Industrial Workers of the World

THE HOWARD ALBUM: - Here we are at the CIA discussion room in Pakistan... Mamdouh Habib is being told of his legal rights and the wonderful guarantees that Australian citizenship bestow upon him.
Is he worthy???
To the lower left Brendan Nelson tells him tales of Simpson and his Donkey... This would have cracked him open - no doubts - but we got a call from the wimps at the Pentagon saying we could not do anything that might result in death or in permanent damage to an essential organ.
Janette says that Simpson was a DANGEROUS RED with PACIFIST sympathies. For goodness sakes I wish military intelligence would check these things out properly before handing stories over to the hearts and minds boys in propaganda.

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I put this cartoon in the number two ABOUT TIME because I thought that it, though not of course literally true, illustrated what went on under a government that pushed the patriot bandwagon while allowing other nations to kidnap its citizens and torture them; That courted the Christian vote while allowing small children of refugee parents to rot forever behind razer wire; That tried to lead us out of the “black arm band” school of history while they were frantically adding new pages to it. Ad infinitum.

With the Mamdouh Habib case new information has come to light. Could it be that the IWW was too strong in its criticism of the parasites who governed us (and in the case of the high level public servants, still do). For it seems that on October 23, 2001 that senior officials from ASIO, the Australian Federal Police and three government departments, including the Prime Minister's Department, had "discussed" the "possibility" that Habib could be "transferred to Egypt" by the Americans, that it was likely that the Egyptions authorities would torturre the man, and then they had "agreed the Australian government could not agree" to this happening.

Immediate action was taken - sort of: Mr Richardson, then running ASIO, conveyed this build up of disapproval to the United States."

The United States was obviously desperately concerned not to offend its loyal partner in the war crime designed to bring an end to the regime it had sponsered in Iraq and oil to the U. S.

In the event it clearly did not disdain even to ignore the whimperings of its "deputy sheriff" in the Asia pacific region.

Should they? could they? - have the case put more forcefully?

Mr O'Sullivan, Richardson’s replacement: "Essentially, the issue of transfer and treatment of an Australian citizen overseas is a matter for the Department of Foreign Affairs. ASIO's job is to make sure the department has the information. That is what happened in this case."

Robert Cornall, head of the Attorney-General's Department: "It was an operational matter being dealt with by ASIO. We left the matter to ASIO and took no action as a department."

Hugh Borrowman, first assistant secretary, international division, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet: "All I can say is that we have no record that any action was taken after the meeting."

Doug Chester, deputy secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs: "We do not know who was at the meeting from [Foreign Affairs]. We have no record of it. No record that we have been able to lay our hands on, that is correct."

Every one a bloody hero.

The only person to come out of this with any credibility intact is ...  Mamdouh Habib

All in all I think that the cartoon stands.

Source: Alan Ramsey Abandonment of Habib is a tale of shame Brisbane Times June 7, 2008 - http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/alan-ramsey/abandonment-of-habib-is-a-tale-of-shame/2008/06/06/1212259114369.html