Mick Tsikas and Steve Christo with Tim Winbourne

These are the lads at Sydney Airport. I forget the job now, but we show up all over town, dignatories coming and going, disasters. If you see me coming you know you're having a bad day, I quip, and that's basically true. We are not harbingers of good news. I'm the dead persons roundsman; on general news it's only disasters or scandals that get our attention; particularly on a national paper. The daily mayhem is largely forgotten, but when things turn truly bad, when a scandal threatens your entire career, when you're a high flyer brought down by indiscretion, then we're there.

For us it's just business; we're just doing a job. Vultures, they scream at us from their overlooking apartments, as if such insults were likely to dent our equilibrium. Hard, fast and cynical, not just making reality readable but twisting the narrative into stories which in themselves become part of the play. There was no conscience. We're not evil, I say, we're all parents, we understand the situation. But what we really understand is the need to file on time, the need to be accurate but above all fast, for filing on time takes precedence over everything. There's no use trying to discuss the nuances or ethical dilemmas with anyone higher up the food chain; all they care about is filling a hole and not getting sued; getting a pat on the back because nothing went wrong.

While for the people we deal with, everything has gone wrong. For many of them, it's one of the worst days of their life. If you get to them fast enough; before their skin has thickened or they take their anger out on the media, a natural reaction to blame anyone for the mess their life has suddenly become, the grief that overwhelms them over the untimely death of their son, their daughter, their mother, their father. We're professional empaths, tuning into their horror and their sadness. That's the mother, has to be, I say, putting down the phone after ringing every one in Tasmania with a particular surname. We could send a photographer round to pap her, I said, if we wanted. How do you know? They ask. Too upset, I say. Yes, there's no mistaking that grief, the boss says. We didn't send round a photographer, but that's the way we work.

One day, sent out to photograph the wife of a man, a notorious murder who had just overdosed in jail. She was rough as guts, one of those women who fall for jailbirds. But rough as guts or not, she didn't seem a bad person. We knocked, were told to get lost. We parked outside, in a dreary street in the dreary backlots of Penrith in the western suburbs. We followed her to the school, photographed her as she dropped off a couple of her kids while keeping an eye on her youngest. Please, she begged, just leave us alone. I rang the office. Any further approach to this woman is harassment of a woman in grief with several young children, I said. "Oh, we wouldn't want to do that", came the response. "Door knock the neighbours." That was the job. I sighed, doorknocked the neighbours in their dreary, unfriendly unloved housing commission apartments, full of lives that had gone astray. Almost no one answered their doors. Those that did protested not to know her, or told us to get lost. A bikie type, thickset with tatoos and sunglasses, clearly up to no good, speeding off his tits, knocked on her door and was allowed in; all the windows covered. He no doubt showed her more kindness than any of us.

THE BIGGEST STORY:

The tide in Iraq is turning against America in almost every conceivable way; and intellectuals and commentators are increasingly critical. Dick Cheney has just been in Sydney for four days; provoking demonstrations and creating traffic chaos. It's hard to see that he won any friends downunder.

On the opinion pages author of the Peace of Illusions Christopher Layne writes in today's Australian that Dick Cheney has led America down the road to hell in Iraq.

"VICE President Dick Cheney's Friday speech to the Australian-American Leadership Dialogue in Sydney was merely a stale rehash of justifications for the George W. Bush administration's policies, especially in the Middle East; policies that have been rejected by a majority of the American public and by Congress. Still, Cheney's comments are important because they demonstrate that he and Bush are determined to give no ground in their goal of attaining victory in Iraq.
In November 2006, of course, the Democrats won a resounding triumph in the US congressional elections: a victory that was essentially a repudiation of the administration's Iraq policy. It was widely speculated that the election returns - coupled with the publication of the Iraq Study Group report, and Robert Gates's appointment as Secretary of Defence - heralded the return of the foreign policy realists to influence in Washington, and a major shift in the administration's Iraq policy.
But Bush's surge-escalation in Iraq, and Cheney's Sydney speech indicate that the administration remains indifferent to the views of Congress and the American electorate, and to the counsels of the foreign policy realists who held high office in the George H. W. Bush administration. Already having put itself in a deep hole in Iraq, the administration seems determined to dig itself an even deeper one."

He goes on to quote Jim Mann saying Iraq is "Dick Cheney's war".

"It is a war born of a blinkered, black and white view of Iraq and the Middle East: a view that manifests scant understanding of the region's geopolitical, historical, cultural, ethnic and religious complexities. As evidenced by his Sydney remarks, Cheney and the administration remain prisoners of their illusions.
"We now know - in large part thanks to the "Downing Street memos" of 2002 - that the administration's rationales for war were disingenuous. And Cheney was the prevaricator-in-chief. The Iraq War is not, as Cheney argued during the run-up to the war, about Iraq's non-existent weapons of mass destruction. Nor does it have anything to do with terrorism or the alleged link that Cheney claimed existed between Saddam Hussein and al-Qa'ida (a canard that, amazingly enough, he dredged up in his Sydney speech).
"Rather, almost from the day it took office, the administration had Iraq and Saddam in its crosshairs. With Cheney in the vanguard, the administration came to office determined to go to war with Iraq in order to overthrow Saddam, establish American geopolitical dominance over the Middle East, control the supply of Persian Gulf oil, and democratise Iraq and the Middle East."

He goes on to say: "When historians allocate responsibility for the US's tragic mis-adventure in Iraq, the lion's share of the blame is likely to be placed at Cheney's doorstep."

The Final Steps of

This is a picture of me and the kids on Maroubra Beach at dusk. We went to see Ian, a mate from the radio show, and went walking before he shouted us dinner at the local pub. After the holidays my cards were tight as, and there was a million things to do to catch up. Nothing was straight forward. We were still disorientated, not used to the price of things, hovering unprotected in a city we did not love. But here, at the beach, a contrast to inner-city Redfern, the best things about Sydney were all available. Able to look out at space from almost any vantage point, healthy open faces, the salt in the air and the coolness after the heat of the day. Like most people in Sydney, I had long ago abandoned the beach as any part of our normal routine. Let's just duck down the beach, I used to say years back, having two growing kids, and we would bundle into the car and head off; soon to be caught in the chocking traffic on Cleveland Street, only, eventually, to reach Bondi, Australia's most famous beach. From here the difficulties only multiplied.

The councils of Sydney long ago worked out that the best money generator in town was to fine people for parking and make it impossible to find anywhere to park. They rake it in. It's a criminal abuse of the citizenry, because the fines are unbelievably high, starting at $70 for your run of the mill breach, $90 if you're in a loading zone and going up to $395 plus a $50 late fee for parking in a disabled zone. There is no place to park. If the councils actually spent all these millions providing parking space for the citizenry, they could solve the problem and make everyone's life easier. But of course they don't want to do that, they just want to take the money.

Parking cops are the most despised people in Sydney; but they are trained to brush off the abuse that is heaped on them everyday, somehow justifying making people's lives a misery, supposedly for the greater good. There is no one who can be held account. The officers, scumbags one and all, are just doing their job. The staff behind the counter at the council's are just doing their job. The anti-car mayor thinks it's not her responsibility and people should be encouraged to use public transport, even if the public transport is a disaster. The magistrates imposing the penalties think it's not their fault either; and as they impose unreasonable fines on reasonable people, pensioners who have stopped for five minutes to pick up their disabled partners, taxi drivers who have pulled into the curb to let someone off; they impose these injustices without conscience. "You can't really expect me to take that seriously," they ask, when someone tells them what they think. Creating a city where it is impossible to get around and making it impossible to find a parking spot is all part of the tyranny of the city, the reason why so many people are leaving what was once a great town. Everyone my age says much the same thing; this used to be a nice place, it ain't anymore, it's simply too crowded, too aggressive, too nasty; leading to the white retreat, the sea change, the tree change, whatever you want to call it, everyone wants to get out now, and leave the place abandoned to ethnic enclaves, to strangers who are changing the face of the country, to cruel and aggressive herds of trendoids in flash cars. The social engineers have won the day; promoting the illusion of multicultural harmony, happy to live their lies as long as their theories remain unchallenged. If you're wealthy, you just whack your credit card into the parking machine and it takes your money. If you're not, you find yourself driving around and around, looking for somewhere to leave the car in the stifling heat; the cool of the beach another illusion in the tyranny that has become city life.

