on silly statements, tetchy yanks and the Iraqi dead

The head of the federal police Mike Keelty has, it seems to me, received something of a dream run from the Oz media and I'd like to see that come to an end. Keelty was reported on the ABC as having claimed thatAustralia had become a safer place since the September 11 attacks, 'for you only have to look at the way people are prepared to report suspicious behaviour these days'.

Admittedly this would've been a truncated account of his remarks, but they run along familiar lines - we're more aware of the danger we're in, ergo we're safer.

I don't think so. After all, there comes a time when you can no longer ignore the danger signs - they're piling up as fast as the Iraqi dead. The idea that a future attack could involve nuclear weapons isn't too far-fetched.


I generally avoid the 9/11 commemoration hooha - after all, what does November 9 mean to me? I did find myself sucked into last night's program 'The Path to 9/11' though - a quite intriguing and critical American 2 part series, the first part of which I missed. It was apparently based on the 9/11 commission report, and has offended just about everyone in Yankeeland. The yanks are easily offended at the best of times of course, so it's worth reading the reviews of this one to get an idea of their national pressure sores and blind spots. I've little idea of the accuracy of it all of course, but really, all the talk of lawsuits and so on is such a wank. It's just a version of events, and surely no intelligent person would take it as literally true. Besides, so much will have been written and dramatised about this tragic but over-rated event (compare, for example, the current bload-soaked situation in Iraq) over the next few years that this one will be just another point on the spectrum. Of course, those responsible may have to face the consequences if they portray real people as saying or doing things counter to the spirit of what they really did say or do. All in all, though, I found it convincing enough in its overall muddledness. The portayal of Mahsoud, though, as a heroic, almost Christ-like pro-American, was an obvious piece of simplistic romanticism. I've no doubt that the real Mahsoud was far too smart to put too much trust in the Americans. He was an Afghani, after all.