Guess who can't keep a secret? PM in hot water
By Marian Wilkinson and Tom Allard
November 4, 2005
The Prime Minister, John Howard, has been accused of jeopardising a year-long operation by state and federal police targeting terrorist suspects in Sydney and Melbourne.
The Government used an extraordinary Senate sitting yesterday to pass an amendment to anti-terrorism law to tackle what Mr Howard described as a "potential threat" to the nation.
While declining to give details on operational grounds, Mr Howard said the move had been prompted by "specific intelligence and police information this week which gives cause for serious concern".
Labor supported the amendment but the shadow attorney-general, Nicola Roxon, said the Prime Minister needed to assure the public that "oper- ational matters have not been compromised as a result of the actions the Government took".
The move is believed to have taken some senior police by surprise. The investigation into the threat has been under way for many months, police sources say, and the blanket media coverage given to Mr Howard's announcement may have alerted some suspects.
The operation is believed to be related to an investigation into the Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar e-Toiba and its associates. In June and July this year, ASIO and police conducted raids in Sydney and Melbourne and brought in several suspects for questioning. Among them was a man who had trained with Lashkar e-Toiba before it was listed as a terrorist organisation.
Also raided in Melbourne was Abdul Nacer Benbrika, a radical Algerian sheik who holds significant influence over a group of young students. Several Sydney suspects had travelled to Melbourne to meet Benbrika and his students.
The sheik later publicly denounced the ASIO raids and in a separate incident claimed he had been abducted and assaulted by unknown assailants. He was also charged in late August with fraud offences.
Labor's homeland security spokesman, Arch Bevis, was briefed on the Government's intelligence and said the Government was justified in rushing through yesterday's legal amendment.
But he, too, questioned whether Mr Howard's announcement was wise from a "purely operational security perspective".
Mr Bevis also said that, whether deliberate or otherwise, the announcement "maximised the Government's political benefit".
"We offered to push the amendment through last night," he said. "That meant the authorities could have done their arrests by this morning."
Intelligence sources also expressed their surprise at Mr Howard's tactics.
Typically, when alarming information is gleaned, a well-rehearsed set of procedures is put into place. These normally involve high-level meetings among senior intelligence personnel, government officials and law enforcement officers.
"That certainly didn't happen," said one source. "No one was called back into the office. The proper procedures weren't followed."
Mr Howard also did not order any increase in the terrorism alert level.
Mr Howard's revelation of the threat, on which he briefed the NSW and Victorian premiers, Morris Iemma and Steve Bracks, did, however, swing the states behind his whole package of controversial counter-terrorism laws, including preventive detention and control orders.
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SMH
and you know it as well.. But the "it's cool to put howard down by saying that he's like adolf Hitler.. Saying that he's an enemy of the worker.. Saying that he's a conservative old bastard!" attitude is so old.. I was sick of it when people started.. I'm even more sick of it now. The problem lies not with Howard, but in his lack of opposition; he is not responsible for his lack of opposition, the ALP is because they are currently so pathetic. Asking him to 'act dead' isn't playing the game fairly, and though it's what his enemies wish he would do.. Seriously? come on?! as if..
