Saturday, January 15, 2011

BEATING WIKILEAKS TO THE PUNCH ON AFGHANISTAN

Canadian reporter Scott Taylor (left) and Sasha Uzunov (right) in Kandahar, Afghanistan to film a documentary in 2007 for Canadian television. Uzunov does a Jim Waley impersonation by donning a flak jacket and helmet.

It has has taken The Sunday Age's (Fairfax newspapers) self-appointed

defence expert, Tom Hyland, three years to reveal, courtesy of wikileaks,

what TEAM UZUNOV reported back in 2007 about Australia's mission in

Afghanistan, in particular the difficult relationship with our ally the Dutch.

Here's Hyland's story:

www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/bickering-warriors-in-coalition-of-unwilling-20101225-197es.html

Bickering warriors in coalition of unwilling

December 26, 2010

Mistrust, indecision and hostility undermined Australia's alliance with the Dutch and Americans in what was supposed to be a united front against the Taliban and in restoring stability to Afghanistan, writes Tom Hyland.

We squabbled with our allies, yet in public we talked of close co-operation. We frustrated the Americans with unfulfilled promises. Our politicians big-noted in public, but dithered in private.

Our bamboozled bureaucrats tried to make sense of the details. All along, the public was kept in the dark. Thanks to WikiLeaks, we now have an insight into the diplomatic and political skirmishes behind the war in Afghanistan, now in its ninth year and which has cost 21 Australian lives.

Cables from 2007 reveal intense distrust between Australian and Dutch forces in Oruzgan province, where Australia was part of a Netherlands-led force....

In February 2007, Australian officers, concerned that the Taliban were preparing a do-or-die offensive, started planning to send special forces back to Oruzgan.

This was just five months after the Howard government pulled them out, in September 2006, when it argued Oruzgan was ''relatively stable''.

The government and defence chiefs defended the withdrawal at the time, saying Australian reconstruction troops remaining in the province were well-protected, with their own forces and 1400 Dutch soldiers.

But their claims of stability and their stated faith in the Dutch were undermined by early 2007, when intelligence reports warned of a Taliban resurgence....

http://newmatilda.com/2007/06/06/news-front

AFGHANISTAN

6 Jun 2007

News from the Front

By Sasha Uzunov

Australian journalist Sasha Uzunov reports from the Afghan front

The Forgotten War

Sometimes it takes an outsider to tell us the most uncomfortable truths.

Last week, Defence Minister Dr Brendan Nelson took a swipe at critics who question the pace at which Australian troops are securing their designated province in Afghanistan, saying:

Any suggestion Australian troops are not pulling their weight in southern Afghanistan is beneath contempt. Australia is steadfastly committed to Uruzgan as shown by the recent decision to deploy a Special Operations Task Group of approximately 300 people to the region.

However, the recent decision to send Special Forces back to Uruzgan could also be read as a tacit admission that not all is well with the mission. (Who was the genius who decided to remove our Special Forces soldiers from Afghanistan late last year?)

When I asked the Defence Minister if a rift had developed between Australian troops and the Dutch Army engineers they are serving alongside, over who was doing the most to secure Uruzgan, Nelson would not comment.

The controversy was sparked by prominent German journalist, Ulrich Ladurner, who claimed, in an interview he gave to me at Kabul airport on 14 May, that both the Australians and Dutch were being slow in establishing security in the province.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Canadian film on Afghanistan

Scott Taylor (left) & Sasha Uzunov (right): filming in Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2007.

Canadian film on Afghanistan

View the complete film at this link:

www.cpac.ca/forms/index.asp?dsp=template&act=view3&pagetype=vod&hl=e&clipID=4759

Canadian documentary film, "Afghanistan: outside the wire," 60 minutes long, camerawork by Scott Taylor (host/producer), David Pugliese and Sasha Uzunov.

CPAC Special
"Afghanistan: Outside the Wire"

Join respected military journalist Scott Taylor on a journey outside the protective walls of NATO bases into the heart of Taliban country.

This one-hour documentary examines how the war has affected the people of Afghanistan. It reveals efforts by Canada and its international partners to rebuild the country while dealing with political corruption. Come face-to-face with aid workers, diplomats, warlords and would-be suicide bombers in this exclusive CPAC special program.

