## "Truth is absolute, truth is supreme, truth is never disposable in a national political life." John W. Howard Prime Minister of Australia ## __ The Australian parliament is made up of the Upper and Lower houses. The upper house known as the senate, represents the states. The Lower house known as the House of representatives, represents the electorate. The majority party of the House of Representatives forms government. The appointed leader in the majority party becomes Prime Minister. He then selects a council of senior ministers, known as cabinet. The Constitution of Australia does not recognise the Cabinet as a legal entity, and its decisions have no legal force. Laws are passed in parliament by majority vote. Cabinet meetings are held in secret and the minutes are confidential. Commonwealth Cabinet minutes are only released to the public after 30 years. __ ## "We were advised by Defence that children were thrown overboard." John W. Howard Federal Election Eve 2001 ## "I left him in no doubt that there were no children thrown overboard." Mike Scrafton Senior Advisor to the Minister of Defence 16th August 2004 ## He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual. Thomas Jefferson ## Fool me twice A Glen Clancy Production ## ## East Timor ## __ All our relatives have died. We are the only ones left and these kids. Or else send the UN forces. __ ## "Australia, ahead of any other nation on earth, put pressure on the Indonesian Government to accept a peacekeeping operation." John Howard Prime Minister of Australia 23. November 1999 ## __ Listen to the command from over there. __ In 1998 Lieutenant-Colonel Lance Collins was asked to examine the state of East Timor and submit a high level intelligence estimate. A high level intelligence estimate goes way beyond normal intelligence analysis, by examining the whole picture of historical information and recent events to predict what intentions and plans an adversary may be making. He finished his report in July 1998 and it had three major findings. Firstly, that East Timor would continue to push for independence. Secondly, the Indonesian military would violently oppose any moves to independence. And finally, Lance Collins said Australia may be called upon to provide a UN peacekeeping force. After the high level intelligence estimate was submitted, Australian Prime Minister John Howard wrote a letter to then Indonesian President BJ Habibie. In that letter John Howard was in full support of Indonesia maintaining its occupation of East Timor. Here’s a reading of part of that letter. "My dear President… I want to emphasise that Australia’s support for Indonesia’s sovereignty is unchanged. It has been a long-standing Australian position that the interests of Australia, Indonesia and East Timor are best served by East Timor remaining part of Indonesia… It might be worth considering a means of addressing the East Timorese desire for an act of self-determination in a manner that avoids an early and final decision on the future status of the province. … [This] would allow time to convince the East Timorese of the benefits of autonomy within the Indonesian republic. John W. Howard December 1998 __ The high level intelligence estimate came to fruition. __ __ My God! Indonesian assassins! We want independence. We fight for independence not for autonomy. My God! East Timor, you make everyone suffer! ___ Australian intelligence agencies reported that the Indonesian military was coordinating violence against East Timorese independence supporters from the very beginning. The Australian Department of Intelligence reported as early as January 1999 that militia violence in East Timor was coordinated by the Indonesian military. ___ PETER CAVE: Yesterday AM reported on three leaked Defence Intelligence Organisation documents which chronicled the Indonesian military's role in orchestrating the militia violence in East Timor. Today there are more, this times outlining the clear knowledge which Indonesia's General Wiranto had of these operations. And once again, as Matt Peacock reports, there appears to be a discrepancy between the Australian government's public pronouncements at the time and what military intelligence was saying. MATT PEACOCK: In January this year DIO reported that the Indonesian military had decided to sub-contract out its security responsibilities to the militias in order to avoid international criticism. And certainly it seemed to have just that effect. One month later Foreign Minister Alexander Downer was saying that it was hard for Australia to verify one way or the other if the military were in fact arming civilians. A further month and the minister was talking about rogue elements. 'There was concern the militia could be armed by the military', he said 'but certainly it wasn't official Indonesian policy, and certainly it wasn't being condoned by General Wiranto.' 'Oh, yes it was', the DIO was reporting at the time. __ __ The Sydney Morning Herald attained leaked Australian classified intelligence of Indonesian military intercepts from February 1999. The article, entitled “Spy Intercepts Confirm Australia's Bloody East Timor Secret”, reads… Intercepts in Feb. 1999 showed Jakarta had sent detachments of Special Forces to begin black operations in East Timor, and that a commander Major General Mahudin Simbolon was referring to the militia group as his crew. One intercept indicated that covert campaign chiefs had sent in hit squads of Special Forces troops to target independence leaders and turncoats from the pro Indonesian course. ___ Contrary to John Howard’s claims, the Australian government argued against peacekeeping forces, despite full knowledge of Indonesian military black operations. The Bulletin magazine attained confidential cables, exposing that the government had argued against peacekeeping forces as early as February 1999. The cables detailed conversations two Australian government offices Ashton Colvert and Peter Varghese had with the US state department officials. At that meeting Ashton Colvert argued against peacekeepers saying that there was not the international appetite and then importantly Peter Varghese from the PMs own department came in as well supporting that argument. John Lyons was named 1999 Australian journalist of the year. Australian Defense Intelligence reported in March that the Indonesian military was coordinating militia violence in East Timor. The intelligence reports were cited in a Senate hearing. There was a DIO report as early as 4th of March that said: A DIO classified intelligence brief to Ministers reported that The Indonesian Military were arming and organising militia intimidation. Days later the Howard cabinet continued to conceal the fact that the Indonesian military was responsible for orchestrating militia violence. _ ## “It certainly isn’t something that’s been condoned by General Wiranto, the head of the armed forces.  But there may be some rogue elements within the armed forces who are providing arms” Alexander Downer Australian Foreign Minister 7 March 1999 ## ___ Not only did intelligence briefs inform ministers that the Indonesian military was arming the militia, the Indonesian government actually admitted as much to the Australian foreign minister, Alexander Downer. The leaked confidential cables revealed conversations between Alexander Downer and the Indonesian foreign minister, Ali Alatas. At that meeting on the 23rd of February 1999, Alexander Downer raised the issue of the military (the TNI) providing arms to militia groups. Ali Alatas said, "This is the legitimate arming of auxiliaries," so the Indonesian Foreign Minister was saying the arming of the militia was legitimate. JOHN LYONS - the bulletin. ___ ## “When I raised it with Ali Alatas the other day, (they) said that it certainly wasn't happening, that they weren't arming paramilitaries.” Alexander Downer Australian Foreign Minister 7 March 1999 ## ___ In April of 1999 the violence continued to escalate. On the 6th April, the military and militia set fire to local villages and hundreds of civilians were forced to seek shelter in Liquica church. The refugees were then systematically massacred inside the church by the militia and military squads, hacked to death by machete or executed by firearm. The victims were then loaded on to trucks and disposed of. __ What kind of wound is this? A bullet wound? - Yes. Who do you think shot you? - It was ... the Indonesian troops. The troops. So you saw the troops. The troops shot from behind Besi Merah. The militias took the bodies away and I am sure they'll cut them to pieces. The militias will die, too. They will! They're ruining our land. It's because the Indonesian army backs them. We can say that. The army is behind them. __ On the 12th of April the Military abducted six people, including primary school teachers, who were suspected of being pro-independence sympathizers. The six were taken to Kailako Military Rayon Command where they were detained, interrogated and tortured. The next day at around 0600 am, they were taken and executed in front of mourners from previous murders. According to witnesses' statements military leaders threatened the mourners announcing that anyone who opposed the Army or the government of Indonesia would meet the same fate. __ ## "The military give one story. Others give another story. Still others give a different story again. So our report is that you're getting very conflicting accounts, wildly different accounts of what actually happened, but what you can be sure of is that some people did die." Alexander Downer Australian Foreign Minister 11 April 1999 ## __ It's a similar story with earlier incidents. The army's involvement in the notorious April killings in the Liquica church over which Mr Downer expressed deep concern was nonetheless downplayed by the Foreign Minister and his ambassador. 'They were present', said the Foreign Minister, 'but there's debate about what part they played in the alleged massacre about which there were wildly different accounts'. No such ambiguity from the DIO. The confidential briefing of April 8 sums up succinctly: 'ABRI is culpable, whether it actively took part in the violence or simply let it occur' it says. And it went on to accurately predict an expansion of the militia violence to Dili. __ Worldwide recognition of the atrocities and the desperation of the people of East Timor finally forced through a UN referendum. UN peacekeepers would be sent to oversee the independence ballot. ___ 94.388 voters, 21% in favour and 384.580… that is 78.5% against the proposal of special autonomy. The people of East Timor rejected the special autonomy proposal ## "We have played an enormous role in making what has happened over the last few weeks possible, an enormous role ... I think we have calibrated this pretty much right all along. Alexander Downer Australian Foreign Minister 4th September 1999 ## __ Military orchestrated violence continued to escalate. __ In the city of Maliana, Dili men, woman and children were encouraged to seek refuge in the police barracks where they would be later slaughtered. The victims were then taken away and disposed of. __ The Australian government claimed that they had no information forecasting post ballot violence; however the office of national assessments was reporting that all Australian intelligence agencies were predicting the potential for large scale violence after the ballot. __ Secret Defence intelligence documents linked to AM suggest there's been a cover-up of recent human rights abuses in East Timor. They make it clear that the massacres which occurred there were orchestrated by the military and, contrary to the Australian government's official line, predictable. As our chief political correspondent Matt Peacock reports, they add weight to calls by human rights organisations for Australia to release its intelligence reports to assist the UN inquiry into East Timor atrocities. :: On the day of the East Timor poll, the Defence Intelligence Organisation reported that the Indonesian TNI will continue to foster violence - violence which it says will remain orchestrated and predictable. 