25 Mar 2008

The New Strategery?

What does former diplomat Bruce Grant know that we don't?
I wouldn't expect the Prime Minister to confront President George Bush in Washington this week with any startling (for the President) new concept of counter-terrorism. He will have more immediate issues to resolve, including pressure on Australia to join a new Asian security arrangement, the detail of which is not yet public. The flaw in our strategy on terrorism needs to be understood and corrected by ourselves. The Americans will make the discovery in their own way.
The rest of the article is good: Grant says it's time to deny terrorists the oxygen of publicity. Hooray for that. But we should also deny our political leaders the oxygen of endless "anti-terrorist" spin, a crude political device foreseen by writers like George Orwell and frequently abused by the world's worst most evil regimes. And the only way to do that is to hold accountable those who have abused their powers for this purpose.

Royal Commission now please, Kev.