THE BIGGEST STORY

From the SMH:
Barricades were in place on roads leading to Sydney Airport as US Vice-President Dick Cheney wrapped up his visit to Australia.
Mr Cheney left about 9am today after a four-day visit marred by violent protests, arrests and traffic chaos in Sydney.
He also faced intensive media questioning about Australian terror suspect David Hicks, Australia's continued military role in Iraq and a possible US-led invasion of Iran.
The near perfect weather during the visit turned to rain today as the 20-vehicle vice presidential entourage travelled to Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport and entered Gate 12A near the domestic terminal.
Airforce 2, a Boeing 757, and a much larger US Air Force KC-10 transport, were loaded by US support staff prior to Mr Cheney's arrival on the tarmac.
No Australian politicians were present at the airport, but US Ambassador Robert McCallum, and his wife Mimi, farewelled the vice-president.
Under a heavy guard of NSW police, US Secret Service and other security personnel, Mr Cheney boarded the flight.
Airforce 2 will have to refuel at an undisclosed location before reaching the US mainland.
Many Sydneysiders experienced the fourth day of traffic chaos in a week when the Sydney Harbour Bridge and part of the Rocks were cleared to give visiting US Vice-President Dick Cheney a clear ride.
All lanes on the bridge and the sea surface below were cleared to allow Mr Cheney's motorcade to travel to John Howard's residence, Kirribilli House.
The situation was made worse by maintenance work on the CityRail network, disrupting services on six suburban lines with many trains running to amended timetables and some services and stations shut down in the CBD and replaced by bus transport.
AAP

Tom and Collin

We were still in that most remote of places, an island in the future. We couldn't be at peace because there was nothing to confirm. If the anchors were old times and old groups; then stranded here we were as nothing. Scheming and scamming; that hadn't stopped. They came by with other missions on their minds. They thought they were being smart and weren't being smart at all. Rip me off, go on, see if I care. These were taudry days that were gusting out from the past chaos; the houses we all used to live in; pointing them out as we drove around; I used to live there, I used to live there; the dank decaying smell coming out of rain and uncombed gardens; the giant terraces which all represented whole stories in themselves.

There had been countless other tribes pass through these dwellings since we had been here. Colin, rocking and rolling, has declared that he is going to the doctor for a chat next week; that he wants to get things together; that there will be no more medical intervention. Taken a dive, honey? I ask; and he nods; dramatising the situation as best he can. We are all preparing for death, but in your case there is wind under the wings; a viral load that threatens to destroy. What's brought this on? I ask. Sick of the pills, sick of not feeling right, and he winces is pain; tells me he's pissing blood.

What was it all about, that visit? I didn't know; didn't, deeply, want to know; wondered why so fractious? Were they blaming me now? Did the only adventures that made any sense finally lodge into place? Repeat after me, I am dying my son, he said, time and again, while the rest of us prepared for uncertain futures. It wasn't the end that we had predicted. He went white with pain again. I couldn't connect; expressed sympathy and confusion; and in the wake of everything he sought out new knowledge and new purpose. These times were so illusory. Prime times, when what we were doing made sense; old friendships long maintained. Outrageous love and outrageous sex; here at the end. We laughed, but there wasn't much to laugh about anymore. It was all about Quality of LIfe.

1,000 more troops to fight TalibanBy Thomas Harding and Christopher Hope
Last Updated: 1:10am GMT 24/02/2007
Plans to send an extra 1,000 troops to Afghanistan were condemned by senior officers yesterday as "unlikely to be enough" to deal with the expected Taliban onslaught in the spring.

Rose Gentle, whose son was killed in Basra in 2004, launches the ‘peace camp’ protest
Commanders questioned whether they will be able to contain the violence in Helmand province and say thousands more may be needed.
The mission is a "troops intensive business", defence sources said last night, adding that it "remains to be seen if this reinforcement is enough".
Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, is expected to tell Parliament on Monday that the next six-month deployment to Afghanistan will be reinforced by an additional regiment and other elements. This is in addition to a further 800 men, mainly from the Grenadier Guards, who are being sent to boost 12 Mechanised Brigade when it deploys to Helmand next month. The total British force there will number more than 5,000 with the extra deployments but this is still not regarded as enough.
and
UNDATED In a largely invisible cost of the war in Iraq, nearly 800 civilians working under contract to the Pentagon have been killed doing jobs normally handled by the U-S military.That's according to figures gathered by The Associated Press. Those figures also show more than 33-hundred civilian contractors have been hurt doing these jobs.
Exactly how many of these employees doing the Pentagon's work are Americans is uncertain. But the casualty figures make it clear that the Pentagon count of more than 31-hundred U-S military dead doesn't tell the whole story.
The U-S has outsourced so many war and reconstruction duties to contractors like Houston-based Halliburton that there are almost as many contractors at 120-thousand in the war zone as the 135-thousand U-S troops.
The insurgents in Iraq make little if any distinction between the contractors and U-S troops.

Curling Through Comfort

We had to make it worth something, that was the assignment. Looks at things, the gusts that he thought had meant something, walking down the lane, the turmoil of everything, the magic mushrooms, the Aquarius Festival, the crowds coming out of the darkness and falling away, the muffled sounds of the campfires across the fields, these had seemed like pinpoints of excitement that would change the world forever, while Janis Joplin belted out her Southern Comfort saturated lyrics and we stumbled further down the lane, always, always, searching for that something just out of reach. Pai brought all these things back, because it was the first time he had seen hippies on holiday for a very long time. The Mr and Mrs Its hobbling down the street, sitting on their verandahs practising yoga, swapping notes about the cheapest places and the cheapest ways to do things.

I don't know why I wanted to be helpful, just this wierd amiable urge to be kind to strangers, but if I could see they had just got off the bus and were clearly lost, as I had been only a few days before, I would say: hey, there's a few half decent guesthouses down that way, or even, if they could be bothered listening rather than reading from their Lonely Planet guide, I could give them a precis of the entire accommodation situation in the entire area. Having investigated thoroughly in my search to house both myself and my two teenage children. But in the times when nobody was listening, when the shrieking that had become part of normal city life, the gronks crowding into the newsagents to by their lottos and their scratchies, having long pointless chats because going down the shopping centre was their only human interaction for the day; I just shook my head and thought my god, these people are completely useless. Maybe their lives should be full of optimism, hope, determination; but instead their mealy mouthed little anus mouths couldn't take a postive for anything.

The irritation factor was high in Sydney. People were just fed up. Let them jump from the Towers of Despair, see if I care where they land, said one social worker, Pru, who once upon a time would have bleated over the fate of the dispossessed and now was fed up with people imposing their problems on everyone else. It was a cruelty; but who was being cruel to whom? Someone had to work hard in a factory to pay the taxes to support all this crap, and John Howard, supposedly a conservative Prime Minister, had stolen all of the oppposition's welfare policies and spread the stranglehold of the bureaucrats deep into the hearts of almost all Australian famlies. More than 90% of the nation's families now fell into an income bracket which entitled them to claim benefits for their children, which many of them did. Why knock back money just for the sake of a form. Everyone was fed up, no one knew the solution. We stood up and went to work; and the pride and dignity of working, it dribbled away with all the old certainties and the blatant double crosses of the ruling elite.

THE BIGGEST STORY:

David Braithwaite

February 23, 2007 - 11:09AM

Anti-war protesters today rallied outside a Sydney police station where three activists were being questioned following a rowdy demonstration against United States Vice-President Dick Cheney.
Police on foot and horseback provided an escort as the protesters waved anti-war banners and chanted "No racism, no war'' during the two kilometre march to the police station from The Rocks.
Outside the police station, about 60 officers formed two rows as protesters chanted and banged drums.
Around 100 anti-war protesters chanting "Chain up Cheney, free David Hicks," had earlier faced off with police who were blocking their path towards the Shangri-la Hotel.About nine o'clock, police flooded the street with reinforcements, moved their horse line forward and put extra police at the rear of the protest group. Within the group, police arrested three protesters, including two costumed protesters known as The Tranny Cops.Dale Mills, an organiser for the Stop the War Coalition, said the two female protesters satirised police officers with a dance routine wearing blue overalls and false moustaches.A 70-year-old woman has been taken to Sydney Hospital with unknown injuries after being knocked over during the arrests.Marie McKern said ``I just got pushed into the ground and it was terrifying - there were bodies everywhere''.

Into Infinity

Into infinity, the Russel Drysdale way. This is a picture of the Pai streets early in the morning. I've always been an early riser and was down at the bus station before dawn, warming myself against the fire at the stall at the bus station, the coals welcome in the freeze of the night. During the day, and freshening into night, particularly on the weekends, there were flocks of Thai tourists up from Bangkok. Nothing was trendier than to immediately get on your mobile and tell your friends you were in Pai and it was beautiful and it was freezing. Sixty three million people; all on the move; a new affluence as surge after surge of economic activity overlaid what had once been an essentially rural country. They took us away from you. They called to you in fractured conversation; and in the morning, when the streets were quiet, that was when he felt most truly at peace.