'Pro-Indonesian militant violence occurs', says the briefing, 'within strict guidelines laid down by the TNI'. The secret document, which is classified for very limited distribution, continues that the purpose and functions of the violence in the territory are clear, contrasting it with more anarchic conflicts. And it says 'we have good and timely indicators of any likely change in TNI policy on violence'. Weeks later Mr Downer was still saying that the level of violence and destruction was greater than anyone had expected. __ Intelligence officer, Captain Andrew Plunkett, spoke out about the government’s prior knowledge. __ JOHN HIGHFIELD: The Howard Government is again on the defensive today over claims that it failed to act on key intelligence related to the involvement of the Indonesian military in violence and killings during the 1999 East Timor independence ballot. The fresh claims are being made by an Army Intelligence Officer to be broadcast tonight on the SBS television program Dateline. Captain Andrew Plunkett, a member of the elite paratrooper battalion from 3-RAR claims Australia knew that the Indonesian Army had plans to destroy East Timor if the independence referendum went against it, but those intelligence reports were failed to be passed on to those who mattered most. Captain Plunkett believes that failure played a role in the massacre at a police station in the town of Maliana four days after the ballot result was announced in August of 1999. _ ANDREW PLUNKETT: To be honest, I felt guilty myself, you know, being, you know, associated with, you know, the intelligence area. SHANE McLEOD: Captain Andrew Plunkett, an intelligence officer with the parachute battalion, 3-RAR, speaking with the SBS television program Dateline. The Captain has revealed his frustration with Australia's intelligence network, and its reporting on the atmosphere in East Timor and the lead up to the August 1999 independence ballot. ANDREW PLUNKETT: You know, and I felt the UN monitors here, you know, I could understand from what they were being fed, you know, they probably would have taken that course of action, and yes, I was pretty upset to put it mildly. SHANE McLEOD: Captain Plunkett believes that field operatives were providing Australia's Government with relevant information about the likelihood of militia violence and that the seriousness of the situation wasn't passed on to UN personnel on the ground. ANDREW PLUNKETT: Well it was done at a pretty senior governmental level and as said the military handed over what we'd collected and from there, you know, because there was a Foreign Affairs basically mission here, you know, they directed the policy as to how much information and where it would go. SHANE McLEOD: Captain Andrew Plunkett speaking to SBS television. He was specifically referring to intelligence as it related to the town of Maliana. It was there on the 8th of September in 1999 that around 40 people were killed by militia men as they sought refuge in the wake of the ballot result announcement. On the ground in the lead-up to the Independence ballot was a group of Australian Federal Police officers including Wayne Sievers who is no longer with the Force. He's backing Captain Plunkett and says the weight of evidence should increase pressure for an inquiry. WAYNE SIEVERS: I think he is probably like 100 per cent correct. What people in the field were saying, for the time we were reporting it, was politically inconvenient to the government so it had to be doctored and hosed down, yes. And I think they were hoping against hope that in the end what we were predicting would not come to pass. The fact that it did, well it's for the government ultimately to explain that of course the military and insolvent people like Andrew, are right to raise that question. __ After the Government failed to inform peacekeepers of expected violence, Australian defense personnel were ordered to cover up the massacres. While the official death toll from the Maliana police barracks massacre is 47, Captain Andrew Plunkett estimates it was closer to 200. __ ## "We were actually told from our chain of command to go soft on the massacres and soft on body disposal ... ... The low-level pawns, the militia, they'll get tried ... but none of the TNI who organised it all, they'll all walk free." Captain Andrew Plunkett SBS Dateline 16 May 2001 ## __ Leaked defense intelligence documents echoed Plunkett’s concerns __ MATT PEACOCK: After the Liquica massacre, church sources said that the evidence was literally wiped away by the military - bodies removed, blood stains washed away and bullet holes puttied and painted over. Which brings us to the current day. Last month the DIO warned that Jakarta was rejecting American pressure to investigate human rights abuses and trying to pre-empt the current United Nations Human Rights Commission inquiry. It's clear that the DIO believes culpability for the massacres goes right to the top of the TNI. And it says that because of TNI concerns that senior officers like General Wiranto and his predecessors could be implicated, Indonesia's own inquiry will probably find lower level scapegoats like Colonel Tony Suratman and Major General Zacchi Anwar. But it'll uncover no higher level strategy or direction, finding only isolated, non-sanctioned instances of abuse. 'At the same time', DIO warns, 'the local inquiry will provide a further opportunity for evidence to be destroyed, lost or tampered with'. ___ Howard's cabinet was furious over leaked intelligence, which exposed their lies, their prior knowledge of military involvement, their policy of opposing peacekeepers, and finally their participation in covering up post ballot massacres. The Federal Police launched a dragnet investigation covering a range of Defence Force personnel, government officials and media outlets. There were break-ins, covert investigations, rough interrogations and raids on homes. In September 2000, Australian federal police raided the homes of Philip Dorling Labor's Foreign Affairs Advisor and Clinton Fernandes the Australian Army’s Timor analyst. _ # What stood out in this particular case was the scale of the investigation, the very large resources devoted to it ... And then their decision to engage in a series of highly public but unsuccessful searches. ... Their purpose I think, in the end, was to attempt to intimidate people." Philip Dorling Labor's Foreign Affairs Advisor 30 March 2004 _# __ Wayne Sievers, Lieutenant-Colonel Lance Collins, The 7:30 Report, Four Corners and several newspapers were all subject to investigation. ## SBS REPORTER: So is Australia holding information today that could lead to the conviction of Indonesian Army figures? CPT. ANDREW PLUNKETT: Definitely. SBS Dateline 16th March 2001 ## __ General Wiranto, Commander of the Indonesian Military, who was directly linked to the militia in leaked Australian Intelligence documents, escaped trial. Indonesian Special forces officer, Brigadier General Mahidin Simbolon was a key figure in setting up and running the militias in there campaign of fear. He was promoted to the rank of Major General. A few years after the atrocities, Howard’s cabinet resumed operations with the Indonesian Special Forces, in the name of fighting terror. __ ## FalseFlag Operations ## __ Throughout history, governments have attacked there own populations to terrorise them into submission. These are known as false flag operations. Unclassified 1962 pentagon documents reveal false flag operations proposed by the US Joint-Chiefs of Staff as a pretext to invade Cuba. The document code named Operation Northwoods was proposed by senior U.S. Department of Defense leaders, including the Chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff L. L Lemnitzer. The document recommended a list of possible incidents to establish a credible attack on Cuba. Blowing up ammunition inside the base, starting fires. Buring aircraft on the airbase. Lobbing mortar shells from outside the base into the base. "We could blow up a US ship and blame Cuba." ... "We could develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area in other Florida cities and even in Washington.” US President Lyndon Johnson went operational with Operations Northwoods during the six day war. On the 8th of June 1967 the Israeli military attempted to destroy a US ship. The attack was to be blamed on Egypt so America could enter the war. __ During the Six-Day War between Israel and the Arab nations, the USS Liberty was sent by Johnson to collect electronic intelligence in the eastern Mediterranean. The clearly marked US Intelligence ship was 14 miles off the coast of Israel in International Waters. __ Captain William McGonagle: (Sync) A short time after the air attack had been completed, the three torpedo boats approached us from our starboard quarter at high speed and in an apparent torpedo launch attitude. __ Israeli surveillance aircraft flew low over the ship and clearly identified it as an American vessel. At 2pm that afternoon the USS Liberty was attacked by three Mirage 3 Fighter Bombers. From the onset of the attack the Fighter Bombers were jamming US signals. Not only were they jamming US signals specifically, they were also unmarked - the only unmarked aircraft in Israel's arsenal. The fighter bombers strafed the ship with their cannons, dropped conventional munitions and napalm on the ship repeatedly from stem to stern. After the Mirages had done their work, the ship was hit by medium Desault bombers carrying napalm and other munitions like white phosphorous. The USS Liberty was then attacked by three Israeli torpedo boats bearing Israeli flags. The torpedo gun boats opened fire with high caliber machine guns and launched torpedoes. A single torpedo struck the ship blowing a hole in both sides entering the ship, and leaving a thirty foot exit hole when it exploded. Then the torpedo boats began strafing life rafts in the water, an international war crime. While all of this was happening, the