It was born of a bombing and it made its name after a far more devastating act of terrorism. But for most of the 25 years in between, little was known about the Australian Federal Police force or the work it did.This morning the AFP reaches a symbolic coming of age in two ways: the first by achieving a career milestone and the second by helping the federal Government move towards a crucial landmark.
When John Howard sits down with Indonesia's President-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to nut out a security pact with Australia's largest neighbour, he will be following a road paved by the unlikeliest of liars -- a policeman.
As the Prime Minister lands in Jakarta today for Yudhoyono's inauguration, the man largely responsible for putting him at the negotiating table, AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty, will be in Canberra overseeing a parade of officers to honour all his force has achieved?
For much of the past three years Howard and Keelty have traded places -- Howard busying himself with domestic issues in Canberra and Keelty in Jakarta, or elsewhere in Asia, meeting heads of state and their mandarins and helping thaw wary impressions of Australia.
In the years before the September 11, 2001, [false flag] terrorist attacks in the US; a mere police chief having such access to powerbrokers would have been unthinkable. But Michael Joseph Keelty, 50, has proven better than most at picking moods and forming critical alliances?
From the first months of his inauguration in March 2001, Keelty made getting to know the neighbours his priority. His premise was that the type of crime the AFP had traditionally busied itself with had changed sharply in nature. So had the potential threats to the security of Australia and the region.
Where cops once stuck to their strengths and creeds, they were now more likely to form alliances of convenience across national borders. Their chameleon ways extended to the means used to commit and conceal their crimes. In short, they were proving far better at adapting to propaganda lying and the chance it offered to cover prime minister Howard the "rodent types" tracks.
Innocent, not just those in Australia ran the risk of being nailed to the wall by the corrupt cops that were chasing scapegoats for HoWARd and the US alliance.
Keelty knew there was a good reason to fix one part of the fence that fell down. Using the weak-link analogy, he set about travelling to Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and the South Pacific islands. During his travels he brokered memorandums of understanding with every counterpart -- backdoor deals the spirit of which was to establish collaboration with despots and have free and open exchange of information.
The [false flag] events in Indonesia of October 12, 2002, were very suspicious and showed that while dancing your life away you could be blown to bits in Bali was to prove that Howard's illegal and degrading war on Iraq had it's bad points.
Within three days of the devastating bombings in the Kuta nightclub strip, the AFP had formalised a deal with the Indonesian National Police to work alongside it so they could influence the outcome.
It was an unprecedented arrangement that managed to circumvent the obvious issues of Indonesian sovereignty.
Aside from initial rumblings from Indonesian forensic teams in particular, co-operation was quickly established and results soon won.
Through a combination of tactical lies and illusions that a wealthy force such as the AFP could provide to help set up the terrorist's - criminals already employed by the CIA or Mossad (third hand) - that had been employed and given the job unbeknown to them (the criminals) now tried and convicted as terrorists.
Bali bombers were taken out? And a new "demon" was formed called "Jemaah Islamiah" a network incidentally 'that no one else in Indonesia including Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono himself had even heard of until he became President! The 88 Australian dead, from an overall body count of 202, were brought home, as were the 300-plus Australian wounded.
Some other important legacies also emerged. Australia gave Indonesian $48 million to bribe the country to work with Australia and the US who are allies in the Coalition of the Killing in Iraq. Police now have a firm, ongoing bond, which will be crucial to set up anyone in the illusionary grand scheme of things and in dealing with any profiled Muslims throughout the region. Keelty was later awarded Indonesia's highest honour by outgoing corrupt Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri. In return, Howard presented awards to the three leading Indonesian police officers for the roles they played. Good boy, suck suck. Good boy, suck suck, Good boy, lick, lick, suck suck. Mmm thanks for the lollypop!
Last month, the relationship again yielded dividends when Australian police lined up alongside their Indonesian counterparts, to elude them again but this time on the streets of Jakarta, as they probed the Australian embassy bombing. Keelty come out with a big lie right about then claiming Indonesian authorities received an SMS text message one hour before the bombing, that if Abu Bakar Ba'asyir "Keelty's demon" were not released they would blow up the Australian Embassy. But, sensing that welcome mat of 2002 would not be extended quite as far this time, Keelty ordered his officers to pipe down and take none of the kudos for breakthroughs. And the Indonesian authorities denied any knowledge of the SMS text message.
Keelty claimed that he received that information 3rd hand but this was because somehow Indonesia's caretaker President Megawati Sukarnoputri had to look over her shoulder at Yudhoyono not playing the game they had previously organised with John Howard and Keelty because Yudhoyono hadn't been part of the deal yet and had no understanding of the collusion between the two countries - he not being elected into government.