The coffees, instant, with dairy substitute and sugar, were ten baht each. After a few mornings they greeted me with smiles, but never tried to speak English. It reminded me of times thirty years ago, when I had come to Asia; and it had been an entirely different place. I guess it sounds appalling; but what came as a surprise somehow was that all this progress and technology we regard as so Western, they've got it all in abundance and often far better sophistication than we have. It seemed so Stalinist and grey when I got back; over-regulated; no night life; certainly no bars spilling out into the street at night; Good Time Long Time; We Are Sorry, We are Open; Closed, we never Open; the splendidly haphazard English and times I would never forget; long ago a rural idyll locked in a bubble.

It was impossible to forget. I went to one of the best parties I've been to for a very long time; in a wealthy area of Phuket; the astonishing houses rising on the hill. We wound up through the gated community of absolute wealth till we got to one of the top houses. The party was on the roof, which was an enormous open bar with spectacular views up and down the island. And we were giving them money? It's impossible to believe a tsunami went through there only two years ago. We couldn't clinch. We hadn't danced and laughed like that for a very long time. There was a dizzying depth; people talking out on the patio, perched out over the pool; everything in perfect taste; everyone in their thirties and making money; plenty of money; that alcohol free; the well manned bar mixing cocktails till dawn; the music just the best the world had to offer. The axis had shifted.

THE BIGGEST STORY:

Cheney visit prompts protests

Protesters demonstrating against the US Vice-President's Australian visit clash with police outside Sydney's Town Hall.Photo: Lisa Wiltse
AdvertisementAdvertisement
February 22, 2007 - 9:01PM
Ten people have been arrested in Sydney during violent clashes between police and protesters at a rally ahead of the arrival of US Vice-President Dick Cheney.
The protest, organised by Stop the War Coalition at Town Hall, turned nasty when about 200 people attempted to break a line of police and march to the US Consulate in Martin Place.
The officers, supported by a line of mounted police, held their positions as activists attempted to break through.
Ten people were arrested in the scuffle with police which calmed after officers negotiated with organisers to allow the group to march on the footpath during busy peak hour traffic.
Superintendent Ron Mason, from The Rocks Local Area Command, said police supported the right to demonstrate as long as there was no disruption to the community.
He said an application from the demonstrators was received but it was unreasonable for demonstrators to block busy streets during peak hour.
"Police have been negotiating for days with this group and they agreed to hold a static demonstration at Town Hall,'' Supt Mason told reporters.
"As you can see they rescinded that, a number of speakers got on the microphone to attempt to ensure the protesters broke the police line and to block the roadway.
"It's not on.''
There was no further incident after officers allowed the group to proceed to Martin Place, where they continued their calls to "free David Hicks" and "troops out now".Peak hour traffic on George Street and surrounding areas was disrupted as police accompanied the group on their march, before officers formed a guard at the steps of the building where the US consulate is housed.Stop the War Coalition spokesman Alex Bainbridge said he was pleased with the behaviour of the protesters."We're disappointed at the police action in trying to stop us and we're disappointed that people have been unfairly arrested," he said."But we're glad that people have come out so strongly to voice their opposition of the detention of David Hicks."Mr Bainbridge said police "acted unnecessarily" and that organisers had followed the proper procedures to hold the protest.Earlier, the crowd heard from a number of speakers at Town Hall Square, calling for David Hicks to be brought home from Guantanamo Bay and who labelled Mr Cheney a war criminal.Organisers told the crowd they gave adequate police notice and it was up to individuals to decide if they wanted to march down George Street."Police have attempted to drive the anti-war protest off the street," coalition spokeswoman Jean Parker told the crowd."We will not be silenced."Supt Mason said extra police were also placed on standby but they were not necessary.He praised the efforts of his officers who he said acted appropriately.Mr Cheney will arrive in Sydney later tonight and will stay in the city until Sunday.The Stop the War Coalition is planning a major demonstration tomorrow at 9.30am (AEDT) in The Rocks.As one of the key architects of the US invasion of Iraq, the war will be top of Mr Cheney's agenda during his brief Sydney stay, which will include a major policy speech and meetings with Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd. Fresh from a whistle-stop visit to troops on the US island of Guam and two-days in Japan discussing security issues, Mr Cheney is due to arrive at Sydney airport late tonight and departs on Sunday morning.The NSW Police Force said his arrival had warranted one of the biggest security operations since US President George W Bush's visit four years ago. Sydneysiders still angered by Tuesday's traffic gridlock - caused by the mismanagement of thousands of sightseers flocking to Sydney Harbour to glimpse two visiting ocean liners - have been warned to expect more traffic snarls. Deputy Police Commissioner Terry Collins said the areas between Cumberland, Gloucester and Essex streets at The Rocks would be locked down throughout Mr Cheney's visit and clearways would be in place in and around Sydney until Sunday.It is understood the vice president's motorcade will get a green-light corridor wherever it travels."This is the biggest operation outside of George W Bush's visit here some time ago," Mr Collins said."He (Cheney) is considered one of the highest risks we've had since September 11," he said, adding there was no credible intelligence indicating a threat.
Mr Howard today said it would not be Mr Cheney's fault if protests, also planned for tomorrow, created a disturbance in Sydney."That would be the fault of the protesters if there is additional inconvenience to the people of Sydney - over and above what normally happens when you have someone like this visiting the place," Mr Howard told reporters in Perth."It won't be the fault of Vice-President Cheney and it won't be the fault of the NSW police who are merely doing their job."NSW Premier Morris Iemma, who will be in Canberra with Mr Howard for a water meeting tomorrow, said police would not tolerate any violence from protesters."Everyone's entitled to protest and to do so peacefully," he told reporters."But they are not going to cause inconvenience and disruption and take the law into their own hands."If they do so, the police will be there and they will respond accordingly."Mr Iemma said state firearms regulations had been amended to allow Mr Cheney's US Secret Service bodyguards to carry firearms.AAP

Fireworks

In cosy circumstance, with temperatures unbound, in tiny backyards with the city stretching all around, from darkness and light and moments of truth, we called for comfort in the inner-circle and found ourselves with explosions on our hands. The more you rescue her the worse she gets, I warned, and they paid no attention, buying her a $30,000 car, giving her $10,000 in cash, always protecting, the lads partying on while we gazed in awe, laughter bound. I didn't know where the truth lay anymore. One moment a good idea seemed the only path, the next, suffering from contradictory advice, I didn't know the way forward. I certainly didn't like getting older by the day. If only the process would reverse, and we could grow younger by the day, and all the indulgent mistakes that had been made over so many years, they came back to comfort as much as to haunt.

It was strange being away, outside my own life, but after awhile I settled into a happiness I hadn't known for a long time, felt in the right place at the right time, which I never felt, was happy to have ceased transmission, to be a nobody amongst strangers, not pretending to be tough arsed burnt out hack, just a merry, quiet soul, friendly but not fauning, was happy to sit talking with people from all over the world, late into the night. They drank, and I couldn't drink, and for some reason it didn't matter. Complete strangers would tell me their whole life story in the first five minutes of our meeting, and I wondered why they did this, did I have a receptive face? Did I look like someone who would care? But they would tell me anyway.

I've been here for two years; I'm struggling to build a house; the girlfriend left; I was working as a postman in Holland and the wife left and I thought my life was over; I was working in an icecream factory in Ohio and the wife left; I thought my life was over. I cashed up and went travelling. Through South America. Through Africa. And ended up here. And haven't stopped laughing since. Because sitting here, back in Sydney, at a computer, another day at work finished, stories bashed out at frantic pace, performing the impossible in a thousand key strokes; the dogs not here and Sam over at Suzy's for the night because she's sick, of course; nobody inquires too closely, it's a wonder she's still standing; and he's taken hostage, emotionally blackmailed; and there's nothing I can do to stop it. Is there? Henrietta's here and doesn't want to go back. Time passes and the cruelty of that time is easily condensed. I never wanted to be here. I never thought the good times would end. And out of all the chaos; he found stability in the end zone which was a comfort in itself. Even if there was no rhyme, and certainly no reason.

THE BIGGEST STORY:

EURONEWS: Britain to start pulling its troops out of Iraq
Britain is set to announce a progressive pull-out of its troops from Iraq, starting in just a few weeks time. Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to make the announcement in Parliament. The White House, presently engaged in controversially sending thousands more troops to Baghdad, has already been informed. The pull-out is being presented as a sign of British success in that the southern regions of Iraq, for which it was responsible, can soon be handed over to Iraqi security forces. 1500 British soldiers, out of the 7000 or so presently deployed in Iraq, could be home by this summer, with the rest following by the end of 2008. The announcement is set to come just a day after ruling Labour was seen to be trailing the opposition Conservatives by 13 percentage points in a crucial poll.