over-sized American flag flew clearly above the ship. The attack on the Liberty went on for hour, after hour, after hour. During the entire attack, the USS Liberty continually called the sixth fleet [aircraft carrier] which was nearby, begging for air support or rescue. Two aircraft carriers in the Med [Mediterranean] responded by launching fighter aircraft. Unbelievably they were recalled by the Whitehouse. Wayne Kyle: In fact one of the liberty crewmen holds the radio phone outside so they can hear the jets roaring over them making passes and firing at them. Is that confirmation enough for you? And so Captain Tully assembled a strike group of about 12 aircraft including in-flight refueling tankers so that they have enough fuel to get to their destination in the air over the lorry and he launched the aircraft without any hesitation. Because it was an American ship under fire under an attack and I guess you’re probably well aware that one of the worst crimes that can be committed in the military is for one unit not to come to the aid of another. - That's right. So Captain Tully launched his aircraft and apparently before they got out of sight over the horizon they were recalled by Washington saying to get those aircraft back on deck and get 'em back now. __ In October 2007 the Chicago Tribune published a testimony by Oliver Kirby, deputy director of operations at NSA, America’s National Security Agency at the time of the attack. Kirby said he had personally read transcripts of intercepts from Israeli pilots during the attack. Quote: "And then one of them said, 'Can you see the flag?' They said 'Yes, it's U.S, it's U.S.' They said it several times, so there wasn't any doubt in anybody's mind that they knew." __ Despite the fact that the US carriers withdrew their help, a Russian spy ship appeared and witnessed part of the attack. After three hours into the attack, the Israelis withdrew because there were witnesses, allowing the damaged USS Liberty to limp to safety. __ In 1993, a car bomb was detonated in New York, in the base of WTC1, killing 6 people. The FBI built and supplied the explosives used in that attack. Emad Salem, an ex-Egyptian army officer, was hired by the FBI to infiltrate an extremist group. Salem was told they were supplying fake explosives, as part of an FBI sting. _ Last winter the FBI was praised for its speed and cracking the case of the WTC bombing and bringing four suspects to trial. Now there is some evidence that the FBI may have known of a plot in advance through an informant and might, might even had stopped the bombing that killed six people. Correspondent Jacqueline Adams has the story. _ FBI agents might have been able to prevent last February’s deadly explosion at New York's WTC. They discussed secretly substituting harmless powder for the explosives but they didn't according to the FBI’s own informant Emad Salem. Unbeknownst to the FBI at the time Salem recorded many of his conversations with his handlers. _ I am holding 903 pages of draft transcripts. _ In one, Salem complains to an FBI agent: "Since the bomb went off, I feel terrible. I feel bad. I feel here is people who don't listen." The agent replies: "Hey, I mean, it wasn't like you didn't try and I didn't try. You can't force people to do the right thing." _ The following is a conversation Salem had with one of his FBI handlers, Special Agent John Anticev _ Agent John Anticev: "... you got paid regularly for good information.  I mean the expenses were a little bit out of the ordinary and it was really questioned.  Don't tell Nancy I told you this." SALEM: Well, I have to tell her of course. FBI: Well then, if you have to, you have to. SALEM: Yeah, because I mean because the lady was being honest and I was being honest and everything was submitted with receipts and now it's questionable. FBI: It's not questionable, it's like a little out of the ordinary. SALEM: Okay.  I don't think it was.  If thats what you think, that is fine, but I don't think that because we was start already building the bomb which is went off in the World Trade Center. It was built by supervising, supervision from the Bureau and the DA and we was all informed about it and we know that the bomb start to be built.  By who?  By your confidential informant. What a wonderful great case!" Joseph Calhoun, broadcast journalist ,and contributor to the Academy Award winning documentary "The Panama Deception", gave a presentation on the 1993 WTC bombings. Calhoun came across in the Associated Press report stating that the president of Egypt claimed that one of the WTC bombing suspects was a paid CIA agent. _ "and it was an Associated Press file, you will see it on the screen tonight, and it was, the President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak, the basic gist of it has claimed that Sheikh Abdul Rahman who has been suspected in the WTC bombing is a paid CIA agent. I thought wow that is breaking news that should be on CNN but that story never made it to the light day and that was May 28th 1993. Nowhere. Within 24 hours Sheik Abdul Rahman was arrested for immigration violations." _ Calhoun continued his investigation and discovered that the so called extremist group that the FBI informant Emad Salem had infiltrated had all been on the payroll of the CIA. _ "Well, I kept, you know, my ear to the ground on this story and in July that year there were two news programs which came on. One was a British special report from the ITN News, that was on public TV, and an ABC News program called "Day One" that had a special and in both specials the claim was made that all of the bombers in the WTC in 1993, all the people that participated in that bombing had been on the payroll of the CIA and they had been on the payroll of the CIA in Afghanistan." The reason I have a copy of the program is because it is one of those news items that if you don't put your finger on the VCR the day it’s broadcast you will never see it again. So what you are going to see is some clips from that program.” _ DayOne: "Tonight we begin with a Day One investigation. Which will tell you something about terrorism in the 1990s. It starts with the bombing of the WTC. That incident, and other conspiracies to bomb New York City on warning to the US that we are looking in a new brand of terrorist. The suspects make up an unlikely group of alleged terrorists, cab-drivers, stock clerks, a gas station attendant. Apparently operating on their own, with no single cause response. It turns out that one nation did in fact unwittingly pay to train some of these people and at one time supplied them and others like them with billions of dollars in weapons. That nation is the United States. And it all goes back to the US involvement in the Afghanistan war." __ ITN News 1993: Along the way there have been some very shocking discoveries for the FBI and the police. Chief among them, that the United States once trained and financed those who came to the WTC back in February to leave that car bomb here in the basement. __ For those who find it too difficult to fathom that the CIA would kill US citizens with a bomb built and supplied by the FBI, Calhoun produced a CIA manual that calls for the killing of its own supporters. __ "People ask me ‘Do you think our government would actually kill our own people’ and I can't talk about this right now but there was a scandal about the contra war called the CIAs Nicaragua manual. And this manual was a scandal at the time because it calls for killing some of your own supporters and this is the contra supporters in Nicaragua, killing some of your own supporters and blaming it on the enemy so it’s actually, there’s a written document that does instruct the killing of civilians for political propaganda." __ The Council On Foreign Relations, also known as the CFR, is a Washington think tank that stongly influences US government policy. The CFR was founded in 1921 shortly after the end of WW1. The United Nations, the International monetary fund and the World Bank were all stated goals of the CFR. Forty seven CFR members, including Nelson Rockefeller, attended the San Francisco meeting that drafted the charter of the United nations. CFR Members include past Presidents, Secretaries of State, Pentagon and NATO military leaders, media owners, and Supreme Court Justices. David Rockefeller, John Kerry, John Edwards, Colin Powell, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Michelle Obama, Barrack Obama’s wife, are all members of the Council on Foreign Relations. Vice president Dick Cheney revealed that he was a former director. __ "It's good to be back at the Council on Foreign Relations. As Pete mentioned, I have been a member for a long time, and was actually director for some period of time. I never mentioned that when I was campaigning for re-election back home in Wyoming" __ Every CIA director since 1966 has been a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. On the 26 of March 2002, 7 month prior to the Bali bombings, the Council on Foreign Relations published this piece… “The next stage in the War on Terror; Indonesia.” “Six months after the terrorist attacks on the United States, President George W. Bush is reviewing strategies for the next stage of the war on terror. U.S. officials are increasingly determined to prosecute the campaign even inside countries that do not accept American involvement. The Bush administration has identified Indonesia as "a place of interest." __ ## The Bali Bombings 12th October 2002 ## ## "This is horrendous ... ... I've never seen anything like it ... ... People are burnt everywhere ... ... Everything has gone, the whole street." ## __ The Australians if they, you know, get the truth I think it’s ... it’s a grave mistake. __ ## "It was like what you saw when they showed the Hiroshima ones with the, just the mushroom cloud." Tracy Golotta ## __ Investigators officially concluded that there were only two explosive devices used in the bombings. According to the official story a suicide bomber detonated a backpack of TNT inside Patty’s bar. __ The forensic experts pointed us to one seat of one blast in Pattys Bar and in the ceilling directly above that blast there was some human remains. These remains were DNA tested and came back as the remains of one person and therefore we had one person in contact with the device at the time it detonated just above the waist level of that person. __ Witnesses contradicted the Australian Federal Police’s obscure suicide bomber theory. Patty’s bar staff said that they had seen a man walk into the club and throw a plastic bag full of explosives. The witness, who was treated in the burns unit of the local hospital, said: "I will never forget his face as long as I live." Investigators chose to ignore this testimony. Seconds later the main explosive device was detonated outside the Sari club. According to the official story, a Mitsubishi van loaded with potassium chlorate. ## "The crime scene was spread over half a kilometer." Mick Keelty AFP Commissioner 18th November 2002 ## __ The force of the blast completely levelled the Sari club in seconds. Anything in direct contact of the main blast wave was completely destroyed. Mick Keelty revealed that surrounding vehicles were blown 30 metres down the street. The main explosive instantly ignited cars and buildings within a two to four hundred metre radius. Windows were shattered over 600 meters from the main blast site. The main blast cracked the walls of buildings several kilometers from ground zero. Most of the victims from the main blast were unidentifiable. 