it's all about power. in oz, as long as cabinet can command the vote of caucus, the prime minister is master of australia. it's not legal, there is no 'prime minister' in the constitution. but it's real: his gang controls parliament, parliament controls the faceless nonentity whose signature legitimizes oz law and policy.

there is no legal obstacle to the head gangster doing what he pleases in australia. lately, adventures abroad in the tail of the american imperium have made it possible someone might wish to remind us that sending gunmen to a foreign land is a chancy business, likely to draw return fire. this would be detrimental to re-election prospects. so we have 'terror laws'. the head gangster not only can whisk anyone off the street, he can keep him in a box indefinitely. and he can keep it a secret. or he can release selected information, frightening the timid. there are a lot of very timid people in australia, so the terror laws have a second value to the pollies.

to paraphrase ben franklin: those who trade freedom for security will soon have neither.

ozzies have only the freedom of sheep in a paddock, undisturbed by the grazier as long as they show up for shearing, and never ever say "enough!" to pollie rule. soon they will have even less freedom, and no security at all. they deserve what they get.

So DEMOS move to India or Iraq and see how much freedom or security you get there...

Yes, Australia's pollies are largely puppets for the big end of town...and that's both sides of politics! Media reports today indicate that boat builders are seeing record orders placed for their luxury yachts and the economists figure that means the economy is booming. No, that just means that all the wealth is being concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer people and we all should remember what happens when inequality of power and wealth becomes too skewed to the few.

Terrorist elements breed on conflict and inequalities...or on apathy and bleeding heart lefties. It is interesting to note that history shows again and again that the extreme 'bleeding heart' malcontents who agitate against all authority are traditionally the first victims of any new 'regime'...they quickly realise that they don't want malcontents either.

No one 'deserves' evil or ill to be perpetrated...you need to examine your motives, DEMOS and ask who or what you really have an axe to grind against...and go live with them, when you figure it out.

Pathetic as our pollies are, the answer is to try to keep them on their toes with reality and facts, not politically motivated bias and bs or stand for parliament yourself. I still wouldn't trade them for their Iraqi or Indian counterparts...would you?

Leighs point is well made Haneef is now Indias' problem.

However the ineptitude displayed by the AFP and the government is ours - and I think that is the point.

It is far too soon to make a call on Haneef except to say he gave the Government and the AFP a free kick when he elected to leave. Had he stayted he would remian an plank in their eye and had they actually muscled him out the same applies -

All the amatuer slueths out there trying to join the dots based on what we know is really a waste of time - whether he cleaned out his fridge is really immaterial.

The decision of the DPP to declare there was insufficient evidence to secure a conviction begs the question of whether the evidence they had in the forst place, seemingly distorted, was enough to arrest him in the first place - and now we have linguists of questioonalbe credentials in the public, the media and the AFP reading all manner of inferences to chatter on the internet.

I think we have gone off half cocked - as usual - when faced with a whiff of terrorism -

Don't you think that if we had a different government, rather than this lot with its base political motives, the same result may have been achieved but with far more decency and diplomacy.

I can imagine a different prime minister saying something like;

"We do feel for Dr Haneef in that he has had to be detained, questioned, and ultimately asked to leave our country. If he is indeed innocent of any involvement with the Glasgow incident then we recognise that he is just another victim of the terrorism that is plaguing the nations of the world. It is hoped that he can understand the actions of our government, tasked with protecting our citizens from any possibility of harm, that we need to revoke his visa. While recognising the impact on him and his family we feel that in these matters we have had little choice but to have proceeded in the manner we have. We thank Dr Haneef for his co-operation with our authorities and wish that the reunion with his wife and newborn will help soften the obvious stress of the last few weeks."

TEAM.... if anyone thinks the AFP is a bunch of dills...they only need attend the trial of the Melbourne 13 and see just how it all operates.

Until you have DONE this..(as I have) you will not even begin to appreciate the level of detail and depth of their investigations.

Chris... mate.. leave it alone, you are becoming a total joke mate..seriously.. "no Al Qaeda" why ? errr..because no one has shown YOU.... evidence... wake up mate..open your eyes and ears.

Meg1.. well said.

There is little need to be afraid of 'bumbling' AFP when the likes of Russo, Rob (Mon)Starry, Greg Barns and others who appear to care ONLY for the slightest technical glitch in a case to set allegedly dangerous people (who hold our legal system in utter contempt, by not standing in respect for it) free.

and they do it, often at OUR expense.. making sure the legal aide funds are allocated before lifting a clip board.. "pro bono" ? hah! 'professional welfare cheats' in my opinion.

It would be nice if police and politicians and the courts could earn the money that they get paid for and work to determine this guy's guilt or innocence and not come up with some half mashed cock-up- again.

Talk about an absolute waste of time, our money and space.

Scrap all these stupid laws and agencies, they obviously have no function other than to make people believe that pollies are doing something.

The average Joe Blow in the street is more than capable of dealing with any terrorist he or she may come across, and we don't need to paying a bunch of idiots to pretend to be doing it for us!