--------------------

Created by Cable for Canadians

CPAC, the Cable Public Affairs Channel, is Canada’s only privately-owned, commercial free, not for profit, bilingual licensed television service. Created in 1992 by a consortium of cable companies to preserve an independent editorial voice for Canada’s democratic process, CPAC provides a window on Parliament, politics and public affairs in Canada and around the world. Since 1992, the cable industry has invested close to $50 million in CPAC, and today CPAC programming is delivered by cable, satellite and wireless distributors to over 10 million homes in Canada, and worldwide via 24/7 webcasting and podcasts available on this website.

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TAYLOR & PUGLIESE: THE REAL McCOY - GENUINE MEDIA TOUGH GUYS

Sasha Uzunov, an Australian cameraman/ independent film maker/ freelance journalist and former Australian soldier, talks to the New Zealand media about his involvement in an up-coming documentary film on Afghanistan, produced by award winning Canadian journalist Scott Taylor,

Money shot Quote:

Uzunov has praised Scott Taylor, the producer of “Afghanistan: outside the wire ,” and fellow cameraman on the project, David Pugliese, an award winning print journalist with Canada’s national newspaper, The Ottawa Citizen.

“Taylor and Pugliese are genuine media tough guys, there’s no pretense. They are the Real McCoy! The focus is on the story not on cheap theatrics or clichéd war reporting poses such as wearing a flak jacket and acting tough in front of camera... But unfortunately we now get celebrity style of war reporting on Australian TV screens.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- New Zealand Press Association (NZPA) wire story -

www.voxy.co.nz/national/aussie-cameraman-inspired-kiwi-courage/5/71620

Friday, 12 November 2010.

AUSSIE CAMERAMAN INSPIRED BY KIWI COURAGE

An Australian cameraman whose work features in an upcoming Canadian documentary film about the Afghanistan War says he drew inspiration from tenacity and bravery shown by the average New Zealander (Kiwi).

Sasha Uzunov, an independent film maker, freelance cameraman, and former Australian soldier who served in East Timor, is featured in the Canadian documentary film: “Afghanistan: outside the wire,” which will be broadcast on Canadian Cable TV news network, CPAC -the Cable Public Affairs Channel, on Sunday 20 November 2010, produced by award winning Canadian journalist Scott Taylor.

Uzunov said that New Zealand, with a small population of over 4 million, punched well above its weight on the international stage.

“Take a look at film director Peter Jackson and his conquering of Hollywood or humble bee keeper Sir Edmund Hillary conquering Mount Everest in 1953,” he said. “Recently, there was the New Zealand national soccer team, The All Whites, fighting like uncaged wild lions against the might of Italy at the 2010 World Cup.”

“I see myself in the same boat, that of underdog fighting against the odds,” Uzunov said. “Unfortunately, some sections of the Australian media do not believe that a film maker or journalist who is an ex-soldier has a democratic right to voice an opinion on defence/national security issues.”

“But that makes me more determined to get my point of view across.”

Uzunov said he cannot understand why Australia’s top war reporter John Martinkus is not being used by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS TV) to cover that conflict.

“Martinkus is a heavy hitter who understands the Afghan war inside out and for the life of me, I can’t understand why SBS TV Dateline program isn’t using him,” Uzunov said.

“It would be like having legendary Australian leg spinner Shane Warne at his peak as 12th man and carrying the drinks during a cricket test match.”

Martinkus, a former SBS TV Dateline reporter ,is now an academic at the University of Tasmania.

Uzunov, who has worked in Iraq and Afghanistan, made his comments in response to SBS TV Dateline’s controversial story about Australian commandos and the accidental killing of Afghan civilians in a raid last year.

“In their haste to get the story out, the powers that be at Dateline were inadvertently fooled by a group of imposters claiming to be relatives of those Afghanis killed during the Australian commando raid,” Uzunov said. “Eventually the real relatives were tracked down. This is a huge mistake, something that Martinkus would’ve avoided.”

Uzunov has praised Scott Taylor, the producer of “Afghanistan: outside the wire ,” and fellow cameraman on the project, David Pugliese, an award winning print journalist with Canada’s national newspaper, The Ottawa Citizen.

“Taylor and Pugliese are genuine media tough guys, there’s no pretense. They are the Real McCoy! The focus is on the story not on cheap theatrics or clichéd war reporting poses such as wearing a flak jacket and acting tough in front of camera,” Uzunov said. “That is why Martinkus was devastatingly effective when he was on Dateline. But unfortunately we now get celebrity style of war reporting on Australian TV screens.”

Uzunov said he wanted to report on Afghanistan without military assistance.