140 bags of unidentified human remains were buried. The official death toll was 202. __ JOHN HOWARD, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: Tragic incidents such as this so far from driving apart the people of Australia and Indonesia would only bring us closer together. __ An international team of Australian Federal Police, FBI, UK special agents, and forensic scientists started arriving in Bali within 24 hours of the blasts. The Indonesian public was outraged that foreign officials were investigating an Indonesian crime scene. 10 days after the bombing, the international team of investigators with unlimited resources at their disposal announced that they were wrapping up their on-site work and retreating to the labs. Wrecking balls were brought in to excavate the crater contents and other debris which was then dumped into the sea of Benoa Harbour in southern Bali. Bombs generate a blast wave. The force of the blast is dependent on the type of explosive. There are authoritative formulas for measuring the force of blast waves. Overpressure is the force that a blast wave exerts. Overpressure values are second nature to every specialist bomb investigator, and many other police and military personnel. These specialists are well aware that the resulting destruction to victims and infrastructure correspond to specific explosive devices. Once swab tests have been examined, the investigator can determine the type of explosive. Astonishingly, the Bali bombing investigation team continuously claimed different explosive devices were responsible for the main blast. The international team of investigators with unlimited resources at their disposal took over 6 weeks to determine the explosive device used. Immediately after the bombings, the Indonesian police announced that the FBI had discovered the plastic explosives, semtex and C4. The Scotsman newspaper reported that the FBI forensic team found traces of sophisticated plastic explosives at the site of the bombing. Experts claimed that they discovered traces of Semtex at the Sari Club. The Age newspaper published a article a few days after the bombings entitled: "Two questioned: C4 explosive found". Indonesia’s national police Chief General Da'i Bachtiar also said that an explosive known as C4 had been identified from preliminary investigations. One week later investigators announced that the main explosive device was an ammonium nitrate bomb. The Australian federal police said that the bomb is now believed to have been built with ammonium nitrate fertilizer. __ Police investigators in Bali have given more details about the bombs that destroyed two Kuta beach night clubs last weekend confirming that there were two devices and not three as had been speculated for a time yesterday. One of the bombs contained about a kilogram of TNT the second and most devastating contained the fertilizer ammonium nitrate. The police have also confirmed that the scene of the bombing will remain sealed off until some time in November. Foreign Affairs Editor Peter Cave reports from Bali. _ PETER CAVE: The Australian Federal Police spokesman Superintendent Brett Swan said they now believe there were only two bombs. BRETT SWAN: Preliminary analysis of the possible explosive used in a vehicle in front of the Sari Club is a low velocity explosive, possibly ammonium nitrate mix and the experts believe it may have been somewhere between fifty and a hundred and a hundred and fifty kilos. PETER CAVE: That seemed to rule out the story released last week by the Indonesian Police that the biggest bomb contained the powerful military plastic explosive C4. Not at all, said Superintendent Swan. BRETT SWAN: Again at this point in time, it is only very preliminary and all the samples that we have taken are being analysed. __ Amazingly, the following month, ammonium nitrate evolved into a new chemical. __ "The bomb data specialists who are looking at it at the moment are starting to firm in on a conclusion which is tending towards chlorate as being the substantial ingredient." Ben McDevitt, General Manager of Investigations (Australian Federal Police, 8th November 2002) __ Indonesian explosive expert, Colonel Zainuri Lubis, may have hinted at the absurdity of investigations saying that the main explosive was made out of Chlorate, black powder and TNT. As an explosive expert, Colonel Lubis knows that chlorate crystals cannot be mixed with black powder. Mixing these compounds would cause an immediate chemical reaction. The sharp chlorate crystals would create immense friction across the surface of the black powder particles, which would then react immediately by either burning furiously or exploding. __ In November Investigators arrested Ali Amrozi, the owner of the Mitsubishi van allegedly carrying the main explosive device. Ali Amrozi, an illiterate mechanic, confessed to preparing the fertilizer chemicals delivered in the Mitsubishi van. Investigators claimed they tracked Amrozi by reconstructing fragments of the van, obtaining the Vehicle Identification Number stamped on the van’s axle. Australian Federal Police Leigh Dixon: "Unbeknownst to most people in Indonesia a light truck in Bali has a vehicle identification number stamped in the axle to identify, you know, where it came from. This number lead us straight to Amrozi. He didn't know there is a number. I mean we didn't know a number till a couple of days later." Amrozi maintained that quote: "If the explosion was truly from the chemicals that I prepared it would not produce such a powerful explosion." ## "I've done demolitions courses with the Army and it was bigger than anything I've ever blown up in my time, and I've done a lot." Captain Rodney Cocks Australian Army Officer - Received specialist explosives training ## ## Rare images of damage to surrounding vehicles ... ## __ Investigators claimed Amrozi loaded the van with 300 to 400 kilograms of chlorate. __ ## "There was about a ton of chlorate purchased by Amrozi. There were receipts for that ... We believe that there is about at least 600 to 700 kilos of chlorate missing. We retrieved some chlorate from two of the vehicles that were seized from Amrozi." Mick Keelty Police Commissioner Australian Federal Police 22nd November 2002 ## __ The following year the Australian Federal Police committed to a potassium chlorate bomb. __ ## "We've been able to now absolutely confirm that it was potassium chlorate." Mick Keelty Police Commissioner Australian Federal Police ABC TV Australia 31st January 2003 ## __ Today if you look at the Australian Federal Police website the chlorate retrieved from the two vehicles seized from Amrozi and the other missing chlorate has miraculously found its way into the Mitsubishi van. Alleged discoveries of C4 and Semtex were forgotten but they appeared to serve a purpose. __ __ ELEANOR HALL: So the police have confirmed C-4, where does that part of the investigation go now? PETER CAVE: Well, the C-4 tends to point a finger in certain directions. The Al Qaeda group has used C-4 in a number of its attacks. It was used in the bombing of the USS Cole, it was used in a bombing in the Philippines, and a number of other bombing related to Al Qaeda. It seems to point towards them. __ Jakarta Post senior editor Robert S. Finnegan published this piece on January 3rd 2003 entitled: "Bali bombing: An investigator's analysis Are these the statements and actions of professional investigators - or the actions of individuals engaged in a cover-up? Day after day, investigators trotted out a different explosive and combinations of explosives purportedly responsible for the blasts. In addition to C-4 and RDX there was now TNT, Ammonium Nitrate, HMX, Semtex, PETN, Chlorate and napalm. Everything but the kitchen sink. Was this gross ineptitude? Or another ploy to throw independent investigators off the trail?" __ The best comparable example of a car bombing in a populated area was the 1998 Omagh car bombing . The Omagh explosive was a 225 kg Ammonium Nitrate and fuel oil car bomb. Ammonium Nitrate and fuel oil also known as ANFO has twice of maximum pressure force of potassium chlorate. The 225kg ANFO car bomb caused serious damage to nearby buildings. However, only caused minor damage to buildings and vehicles in a 50 meter radius. 29 people were killed. The majority of the deaths caused by shrapnel. All of the bodies were visibly identifiable. 220 people were injured in the blast giving a 12% rate of fatality. No crater remained. Reporting investigators finally claimed Amrozi loaded the Mitsubishi van with 300 to 400kg of potassium chlorate. Remember this can only produce the half of the maximum force of the ANFO Omagh car bombing. Potessium chlorate has a maximum overpressure force of 2psi. ANFO has a maximum overpressure force of 4psi. The main explosive device in Bali completely wiped out the surrounding buildings in seconds including the Sari Club. It serously damaged buildings and vehicles in a 200-400 meter radius. 202 people were killed. The majority of deaths were caused by blowout injuries or insciniration. __ In 2005 New Mexico Tech’s Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center loaded a 1987 Toyota Celica with 225 kilograms of Ammonium Nitrate and fuel oil. Ammonium Nitrate and fuel oil has twice of the maximum of the overpressure force of the alleged potassium chlorate explosive used in the Bali bombings. The vehicle was completely wiped out. It left no crater. __ ## Video footage of car bomb testing. 