What to make of the new Haneef dossier? First of all, this appears to be entirely new evidence, so it in no way changes the criticism of the government and the AFP to date. Secondly, the Indian police have not arrested Haneef, which just goes to show how insubstantial this new dossier is. Given that his cousin, who blew himself up in a London car-bomb, was close enough to share SIM cards, it's hardly surprising if Haneef has "come into contact with members of terrorist entities". You might have "come into contact" with terrorists yourself! Thirdly, the dossier talks of ""alleged links with al-Qaeda", but is seems those "allegations" were the ones made by the AFP itself, since the dossier appears to have been compiled after Haneef's arrest.
You know, there was once a guy named CurveBall who had a little document all about Saddam's attempt to buy yellowcake from Niger. On the basis of this document, George W. Bush started talking about Saddam nuking his neighbours, if not the USA, Condi Rice started talking about "mushroom clouds", and Tony Blair insisted that the whole Middle East was just 45 minutes away from Armaggeddon. Turns out the document was just a forgery manufactured by the Italian Secret Service, and almost certainly passed on to the CIA at the behest of a top US neocon named Michael Ledeen.
Credibility is a bitch, and this Howard government has none left. Faced with the very real threat of terrorism (which they themselves have inflated by their hypocrisy, lies and War Crimes), that is simply unacceptable. Kevin Andrews has to go, but so does this whole Howard government. Australians need a government we can trust on matters of national security, and Howard's government has proved - time and again - that it is happy to lie and fear-monger for partisan political gain.