During his two trips to that country in 2007 and 2008, he dressed in local outfits and toured the country to interview locals with fellow journalists Scott Taylor and David Pugliese from Canada.

“A lot of the reporters go embedded,” he said. “That is, they go with the military, so their movements are largely confined to what the military allows them to do.

“We decided that we had to go what they call ‘outside the wire’ and basically take a look for ourselves what was going on.”

Uzunov, an Australian of Macedonian heritage and is olive skinned with dark southern European features, was often mistaken for being an Afghan.

He said appearing like a local and showing the people from Kandahar, the heartland of the Taliban insurgency, some respect helped grant them access to locals’ stories.

“As unembedded journalists we were able to go to villages (which embedded journalists couldn’t go to),” he said.

“A trickle of fund money was being used (in these villages) to give them water, and to help them build a bakery and so on,” he said.

“But a lot of the problems aren’t being solved. There’s lots of corruption.”

Uzunov has also praised Australian reporters Paul Toohey of News Limited, ex-ABC-TV legend Chris Masters for their in depth understanding of the Afghanistan War.

He has also singled out Mark Corcoran, of ABC-TV. “Mark is the ABC’s only badge-qualified war reporter, having served in the Royal Australian Navy and later in the super-secret Defence Signals Directorate (DSD). I find it strange that the ABC don’t use him more, especially as an expert comments man as well as war reporter,” Uzunov said.

Uzunov released his first documentary film in 2009, TIMOR TOUR OF DUTY.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Aussie-Dutch rift on Afghanstan back in 2007

A new book by an ex-Australian SASR special forces soldier tells of the lack of support from Dutch allies in the Afghanistan War.

link:
www.heraldsun.com.au/news/australian-solders-left-for-dead-in-afghanistan/story-e6frf7jo-1225941976825

Australian solders left for dead in Afghanistan by Ian McPhedran
From: Herald Sun October 22, 2010

extract:

AUSTRALIAN special forces troops were left for dead by two Dutch attack helicopters during a deadly ambush in Afghanistan.

Three years ago, I was one of the first to reveal the rift in the following stories
...
http://newmatilda.com/2007/06/06/news-front

NEW MATILDA news website

Afghanistan
6 Jun 2007

News from the Front
By Sasha Uzunov

Australian journalist Sasha Uzunov reports from the Afghan front

The Forgotten War
Sometimes it takes an outsider to tell us the most uncomfortable truths.

Last week, Defence Minister Dr Brendan Nelson took a swipe at critics who question the pace at which Australian troops are securing their designated province in Afghanistan, saying:

Any suggestion Australian troops are not pulling their weight in southern Afghanistan is beneath contempt. Australia is steadfastly committed to Uruzgan as shown by the recent decision to deploy a Special Operations Task Group of approximately 300 people to the region.

However, the recent decision to send Special Forces back to Uruzgan could also be read as a tacit admission that not all is well with the mission. (Who was the genius who decided to remove our Special Forces soldiers from Afghanistan late last year?)

When I asked the Defence Minister if a rift had developed between Australian troops and the Dutch Army engineers they are serving alongside, over who was doing the most to secure Uruzgan, Nelson would not comment.

The controversy was sparked by prominent German journalist, Ulrich Ladurner, who claimed, in an interview he gave to me at Kabul airport on 14 May, that both the Australians and Dutch were being slow in establishing security in the province.

Ladurner, who is the foreign editor of the German weekly Die Zeit and co-author with Gero von Randow of The Iranian Bomb, spent weeks as an embedded journalist with Dutch Army engineers in Uruzgan Province at the Tarin Kowt base they share with Australian troops. ‘The Dutch and Australians are making a big effort but it is too slow in bringing stability to the province,’ Ladurner said. ‘The local people are not happy with the progress made. It is still not safe. The region is still wild.’

One of the reasons it takes a non-Australian to provide this insider’s view of the situation around Tarin Kowt is the Defence Department’s obsession with controlling media access to our troops.

Captain Brendan Maxwell, Australian Army Public Relations officer in the Afghan capital, Kabul, said it was impossible for a journalist to turn up in Afghanistan and demand to see the Australian soldiers at Tarin Kowt. ‘Journalists have to be embedded and that takes weeks, maybe even months to organise,’ he told me, when I arrived in early May hoping to report on our soldiers’ Afghan mission. ‘Journalists who are embedded are required to stay on base and are taken on some patrols.’