2005 New Mexico Tech energetic materials research and testing center ## __ And what kind of things do you get to see and do in this program? -Done the car bombs, done design, blast mitigation. All kinds of stuff. And what is your favorite one? - Car bombs. ___ ## No Crater. ## Crater? ## __ In the US television series Mythbusters they detonated a truck full of explosives. It was completely wiped out. It left no crater. __ Where did it go? - It's all gone. There is no more truck. + I swaer I left it right here. Mythbusters 1, cement truck 0 This has got nothing to do with the myth. This was just a big boom. __ Jamie likes nothing more than a big boom and this one takes the cake. __ You know, I have never seen a blast that big before. That’s really impressive. Talking about removing concrete: There is no concrete, there is no truck, there is no nothing. __ Investigators claimed the Mitsubishi van used in the Bali bombings was reconstructed and the vehicle identification number retrieved. Yet the explosive outside the Sari Club was so powerful it left a 1 meter deep, 10 meter wide crater. __ ABDURRAHMAN WAHID: Amrozi was involved in the lighter bomb, you know. That’s a problem always. Even though I agree he should be given a stiff punishment but that doesn’t mean he is involved. No, no, no. REPORTER: So you belive the Bali bombers had no idea that there was a second bomb. ABDURRAHMAN WAHID: Yeah, precisely. ___ PETER CAVE: In their daily joint news conference last night, the Australian Federal Police and the Indonesian Police were agreed on one thing at least. As the Indonesian spokesman Brigadier-General Edward Aritonang explained through an interpreter. EDWARD ARITONANG [Translated]: These two bombings in Kuta, there has not been any nuclear aspects, or nuclear elements within the bomb". ___ *** “The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.” James A. Garfield 20th President of USA *** __ Just before a nuclear device goes critical, or in other words, just before it explodes, an electromagnetic pulse is emitted. This produces an electromagnetic shockwave which can overload electrical circuits in the perimeter. Australian Army Officer, Captain Rodney Cocks was down the street at the time of the bombings. “Then the power cut...all the power went out. I didn't think bomb. I didn't think anything at that stage. And then, probably, I'd say two seconds later, there was just the huge flash, and I was just covered in glass” Captain Rodney Cocks Australian Army officer “The lights went out and the music went off for a second and everyone stopped. And the music came back on and the lights came back on. And we sort of went - ‘hm, that was odd’.” Hanabeth Luke Inside the Sari Club “I just basically remembered convulsing, like I was being electrocuted. Just shaking and shaking and I couldn't...I couldn't stop it. I couldn't stop.” Ben Tullipan Inside Sari Club "It was a noise that I will never ever forget, ever in my lifetime. It was a sonic noise. It was a sonic boom” “All it felt like was being in a tunnel, um, with no...with no hearing.” Adam Wright “After the second bang, it sounded like 100 rats racing all over the place. The sound seemed to get louder and quieter and it was all over the place. About five seconds after the second bang, we heard the shattering of glass.” Anna Nishida 600m from the Sari Club “It was the most amazing bright yellow light that came flying towards me.” *** Hiroshima Nuclear Bomb 1945 *** “I was astonished. It was a startling light. Even if you had your back turned to it. You felt the shock go through, right to the centre of your brain. At the same time, any area of skin that was exposed became very hot, heat, such burning heat.” Anyone in the open air was either vaporised or turned to carbon in an instant. Just metres from the injured in Denpasar Hospital, Bali, more than 150 mostly completely burned bodies are lying on every surface in the white-tiled morgue. Many of the bodies and body parts are unrecognisable. Flesh has burned through to bone. Many of the corpses are locked in poses of fear - arms in front of faces. “There were a lot of pieces of people...beside me, like they'd been torn off.” Ben Tullipan Inside Sari Club “Oh...just...just body parts. People's eyelids blown off, staring at you. Just one guy laying on the ground with his intestines strewn all over him.” John Gollota Inside Sari Club “One woman had lost the whole bottom half of her body. A man was crawling up the lane. He had no feet." Fiona Lewis “Some poor bugger was laying right on the corner and one of his legs was gone.” Bruce Baker “There were people with their chests ripped open, and I could see straight into them, and see their hearts still pounding.” Haji Prianto “Blow out injuries - for example, exploded lungs. Everyone had exploded tympanic membranes, burst bowel, amputation injuries.” Dr. Dider Palmer Royal Darwin hospital “I've never in 22 years of burns surgery come across anything like this.” Dr. Peter Haertsch Sydney Concord hospital __ Today, at the bottom of the ocean lays the most important piece of evidence to the investigation. Concrete Reinforcing rods which were located more than 15 metres from the crater. Here are the reinforcing rods after the explosion. The force of the blast completely stripped the concrete. Recall that blast waves are measured by overpressure values. Overpressure values are measured in pounds per square inch OR PSI. Blasts from airbursts where overpressure exceeds 10PSI can cause substantial damage to destroyer type ships. Blast injuries to exposed personnel is usually severe over 3PSI. Here it was 6PSI. RDX which is almost identical to C4 has a maximum overpressure force of 10PSI. Ammonium nitrate and fuel oil can reach 4PSI. And Potassium Chlorate has a maximum overpressure force of 2PSI. Explosive experts know that the level of damage caused by an explosive device corresponds to a specific overpressure value. At 10 PSI, reinforced concrete buildings are severely damaged. Severe lung and heart damage occurs. Limbs can be blown off. At 4 PSI, most buildings collapse except for concrete reinforced buildings. Injuries are universal, fatalities occur. And at 2 PSI, the maximum overpressure of Potassium chlorate; Residential structures collapse. Brick walls are destroyed. Serious injuries are common. Fatalities may occur. Many victims, tens of metres from ground zero with the van’s chassis and the Sari club between them had their bodies torn apart. This would require an overpressure force of well over 10PSI. Several victims died instantly having there bones completely crushed by the force of the blast. This would require an overpressure force of well over 20 PSI. As for the stripped concrete 15 metres from the remaining crater, this requires an overpressure force of well over 100PSI. Only a high tech explosive device is capable of stripping concrete. __ *** "My conscience says that he is not a key actor. I don't believe that Amrozi has the capability to make all kinds of preparations for the bombings, like setting off a kind of nuclear bomb in Bali." M. Fatwa Deputy House Speaker Parliament of Indonesia *** __ The piece written by Jakarta post senior editor, Robert Finnegan, continued… “If indeed the Mitsubishi L300 van was used in the large blast, the five-foot deep by twenty-foot wide crater indicates that it would have been completely vaporized, including the engine block which they apparently found intact - along with the victims who instantly vanished. Is it possible that if the van survived the large blast it was because it was parked at the edge of the primary blast zone, packed with small amounts of all the explosives - whose traces were found at the sites - in order to throw off independent investigators?” During Finnegan’s investigations he was summoned to the American Embassy in Jakarta. US Ambassador Ralph Boyce ordered Finnegan to cease his investigations at once. When Finnegan refused, the Ambassador told him he would have him ejected from Indonesia within 24 hours. He was ordered to surrender his notes and footage to Embassy personnel and was sent back to the USA. Robert Finnegan posted this statement from his website, I was the lead investigator and Senior Editor for The Jakarta Post on the Bali bombings. Shortly after my analysis was printed, I was sacked at the order of U.S. Ambassador Ralph Boyce … The Ambassador REFUSED to answer my question - yes or no - as to U.S. involvement. My journalist visa was then cancelled and I was forced out of the country despite being married to an Indonesian national. Inquiries are welcome. Robert S. Finnegan Managing Editor South East Asia News __ *** “The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.” JFK *** *** Jemaah Islamiah, JI “SE Asia al-Qaeda” *** __ Jemaah Islamiah, or JI, the so called SE Asia wing of Al qaeda was immediately blamed for the Bali bombings. __ *** “We will be moving, Mr Speaker, as a government, to have Jemaah Islamiyah listed as a terrorist organisation in the UN as soon as possible.” John Howard Prime Minister of Australia 15th October 2002 3 days after Bali bombings *** __ For most people, Jemaah Islamiiah, is a group of radical Muslim terrorists who hate their freedom. JI formed after the CIA funded and trained Islamist militants during the soviet-Afghan war. The Bali bombing and the 1993 WTC bombing terrorists linked to the CIA, are simply written off as blowback from poor US foreign policy. However, there is an important twist to the CIA backing of the mujahideen. Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter's National Security Adviser revealed this in a 1998 interview to the French magazine 'Le Nouvel Observateur'. “According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, closely guarded until now, is completely otherwise: Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.” Zbigniew Brzezinski USA National security advisor 1977-1981 Therefore it is important to understand that Jemaah Islamiah was not a by-product of US support for Afghanistan against soviet invasion, but that Islamic militants who would later form Jemaah Islamiah were trained to carry out specific CIA objectives. __ “Remember this, your government funded and trained al-Qaeda. I’ll repeat it again. Your government funded and trained al-Qaeda. I’ll say it one more time. Your government funded and trained al-Qaeda.” __ This man, simply known as Hambali, was named as the mastermind of the Bali bombings. He received military training in Afghanistan under the CIA. LINDA MOTTRAM: Hambali is known for his intimate links with al-Qaeda and with Jemaah Islamiah and a lot has crystallised about him during the Bali bombing trials, which have been observed by our Indonesia Correspondent, Tim Palmer of course. A short time ago on the line to Jakarta, I asked him about Hambali's activities. TIM PALMER: We know that Hambali went on the run shortly after authorities in Singapore tumbled the plot there to attack Western interests, and it's believed that at that point it was Hambali who directed those other Bali bomb suspects, Mukhlas and then through him, Imam Samudra, towards choosing soft targets in Indonesia to attack. Hambali we know, just from evidence of the past week or so, channelled money, channelled thousands of dollars through a man named Wan Min Wan Mat, who gave evidence from Malaysia in the past few weeks to Mukhlas to be used specifically in the Bali bombing campaign. If you track back through Hambali's history, there is so much in common with the figures listed in the Bali bomb case already. He was a man whose shadowy history, we still don't know his age at this stage, that he went to Malaysia in the mid-80s, from there went to fight in Afghanistan where he undertook weapons training, returned to Malaysia and fell in with Abdullah Sungkar, the man who essentially set up Jemaah Islamiah __ Hambali’s mentor was this man, Fauzi Hasbi, also known as Abu Jihad. The International crisis group or ICG published a report in December 2002 entitled “HOW THE JEMAAH ISLAMIYAH TERRORIST NETWORK OPERATES”. The report which was detailed in The Age newspaper declared Fauzi Hasbi “treated senior JI member