Never mind 25 years after Burchetts death. 70 years after Quislings death he is still a by-word for traitor. Used, I believe, by Australian Senator Robert Ray about a senator from Queensland. He called him a Queensland Quisling.
See treachery is bad but treachery against all your fellow citizens is not only unforgivable but unforgetable.

I find it hard to believe that Robert Manne
actually did the things the authors of this
article accuse him of doing.

In fact, I find it incredible.
And extremely disturbing.

Robert Manne, to me has always been
a fair and just intellectual, who saw the
bigger picture, and tried to remain
objective, presenting both sides of the argument
without judgement. He always seemed, the voice
of reason.

I can't understand how a man was vilified
so unjustly,as in this case of Wilfred Burchett,
and that his children had to bear the brunt of the
vilification as well. It's hard to imagine this
happening in a country like Australia.

Many people got it wrong
about Stalin - from George Bernard Shaw to Roosevelt
("My friend Joe"). They weren't ostracised.

Still, I suppose - those
"red under the bed fearful times,"
ruined a lot of people's lives.

I didn't realize that
it had happened to Australians.

From a man that
I've always admired in the past...

We ought not forget what started off Robert Manne's (and Mark Aaron's, for that matter) writing about Burchett. It was Tibor Meray's book titled On Burchett. It would be worthwhile for Gavan McCormack, Stuart McIntyre and the others to read this book. Bill Hyde of Callistemon Publications

Dear Bill,

Thanks for mentioning the book by Tibor Meray,
"On Burchett." Callistemon Publications,
$30.95.

Matthew Ricketson, "The Age" media editor has
done a write up in, "The Age," Saturday, July 5, 2008.
and it's made me want to read it - and find out more
about Wilfred Burchett.

It may help me understand why
Robert Manne has taken
the stand he has.

To say that Burchett got it wrong on Stalinist Eastern Europe is an understatement of some magnitude. Perhaps the authors of this article could spend a few minutes imagining themselves in the shoes of those citizens in the "people's democracies" that Burchett betrayed over and over again, and kept on betraying long after he knew the facts. Then perhaps they might want to consider addressing the forensic demolition job done by Tibor Meray.

Discussion of whether Wilfred Burchett was technically a communist, or a traitor, or deserved to be denied a passport, are peripheral to the overwhelming central issue, which is his role as that counterpart to the Holocaust denier, the hecatomb ignorer.
A political journalist who perversely, obdurately and avoidably got it wrong about history's two worst mass murderers, Stalin and Mao, and history's closest approximation to pure totalitarianism, the Kim Il-sung / Kim Jong-il dynasty, has simply forfeited all rights to be taken seriously.

To: Online Opinion

Robert Manne’s memory of what he once wrote about Wilfred Burchett is faulty. He contests our recent statement ("Manne of Influence," Online Opinion, July 4) that in 1985 he had described Burchett as having been a torturer during the Korean War. According to the Age reporter Matthew Ricketson, Manne “denied he had ever written that Burchett was a torturer.” Rather, he charged that our “description of his earlier position was ‘an absolute lie’.” (Ricketson, "New Brawl over Burchett's Reputation," July 8, 2008: http://blogs.theage.com.au/mediamatters/archives/2008/07/new_brawl_over.html ). However, our statement is correct, and Manne is wrong again.
In 1985 Manne did accuse Burchett of involvement in torture. At that time, describing his August 1985 Quadrant essay, "The Fortunes of Wilfred Burchett: A New Assessment", Manne wrote: "My article presented evidence to show that Wilfred Burchett [...had] active involvement in the creation and dissemination of the false germ warfare confessions extracted from captured American pilots after protracted periods of physical and mental torture" (Robert Manne, letter to the editor, Sydney Morning Herald, August 16, 1985). Manne accused Burchett not merely of the "dissemination" of false confessions, but also explicitly of their "creation" ­- referring to their extraction in a process involving protracted "physical and mental torture."
Additionally, Manne quoted the charge that a US POW under interrogation was “ ‘threatened repeatedly with drastic measures by Burchett’ ". In crediting that charge, Manne accused Burchett of coercing information from a POW under the threat of torture (”He Chose Stalin: The Case of Wilfred Burchett," in The Shadow of 1917: Cold War Conflict in Australia, 1994, p. 55).
Altering his position in 2008, Robert Manne now calls into question the veracity of such charges. This is another important change in his viewpoint. However, he errs in denying "that he had ever written Burchett was a torturer". If there is “an absolute lie” here, it is not ours.

Tom Heenan,
Ben Kiernan,
Greg Lockhart,
Stuart Macintyre,
Gavan McCormack.

ah well, seems like i have finally succeeded in logging in for a new comment !
don't know if it's worth the while ! but the commentators so far do not seem to get near wiping wilfred burchetts boots (well, tennis shoes..)

I can only say: he told me of his experience in the vietnamese tunnels, under American-occupied Southern Vietnam. The tunnels were built for Vietnamese. Smaller and thinner than Wilfred. He had two minders, one to pull, one to push. Still, he got stuck. And unstuck. What I found v hard, to even think of, nites, was that he went back. Again. (he did run out of air, somewhat.)

I've worked in mines. I am very happy that Wilfred Burchett went into the Vietnamese tunnels, and that I could avoid that. I'd like any of the commentators to try think they owe the Vietnamese, that. And then think about it some more. Ah well..
Max (Watts), a frita

Max Watts
Which Vietnamese do we owe?
The million who fled Communism or the ones left?
The Communists tortured and murdered approximately 100 million people last century. The whole rotten crop lasted only one century but was ably assisted by creatures like Burchett. People who despite all the evidence stood by the tyrannical monsters were the system. These Quislings are the people who should never be forgotten or allowed to crawl under a rock and not be exposed for what they did.

time waste. try thinking of vietnamese as people in vietnam.
max watts