We Of the Never Never

This is a picture of the Pai River north of Chiang Mai; and this was the view from my verandah. This is the third week back, kick starting all the routines again; and I'm generally not pleased, phased you might say, at being back. It's all about settling into the brutal routines; falling in short from expectations; escaping depression and settling into torment; the happy days already receding. I just loved it there. Maybe being on holidays and the fact that it's cheap helped; but everything seemed right there, fun, all the lai lines meeting and assuaging the spirit, here in the midst.

The Queen Mary 2 is in town, the media full of glittering pictures of our harbour. A woman was dragged 150 metres underneath a taxi. Sammy turned 16 on the weekend and was straight down to the RTA. Test is next Saturday. These are the minutae of our lives, where chaos and pain intermingle with domestic security and the will to hide; in safety; locking the door and never going out. Colin re-appeared, oblivious to the fuss he had caused. US Vice President Cheney, one of the leading barrackers for the Iraq War, is in town and there are plenty of suggestions it would have been better for Howard if he had stayed away.

Iraq is not a vote winner, probably never was. The holiday recedes. I have had the above picture on my phone as wallpaper; that was the view from my verandah, I say, and the times they crawl inside of us; sun slants through the city streets; we want to be known and unknown and retreat into silence. The state election is coming up. It's a federal election year as well; and it will be a very political year. Not getting any younger, he growns inside, his feet hurting. Have to get up the farm. Time stands still and we are all blessed.

THE BIGGEST STORY

PAKISTAN TIMES:

Suspected Terror Attack: PANIPAT (India): The death toll in fire on the Samjhota Express, which reportedly erupted after blasts in the train in the northern Indian state of Haryana, has increased to 66, reports said on Monday. Over 50 people have been injured in the tragic incident. The reports said that the death toll could still increase.

Pai: Longing For The Time

Draft. Travelling with teenagers. I sit, looking at the view above, which is taken from the verandah of my bungalow, and cop a wall of complaint from my teenage son. We can't stay here, he declares. The beds are uncomfortable, our room's cold, there's no television, there's nothing to do. But look at the view, I say, waving a hand at the Pai River and the valley stretching out before us; renowned as one of the most beautiful valleys in the world. What's the use of a view, he asks, what's the use of a river when it's too cold to swim. I sigh. It had cost so much money to get us here; finances winding through the sheets and storms; the wind gusted streaks that could not be contained; the city in gay and lesbian mardi gras mode; escape, that is all I wanted, escape.

We came through the troubled tunnels and we landed here. I wanted to impart one last gift, as they moved towards adulthood, and that was a love of travel. I had spent the last decade, at least in my mind, protecting them from difficult circumstance. Now they were almost old enough to be independent, 14 and 16, time is a traveller, Tenterfield saddler, and we experimented with styles and breaches of convention and held that nothing was vital. It's the dry season, you're not seeing it at its best, they told me. During the wet season, when the rains wash the dust from the air, you can see every leaf for miles; and it truly is one of the most beautiful places on earth.

There was just something about it; I liked being there. All the lai lines on earth are meant to meet there; so the cosmic say; and maybe it's true. I felt more normal, more meant to be, than I had for a long time. And the pinks washed across the river every morning and I gazed in awe; trying to capture everything, only to abandon the beauty for a coffee; the visual feast yanked to the bottom of a coffee cup. Everything felt right, meant to be, and that is a most unusual feeling. Time is a traveller, Tenterfield saddler; that was what it was all about; perched at the end of time, at the end of life; in remote corners. God had hidden the most beautiful things in the most inaccessible spots; that was my theory; the Himalayas; but in the current century the ashphalt roads led jam packed Toyotas to the most inaccessible spots; and we were craven in our stupidity; as we passed and passed; beholden.

THE BIGGEST STORY:
Army commanders are grappling with an unprecedented security headache as Prince Harry prepares to deploy to Iraq.
The third in line to the throne appears to have won the battle to join his men on operations in a war zone after months of high-level discussions during which he threatened to quit if he was left behind for his own safety.
Insiders say, however, that officials are still grappling with practical issues - including whether the Metropolitan Police personal protection officers who guard Harry around the clock in the UK should continue doing so in Iraq.
Time to resolve such issues is short. The prince's unit, 'A' Squadron of the Blues and Royals regiment, was warned unofficially last week to expect a six-month tour of duty in southern Iraq starting in April.
It will be the first time a member of the Royal Family has served on military operations since Prince Andrew flew helicopters in the Falklands War 25 years ago - and will force his senior commanders to confront some difficult choices over security.

Phantoms At The End of the Day

It will be a long time, through crowded airports, crushing crowds, cities that teem with life; queuing in order to be forgiven. It's been very odd being back; nothing is straight forward, everything forgotten. Picking up the loose strands. Turning on the electricity, almost literally. No hot water, because the wind has once again blown out the gas heater. The computer didn't work, and it took several trips to the computer shop, and some considerable expense, to get it working again. Colin went missing, last seen when I dropped him off at Central Station one morning on the way to a meeting. Rock solid, solid foundation they chant, whenever a member speaks. It's all too much, but nonetheless turns my head around.

But as I said, nothing has been straight forward, nothing. Getting the cards working again, getting financially back on track after a holiday which cost far more than I ever intended. The schemes and dreams, these were always things that we wanted, fragments of erotica and chaotic voices; threads which never linked, clouds which never took proper shape. We longed for order and ended in chaos. I made mistakes, too many mistakes, and pretended that nothing had happened. I've missed Thailand, I just wanted to turn around and go straight back. I loved it there; the momentary affluence because of the exchange rates, the attitudes. I would watch them some mornings and think: these people are happy. No one in Sydney seems happy, almost no one.

The traffic chokes through our lives and the Labor party launched its election campaign for the state. So we have Morris Iemma, who is perceived as not being as glib a liar as his predecessor Bob Carr, but nonetheless a politician spinning bullshit by the truck load. I've lived too long. I don't like any of them anymore. I couldn't care less if the Labor Party lost power, they don't represent me, they don't represent anybody but themselves anymore. The trouble, as everyone points out, is that the opposition isn't much too boot either. Peter Debnam is a thin, austere, terminally straight man in a fundamentally bent town. He relates to almost no one. He pounds the law and order drum as if we hadn't heard enough of it already. He tries to outgreen the greens; pushing us to drink recycled sewerage; and between them the whole state could barely care less who won. Ripped off by the devil you know, or the devil you don't. Debnam is not a bad person; but he's ex-military; and gives off the aura of having never ever sat in a bar and got drunk or smoked a cigarette or done anything normal, ever. They are dry days in a dry climate; and I really wanted to go back. It was great being on holidays, outside my own life. The kids are back after spending a couple of weeks with their mom. Suzy's fighting with Henrietta, poor little thing, all of 14, half girl half woman, a terrible age, and she walks into my house, a bit of a batchelor's pad I have to admit, and says: It's like a temple here, dad. No one's ever called my house a temple before.

So nothing is straight forward, all is forgotten; and in the hopes we build for a more comforting future, these aspirations too fall on dry concrete. Sydney is a frustrating, soulless town. The tourists see the beauty of the harbour and the spectacular beauty of the rich mansions that surround it; and for the rest of it; we have nothing but fake politicians to loathe and traffic to choke in. From the bottom of the well, there is no justice. All the rigours, the discourse, the affection, the chaotic love of a place that once had a heart, it's all been burnt by hypocrisy; a profoundly dredged state of mind, a Stalinesque culture hide bound by regulation; but above all, a terrible hypocrisy.

THE BIGGEST STORY:

Rudd and Howard have been busy battling it out on the airwaves over Iraq after Howard's claim that terrorists would be delighted by a Democrat win in the US, and that in particular a win for Obama would be a win for al'Qaida. It's been incredibly taudry stuff; while the car bombs continue to go off....


