Dirty Deeds Down Under

Like his counterpart in the UK, Australian PM John Howard is coming under fire for ignoring warnings that invading Iraq would actually increase the risk of terrorism. The warnings came from the British Government's Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) more than a month before the United States-led invasion.

As the Sydney Morning Herald reports:

"John Howard has a nervous mannerism, only seen at moments of great stress. His shoulder twitches in a strange, even Strangelove way. It was out of control yesterday for the first time since the last election."

Like Bush, Howard has been riding the crest of war-time popularity and has seemed politically unassailable. But suddenly, manipulation of pre-war intelligence is not the only problem on Howard's plate.

Firstly, he stands accused of burying an embarrassing report into his government's involvement in ethanol imports. Australia's #1 ethanol importer is a close friend of Howard and the government has been pushing to increase the ethanol content in fuel, despite studies showing it is harmful to many cars. Howard lied about a secret meeting with his "mate" and denies using Australian consulate staff in Brazil to spy on a major competitor. Now he is refusing to release a (presumably) damning report on the whole affair.

Secondly, as the same SMH story explains, the Australian Electoral Commision and the Federal Police seem to have "turned a blind eye" to government misdemeanors.