Defence’s secretiveness will prove counter-productive in the long run. Giving journalists access eliminates distrust and suspicion. The excuse that it’s too dangerous just does not wash. War journalists understand the risks and are not interested in putting soldiers’ lives on the line for a cheap story.

On 15 May, Prime Minister John Howard, farewelled a task force made up of elite SAS and Commando soldiers who are returning to Uruzgan Province (after a break of six months) in preparation for major operations against Taliban insurgents.

Their previous battles against the Taliban were some of the most ferocious fought by Australian troops since our involvement in the Vietnam War.

The Afghan people need our help. By keeping Australia’s defence debate a closed shop among a select few, we are not getting a broad view of what is actually happening in Afghanistan. And that’s of no use to anyone.

Tangling with the Taliban
They call Kandahar in southern Afghanistan the most dangerous place on earth. This is the Taliban’s stronghold. Roadside bombs regularly explode here, and a number of western journalists and aid workers have been kidnapped and murdered since the war began in 2001.

On 10 May, I flew from the Afghan capital, Kabul, to Kandahar with two Canadian journalists, Scott Taylor and David Pugliese. We’d been invited by the Afghani authorities to inspect a detention centre there that holds Taliban suspects.

We’d grown the customary beards before arriving in Afghanistan and, as a further precaution, we wore local clothes we did not want to stick out. Crazy thoughts crossed my mind about Douglas Wood, the Australian contractor kidnapped in Iraq. Taylor had also been kidnapped and tortured in Iraq.

When we entered the city I noticed a white ute with two men inside pull up close to our 4-Wheel Drive. One of the men was rubbing a Kalashnikov rifle, resting on his lap, as he watched us closely.

I was in the front passenger seat next to our crazy, hard-drinking Turkish driver. Behind us were the two Canadians. I hid my camera between my legs, not wanting to blow our cover.

The white ute then dropped behind, and followed us for about five minutes. Alarm bells really began to ring every driver in Afghanistan wants to get in front of you, not behind you.

Our driver hit the accelerator and swerved into on-coming traffic, barely missing 10 cars with the white ute pursuing us. It was a car chase straight out of a Hollywood cop movie.

Eventually, we lost the ute, and drove to the detention centre. This was the first time that Afghanistan’s intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security (NDS) the equivalent to the United States’s FBI and CIA combined had given access to its Kandahar detention centre. They had done so in an effort to counter allegations that Taliban suspects were being picked up by Coalition forces, handed over to Afghani authorities without proper supervision, and then tortured.

Colonel Noor Mohammed Balak Karzai, Deputy Director of NDS in Kandahar Province, said the allegations about mistreatment of detainees and Taliban suspects were not true. ‘We have good relations with the Canadian, American and Australian forces,’ he said.

The Canadian Armed Forces have the responsibility for security of the Kandahar Province, which is the epicentre of the Taliban insurgency. Australian forces are based in neighbouring Uruzgan Province, but some detainees captured by the Australains have ended up in Kandahar. Colonel Karzai said detainees are held for 72 hours and then released, if there is no evidence against them.

However, if more time is needed, the suspect is held for another 15 days. A court order is required for an extension of detention. The relatives of the detainees are permitted to visit and bring food once a week. If a suspect goes to court and is then convicted, he is sent to the central prison in Kandahar or the main jail in Kabul, depending on the length of sentence handed down.

With the story and photos in the bag, we focussed on getting back to Kabul. When we’d flown in, we šd been told there were no return flights for over a week. Taylor had to get back in time for a plane to Canada, so our first plan was to hire a local driver (the Turk was staying behind) and a make a run for it six hours through Taliban territory.

I would sit in front because I look Afghani, while Taylor and Pugliese would sit in the back wearing burquas, the traditional female clothing which covers the whole body. The impression would be of ordinary Afghanis travelling to Kabul on business. Our driver would carry a 9mm pistol and a Kalashnikov rifle as back up.

But what if we were stopped at a Taliban roadblock? Would we journalists have to use guns to save ourselves from kidnapping and possible murder?

Fortunately we didn’t have to find out at the last minute, a contact managed to get us on a British C-130 Hercules transport plane from Kandahar to Kabul.

These are the split-second events that can put reporters’ lives on the line. The key is adaptability and a willingness to go outside the wire, un-embedded, to get the real story.