Hambali as a son.” 2 years prior to the Bali bombing, Fauzi Hasbi facilitated a JI meeting in Malaysia chaired by Hambali. In 2005 SBS Australia’s dateline broadcast an interview with Fauzi Hasbi’s son. __ *** This is Tengku Fauzi Hasbi after he was released. He returned to working and supporting his family. *** __ Lamkaruna Putra's father was an Acehnese separatist leader descended from a long line of Acehnese fighters. He went on to become a key figure in Jemaah Islamiah. Fauzi Hasbi who used the alias Abu Jihad was in contact with Osama bin Laden's deputy. He lived for many years in the house next door to Abu Bakar Bashir in Malaysia and was very close to JI operations chief Hambali. __ In 1978, one year before the start of the soviet-afghan war, Fauzi Hasbi was captured by this Indonesian Special Forces unit. He became a secret agent for Indonesian military intelligence. The commanding officer that caught him was Syafrie Syamsuddin, now a general and one of Indonesia's key military intelligence figures. These documents obtained by Dateline prove beyond doubt that Fauzi Hasbi had a long association with the military. This 1990 document, signed by the chief of military intelligence in North Sumatra, authorised Fauzi Hasbi to undertake a special job. And this 1995 internal memo from military intelligence HQ in Jakarta was a request to use "Brother Fauzi Hasbi" to spy on Acehnese separatist, not only in Indonesia but in Malaysia and Sweden. And then this document, from only three years ago, assigned him the job of special agent for BIN, the national intelligence agency. Security analyst John Mempi says Fauzi Hasbi alias Abu Jihad played a crucial role within JI in its early years. *** JOHN MEMPI: The first Jemaah Islamiyah congress in Bogor was facilitated by Abu Jihad, after Abu Bakar Bashir returned from Malaysia. We can see that Abu Jihad played an important role, he was later found to be an intelligence agent. So an intelligence agent has been facilitating the radical Islamic movement. *** __ Fauzi Hasbi was so relaxed amongst the militants, and they with him, that he even took his son to a critical meeting in Kuala Lumpur in January 2000 as JI was preparing for its violent campaign. The attendance list was a who's who of accused terrorists. __ *** LAMKARUNA PUTRA (Translation): People from Sulawesi and West Java came to the meeting. The organisation was managed by Hambali. Rabitah means organisation. It linked Islamic organisations. REPORTER (Translation): So Hambali was chairman? LAMKARUNA PUTRA (Translation): Yes, Hambali chaired it. *** __ GEORGE W. BUSH: In the last two days, we captured a major terrorist, named Hambali. He's a known killer who was a close associate of September the 11th mastermind Khalid Shaykh Muhammad. Hambali was one of the world's most lethal terrorists who is suspected of planning major terrorist operations, including that which occurred in Bali, Indonesia, and other recent attacks. __ JOHN HOWARD: He's the main link between al Qaeda and JI. He was almost certainly the ultimate mastermind of the Bali attack. So to those relatives of the 88 Australians who died in that outrage almost a year ago, this is I hope some further measure of justice. I congratulate the Americans and I'm sure that psychologically this capture will inflict a very heavy blow on the worldwide terrorist network. He’s not quite the biggest fish you can catch, but he’s pretty close to it. And he’s been on the run for a long time and it’s a major breakthrough which I very warmly welcome. JOURNALIST: Are you able, the details sir, put a bit more detail on how they got him, where he is? How the capture was effective? JOHN HOWARD: No. I’m not going to go into the detail of it. There is some further detail which I’m aware obviously but there’s nothing to be gained by going into that. JOURNALIST: When did you find out about it? And what was your initial reaction when you heard the news? JOHN HOWARD: I’ve known about it for several days. But I’ve wanted naturally to leave it to the Americans to announce… JOUNRALIST: What was the delay? JOHN HOWARD: Well, I don’t have to go into that. It’s a matter for the Americans to announce. I’m not obliged… when you’re dealing with security matters you’re not obliged to blurt everything out that you know immediately you hear it. That doesn’t help anybody. In fact, it only helps the terrorists. -John Howard Prime Minister of Australia __ The Indonesian government requested access to Hambali for questioning over the Bali bombings. The Bush administration refused and he remains in US custody to this day. Fauzi hasbi, aka Abu jihad, was killed after he was exposed as an Indonesian intelligence agent. __ “The Indonesian intelligence chief refused Dateline's request for an interview and dead men tell no tales. The man who held all the secrets, Abu Jihad was disembowelled in a mysterious murder in early 2003, just after he was exposed as a military agent. His son, Lamkaruna Putra died in this plane crash last month.” __ Months prior to the Bali bombings John Howard’s cabinet received specific warnings of possible terrorist attacks in Bali. All specific intelligence came from this man, Omar Al-Faruq. Australian intelligence warnings were documented in a submission to the Senate by the Office of National Assessments. They revealed that one month before the bombings on the 13th of September 2002 ONA published a report based on information which had become available from the debriefing of Al Qaida operative Umar Faruq. This report said that On the 13th of September 2002 ONA published a report based on information which had become available from the debriefing of Al Qaida operative Umar Faruq. This report said that Faruq's disclosures add to the persuasive evidence that has accumulated in recent months that Al Qaida has a longstanding presence in Indonesia and close relations with local extremists. __ On 20th October, 2002, The Sydney morning herald published that Australian defence security experts were warned of specific terrorist risks against Australians in Bali more than six weeks before the bombing. A national classified email written by a Defence Department security adviser in August said intelligence warnings indicated Bali and Australian citizens were in danger of possible attack. Defence security adviser Keith Wilson wrote an email alerting military staff. __ According to ICG reports, Omar Al-Faruq trained with so called Bali bombing mastermind Hambali in Afghanistan under the CIA. Omar Faruq had also met with Indonesian intelligence agent, the late Fauzi Hasbi on the 15th of December 1999. Two and a half years later, in June 2002, Omar al Faruq was handed over to the United States by Indonesian authorities, under the CIA's special rendition program. __ Sayed Abdullah is an Indonesian intelligence expert who operates an Indonesian intelligence firm. Sayed Abdullah said that the CIA and the Israeli secret service infiltrated the alleged JI in Indonesia. Al-Faruq was sent to join the Mujahideen Council of Indonesia, created and headed by Abu Bakar Basyir. The Indonesian expert said that after he failed to be a member of the Mujahideen Council of Indonesia, and failed to get Basyir, he decided to work on the followers of Basyir. __ Consistent with these claims, the ICG report stated that… ‘The hardliners within JI and the strategists of its bombing campaigns have reportedly fallen out with Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, whom they consider insufficiently radical. He and some of his closest followers were reportedly opposed to the Bali bombings.’ __ “That bomb that killed so many Australians was an American bomb. It wasn’t the bomb made by Amrozi and his friends. I don’t know whether the Australian government pretends not to know this - or really doesn’t know. If they don’t know, they’re stupid, but I think they’re just pretending.” Abu Bakar Bashir ABC TV Australia 29th August 2006 __ Weeks prior to the bombings the US government threatened the president of Indonesia to secretly handover Bashir, to the CIA. In a meeting with then President Megawati Sukarnoputri a CIA agent told Megawati to handover Bashir or there would be trouble. Former US State department translator, Fred Burks, who was present at that meeting spoke out when the US government lied that they had not pressured Indonesia to handover Bashir. __ “So we actually went to her private home and we’re welcomed in to her living room and actually there, it was just President Megawati herself, and then Ralph Boyce, who was at that time ambassador from the United States to Indonesia, there was Karen Brooks who I just mentioned about. And then there was a woman who was presented as the personal assistant to George Bush who had come to deliver a special message. Now, by the way this woman had told me that she was a CIA agent. Of course this was not told to Megawati. And what happened in the meeting, basically the envoy, the CIA agent, presented to Megawati, President Megawati, saying look there is this guy Abu Bakar Bashir. We have evidence here that he tried to kill you twice and that he was responsible for these bombings of churches in Indonesia and we have all of this evidence. Therefore we want you to secretly capture him. The term they used was to ‘render’ him, which more and more people are learning about. And by the way I didn’t know what ‘render’ was before I went in to this meeting. And I was thankful that Karen Brooks pulled me aside and said, “Do you know what ‘rendering’ is?” And I said, “well yeah to render something intelligible”. She said, “No, this has a special meaning. To ‘render’ means to secretly capture and turn over to another country.” So they asked President Megawati would she be willing to ‘render’ Abu Bakar Bashir to the United States so they could secretly take him and send him off somewhere like Guantanamo or something like that. And they fully expected her to say “yes”. And interestingly enough she took a breath and she said, “I’m sorry, I can’t do that, he’s too well known.” Fred Burks Former US State Department Translator __ Astonishingly, the Bush administration rejected Indonesia’s requests for Al-Faruq to give evidence at Bashir’s trial. __ *** Abu Bakar Bashir was sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment for conspiracy in the bombings. There was no evidence directly linking him to the Bali bombings. He was found guilty by association. The US government provided no evidence of Bashir’s plot to assassinate President Megawati. *** Then the most amazing thing happened. ELEANOR HALL: Indonesian authorities have reacted angrily to revelations today that a leading South East Asian-based al-Qaeda figure has escaped from US custody. And they have criticised the Bush administration for failing to immediately notify Indonesia of the escape, saying the operative's freedom increases the threat of terrorism to the region. Omar Al Faruq, one of al Qaeda's leading South East Asian operatives who forged close links with Jemaah Islamiah in Indonesia, escaped from the United States' Bagram Air Base