Time is running out for Brian Howes, Julia.

It may well be running out for you, too. A week being a long time in politics, as you know only too well, is bad enough, but you are facing another four of these time-honoured measures of time before you know your fate, and that of your government. Anything could happen in that time, electorally speaking.

Might it not be wise to do something good while you are still PM, while you still can? Why not issue the order to set an Australian extradition request for him (and his wife and children) before the UK government as a matter of urgency. He has not even been charged with anything in the UK, let alone been tried, and then found guilty, yet he and his wife both have lost their liberty while the USDOJ tries to extort a confession to something that is a crime only in the USA from him under their stinking plea bargaining system of 'justice'.

You would be upholding time-honoured principles of British jurisprudence in creating the opportunity for him to have at least a hearing in an unprejudiced court in an unprejudiced country. In the US they have him tried, convicted, and sentenced to life before he has even fronted any court. Just read the 'Arizona Narcotics Officer' magazine article from 2007, if you doubt it.

Looking at it somewhat differently, should the worst come to the worst for you in four weeks time, you will have left your political opponents with any embarrassment, judicial or diplomatic, that may have been incurred. If you win, success at such extradition would be a badge of honour for you. If you are truly driven by indignation at injustice, that is.

I've been thinking about badges of honour, courage, and shame, a bit recently, Julia. See: http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=3807#93736

I wonder what badge you will be able to be proud to wear?

Don't let these coming days be ones that, once all is known, will disappoint the Australian people, Julia.

This is a link to a downloadable PDF document named 'red-dragon pdf': http://bit.ly/3FxZFO . It is a 2.5 MB file, and downloaded on my 512/256 MBPS ADSL service in a matter of seconds. It was a link within a linked page to one of my earlier posts in this thread, and is perhaps somewhat buried.

The content of the document is a copy of 'The Arizona Narcotic Officer', the official magazine of the Arizona Narcotic Officers Association, winter edition, 2007. At page 8 of that edition commences an account, titled 'Operation Red Dragon', of what essentially is the case against the Howes', presented in a manner that I should imagine would be highly prejudicial to any chance of them receiving a fair trial in the US.

For the benefit of OLO viewers (whoever they may be), I have posted a series of Twitpics of the relevant pages of this document. The article claims an Australian meth lab to have been shut down as a consequence of Red Dragon intelligence provided to Australian law enforcement officials. Australia has an interest in this whole matter.

http://twitpic.com/2b370k
http://twitpic.com/2b37ty

http://twitpic.com/2b38h0
http://twitpic.com/2b398s

http://twitpic.com/2b39sy
http://twitpic.com/2b3aqd

http://twitpic.com/2b3bdk
http://twitpic.com/2b3c0a

The precursor chemicals supply problem for the USDEA, so far as it relates to sources within the UK, is surely a matter for diplomacy between the US and UK governments to the end of harmonising the respective laws. What Howes is alleged as having done was not an offence in the UK at the time (or since?).

The Howes' are in the invidious position, if extradited and subsequently pleading 'not guilty' before a US court, of facing life in prison if nevertheless found guilty by a believably prejudiced jury (presuming they even get a jury trial).

If that happens, the family's five children will be put up for adoption.

The 'evidence', such as it appears to be, seems heavily reliant on claims as to internet traffic pointing to the Howes' guilt, and we all know how manipulable digital information can be. Whole cases can be fabricated if based on such information alone.

As I said when I started this thread, I 'follow' swissinfo_en on Twitter. swissinfo_en just recently tweeted this link: http://bit.ly/aWSZVl

It is a news item dealing with the resignation of Hans-Rudolf Merz, the departing Swiss Finance Minister.

A quote from that item:

"“He was the best finance minister in Europe
because he balanced the budget during a very
turbulent period,” Hans Geiger, emeritus professor
of Zurich University’s Swiss banking institute,
told swissinfo.ch"

Despite that performance, there is also in the news item this observation:

"Under pressure from the United States,
the G20 group of the world’s most powerful
countries, the European Union and the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD), Switzerland has been
forced to concede ground during a global
crusade against tax evasion.

First, Merz was obliged to renegotiate a
host of double taxation agreements with
various countries. But more damaging to
the reputation of Swiss private banking,
Switzerland also complied with US demands
to hand over details of UBS clients.

The decision taken last year was hasty and
ill-considered, according to Geiger. “There
was no urgent need to do that and Merz’s
department handled that very badly,” he said.

“Switzerland has always promised clients
that their data would be protected. It was
a bad moment in Swiss history.”"

So notwithstanding Merz' being regarded as the best finance minister in Europe, it seems the Swiss value their history and reputation even more highly. Merz is now gone.

It can only be hoped that this departure is a portent with respect to the upholding of the historic rights of accused persons under British law that those rights will be protected wherever possible, by whoever possible within the realm of that system of British law, over against some ill-considered terms of a recent treaty meant to deal with terrorism, not the open slather extra-territorial applicability of US law to foreign nationals in their own countries.

Could it be a portent applicable to Australia? Perhaps someone should ask Gordon Brown that question. He may have remembrance.