PM doesn't like being thought of as a national security risk - well, he should get used to it!

Howard has not taken kindly to Rudd's description of him as a security risk, but this blog has been making that case since its inception.

On Howard's watch Australia has entered the twilight zone of Bush's unilateralism, where neocon airheads invented a new version of reality that involves them ruling the roost on all global issues: "We will decide events and how they are reported"; "If you're not with us you're against us"; "this is a crusade of good against evil"; "we are fighting a war on terror....".

We sent trainers to Vietnam initially, which led to our increasing commitment of combat troops and our worst foreign policy debacle. Rudd is right to draw the parallels between Iraq and Vietnam. The extraordinary hubris behind the US and allies setting themselves up as world 'police' was exposed back then and it is happening again. Howard is still claiming Australia's role in Vietnam as good policy! Doubtless he will go to his grave chanting a similar mantra on Iraq, but the rest of us will ultimately get the point that we were poorly led by him and his amigos.

On Insight last night I think I saw a dawning realisation on the face of Ruddock that his legacy is not going to be all that flash. The systematic demonisation of Hicks by the Howard government is coming home to roost.

Denial of habeas corpus to Hicks has become a symbol of the Howard Government's approach to human rights in a raft of policy areas. Ruddock was laughed at last night as he slithered around the crux of the matter - Why has it taken over 5 years for our Government to stand up for the rights of an Aussie citizen, and why as he been adjudged a bad person by Howard, Downer et al on the basis of a highly suspect evidentiary process.

Fellow citizens, its time, its time, its time.....