An escalating war of words and fury
Alan RamseyFebruary 17, 2007

On October 7, 2003, the Senate debated the worthlessness of John Howard's word on the invasion of Iraq, before voting 33 to 30 to censure him. In February that same year the Senate did much the same thing, voting 34 to 31 to censure the Government for its political manipulation on Iraq and "no confidence" in Howard's handling of "this grave issue". The Democrats' Lyn Allison, now her party's leader, said during the October debate: "There would be few Australians who would not agree we have been lied to over the pre-emptive strike on Iraq."
Three years and four months later, in an election year, John Howard refuses to debate Iraq on any basis, either inside or outside Parliament.
Back in 2003, of course, the Government did not control the Senate. The subsequent election - on October 9, 2004, a year after the second censure vote - ended the Coalition's Senate minority. The political embarrassment of Howard's censure, as Prime Minister, twice in eight months has not been repeated. Howard has the numbers in both the House of Representatives and the Senate to enforce his will.
Yet still Howard will not debate Kevin Rudd.
On Wednesday morning, immediately after prayers as the House resumed meeting, the Labor leader announced a seven-part motion calling on Howard to "immediately come into the House" and debate him "for a period of not less than an hour" on Australia's military role in Iraq.
Rudd did not mince words.
He cited Howard's "false basis" for Australia's decision to join the invasion, his "misuse of intelligence material to justify" the decision, his "failure" to "articulate a clear cut mission statement" for Australia's "continued participation in the war", Howard's "failure" to develop a "clear cut exit strategy" from Iraq, his "refusal" to explain "his strategy for winning the war", his "attack" on the US Democratic Party as "al-Qaeda's party of choice", and "the Prime Minister's lack of guts and courage in refusing to accept" Rudd's challenge to a national television debate "on Labor's plan to bring our troops home" and Howard's plan "to leave our troops in Iraq indefinitely".
The motion was worded as provocatively as possible to try to goad Howard and leave him little room politically to decline.
But the Government was unmoved. Howard wasn't even in the chamber. As Rudd began speaking to his motion, the junior minister at the table, Bruce Bilson, moved the gag on him. All Rudd managed to say was: "The Prime Minister said yesterday that Parliament is the forum for debate. Come on down - " .....

Happy Endings

At Changi Airport waiting for a flight back to Sydney. The whole world is on the move. People who 20 years ago would never have travelled are waiting in airport lounges, talking to anyone about anything. It's been a long shuffle back; the bus trip from unbelievably picturesque Pai down to the buzzle of Chiang Mai; then a flight to Bangkok on One Two Go; 1700 baht, about $60, to fly anywhere in Thailand, all destinations the same price. Perfectly decent; even left on time. Mass travel, just like the internet, is changing the world; and I look at the hordes and think, this has only happened in the past few years.

Flew Swissair from Bangkok to Singapore yesterday evening and overnighted in the President Park Hotel. At least it was better than the China Princess. Next to Little India, which really is like India. You could swear you were in Delhi or even Calcutta. There was a big travel convention event on at the hotel, rolling out the red carpet, people spilling out of private parties in the bars and coffee shops.

My stomach hurts and Sydney seems very much out of the main swing of things. Have to be back at work on Sunday. We're at the far end of the world; the socialand economic life has been sifled by generations of appalling politicians; the puritanical and censorious legacy of the British and the overlaying levels of government, all have gone to creating a more boring culture than need be. Where are you from? I asked some middle aged bloke in the toilets at the food hall at the back of the night bazaar when he caught me putting on a Same Same But Different t-shirt and I made some flippant comment. Sydney, he said in a clipped South African accent. So am I, I said. Have a safe journey, he said, in an imperious tone, walking off, and I remembered why I hated my own city. After a month caught in furious conversation with people from all over the world.

It's cost more than I intended but it's been great to be away; outside my own life and own routine.

Everything Is Possible Nothing Is Sure

This is another picture of me and the kids on the back of that long suffering elephant. Actually while it seemed a bit cruel the way they were chained up at the elephant camp, at the same time they seemed very well cared for, well fed, well exercised and much loved by their trainers. There's a way to rotate the picture to an upright position but in an internet cafe I can't for the life of me work it out. This is our last full day in Thailand before heading back to Sydney. It's been great getting out of the routine of my life and the chronic depression I had sunk into. And fascinating. The world has moved on since last I was out in it. While I grew up travelling, my father was an airline pilot and I had free airtickets until I was 24, the last decade, since I broke up with the kids mother and there was two years of crippling court dramas made far far worse by the shocking level of corruption in the system, life settled into a pretty same same routine; not flash with cash, lost everything like most separated blokes, the house, the car; not the kids which a lot of them also lose.

The Thai economy is growing at 13 per cent a year I'm told and every single bloke on the planet seems to have ended up here. We're in Chiang Mai, which last time I was here in the 70s was a quaint little town in the seemingly remote north of Thailand, and now is an absolute buzzle giving Bangkok a run for its money. We are near the Thae Pai gate; a tourist area; smoke belches forth from a thousand cluttering took tooks and taxis and buses and cars; at night the clubs all pound out music and laughter and hundreds of drunken blokes make fools of themselves. I love you long time. 2,000 Baht; they say. Come in mister. Soon enough it would be: you come I go. That's the way of it. Some very ordinary looking blokes who couldn't get a root in their home town, much less a looker, are hanging out with georgeous Thai women on their arms. They're paying through the nose and they're as happy as Larry.

They're so keen to please, they say in astonishment, broad grins on their faces. They're simply not used to women who are eager to please. Even if it is at a price. Australian women, like Russian women, they say, are high cost high maintenance and no matter what happens you will pay. Here they are high cost only by local standards, and the Thai attitude to sex; happy ending guaranteed, has made it a mecca for every horny bastard in the universe. From the golden arsed boys wearing numbers under their chests under flourescent lights; to the thousands upon thousands of girly bars dotting the country, from the brothels to the take home bars; pay the bar 400 baht; pay the girl, boy or lady boy 2000 baht; and the pleasure's all yours. Mass tourism has changed the world; it amazes me that you can just go to an ATM in the streets of what was once the third world and take out money, just as you can at home; the internet is faster, the phone service is better; the economy is booming in a way the Australian economy, hide bound with regulation, never will; and they flock from all over the world in their hundreds of thousands. Double story planes used by the cheap airlines transport them in a cut cost universe equalled only by the net as the entire world turns into one enormous theme park.

THE BIGGEST STORY:

By Freddie Mooche
(AXcess News) Washington - The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee met Tuesday to figure out how to constitutionally block President George W. Bush's Iraq plan with the goal of curtailing additional troop deployment to the worn-torn Middle Eastern nation and limit the U.S. military's conduct in the war itself, which could include troop withdrawals.
While Committee Democrats have made it known that they disagree with the President's troop surge, Republican member Sen. Arlen Specter (Penn.) has joined fellow Judicial Committee members in backing the Senate members move to cut Bush's authority. "This is a joint and shared responsibility," said Specter.

Sabye Sabye

We've finally left Pai after being stranded or abandoned there for the past couple of weeks. I completely enjoyed it, after getting off the bus the first day and thinking, we're not staying here. The first impression is appalling; like a Nimbin on speed with tourists everywhere. But five minutes off the main drag and it's absolutely beautiful. And there are so many characters there if you want to get involved. Some of the hippies are just appalling. There was one character from france with a bald shaved head with a little matt at the back and various tatoos all over who was complaining that he had come all the way to Thailand in search of an "eco-village", apparently a village which is truly at one with nature, but couldn't find it. But he didn't believe in searching too hard for it, because that would be against kharma; so the fact that he couldn't find it because he hadn't stumbled about it was enough to make him decide that he was leaving Thailand.

I saw him in a cafe this morning reading some book called The True Earth. He clearly needs his crystals re-energised. There were others; like old fashioned rastas, with thier matted hair hanging down the back of their necks, filthy, you've got to be filthy. But the wierd thing was they weren't stoned; just high on life man. Sheeeesshhhh. Wouldn't have happened in my day.

But apart from all that it was just fun; sitting with the Thais at 6am drinking coffee for 10 baht; about 30 cents Australian; I'm about the only tourist up at that hour; just working out who's who in the zoo. There's a few very enterprising swedes and dutch blokes with georgeous girlfriends and cute as button children who will tell you cheerfully that they were postmen or whatever in their home country; thought there life was over and then came here. And then of course there was Eddy. It didn't end well. He tried to bite me for another couple of hundred baht last night because he had missed his money transfer from Western Union by ten minutes and I just thought no mate; I'm not funding your drinking habit. There's a reason I don't drink like that, or drink at all, and that's because drinking like that will kill you. And besides, I've got two kids in tow and I work for my money and give it an f'n rest. So it didn't end well; but I must admit I had some very entertaining conversations with him as he did his own Under The Volcano routine. Under the Volcano is regarded as the best description of a drunk in English literature; it was always my favourite book, Malcolm Lowry, who of course died a miserable death as an alcoholic; and while Eddy had never heard of Under the Volcano when I mentioned it to him; his streams of poetry and hysterical stories about spending half his life in jail and the other half as a chronic junkie were enormously amusing. Maybe it wasn't healthy for me to be listening to all that; but it was fun, sitting up late at night listening to blokes from all over the world talking about all sorts of crap. At home I've just been going home alone.

