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Explosive allegations by another former intelligence officer tonight
While I had hoped to leave behind issues surrounding the Iraq war, it seems this story just will not die. Even without more revelations, the war casts a shadow over international relations that is impossible to ignore, but on top of that, it seems new information comes out every few weeks.
Another former intelligence officer, Rod Barton, turns whistleblower tonight. Barton worked in the Defence Intelligence Organisation. Details foreshadowed by the ABC regarding the Four Corners interview include the following first-hand accounts by Barton:
- He warned the Government in January 2003 (two months before the invasion of Iraq) that the intelligence they were relying on was wrong.
- He informed the Government of US torture practices prior to the revelations of Abu Ghraib torture, and reveals that numerous Australian personnel witnessed such torture.
- He reveals a conversation with the late David Kelly in which Kelly acknowledged that the British dossier used to justify war was sexed up.
- While serving on the Iraq Survey Group (the group responsible for the search for WMDs after the war), his reports were censored by the CIA.
The interview screens on Four Corners at 8:30pm
Bad news for Senator Hill
Today is not a good day to be Senator Robert Hill, Minister for Defence. While many of the comments made by Barton on Four Corners outlined serious problems including politicisation of the defence forces and the use of weapons inspectors for partisan spying on the behalf of the United States, Barton stopped just short of saying that Senator Hill had lied outright.
However the Parliamentary principle involved here is that a Minister may not mislead Parliament, and as every lawyer well knows, the literal truth can be misleading if given without qualification.
In this case, it seems Senator Hill hid important facts from Parliament by stating a more limited truth than was warranted. Barton's reports of abuse related to the Camp Cropper facility for high value detainees. Senator Hill apparently limited his claims to Abu Ghraib, glossing over the question of whether there was knowledge or involvement of prisoner abuse elsewhere. Additionally, it seems that he adopted an unduly narrow definition of the term "interrogation" to claim that no Australians were involved in interrogation of prisoners in Iraq. This latter claim was clearly false, in circumstances where Barton alleges that Senator Hill must have known it was false.
Question Time should be interesting in the Senate tomorrow.