollars from the AWB float, a dividend from
provision of torturers wouldn't suprise me in the least. Downer, as
he's explained about his investment in Argo, uses other companies to do
his dirty work so that he doesn't need to know where the money's coming
from. Are there any clever financial trackers out there who can trace
where Downer is making his money? Carlye, Halliburton?

Armitage has also been commenting on the inappropriate amount of time
that's been taken to find a new US Ambassador to Australia, following
the departure of Tom Schaffer 15 months ago.
Perhaps there was nobody until now that needed rewarding for good
service.  Department Of Justice Deputy Attorney General Robert
MacCallum is now seen as a friend of the tobacco industry, having last
year changed the US investigations into tobacco malpractice in a way
that reduced possible fines by thirty billion dollars.  He's now
undergoing security clearances to qualify for the Aussie posting.

Was the possibility of the Australian ambassadorship used to influence the tobacco probe?  Only time will tell.  You can bet you life that Richard Armitage won't.