'......who lets parliament rule you by divine right.'(Quote: DEMOS)

..er,..yes?*!.....I..er,let Parliament rule me.....okkkkkk...

That must be right 'cause DEMOS said it.....

Kevin Andrews is either completely incompetent (by letting a suspected terrorist associate out of the country, instead of keeping him in custody, or at least under survelliance), or has acted illegally. Either way, he should resign: http://www.andrewsmustresign.com/.

Why is it in Australia that we have this portion of society purportedly educated and socially sophisticated that believe 1) That Howard or any other figure head actually 'runs' government and 2) seemingly have adopted this 'the tail ought to wage the dog' approach to dealing with issues especially as complex as terrorism where success requires being fully informed and having intervened before the actual act of destruction.
Of who else in society do we have this expectation, and who else do we vilify for their intervention on our behalf. Those who whinge about Haneef's civil liberties need to come back to earth and realise that his civil liberties were protected by the system of investigation and was released to return home to his wife and family. Whether he ought to have been investigated, because having been investigated, found related to investigations elsewhere, and found harmless here, is axiomatic after the fact. We do not praise our police when they find criminality and vilify them when they find links but not acts. All information concerning Haneef was relative and pertinent to security. Haneef was not mistreated. He was found while innocent of terrorism a person of suspicious character. Listen to your mother. Your known by the company you keep. Sometimes I have this horrible thought that our police ought to be incompetent and have a bloody big blast go off killing a couple thousand innocents. It usually takes something horrific like that to wake up the dolts who live in the clouds and have little association with hard core reality. There is evil out there children and your life in that context has no value. Destroying life and institutions is the end of their means. Wake the F... Up!

aqvarivs, I agree that the "civil liberties" side of the argument regarding the Haneef case is on flimsy grounds.
But if Haneef really was of "suspicious character", then what exactly is it that we are suspicious of? Mr Andrews made that perfectly clear by reading out parts of the chat transcript - it did appear that Haneef may have been involved, perhaps indirectly, with the Glasgow Airport terrorists. But in that case, in the interests of our country's security, allowing him to leave the country was entirely the wrong action. If, on the other hand, there really was no evidence that showed Haneef was associated with terrorism, then there was no excuse for wasting taxpayer's money and damaging Australia's reputation by making a political pawn out of a legally innocent man. Andrews' actions have not only made Australia no safer, but have almost certainly contributed towards international ill-will towards Australia, both from terrorists and the general population. If a terrorist group strikes Australia in the next few months, and it turns out that information from Haneef had been used by the group, then how would you feel about Mr Andrews? And if you don't think this scenario is at all likely, then what possible advantage was gained by cancelling Haneef's visa?

wizofaus, actually I believe that if you polled the citizens of other countries(including India), aside from the majority who never heard of Haneef, most would be respectful of Australian sovereignty and hope that in the name of national security that their leaders would be equally determined. Rule one for terrorist and terrorism is to exploit the freedoms inherent in democracy. They see it(democracy)as numerous holes drilled into authoritarianism that must be plugged. Each attack will hopefully have democratic leaders doing that job for them. Each attack will have the Left media chipping away at the leadership. None of this is circumstantial all is by design. Ho Chi Min exploited the Left media in the U.S. and around the world during the Vietnam war in the same way. The North Vietnamese learned from the Russian and Chinese during the Korean war how effective a tool it could be. The Al Qaeda organisation is also using the same tactic in Afghanistan and Iraq and is having the same success. Listen to all the Australians who pray and hope for failure in building democratic institutions in these countries. They want the west out because people are choosing to die for democracy and yet, kept their mouths shut when people were being killed to maintain authoritarian dictatorship. The world doesn't need less democracy it needs more of it. Everywhere! A democratic world would put paid to authoritarian dictatorship and that is the real fear. Not just for the dictators but for the socialist too.

"A democratic world would put paid to authoritarian dictatorship and that is the real fear. Not just for the dictators but for the socialist too." (Quote:Aqvarivs)

Not for me it isn't. I live in hope that we do return to a democracy....

( Spare me the bullwaste that I ought to live in an undemocratic Country..etc., Your statement hinges on the definition of a democracy).

OK..., I noted your previous comments.

I attempted to wake the f..k up with little success. She got very tetchy; it's not worth the risk.

So I attempted to listen to my mother. I DID listen hard. No luck there either; so I just changed the flowers, told her about your post (I swear I heard something then, it sounded like laughter); and left the cemetery.

Here's the thing, and it's just a hint mark you. When you talk down to people addressing them as children, it doesn't endear them to you or your views. It then becomes a tad difficult to take those views seriously.

But I'll try.

TBC.,