in July this year. But the escape only became public on Tuesday after Al Faruq was called to testify at a US military tribunal. As Nick McKenzie reports, the Bush administration has now promised to investigate the failure of US officials to inform the Indonesian authorities. NICK MCKENZIE: Omar Al Faruq was considered one of al-Qaeda's leading operatives in South East Asia before his capture in Indonesia in mid 2002. Shortly after his arrest, Indonesian authorities handed him to US officials, who flew Al Faruq to Afghanistan, where he was held up until his escape from the Bagram Air Base in July this year. That hand-over was controversial, especially after the US refused to allow Al Faruq to return to Indonesia to testify in terrorism prosecutions, a position the US has also taken with JI figure Hambali. And now there's fresh controversy, not only about Al Faruq's escape, but the fact that the US did not tell some of its intelligence counterparts, including Indonesia, that he was on the run. Professor Zachary Abuzza is an expert of Jemaah Islamiah and terrorism at Simmons College in Boston. ZACHARY ABUZZA: They certainly should be angry at this simply because the Indonesian elite took such criticism at the time. Omar Al Faruq was one of the first people who was rendered to the United States under the CIA's extraordinary rendition program. And the Islamists were very unhappy that the Government caved in to American pressure. Remember, this was in June 2002, well before the Bali blasts, and before the Indonesians were on board the war on terror. And at the same time, the Indonesians are very unhappy at the United States simply because they continued to deny Indonesian officials access to Hambali, let alone transfer him to Indonesia, where he will go under Indonesian legal proceedings. NICK MCKENZIE: Omar Al Faruq's escape was only made public after he was called to testify at a military tribunal on Tuesday, a couple of months after his escape. __ So how does Al Qaeda's highest-ranking operative in Southeast Asia escape from high security prison with 3 other inmates? The New York Times reported that the suspects are believed to have picked the lock on their cell, changed out of their bright orange uniforms and made their way through a heavily guarded military base under the cover of night. They then crawled over a faulty wall where a getaway vehicle was apparently waiting for them. So let’s get this straight. The high security prison airbase is guarded by over 8000 soldiers. Everyone who enters or leaves the prison must pass through its only entrance. The 4 prisoners picked their locks, changed their clothes, and hid within the prison. Once darkness set in, the four negotiated there way through the prison, scaling the prison barrier, crossing a road, heading through the guarded airbase, scaling another wall, negotiating through the mine ridden fields to find a friend waiting in a getaway car. The car, filled with the driver and the 4 fugitives, bypassed blocked roads and checkpoints evading the large scale man-hunt and helicopter patrols. __ *** And then… *** __ MARK COLVIN: British troops in Iraq have killed one of al-Qaeda's most senior operatives there. Omar al Faruq has been described as the link between Osama bin Laden's terrorist organisation and Jemaah Islamiah, the group responsible for the Bali bombings of 2002 and 2005. Faruq was captured in Indonesia in 2002, but then embarrassed the US when he escaped from their prison at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan last year. He was tracked to the Iraqi city of Basra and shot dead in a pre-dawn raid by about 200 British troops. __ *** Coincidence? *** __ ELIZABETH JACKSON: First today, one of the world's most important international terror suspects has been shot dead in the Philippines. Police say the bomb-maker and Jemaah Islamiah mastermind, Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, who escaped from a Manila jail in July, was gunned down by security forces on the southern island of Mindanao. Al-Ghozi, born in Indonesia, was a senior JI member, training and supplying weapons to operatives connected to al-Qaeda. __ A month earlier fingerprint tests invalidated Al Ghozi’s first death. His second death did not meet such scrutiny. __ So let’s recap. Hambali, the so called JI mastermind of the Bali bombings, received CIA training during the afghan war, was secretly captured and handed over to the US, and apparently remains in US detention having never stepped foot inside court. Fauzi Hasbi, an Indonesian military intelligence agent who treated Hambali as a son, was disemboweled in a mysterious murder just after he was exposed as an intelligence agent. His son, Lamkaruna Putra died in a plane crash a month after being interviewed by SBS’s Dateline. Then there’s Omar Al-faruq the man who trained with Hambali in Afghanistan under the CIA and who met with Fauzi Hasbi in December 1999. Despite the fact that Faruq was rendered from Indonesia by the CIA, and provided all prior knowledge of the Bali bombings, he was denied to Indonesia for questioning. When Faruq was summoned to appear in US court the Bush administration claimed he had escaped high security prison. One year later he was apparently killed in Iraq. __ It might also be interesting to note, it was later exposed that the CIA had monitored the JI meeting chaired by Hambali in January 2000, 2 years before the bombings. __ *** No JI leaders have ever been prosecuted. *** __ One month prior to the bombings, a former Indonesian State-intelligence chief spoke out to the respected news magazine, Tempo. Former State Intelligence Coordinating Board chief A.C. Manulang has said that Kuwaiti citizen Omar Al-Faruq, a terrorist suspect who was handed over to the US is a CIA-recruited agent. Al Faruq was assigned to infiltrate Islamic radical groups and recruit local agents within these groups. “When Al Faruq finished his assignments, the CIA created a scenario that he had been arrested,” Manulang told Tempo News. Manulang made this analysis based on the pattern used by Al Faruq, that of having Kuwait citizenship but holding a Pakistani passport, entering Indonesia as a refugee and marrying an Indonesian woman. “After the CIA obtained complete data on this matter, they then made Al-Faruq disappear. It’s common in intelligence world,” said Manulang. Manulang said he considered several matters in the arrest of Al Faruq last July to be odd, such as the denial of National Police chief Gen. Da?i Bachtiar over the police’s involvement in Al Faruq’s arrest, and the lack of official documents in Al Faruq’s handing over to the US. This kind of operation is aimed at starting conflicts in Indonesia and creating the image that Indonesia is a land of terrorists. __ The Council on Foreign Relations piece continued… Both Indonesian and U.S. interests would be advanced through greater cooperation in the war on terror. America cannot tolerate half-measures or Jakarta's attempts to obscure the existence of international terror networks on its soil. __ Prior to the Bali bombings the Indonesian government opposed America’s war on terror. President Megawati strongly opposed American anti-terrorist military operations in Afghanistan and denied the existence of terrorists in Indonesia. The New York Times published a piece 4 days after the Bali bombings entitled, TERROR IN BALI, WARNING TO JAKARTA. The American ambassador, Ralph C. Boyce, delivered the latest warning to President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her top advisers just a day before the bombing and gave her a deadline of Oct. 24 to act, the officials said. ''We told them: 'Wrap it up. Block it. Demonstrate that you are serious about eliminating the threat against us,' '' the official said, declining to be any more specific about what action was expected. __ After the bombings the United States of America and the Republic of Indonesia released a joint statement ‘agreeing that terrorism poses a continued threat to international peace and security, and that the two Presidents are committed to enhancing their bilateral cooperation in the fight against terrorism’. __ *** “Everybody now realised clearly that Indonesia was subject to terrorism and terrorist attacks and so there was a much greater degree of unity in the government in addressing the issue.” Alexander Downer Australian Foreign Minister 4 days after the bombings 16th October 2002 *** __ After the bombings, the Bush Administration set-up a national counter terrorism unit under the control of national police chief, General Dai Bachtier. The man who announced that the FBI had discovered C4 at the site of the Bali bombings, directing blame towards JI. C4 was never included in final reports. __ *** “I met Paul Wolfowitz” *** __ In Indonesia’s parliament earlier this year I found the police chief boasting about how he gets the star treatment when he visits Washington. __ *** “I went to the White House...” “to the White House, to the West Wing.” “I spoke to Colin Powell in his office.” “I went to the Pentagon.” “I met the director of the CIA, the director of the FBI.” “I met them all” “Have you just got back?” -“I see this man a lot” “Were you in America?” “Did you get any more money?” -“10 million” “Only 10! We get big bucks” “We got 50 million all up” *** __ The Bush Administration handed over various funds to General Dai Bachtier and the Indonesian military, reconsolidating their power lost after the East Timor massacres were exposed. All in the name of the “War on terrorism”. __ “The catch-all phrase, “War on Terrorism”, in all honesty, has no more meaning than if one wants to wage a war against criminal gangsterism. It’s deliberately vague and non definable to justify and permit perpetual war anywhere, and under any circumstances.” __ *** Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country. Hermann Göring Second in command of the Third Reich *** "I don't want to sound alarmist but we are living in a different world, and something like what occurred in Bali last Saturday night could happen in Australia." John Howard PM of Australia *** __ Days after the Bali bombing, a review of federal anti-terror laws was announced. Over the next 24 months, the Bali bombing was used in Australia to pass over 30 pieces of anti-terror legislation. __ *** But that was just the framework… *** __ “Ladies and gentlemen, the Attorney General and I have called this news conference to announce that after Question Time today the Attorney General will introduce into the House an urgent amendment to the existing counter-terrorism legislation. We will seek passage of that amendment through all stages this evening. The President of the Senate will recall the Senate to meet tomorrow afternoon at 2pm and it's the Government's wish that this amendment be passed into law as soon as possible. The amendment, the detail of which I'll circulate in a moment, with my statement, the amendment is currently part of the counter-terrorism legislation which has been in negotiation with the States. It has thus far been a quite uncontroversial