Everyone In Cabinet Knew Saddam Was Grabbin' It !

.Was Terence Cole's request for those with information to step forward a plea or a threat of revelation? Caroline Overington's detailing of those who received the ominous cable suggest the latter premise is worth considering.

[extract]

The scam was outlined in a diplomatic cable
dated April 10, 2001 from Bronte Moules, an official at Australia's permanent mission to the UN in New York.

It was widely distributed through the top echelons of government,
including the Prime Minister, Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander
Downer, Trade Minister Mark Vaile and then-minister for agriculture
Warren Truss.

The warning was also circulated to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and its offshoot Austrade, the Attorney-General's Department, the Defence Department, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Defence Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Bureau of
Agricultural and Resource Economics. Senior DFAT officials on the cable's distribution list include secretary Ashton Calvert and deputy secretaries Pamela Fayle, John Dauth, David Spencer and Alan Thomas.

Ms Moules's cable clearly outlined Iraq's plan to extract US dollars from AWB by demanding a levy of 50c a tonne on wheat, before it would be unloaded.

She said the issue was linked to wider concerns about corruption in the oil-for-food program and said there was "anecdotal and in some cases hard evidence of Iraqi purchasers and agents
demanding fees from suppliers, in contravention of the sanctions regime".

While the cable did not say AWB had agreed to pay bribes, it is at odds with the Howard Government's claim that it never investigated claims that AWB was funnelling money to Saddam Hussein's regime because it believed the allegations were simply rumours made up by rival wheat-selling nations.

Ms Moules's cable shows that Saddam's efforts to steal money from the oil-for-food program were well-known in Canberra, as was the fact that AWB had been asked to participate in the scam.

Our Prime Minister and his cabinet have been revealed as deceitful and untrustworthy. If they won't go voluntarily then perhaps we should be considering the legal means available to remove them from power.

HALLIBURTON AUSTRALIA IMPORTS SLAVE LABOR TO SOUTH AUSTRALIA


Halliburton Australia. has a major part of South Australi business
activities It's Adelaide office was fomerly the company's global
headquarters for infrastruture.

Under the trading name of KBR it is employed by the State government and local councils. It has been involved in construction of the Adelaide-Darwin Railway and the Port River Expressway, and has proposed a development project for Lake Alexandrina.

Halliburton is also employed by the Department Of Foreign Affairs and Trade to carry out international aid contracts on Australia's behalf, and has many defence industry contracts.

In South Australia's outback, Halliburton has been flouting Australia's Industrial Relations laws by employing foreigners at wage levels inappropriate to Australian ethics.

By referring the Advertiser's questions to it's head office in Houston it has revealed where its South Australian activities are truly conducted from.

On evidence of such a flagrant violation of Australian trust, the
ethics involved in all the company's interaction with all levels of
government in South Australia must now be called into question. If companies such as Halliburton want to play in Australia, they must learn to play by Aussie rules.

Given the Australian Government's avoidance and denial of knowledge of Australian bribes paid to the Saddam government of Iraq, it is highly unlikely there will be an
Australian probe into Halliburton's questionable activities.

As Halliburton Australia is a wholly owned US subsidiary its activities in Australia could be subjected to a probe by the US Department of Justice under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

South Australian Trade Minister Micheal Wright has promised a State Government investigation, and says that the Federal government should do the same. Mr Wright added that he would also be looking for possible violations of welfare laws.