So quick so eager to please, the boys say of the Thai girls; and they laugh and they laugh; and they all say they haven't laughed like this for years. We've begun the long journey back to Sydney; booking into a pretty ordinary guesthouse in Chiang Mai tonight and moving around the corner tomorrow. The kids have gone back to the hotel to watch TV; they're getting homesick now but will no doubt boast about the experience for quite some time to come. It's all been much more expensive than I planned; it'll be a quiet few months while the credit cards get back into shape. But I've enjoyed myself, and I haven't said that for what seems like a very long time.

Same Same But Different

This is a picture of me and the kids on the back of an elephant on the Pai River in northern Thailand. We've been here a fortnight now and are leaving tomorrow. I just don't want to go. Sometimes I get home to my bungalow late at night, well not that late, and think; I'd forgotten how beautiful it was, the sound of the river, the moonlight reflecting off the water, the lights of the huts down the valley, even the lighted lanterns that float off into the sky at night. I've loved it here. Yesterday I was thinking we've done everything, it's time to leave, and today I'm thinking, why, why, when everything is here.

I have to be back at work on Sunday. I was so depressed when I left. Ceasing transmission wasn't the half of it. I don't know what it was, some depressive jag after Ian died. He was the sentinal, somehow, in the internal cosmology, the one to report back to, the chronicler of all our lives; and his passing seemed to reflect on everything. Sydney was boring late at night; no real late night cafes, playing pool with the tragic trannies at 3am had limited appeal; and there was just nothing, there in the darkness and the silence before the dawn. I could never sleep. Here, with the sound of the river, I sleep for hours. Or sit and talk to people from all over the world, literally all over. Back there, I had lost faith in the story; the writer, the observer, the camera eye, the role that God and fate had cast were all meaningless in the depths of growing older and more silent; day by day. Here there are blokes from all over; all ages; and for some reason; maybe I've got that sort of face; they tell me their whole life story in the first five minutes of meeting them. I was a postman, I worked in an icecream factory; I was divorced, there was nothing there, I had money in the bank and I set off two years ago and just never came back.

Never came back. Same same but different. It's a common phrase the Thais use in the midst of negotiations to justify why, after half an hour of assuring the customer that this one was the same as that one and the price would be the same, that in fact it cost extra, because it's same same but different. Like all the other sayings. The land of smiles is also the land of money, with the economy expanding at 13 per cent a year. Suddenly they're all running around in brand new Toyotas, money changes hands rapidly, schemes and dreams. Everything is possible, nothing is sure. One of the last nights at work; I got there, churned out 400 words on our noble fireman for a self promotional activity by the paper; then updated a weather story that hadn't run to take in hail storms in Armidale while reinforcing the prediction for the first white christmas in more than 20 years; then had to find an academic anti-euthenasia after the publication of a how to kill yourself book; then realised there had been a shutdown on the eastern suburbs rail network after passengers reported strange smells; a false alarm, then the radio room rang down and said there had been an explosion at the entertainment centre, turned out to be fireworks in a car park, then bashir was exonerated by the Indonesian courts and I had to ring Bali bomb victims; lifting the scabs off the wounds for the thousandth time, all this just before midnight; then doing the radio spot on the ABC, the national broadcaster; and there could be no mistake. And I haven't had an upgrading in 12 years and thought: what the fuck am I doing?

Ceasing Transmission

Sitting in an internet cafe in the mountains of northern Thailand fiddling with uploading pictures. Still working it out. Mastercard wrote and asked if I wanted my credit extended and I thought: that's a holiday. Walking along a beach in Phuket I realised that my whole self image had devolved into thinking that all the good times in my life were over, sad, sick and lonely, well chronically depressed actually, sick of work and sick of my life and longing for an escape, any escape.

It didn't work out that way. We've been in Pai a hundred and something k's north of Chiang Mai for quite a while now. For a time I never wanted to leave but it's time to go now. We've been everywhere and seen everything, watched the sunrises and sunsets in the mystical valleys; watched the hordes of tourists come and go. There's been a Thai documentary on Pai recently and there are massive numbers of what seem to me to be newly wealthy Thai tourists here; outnumbering the westerners. In the old days it was just westerners; and the relics are everywhere, in the cafes with chocolate cakes, the Mellow Yellow bar; the latter day hippies in the streets. The fashion looked daggy in its day and looks even more so now. And the wierd thing is they're all straight, sipping their ginger tea and talking about how Pai is one of the only places on earth where all the lai lines meet. There's no dope here, a military coup will do that I guess, and they're all just out drinking at night or recharging their crystals or whatever they get up to.

The hippies are known as being clanish and unfriendly; while the most entertaining company in the whole town has been Eddy the town drunk, who thinks I'm a great bloke because for some reason or other I keep lending him money. Most of the time it comes back. I sit swilling over-sweet orange juice and complaining that my liver means I can't drink, which is basically true, and sit with him smoking rough Pablo Burmese cigarettes and listening to the stories that pour from him in deluded torrents. He fell off his bike the other night, drunk as a skunk, blood all over him, and I was nearby and helped wash the blood off him and made sure he got home alright. He thinks the Thais were all very helpful to him after the accident, but in fact they were standing back askance. He broke his dentures in half and had to super-glue them back together. The last time that happened, he said, was when someone stuck a gun in my mouth. Yeh, I thought, and I bet you deserved it.

But it's been great to be somewhere else, outside of things, outside of routine and outside of the spiralling patterns of my life. Back to work a week from today. Sigh.

IRAQ WATCH:

ABC:

By CALVIN WOODWARD and LARRY MARGASAK
WASHINGTON Jan 27, 2007 (AP)— Convinced this is their moment, tens of thousands marched Saturday in an anti-war demonstration linking military families, ordinary people and an icon of the Vietnam protest movement in a spirited call to get out of Iraq.
Celebrities, a half-dozen lawmakers and protesters from distant states rallied in the capital under a sunny sky, seizing an opportunity to press their cause with a Congress restive on the war and a country that has turned against the conflict.
Marching with them was Jane Fonda, in what she said was her first anti-war demonstration in 34 years.
"Silence is no longer an option," Fonda said to cheers from the stage on the National Mall. The actress once derided as "Hanoi Jane" by conservatives for her stance on Vietnam said she had held back from activism so as not to be a distraction for the Iraq anti-war movement, but needed to speak out now.
The rally on the Mall unfolded peacefully, although about 300 protesters tried to rush the Capitol, running up the grassy lawn to the front of the building. Police on motorcycles tried to stop them, scuffling with some and barricading entrances.

Touched

That remained the future, the game, having just read Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds, the ultimate sci-fi, published 2005, the last survivors of an extinct species cast millions of years into the future, a zoo. Everything collapsed into insignificance in the long time frame. There was a game as a kid, see how long I could go without speaking to anyone. If I made it to three days, much to my parents distraction, it was a major triumph. That was the mood now, gateways locked, outside either hostile or filled with melancholy of the most menacing kind, looking on in envy as normal people went about their business.

They were handsome, a lot of them, the boys, this being a student precinct near both Sydney University and the University of Technology, and the girls were healthy, in the prime of everything, while distancing prisms caught at everything he could no longer be, the colours contained




IRAQ WATCH:

From the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/24/world/middleeast/24cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1164430800&en=c730b65295d60b9f&ei=5094&partner=homepage


Iraq Toll Rises; Shiite Militia Retaliates By EDWARD WONGPublished: November 24, 2006BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 24 — Defying a government-imposed curfew, Shiite militiamen stormed Sunni mosques in central Iraq today, shooting guards and burning down buildings in apparent retaliation for a series of devastating car bombs that killed hundreds of people the previous day in a Shiite slum, residents and police officials said.
All day today, funeral processions wound through the crowded streets of the Sadr City section of Baghdad that is home to more than 1.5 million people, mostly Shiites.