The sad truth is war reporters are no longer treated as independent observers but as targets to be killed or taken hostage for financial gain.

http://slaggedoff.blogspot.com/2007/09/dutch-oven-dutch-surrender-monkeys.html

YOUTUBE EXPLAINED

The Youtube video is of an interview of Urlich Ladurner by Sasha Uzunov in Kabul back in May 2007 where he explains that Australians and Dutch forces were slow in establishing security in Uruzgan province... video clip can be viewed at http://slaggedoff.blogspot.com/2007/09/dutch-oven-dutch-surrender-monkeys.html

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Andrew Wilkie, Iraq, WMD & Paul Moran

"The Fairfax Press and SBS TV, aided by the ABC, have been obsessed with the story of Australian Commandos involved in a botched raid that resulted in the unintentional killing of five Afghan civilians last year - but that is another story. Meanwhile, it would appear that ABC cameraman Paul Moran’s role in selling the Iraq war that has caused so much death and destruction has slipped under the radar."

The Australian public, including Mrs Shelley Kovco, the widow of Australian soldier, Private Jake Kovco, have a right to know about Moran's activities.

Extract:
www.pierretristam.com/Bobst/library/wf-202.htm

The Man Who Sold the War
Meet John Rendon, Bush's general in the propaganda war
Rolling Stone/Nov. 17, 2005

James Bamford's November 17th, 2005 profile of John Rendon, "The Man Who Sold the War," (RS988) won the 2006 National Magazine Award in the reporting category.

For the worldwide broadcast rights, Sethna contacted Paul Moran, an Australian freelancer who frequently worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "I think I've got something that you would be interested in," he told Moran, who was living in Bahrain. Sethna knew he could count on the trim, thirty-eight-year-old journalist: A former INC employee in the Middle East, Moran had also been on Rendon's payroll for years in "information operations," working with Sethna at the company's London office on Catherine Place, near Buckingham Palace.

------------------------------------------------
STORY:

You are welcome to leave your comments or feedback, either positive or negative, about this story at www.onlineopinion.com.au

Unlike the Fairfax Press, SBS and ABC, we welcome an open debate on Australia's defence and national security issues.

On Line Opinion - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=10968&page=0

Wilkie or Wilkie not ask for an ABC inquiry?
By Sasha Uzunov - Tuesday, 14 September 2010 !

Ex-Australian Army officer turned independent politician Andrew Wilkie is regarded as a brave man who resigned as an intelligence analyst over the 2003 Iraq War. He is now in a unique position as a member of the newly formed ALP-Green-Independents-federal coalition government to call for an inquiry into the controversial ABC TV camera man Paul Moran who was killed in Iraq.

Wilkie resigned as an analyst with the Office of National Assessment (ONA), an intelligence organisation that directly services Australia’s Prime Minister, disagreeing with claims made by the then Howard government about Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and the reasons for going to war.

One of those killed in that war was Paul Moran, who helped to publicise the WMD story, which we now know was a complete fabrication. Wilkie has the opportunity to press for a parliamentary inquiry into the ABC’s employment of Moran and possible conflict of interest.

Moran, 39, was killed on March 22, 2003 by a car bomb while covering the war in Northern Iraq for the tax payer funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC TV). He was an Adelaide-raised freelance cameraman who worked on and off for the ABC as well as US public relations firm Rendon, which had ties to the CIA and the Bush Administration.

Walkely Award winning Australian journalist, Mr Colin James, of the Adelaide Advertiser newspaper, was the first to break the story about Moran’s shadowy past when he attended Moran’s wake in Adelaide.

He talked to relatives who revealed that Moran had a James Bond other life.

“For a freelance cameraman, Moran sure had some incredible access to US State Department officials in Washington,” Mr James said. “How many freelancers get to play games of social tennis with US diplomats?”

Moran had worked for Rendon for more than a decade in places like the Middle East and Kosovo, pushing US government spin while doing freelance work for the ABC TV as a combat cameraman.

On November 17, 2005 prominent American journalist, academic and former US Navy intelligence analyst James Bamford wrote in the influential American magazine Rolling Stone a detailed account of Moran’s work with Rendon and its link to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and its selling of the Iraq War to the American public.

The controversy surrounding Moran stems from his exclusive story about an Iraqi defector who had knowledge about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction program. A Rendon colleague gave him the scoop which turned out to be false, but was a pretext for the US invasion of Iraq, according to Bamford.

The Australian cameraman also helped to set up a television station for the Iraqi National Congress (INC). The INC was established by the US as an opposition group to the Saddam Hussein regime.