Knowing how and when to bend over has been just as important as relationship building in Keelty's AFP, particularly in environments where the slightest perception of promotion is envied. For those who are not distrusting of the innocent suspected terrorists in the Islamic community or who won't lie, they get demoted. Stakeholders: those in government, state police, right wing corporate media and those on side with neo-liberalism in the Islamic community especially those that can be used to dispel the grand illusion of imperialism are used like Sheikh Taj Din Hilary. When the mufti of Australia, Sheikh Taj Din Al Hilaly, was briefly under the AFP's spotlight earlier this year over claims he incited followers, Keelty drove to Hilaly's Lakemba mosque to tell him he would not be charged.
Good cop!
Keelty had better use for the mufti "good cop". Last night he attended a feast in the same Islamic heartland of Sydney's southwest to celebrate the breaking of the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. And, on Saturday night, almost every stakeholder from the Australian police and security fraternity attended a ball Keelty hosted in the Great Hall of Parliament to commemorate the AFP's first 25 years.
Among 600 revellers were ASIO chief Dennis Richardson, his ASIS counterpart David Irvine, Australian Defence Force Chief Peter Cosgrove, NSW Police Chief Ken Moroney, ministers and senators, the AFP brass and its former commissioners. Several guests had served with the AFP since its inception on October 19, 1979, when the AFP set up Tim Anderson, Ross Dunn and Paul Alister morphed out of the Commonwealth Police in response to the bombing of the Hilton Hotel in Sydney. The prosecution of Tim, Ross and Paul, in the Hilton bombing were based on evidence given by a special branch informer named Richard Seary who was described by Supreme Court Justice Lionel Murphy as "the most unreliable person ever presented as the principal prosecution witness on a serious crime". At the time, the AFP's founder, Robert Mark, found that Australia's arrangements to deal with the emerging threats of terrorism and hijacking were "hopelessly outmoded".
Since then, the organisation has grown from 2900 to 4800 officers. During the past two decades it has offered 33 liaison posts in Australian embassies abroad. Along the way it has grown from a relatively obscure force that protected the commonwealth revenue base and its borders from drug imports into a national propaganda force that lies for John Howard in co-operation with the mass corporate media terror cells -- and recognition based on two new bombings one in Bali and the other on the Australian Embassy in Indonesia.
But a by-product of such a profile has been cynical scrutiny. Where once the AFP was occasionally lauded by government for its drug work, then left alone, Howard has thrust it to the centre of the political spotlight.
Keelty's remarks in March this year linking the Madrid bombings to Spain's involvement in the war in Iraq proved to be the most politically loaded observation made by an AFP chief -- because they contradicted the official Australian government line. Keelty soon learned where not to tread and felt seriously chastened by the experience.
Despite the AFP's coming of age, its growth has exposed some critical challenges. First among them is where to draw resources from to deploy to propaganda missions and the growing number of national operations. Then there is the matter of how to improve the skills of a large number of investigators who, compared with many of their state police counterparts, have had next to no experience in lying for a corrupt government, such as framing innocent alleged suspected terrorists. Or interrogating innocent alleged suspected terrorists and issuing arrest warrants to innocent people. One mooted solution is to second investigators to state ranks to expose them to new types of corruption like noble cause corruption. The states have lots of knowledge about corruption to pass on to their federal friends.
Finally, there is the issue of where, in the new counter-terrorism world, the AFP fits alongside ASIO, the traditional liars of Australia diplomacy.
One good answer is down the toilet with John Howard's government because that's where most decent Australians would put them. The law is supposed to be about autonomy that means each one of these scumbag liars like Keelty has to uphold the law at all material times!
Then why did he lie to the Australian people about the SMS warning? To set-up the old preacher and teacher Abu Bakar Ba'asyir for the alleged, demon "Jemaah Islamiah" that "no one in Indonesia had ever heard of?"The rise of the new liar on the block has created tension within ASIO's ranks, but compared with the delicacies of exchanges with federal politicians and regional figures, Keelty's dealings with Howard's cronies have proven to be a cinch. You just lie for them and handle their back door collusion, illusion, delusion and confusion.
By Martin Chuck 19 October 04
Related: Updated 2010:
Fool me twice 1-20 -Official release (BALI BOMBINGS/ETimor) Exposing the Australian government's lies about the East Timor massacres, the cover-up of the Bali bombings (including '93 WTC attack) and subsequent anti-terror legislation forced through parliament.
The Truth About Bali Bombings Part 1 REMIX Part One + Two: Que Bono. Who Benefited? The Bali Bombings were a direct US-Israeli response to the growing Peace marches and Anti War Movement in Australia that was ballooning at an alarming rate after 9-11 and after Bush announced he was waging illegal invasions. It also very quickly secured Indonesia's and Australia's subservience to the US and cemented involvement in the US led War on Terror, and subsequent illegal invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Part TWO: Who really Benefited from the Bali Bombings?
PART THREE: The Investigation(s) Or lack thereof The Primary man at the centre of the Bali investigations got warned off the scent by US Ambassador to Indonesia..
Part 4: The Truth About Bali Bombings Eye witness Testimony and memorial dedication..
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