Is Hannef Howard's Last, Desperate Effort?

My Mum reckons there will be a snap election soon. She could be right. Meanwhile, great stuff from Jason Koutsoukis:

THE disgraceful treatment of Mohamed Haneef has all the hallmarks of a typical Howard Government political play.

Nasty, divisive, cynical and, of course, no involvement of the Prime Minister himself.

Remember children overboard? The whole Commonwealth bureaucracy knew this was nonsense, yet somehow Howard's office did not get the message that no children were ever thrown overboard.

The $300 million in bribes paid by AWB to Saddam Hussein? Everyone in Canberra seemed to know AWB was up to no good — except Howard.

That his workplace relations laws would make some people worse off? The newly published biography of Howard reveals that this was actually explained to Howard in cabinet — but the Prime Minister cannot remember that.

Then there was the terrible mess Howard got himself into in May by trying to deny the existence of a planned climate-change advertising campaign, on the grounds that the ads did not exist until they had got the ministerial tick.

With Mohamed Haneef now out of Australia, guilty of nothing more than having a relative who is a suspect in a terrorist case in another country, we have the Prime Minister again saying he knows nothing.

When will Howard take responsibility?