Any link between Dr Haneef and al-Qaida is tenuous indeed and it’s hard to imagine why the SBS Dateline program didn’t carry out due diligence. The question about the willing involvement of the Federal Police and the Federal Government to sully Dr Haneef’s name is an open one. However, relying on that bedrock principle of innocent until proven guilty which attaches to Dr Haneef’s situation we must assume the Government and Police are also innocent until proven guilty.

The author of this article seems to draw together suppositions, educated guesses, dodgy evidence, and an old fashioned Chinese whispering campaign with the hope that it will culminate in the beatification of Dr Haneef. I just hope Dr Haneef finds the time to bring his washing in and finish off the dishes he left in the sink.

The labyrinth of skimpy evidence, spin, leaks and simple mistakes in this case are mind boggling. They show how difficult it is for authorities, especially police and public servants caught up in the politics of it all. The only clear thing is that in such circumstances authorities need to be extra-cautious and follow the book.

It is fairly clear that Keelty hasn't done this. His comments about the whereabouts of the SIM card should have been enough for him to resign; he's clearly not up to the job.

The other concerning aspect of this is the irresponsibility of elements of the media (though to be fair some reporters and outlets have been very good on this). Bruce Haigh has raised important questions about the Al-Qaida issue, but not much has been heard of the appalling report about plans of the foundations of a building being found in Haneef's apartment. Are such smears simply to be forgotten and taken as normal media behaviour?

Bruce you are a generous man 2nd rate? I would say 4th 5th or 6th.

I have 2 main concerns here.

1....If Dr Haneef is a terrorist they bungled it and let him get away.

2....If he is innocent how can we trust them to find a real terrorist.

After 6 years, we still go on falling for this muck. Are we living in a cartoon or what?

---

"The Hegelian Dialectic is a method by which the globalists rule a target population by fear. Restated simply as Problem-Reaction-Solution, it is a three-stage formula, by which an artificial problem is created, which enrages the public.

The public then demands that "something MUST be done".

The third stage, which is a pre-fabricated artificial solution, would never have been accepted, had that artificial problem NOT previously existed.

But, the solution IS ACCEPTED, simply because the public has been traumatized and placed into a state of heightened suggestability, by the constant replaying of news footage of the attack. With the public placed under a state of fear, they would do almost anything, and agree to almost anything to alleviate the problem under which they had been currently suffering."

---

In this cartoon world, our lives are drawn by cartoonists who rely on our gullibilty. They know that our collective memory is steadily wiped every day by what we see on TV. They know that our minds are like a re-used videotape, the new supplanting the old by endlessly repeating "terror, risk, Al Qaeda and security".

The trick to retaining your equilibrium is to examine bits from the cutting-room floor:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-886644060632694627&hl=en

- of which there are many, if only we bother to look.

Here's some relevant weekend viewing then:

http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?docid=-609179074068244932&q=webster+tarpley&total=880&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

Enjoy! We can beat these bastards. We really can!

- no-one is smarter than all of us together.

alanpoi. Third possibility. Dr Haneef is "guilty" but it cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, or not without exposing confidential sources/methodologies etc. The investigation, having been seriously compromised by rabid sensationalism from the media and assorted politicians, leaking of transcripts, rantings from various legal quarters....the cops decided not to push on with it (who knows how many bigger fish than Haneef have slipped the net as a result of all this?) rather than blow anything else they have in train. I don't say this IS the case, but it could be.

Chris Shaw. Too much is made of "the population living in fear". Who do you mean? It is the weekend in Australis. Hundreds of thousands (millions?) will be attending all types of sporting events; many more will be in shopping centres; in airports; at markets; in cinemas and theatres throughout the nation. Likewise, evry day hundreds of thousands board palnes; millions buses and trains. This is fear?

Why don't you get real? It is you who live in fear and wish to get some company. Paranoia and conspricy theories are the surest sign there is of permanent "angst" (ie fear..in German; good you mention Hegel!) I have an insurance policy on my house; according to you this is "fear". I would visit a Dr if I was running a high fever; this is your idea of "fear". I wouldn't dive from a high rock into murky water without checking the depth first; again, this to numbskulls like you is "fear". Any normal person would say, as Mr JW Howard once phrased it, this is being alert (to risks) but not alarmed . Anyway, I'm off to the shops, and then getting a bus to take a plane to watch the NQ Cowboys play, and then take in a movie; hope YOU won't be quaking under your rock all day. Cheers.

PS. Since you claim the whole "terrorist/Islamist" threat is a beat-up, could you tell us the last time you were in Iraq,Iran or Afghanistan?

Dr Haneef's backgound is exhaustively checked by the AFP, ASIO, DSD etc.

Following this process there is no evidence the Government can use in court (even in camera (closed session)) to convince a judge or eventually the DPP that Haneef is a bona fide terrorist or terror risk. This is the only legitimate test of Haneef's innocence, not "we could nail him if we could tell" secret policeman's business.

The law applies even though a Government panicked by pending electoral loss attempts to spin a family association issue into a Terrorist In Our Midst issue.

Result - Haneef's passport is returned and he is free to leave Australia.

The Government may have hoped that the visit of a British police(person) and a suspect Indian document may have blackened Haneef's name in the court of public opinion - but these efforts failed.

Hence with 10,000s man-hours of AFP, ASIO, etc time wasted trying to nail Haneef the Government's pre-electoral jitters may well have distracted counterterrorism resources from (more important) APEC preparatory security efforts.

If something happens during APEC it would be tragic if the prolonged diversion of resources (pursuing Haneef) proved significant.

Pete