AUS GOVT FAIL: Secret inquiry on Habib rendition
The news over the weekend that Prime Minister Julia Gillard has asked the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (the IGIS) to inquire into new claims that the Australian government was complicit in a CIA rendition to Egypt (where he was tortured) of former Guantanamo Bay detainee and Australian citizen Mamdouh Habib should be met with some scepticism.
This is because an inquiry by Vivienne Thom, the current holder of the IGIS position, will be secretive. It would have been fairer and more transparent for Ms Gillard to have ordered a public judicial inquiry into what is, if proven correct, the most appalling conduct by the Australian government.(snip)
One would have thought that an allegation of Australian involvement, passive or active, in the illegal and notorious rendition activities undertaken by the CIA under the auspices of the war on terror should be subjected to public scrutiny given they involve serious matters of public policy, the rule of law and respect for human rights.
There is also the question of whether or not Australia’s security agencies have more to fear from a public inquiry by a judicial officer applying years of experience and forensic skill. – from Unleashed
Who knows, Wikileaks may still have relevant cables to release in their Cablegate project. Maybe the Prime Minister’s motivation for the enquiry is that she suspects the same.
Greg Naylor
Lee
This was an Australian consular case that appears to have been handled poorly and maybe much worse in the first instance by Howard Brown, Australia’s senior diplomatic government representative in Pakistan at the time. Maybe to appease the Americans and to conveniently expedite Mr Habib from the Australian High Commissioner’s ‘watch’.
We will never know the complete truth because verbal correspondence between Pakistan and Brown or other non written discussions between government officials and Brown were probably and conveniently not reported, except for anything to promote suspicion of Mr Habib.
Read what Brown said in court appearances: ‘we were short staffed at the time etc. before a likely invasion…’ yeah, yeah – heard it all before Howard, 9 years on the gravy train trot and still the same old waffle. We were suspicious of Habib said Brown. Yep and Habib likely became an immediate non-Australian citizen and guilty in the Australian High Commissioner’s eyes and influence on Alastair Adam’s consular behaviour.
Anyone who has worked overseas closely with Howard Brown would not be surprised by Brown’s predictabe comments in court appearances with regard to Mr Habib.
Vincent van Dam
29 October 2011 at 5:21 pm
No wonder Vice Consul Tony Steele was freaked before nicking off to London, July 1994. High Commissioner Howard C Brown and Consul David Hammond were playing a black market money game for personal gain at the Australian High Commission, Lagos, Nigeria.
British expatriate Len Lewis, husband of (suss) Australian High Commission visa clerk, Shirley Lewis was ever present to exchange $US for Nigerian Naira at the unofficial exchange rate. Official foreign exchange rate in Nigeria, 1994 was Naira22 / $1USD. Brown, Hammond and others thanks to Len Lewis were gaining Naira 100 / $1USD.
DFAT technical officers loathed travelling to Lagos, Nigeria with Hammond and Brown managing the High Commission. Travelling allowance at the Australian High Commission, Lagos, Nigeria was calculated at the official exchange rate for Australian officials visiting and working at the mission during Hammond & Brown’s time at the chancery, 1993 – 1997.
Howard C Brown, SES band level 1 Australian Public Servant, was involved in local Nigerian black market money exchange via Len Lewis for personal gain during his official posting as Australia’s High Commissioner, Lagos Nigeria 1993 – 1997.
Hammond made a small fortune selling his Mercedes vehicle in Nigeria on transfer from Egypt with Brown’s approval.
Brown scraped a subsequent head of mission to Cyprus for 2 years before placed as Australia’s High Commissioner at Islamabad.
What has this got to do with Mamdouh Habib?
Mamdouh Habib fronted on Australian High Commisioner Brown’s watch in Pakistan, 2001. Habib, an Australian citizen in trouble requiring reasonable consular assistance, seems to have been given short shrift thanks to Brown’s dishonest & typical narcassist style.
How could Howard C Brown be considered a credible witness in any Australian court?
Vincent van Dam
16 February 2012 at 12:05 am
Vivienne Thom’s report:
Mr Brown does not agree with the chronology of events upon which my views rely. His recollection is that a significant period of time elapsed between Mr Habib being detained and the Australian Government being advised of that fact (whereas the documentary record shows that only two days elapsed); and that the actions taken by the High Commission on 7 October 2001 were immediately followed by the actions taken by the Consul on 20 October 2001. He summarised this as follows:
The IGIS claim that I did not take ‘any action’ to provide consular assistance to Habib between 6 to 20 October of that year is totally incorrect. As I advised during my appearance before the IGIS, as soon as the AFP officer in the Australian High Commission, Islamabad was advised – informally and belatedly – of Habib’s arrest … I, with the support of the Consul, took immediate action to … lodge a formal request with the Pakistani Foreign Ministry for confirmation of the arrest and for consular access to Habib …
Notwithstanding Mr Brown’s evidence on this matter, I have placed greater weight on the bulk of other evidence before me (both documentary and that given under oath or affirmation) which consistently reflects the sequence of events that I have described above.
Vincent van Dam
23 March 2012 at 7:16 pm
Ms Thom. You would know by now that Howard Craig Brown and his consul stooge Alastar Adams, at the time of Mamdouh Habib’s arrest, probably colluded together and went on to bend the truth re Habib’s plight under oath, especially Howard Craig Brown’s account of truth telling. True to familiar form on Brown’s part.
vincentvandam
26 March 2012 at 8:59 pm