From the ABC

Govt denies Hicks sentence was election ploy

Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has rejected claims the Australian Government intervened to ensure convicted terrorism supporter David Hicks stays in jail until after the federal election.

Hicks is due to return home to Australia within two months and could be free from prison by the end of the year.

Mr Downer also says the Australian Federal Police (AFP) will decide whether to place a control order on Hicks once he completes a nine-month jail sentence.

He has told Channel Seven that monitoring Hicks will be a matter for the AFP.

"The Government doesn't make the application for the control order - that's done by the police," he said.

"I'm not sure what conclusions they will reach but if they think he should be monitored, then they will make the application themselves to a judicial officer, to a judge or a magistrate."

Meanwhile, federal Treasurer Peter Costello says advocates for Hicks should remember the thousands of victims of terrorism.

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Gus:Yes Mr Costello... We do remember the victims of terrorism and we DO remember the victims of silly wars. There was other ways than invade Iraq to solve the problem Saddam was posing. We knew (we the people with one brain) that Saddam did not have weapons of mass destruction. We knew that Bush, Blair and Rattus were going to war on false pretences. The result of this little war was PREDICTABLE. The US did not want to know before going there like conquerors of oil wells.

And as far as Clowner, our Minister for aliens objects and AWB tax deductible kickbacks, he knows better. The AFP DOES the work of the government and although it may not get direct orders from it in triplicate on certain matters — a discreet nod often may do.

 The Terrorist in chief lives well in the White House...

 

form the NYT

Ex-Aide Details a Loss of Faith in the President

By JIM RUTENBERG
Published: April 1, 2007

AUSTIN, Tex., March 29 — In 1999, Matthew Dowd became a symbol of George W. Bush’s early success at positioning himself as a Republican with Democratic appeal.

A top strategist for the Texas Democrats who was disappointed by the Bill Clinton years, Mr. Dowd was impressed by the pledge of Mr. Bush, then governor of Texas, to bring a spirit of cooperation to Washington. He switched parties, joined Mr. Bush’s political brain trust and dedicated the next six years to getting him to the Oval Office and keeping him there. In 2004, he was appointed the president’s chief campaign strategist.

Looking back, Mr. Dowd now says his faith in Mr. Bush was misplaced.

In a wide-ranging interview here, Mr. Dowd called for a withdrawal from Iraq and expressed his disappointment in Mr. Bush’s leadership.

He criticized the president as failing to call the nation to a shared sense of sacrifice at a time of war, failing to reach across the political divide to build consensus and ignoring the will of the people on Iraq. He said he believed the president had not moved aggressively enough to hold anyone accountable for the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and that Mr. Bush still approached governing with a “my way or the highway” mentality reinforced by a shrinking circle of trusted aides.

“I really like him, which is probably why I’m so disappointed in things,” he said. He added, “I think he’s become more, in my view, secluded and bubbled in.”

In speaking out, Mr. Dowd became the first member of Mr. Bush’s inner circle to break so publicly with him.

He said his decision to step forward had not come easily. But, he said, his disappointment in Mr. Bush’s presidency is so great that he feels a sense of duty to go public given his role in helping Mr. Bush gain and keep power.