An Iraqi wept over the coffin of his relative in Baghdad's impoverished district of Sadr City today.As the death toll from those bombings rose above 200, gunmen drove through several neighborhoods in Baghdad and the nearby provincial capital of Baquba, taking aim at mosques with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades on the Muslim holy day, when many Iraqis go to mosques to pray.The wreaking of vengeance unfolded while a powerful parliamentary bloc loyal to firebrand Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr threatened to boycott the government if Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki attends a meeting with President Bush scheduled for Wednesday in Jordan. The legislators said the American presence was the root cause of the spiraling violence in Iraq.But it was Mr. Sadr’s militia, the Mahdi Army, that Sunni residents blamed for the attacks today. From morning until afternoon, at least four mosques were attacked in a single mixed neighborhood in the capital. Two were completely destroyed, and at least five Sunnis were killed and 10 wounded, an Interior Ministry official said. Iraqi security forces were absent, unwilling or unable to stop the gunmen.“I live near Akbar al-Mustafa Mosque, which came under attack by gunmen around 7 this morning,” said a man who gave his name as Abu Ruqaiya and lives in Hurriya, the Baghdad neighborhood where violence raged all day. “Around 3 in the afternoon, those gunmen bombed this mosque and destroyed part of it. They left only after American and Iraqi soldiers arrived.”Some fighting continued into the evening, as gunmen in the neighborhood battled the invading fighters, the Interior Ministry official said. President Jalal Talabani urged calm at a news conference after an evening meeting of Iraq’s top leaders and said the defense minister had told him no mosques had been destroyed. Mr. Talabani also said he was postponing a weekend trip to Iran because the government had shut down Baghdad International Airport. In the far north, a suicide car bomber and a suicide belt bomber detonated their explosives at an outdoor car market in the insurgent-rife city of Tal Afar, killing at least 20 people and injuring at least 42.The bloodletting over the 24-hour period amounted to one of the worst spasms of violence since the Americans toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. The wave of revenge attacks in Baghdad came despite a traffic ban the Iraqi government had imposed across the capital starting Thursday evening. Most of Baghdad remained quiet today, with children playing soccer in the empty streets, but the attacks nevertheless underscored the ineffectiveness of the Iraqi security forces in tamping down on violence that is widening the Sunni-Shiite sectarian divide and pushing the country toward full-scale civil war. The assaults against Sunnis today evoked the rampages by Shiite gunmen after a revered Shiite shrine was bombed by insurgents last February in Samarra, though this latest violence took place on a smaller scale. American troops stepped up patrols and operated checkpoints across Baghdad. An attack helicopter destroyed a rocket launcher seen firing from Sadr City into the nearby Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiya, the military said. An official from the Sadr office said at least three civilians were injured.The surge in violence comes at a politically fraught time for Prime Minister Maliki, particularly since he is preparing to meet President Bush in Amman. Both men face increasing pressure from their respective publics to come up with a successful strategy for stemming the growing carnage in Iraq, and both are navigating rising tensions between their two governments as they try to agree on a viable path forward.The announcement of a possible boycott by Mr. Sadr’s bloc further endangers Mr. Maliki’s political fortunes. Mr. Sadr controls Sadr City, and the attacks on Thursday appeared to have strengthened his standing and emboldened him. As long as Sunni Arab extremists massacre Shiites, Mr. Sadr can justify the existence of his militia and ignore entreaties by the Iraqi or American governments to disband it. “The occupation forces should shoulder the full responsibility for these deeds, and we call for them to end their rule in Iraq by withdrawing or at least setting a timetable for withdrawal,” Saleh al-Iqaili, a Sadr legislator, said at an afternoon conference. “If the security situation does not improve, as well as basic services, and if the prime minister does not retreat from his intent to meet the criminal Bush in Amman, we will suspend our membership in the Iraqi Parliament and the government.”

Tunnels Through Time

Haven't done this for awhile. To be very boring, I've been ill with a urinary tract infection that won't go away, on two different antibiotics, feeling drained, fantasing about living in the country, just wanted to escape the pressure of my own head, of feeling ill, of walking out the front door and not being able to cross the road because of the traffic. Financially nothing adds up in Sydney. The politicians, the commentators, they all talk about the boom times in Australia. But those boom times are poorly distributed, and for most people life is a struggle to pay bills, mortgages, credit cards, school fees. There's stunning amounts of money in Sydney, dripping wealth, but at the same time kilometre after kilometre of suburbs, of locked rooms, of staring voices and crazed eyes and introspective tunnels curling through the mud.

We don't know why things dived and escaped, why regular patterns suddenly became disrupted, why success vaulted into failure and why a longing for peace translated into disappearance. Sometimes I fantasise about sitting in a bar on the Amsterdam docks, the smoke curling through the morning cigarette, the weak European sunshine forming atmospheric patterns as the die hards settled into the first drink of the day. When intoxication took you into streams of knowing others. When he wrote not for others but for a deeper truth. Or if not Amsterdam, perhaps the streets of Calcutta. Hey, I remember you, the man who sold books would say. He did wierd things for personal gain, like taking us to the leper colony; as if it was a standard tourist site, outraging the doctors at the hospital.

We apologised, we left, he seemed nonplussed and wanted his 50 rupees anyway. What was that, a $1.50, we gave it to him, who cared. The cruelty of that city, the cruelty of his own torments and displaced brain, they didn't work except in streams of words and images and angst which portrayed a dislocated sensibility, nothing more, nothing less. Tears welled up and washed into headaches that wouldn't go away, he wasn't sure what this was about, what the past few weeks had been about. Sometimes he slumped into his chair at work, under flourescent lights, staring at a computer screen, reading crossed wires and other blogs, other lives; just wishing he wasn't 54 and heading into the dark, with old friends fizzling out, the ones that hadn't died young; and feeling in himself, too, the strands of hope and pessimism and resignation. It was good to be free.

NEWS:
DUBAI (Reuters) - An Iraqi militant group led by al Qaeda vowed a war against the "worshippers of the cross" in response to a recent speech by Pope Benedict on Islam that sparked anger across the Muslim world.
"We tell the worshipper of the cross (the Pope) that you and the West will be defeated, as is the case in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya," said an Internet statement by the Mujahideen Shura Council, an umbrella group led by Iraq's branch of al Qaeda.
"We shall break the cross and spill the wine. ... God will (help) Muslims to conquer Rome. ... God enable us to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the mujahideen," said the statement.
It was posted on Sunday on an Internet site often used by al Qaeda and other militant groups.
Pope Benedict said on Sunday he was deeply sorry Muslims had been offended by his use of a Medieval quotation on Islam and violence. The remarks outraged Muslims and triggered protests and attacks on churches in several Arab towns.
Another militant group in Iraq, Ansar al-Sunnah, also vowed to fight Christians in retaliation.
"You will only see our swords until you go back to God's true faith Islam," it said in a separate Internet statement.
Al Qaeda in Iraq and other militant groups have staged suicide bombings and killings of foreign forces and members of the U.S.-allied government and security forces.

ABC:
The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney has backed the controversial speech Pope Benedict XVI made in Germany last week that linked Islam to violence.
The Pontiff has apologised saying he is deeply sorry about angering so many Muslims, and that the 14th Century passages that he referred to in no way reflect his views.
Some Muslim groups have accepted the apology.
Cardinal George Pell says the Pope did nothing wrong in making the speech.
"I think he's trying to move the dialogue on a bit so that we can agree without resorting to the use of weapons," he said.
"I think what he feared has been established and that is that if there is some sort of criticisms, even mild, there are elements among the Muslims who will resort to violence or threaten violence."

AFP
DUBAI: Gulf newspapers continued to criticise Pope Benedict XVI on Monday, with one Saudi daily saying his remarks linking Islam to violence were beating the drum of war for the far right in the United States.

The Pope's comments, made Tuesday in a university address in his native Germany, were not "an ordinary blunder requiring an apology", the Saudi Arabian Al-Yom wrote in its Monday edition one day after the pontiff said he was "deeply sorry" for the outrage caused.

"These remarks belong in a current of thought that is in total accord with the ideas of the extreme right in the United States on the conflict between civilisations," it said.

"This ideology beats the drum of war even more."

Benedict had sought to mollify Muslim anger on Sunday, saying he was "deeply sorry" for the outrage sparked by his remarks on Islam and stressing that they did not reflect his personal opinion.

But the Qatari daily Ash-Sharq rejected his public statement of regrets and demanded that he issue a full apology.

Under the headline "Regrets... less than an apology", the paper said the pope "must absolutely apologise for his prejudiced remarks, thus soothing the anger of Muslims".

Father's Day

It was Father's Day yesterday in Australia. Funny the twists and turns life takes; and that because of the station I had suddenly become a public spokesman for fatherhood. Children weren't exactly on the cards in the early days. I was taunted in the playground, a hundred kids gathered around; hit me with your handbag, hit me with your handbag. These were some of the most awful, most shameful, most embarrassing days of my life. I was smashed to the ground. The kids kept chanting, hit me with your handbag, hit me with your handbag. They were capable of any cruelty. I squirmed on the ground. The leader of the pack was a handsome boy, Terry comes to mind but I don't think that was his name. The teachers were miles off and in no rush to interfere, those were the days before bullying became the latest fashionable no no to have propaganda and government resources thrown at it.