amendment. It's an amendment that effectively substitutes the definite article describing a terrorist act with the indefinite article. In other words, a "the" replaced by an "a". Let me say that the reason for this amendment is that the Government has received specific intelligence and police information this week which gives cause for serious concern about a potential terrorist threat. All the detail of this information has been provided by me and the Attorney General to the leader of the Opposition and to the Shadow Minister for Homeland Security. The Government is satisfied on the advice provided to it that the immediate passage of this amendment would strengthen the capacity of the law enforcement agencies to effectively respond to this threat. You will understand that there are sensitive operational matters and I cannot and will not go into any further detail.” John Howard Prime Minister of Australia 2nd November 2005 __ John Howard’s anti-terror legislation was rushed through parliament. Seventeen men were arrested in raids in Sydney and Melbourne. Faheem Khalid Lodhi was the only man prosecuted in court. It is important to realise that there were laws against every conceivable terrorist offense prior to the Bali bombings, including supporting, financing and planning acts of terrorism. Replacing “the” with an “a” is straightforward in spoken word but it completely contradicts due process and the rule of law in Australia. “The” terrorist act becomes “a” terrorist act and subsequently, prosecutions can be made without identifying any specific act of crime. __ Today, an unknown connection to a potential crime is now punishable by life imprisonment. If you collect funds for another person, whether directly or indirectly, and are reckless as to whether the other person will use the funds to facilitate or engage in a terrorist act. You can be sentenced to life imprisonment. Even if ‘a’ terrorist act does not occur. Individuals can now be punished, not for crimes committed, but for links to a crime that might not even occur in the future. __ The 34 yr old, Faheem Lodhi was convicted under the radical pre-emptive legislation rushed through parliament after his arrest. Lodhi was held in a NSW maximum security prison for three months. While the government passed legislation and sought evidence to support their claims, Lodhi remained in solitary confinement. The Federal Police was forced to drop charges against Lhodi of attempting to recruit for a terrorist organization. He was tried for planning an attack on Australian infrastructure. The Howard Government ordered a confidential affidavit on the grounds of “national security” ensuring a closed hearing. Access to evidence of the potential act of terror was denied to the public, the media and even the accused man and his lawyer. Lodhi was convicted of trying to destroy Australia’s power grid on 3 terrorism charges. __ Lodhi was sentenced to 15 years prison for possessing the Australian electricity grid map. Life imprisonment for seeking information on chemical prices. 15 years prison for possessing a document with information on the manufacture of poisons and incineries. This was 15 pages of notes about poisons and explosives copied from an internet site years earlier. Lhodi said he had come across the site while studying architecture at Sydney University. Lodhi did not possess any of the ingredients or equipment referred to in the pages. __ *** “I don't believe it's possible to bomb the grid as such. The grid is a very extensive network of wires and generators, starting in Cairns, running right down the coast and around to Adelaide, and so the notion of bombing the grid per se, is a little hard to believe.” Brad Page Chief Executive of the Energy Supply Association of Australia *** __ TONY EASTLEY: The conviction of Faheem Khalid Lodhi on three terrorism charges has again thrown the controversial anti-terror laws into the spotlight. Yesterday, a jury in the New South Wales Supreme Court found Mr Lodhi guilty of plotting a terrorist attack on Australian soil, to further the cause of violent jihad. PHILLIP BOULTEN (voiceover): The combination of ASIO's coercive powers, the broad definition of terrorist offences, the extremely harsh conditions of custody in which terrorist suspects are held, and the running commentary of politicians and the media about the arrest, prosecution and detention of terrorist suspects are all combining to create very difficult conditions for the trials of these people. * Phillip Boulten SC Faheen Lodhi’s Defence Counsel * __ The 2005 anti terror legislation rushed through parliament to prevent Lhodi damaging Australia’s electricity supply also broadened the scope of crime by redefining terrorism. Sedition is now a form of terrorism. You are now a terrorist if you promote feelings of ill-will or hostility between different groups so as to threaten the peace, order and good government of the Commonwealth. __ It was exposed in 2005, that secret records of citizens are kept who promote feelings of ill-will towards the government. The courier mail published a piece entitled “Australian Government keeping secret database of people who criticise policies.” The files viewed by the Northern Territory News contained hundreds of names, party affiliations, their jobs or roles and a record of their comments to talkback radio. Among those listed on the database were Katherine Mayor Anne Shepherd, who has been critical of the Government's policies in the past, NT Cattlemen's Association head John Armstrong - who was listed as being affiliated with the Liberal Party - and Iain Smith, chief executive of the NT Seafood Council. All were listed as being "critical of the NT Government." Ordinary people who called talkback radio to complain were also included in the file. Everyone on this list can now be prosecuted under Howard’s anti-terror legislation and sent to jail for up to 7 years. __ MALCOLM FRASER: They go too far. They allow the Government to detain somebody who is not even regarded as a suspect, who is not even regarded as having plotted or thought something bad or evil. If you are detained because ASIO think you know something - not because they think you're guilty, not because they think you've planned anything, just because they think you know something - you're not allowed to make a phone call, you're not allowed to ring up a lawyer, you're not allowed unless they specifically agree, any sort of representation, you're not allowed outside contact. If a journalist finds that this has happened to you, that ASIO have taken you down for interrogation, that journalist is not allowed to report it. If he does report it or attempts to report it, he's subject to charge and five years in jail. MALCOLM FRASER: If you do believe in the rule of law and due process, you just believe in it, and you believe our system will prevail. We don't adopt the methods, the techniques of tyrants or of terrorists. DAVID MARK: Are you saying that this law is the equivalent of a law of a tyrannical society? MALCOLM FRASER: It's the sort of law you would find in tyrannical countries, most certainly. * Malcolm Fraser Former Prime Minister of Australia ABC AM 17th August 2005 * __ Ministers and the Australian Federal Police now have the power to secretly detain people for weeks on end without any charge or evidence of wrongdoing, just that the minister thinks it is necessary. Anyone—including family members, lawyers and the media—who reveals that the person has been detained, can be jailed for five years. Parents cannot even inform each other. __ Ordinary people can now be arrested in their homes or off the street, in secret, taken to specially arranged and secret detention facilities, held without charge and on the full knowledge that they have broken no laws. They can be put through a sever questioning regime for hours and if the answers given are in the words of Howard’s attorney general, not appropriate, then they can be charged with serious offences carrying up to five years imprisonment. You can be interrogated for hours on end and the detention can go on for seven days and then might be continued for a further seven days and then even indefinitely on rolling warrants. All this time a lawyer may not necessarily be present and no-one, including family, friends, and employers will be aware that the state has you in custody. Children as young as sixteen are subject to many of the provisions of this law and may be strip searched without parent’s attendance, knowledge or authorisation. Mr. Howard originally proposed that these laws should apply to children of any age. Then when two Australian citizens are arrested by other countries Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt and then the United States and tortured and held for years in sub-human dog cages subjected to hours, days, months and years of constant questioning and never charged with any offence, John Howard said ‘Well that’s okay too because these people are not the sort of people who deserve better. They are Australians but the Australian government under John Howard will not protest at their treatment because John Howard believes they deserve it. They’re terrorists.’ How do we know they’re terrorists? Just have to take Mr. Howard’s word for it. Like the refugees who tried to come to Australia by boat, John Howard said, ‘We don’t want people like that here, people who would throw their children into the water.’ We had to take Mr. Howard’s word for it then. ‘They might be terrorists too,’ he said. ‘Sneaking into the country in boats pretending to be refugees.’ Of course it was later shown that no children had been thrown into the water and that none of these refugees were terrorists. Now ‘terror’ has come to Australia, Mr. Howard says we need tougher laws and he gets them. Australians can now be abducted off the street like some third world dictatorship; Pinochet’s Chile or Stalin’s Russia. And held by security police in secret and incommunicado. Not terrorists or even those suspected of terrorism. But ordinary Australians who might happen to have some information that the security police think is of interest. But that’s okay. Because we’re fighting a war, a war on ‘terror,’ so laws and civil liberties have to bend to make the country a safer place. But where does it all end? First foreign refugees, then Australians overseas, now Australian citizens. But not you and me. __ *** First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist… Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew… Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist… Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out. *** __ “When the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part. You can’t even passively take part. And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus. And you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, than unless you’re free the machine will be prevented from working at all! __ __ “We are here today because fear is never a good enough reason to do nothing” ** 911 Truth Charlie Sheen ** __