The Age’s political editor Michelle Grattan nails the Australian government’s reluctance to take on the US over David Hicks: “It is no surprise that Howard pronounces himself satisfied with American assurances that the former prosecutors’ allegations have been thoroughly investigated. “Still, the following ABC exchange yesterday was extraordinary. Jon Faine: (Investigated) by whom? PM: “By…
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The Dick lies
Erik Saar is a former military linguist at Guantanamo Bay. He says the facility was so dysfunctional that abuses were inevitable. When he arrived at the camp he believed the rhetoric that the “worst of the worst” were being interrogated there. When he left, his view had changed completely: “It’s not humane and not effective.…
Torture matters
“On March 16, the US House of Representatives, in a stunning 420-to-2 vote, passed an amendment to the emergency Iraq supplemental appropriation by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) forbidding the use of any funds that violate the legal obligations of the international Convention Against Torture, which this nation signed. Congressman Markey has led the charge against…
The real scare
“I don’t believe this is the Third World War. Nor is it a “war on terror”. Nor is it a “war of civilizations”. But our own leaders are wilfully leading us into a period of appalling suffering because they will not address the causes of injustice in the Islamic world.” – Robert Fisk, journalist in…
Torture starts at home
Britain’s Channel 4 television screened a documentary on March 2 that should be mandatory viewing for those who believe that America’s justice system is in dire straits, or that wayward guards only let loose at Abu Ghraib. Cataloguing torture, abuse and shocking sadism, we’re given a picture of an ideology ruled by a punishment mantra.…
Australia in the cold
David Marr, one of Australia’s finest journalists and co-writer of Dark Victory – the devastating examination of the 2001 election and the injection of racial prejudice into the public domain by the Howard government – has returned to The Sydney Morning Herald after three years hosting ABC TV’s Media Watch. His latest article tells the…
Holding airlines to account for deporting refugees
I was happy to sign this recent statement and campaign run by the Australasian Centre for … Corporate Responsibility:… The position of airlines in respect of participation in forced deportations to danger is clear. Under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the corporate responsibility to respect human rights means taking measures to…