Later I was to discover that Terry was getting blow jobs after school from the same bloke I was. That was John Hay, who in a way was my first sugar daddy. Virtually the minute I could drive he gave me a smart little GST Torana, a sports version of the Torana which was very cool in its day. I whizzed around town like the it boy of the season. He was fat and rather plain looking, and that was why he was prepared to pay for it. Funny to think now that he died at the age of 26, and we had considered him enormously old; certainly old enough to demand cash for favours. How obsessive he was, how cruel I was. Perhaps this is the wrong post to dwell on these things; the beautiful house overlooking the bay, I would return only when it suited me; everything was done only when it suited me. He descended into a quagmire of pills and alcohols and suicided - all of 26. He had been a very talented businessman. I had worked in one of his reading colleges for a brief spell, a go at straight jobs. How sad it all was.

From all of this, I wandered out of the storm, well out of a detox anyway, and into the arms of Suzy; who was pregnant before we barely knew each other. I remember, I will always remember, standing on the balcony of that beautiful apartment in Victoria Street, overlooking Woolloomoolloo Bay with the city as a backdrop, and saying: "I've always wanted to have children". It was the following week, maybe ten days later, anyway it wasn't very long, when she declared she was pregnant. That baby miscarred, but by that time we were living together, the couple, and our paths were set. She miscarried, distressed, that anguished look on her face; not the same face you see today; and got pregnant again promptly, probably the next time we bonked. By that time I had moved from that wonderful apartment in Victoria Street; down to her more down to earth flat at Bondi Beach, and my life had taken a different course. In sickness and in health; through all the different paths.

In the course of work yesterday, a general reporting shift, I met the First Lady of East Timor, Kirsty Sword, who was completely charming, decent, intelligent and impressive and is much loved by the media who deal with her; and Jana Wendt, the first lady of Australian television, who was holding a farewell party at the Three Weeds Hotel in Rozelle. With thoughts turning to retirement, it's funny to think of long days when nobody could care less who you were or where you are from. I look forward to it, but will miss the casual drama and the easy access.

NEWS:

Australia, UN Hunt East Timor Rebel Leader After Jail Break
By Ed Johnson
Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Australian-led peacekeepers and United Nations police are hunting for 57 escaped prisoners in East Timor, including rebel leader Major Alfredo Reinado, after a breakout that may further destabilize the Pacific Ocean state.
Forces were searching the nation's capital, Dili, and surrounding areas today after the escape from Becora Prison late yesterday, the UN's Acting Police Commissioner Antero Lopes said in a statement.
Reinado, an Australian-trained former military police commander, led a group of rebel soldiers who refused to lay down their arms after former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri dismissed around a third of the country's armed forces for deserting.
The sackings in March provoked clashes between security forces and escalated into fighting between armed gangs. The violence resulted in the deployment of 2,500 peacekeepers from Australia, New Zealand, Portugal and Malaysia in May.

Disengaging From The Long Goodbye

These were the times to say goodbye, not just to old friends but old selves, gangs which had been so fraught with belief, who thought they mattered. We were slow on the uptake and dissolved as we aged. We moved from our twenties, slid through the thirties, still partying, still young enough to get away with it, survived through our forties, through long nights of introspection and discontent, and emerged as relics in our fifties. We were often saddened by the disappearance of hope; but there was no excuse. We had known better. Or to be more precise, we should have known better. We just didn't go down that path, into rectitude, self-righteousness, Christian beliefs, high moral and ethical standards. We just survived, and our hopes to write all those great novels, perform those great sympathies, paint in ways that nobody else had ever painted before, they all disappeared.

And now Ian has gone, too; and we're all left like shags on a rock, watching the sun set and even now disengaged from any true meaning; any normal depth, any normal way of thinking. What club was it anyway?

Ian, I want to say goodbye now, I want to thank you for the mysteries you showed me; I want to thank you for the good times we had; I want to apologise for the hurt I created. I didn't mean to hurt you, anymore than I meant to hurt so many others. I remember your kindness; I remember those few moments of intimacy, when tenderness and thrill was at the core of the moment; I want to thank you for the amused, ironical, kind view that you took - and imparted - and I want to thank you for the gift of creativity. You were always encouraging. You were never the one to say go get a job boy, work in an office, become a nine to fiver, have a normal career. You were always the one that thought our destinies were singular, that we could perform, write, paint, act, that there wasn't anything else in life worth pursuing. So thank you and goodbye, dear friend. See you on the other side.

NEWS:

Howard has sparked a furore by suggesting that muslims should learn English.
But I don't think he's going to lose any votes.

Here's a sample of the coverage:

DAILY TELEGRAPH:

Muslim free speech blackmail

ISLAMIC leaders are trying to gag Prime Minister John Howard from speaking out against Muslims who refuse to integrate, threatening that any criticism of their culture could lead to another race riot.
The head of Mr Howard's own Muslim advisory council, Dr Ameer Ali, yesterday tried to shut down debate on whether Muslims should learn English and treat women as equals by raising the spectre of the shameful Cronulla riots.
Dr Ali warned: "We have already witnessed one incident in Sydney, in Cronulla. I don't want these scenes to be repeated, because when you antagonise the younger generation they are bound to react.'' ....

John Howard's column in The Tele:

AUSTRALIA has been greatly enriched by immigration and most people who have come to this nation have happily integrated with the community.
They have willingly embraced the Australian way of life. They have become part of the fabric of the nation and have helped make Australia the great country it is today.
I have said many times that people who come to this country - no matter where they are from - should become part of the Australian community.
For new migrants, that means embracing Australian values, accepting our culture, being able to speak English if it's not their first language and understanding that men and women have equality. But it is an undeniable fact that some who have come here are resisting integration. There are pockets of this resistance in different migrant groups but it is perhaps most visible at this time in a small section of the Islamic community.
A small minority of this community, and other groups that reject integration, regard appeals for them to fully integrate into the Australian way of life as some kind of discrimination.
It is not. It is commonsense and, importantly, it is also a powerful symbol of a new migrant's willingness and enthusiasm about becoming an Australian.
It is difficult to get anywhere in this country without learning English. It's the common language of Australia and is, quite simply, a passport to the future.
Simple tasks like securing a job and making new friends would be so much harder in Australia without a working knowledge of English.
Treating women as equals is an Australian value that should be embraced. Australians generally do not tolerate women being treated in an inferior fashion to men.
There are some societies that do not treat women equally. Migrants from those societies must be fully prepared to embrace Australian attitudes towards women.
We are an egalitarian nation that prides itself on the concept of a fair go, our equal treatment of men and women, our parliamentary democracy and free speech...

ABC:

Prime Minister John Howard has restated his view that Australian Muslims need to learn English and treat women as equals, in order to fit in with Australian community values.
Mr Howard's comments on a talkback radio station made national headlines this morning, with the Prime Minister accused of singling out Muslims.
He was quoted as saying that Muslim migrants need to make a greater effort to embrace Australian values, treat women as equals and make a better attempt to learn English.
As he opened a new school building in his own Sydney electorate of Benelong this morning, Mr Howard said he stood by his comments.
"It's wrong, I haven't singled anybody out," he said.
"I said yesterday what I've previously said, that there is a section, a small section, of the Islamic population which is unwilling to integrate.
"And I've said generally of migrants who come to this country, no matter where they've come from, they have to integrate.
"That means speaking English as quickly as possible, it means embracing Australian values, and it also means making sure that no matter what the culture of the country from which they came might have been, Australia requires women to be treated fairly and decently and in the same fashion as men.
"If any migrants coming to this country have a different view, they'd better get rid of that view pretty quickly. "

SBS:

Comments spark fury

The prime minister’s comments sparked fury among some Muslim leaders who say they were offended by what the prime minister had said. The chairman of the government's new Islamic advisory committee, Dr Ameer Ali, has warned of more trouble unless Mr Howard tones down his rhetoric on Muslim migrants. "We have already witnessed one incident in Sydney recently in Cronulla, I don't want these scenes to be repeated because when you antagonise the younger generation, younger group, they are bound to react," Dr Ali told Macquarie Radio. But Mr Howard today stood by his comments. "I don't apologise," he told reporters."I think they are missing the point and the point is that I don't care and the Australian people don't care where people come from. "There's a small section of the Islamic population which is unwilling to integrate and I have said generally all migrants ... they have to integrate."

The Age:

THE Prime Minister's "divisive line" on Muslims was alienating and ostracising the Muslim community, according to one leader.
Sherene Hassan's comments followed an attack by men with crowbars on two cars belonging to another community leader on Thursday night.
Ms Hassan, an executive committee member of the Islamic Council of Victoria, said the council had received more abusive and threatening emails this week than at any time since the Cronulla riots.
One read: "F--k off back to where you came from and rape the women there."
She blamed John Howard's radio comments on Thursday, in which he urged Muslims to learn Australian values. The emails have been referred to Australian Federal Police.
The vandalised cars belonged to the council's past president, Yasser Soliman, who said the attacks were being investigated by local and federal police and ASIO.