In 2006 the then ABC’s Managing Director, Mr Russell Balding, was approached and asked if he would launch an internal inquiry into the Moran allegations. Mr Shane Wells, his spokesman, said there would be no comment. The Moran story remains a hot potato.

Feisty, tough Maltese-Australian journalist, Monica Attard, host of the ABC’s Media Watch, dared to criticise then ABC TV news boss Max Uechtritz in his refusal to answer questions about Moran.

"The story was followed up by some parts of the media, but not by the ABC. It should have been." ("Death in Baghdad", Media Watch, April 14, 2003.)

The irony of all this is Uechtritz, now with Al Jazeera network, complained to The Age newspaper on June 30, 2003 about freedom of speech after coming under attack from the then Communications Minister, Senator Richard Alston, for alleged biased reporting by the ABC over the Iraq war.

“It is the duty of independent journalists in a robust democracy to question everything,” Uechtritz wrote. “The senator seems to think the media's duty in time of war is to fall meekly into line with the government of the day.”

Uechtritz was contacted at his Al Jazeera email address for comment on Moran but after many months there has been no response.

Last year, Sally Neighbour, a self-appointed national security expert who was employed as an ABC reporter while working for The Australian a commercially owned newspaper, ran a story about Moran without any reference to the CIA allegations and quoted fellow ABC journalist Mark Corcoran, a hugely respected journalist and genuine media tough guy who previously served in the Royal Australian Navy and super secret Defence Signals Directorate.

Neighbour wrote:

"Why has there been no investigation into the murder?" asks Mark Corcoran, presenter and veteran reporter with ABC TV's Foreign Correspondent program. "As of December 2009, I have still not seen any evidence of an investigation, either formally or informally, by any Australian official."

Mr Chris Warren, the Federal Secretary of the Media Entertainment Alliance of Australia (Australian Journalists Association) has asked Australia's Federal Attorney-General to investigate Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, better known as Mullah Krekar, and his links to UN-listed terrorist organisation Ansar al-Islam, as the mastermind who allegedly ordered the car bomb that killed Moran..

The Moran case has been linked by some ABC reporters to the highly emotive Balibo Five, Australian-based newsmen and crew killed by Indonesian troops during the 1975 takeover of East Timor. But the Balibo Five had no links to a foreign intelligence agency and launching a war crimes trial against Mullah Krekar could backfire.

It could open up a can of worms. Under the Geneva Convention, journalists in war zones are afforded some protection as non-combatants. However:

Article 29 - A person can only be considered a spy when, acting clandestinely or on false pretences, he obtains or endeavours to obtain information in the zone of operations of a belligerent with the intention of communicating it to the hostile party.

Thus, soldiers not wearing a disguise who have penetrated into the zone of operations of the hostile army, for the purpose of obtaining information, are not considered spies. Similarly, the following are not considered spies: soldiers and civilians carrying out their mission openly, entrusted with the delivery of despatches intended either for their own army or for the enemy's army. To this class belong likewise persons sent in balloons for the purpose of carrying despatches and, generally, of maintaining communications between the different parts of an army or a territory.

The definition of a spy given in this Article remains completely valid since the Geneva Convention contains no similar provision. However, a spy is also a protected person in so far as he conforms to the definition given in Article 4 of the Fourth Convention. Under Article 5 of the Convention, the spy may nevertheless be deprived temporarily of certain rights, particularly the right of communication.

Article 30 - A spy taken in the act shall not be punished without previous trial.

Moran was “killed in action” by a car bomb; he was neither surrendering nor was he captured. The next question is do we prosecute enemy combatants who have killed Australian soldiers during the heat of battle, ranging from the Boer War to the present Afghanistan conflict?

Should we now ask that the Vietnamese communist government hand over the Viet Cong guerrillas and hard core NVA soldiers for prosecution over the 18 Australian soldiers killed in action during the legendary Battle of Long Tan in 1966?

Furthermore, critics call the Iraq War launched by the United States in 2003 “illegal”. Wilkie resigned from ONA because of his opposition to that war. Assuming that the Iraq war is illegal, does Moran’s involvement in “selling” that war which has resulted in hundreds of thousands of Iraqis as well as US/Coalition troops being killed, constitute a crime?

Under the Nuremberg Principles established in the wake of Nazi War Crimes Trial of 1946, Principle VI states:

The crimes hereinafter set out are punishable as crimes under international law:

a)Crimes against peace:

(i) Planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances;
(ii) Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the acts mentioned under (i).

If you believe that the Iraq War was justified, then Moran deserves to be honoured as a hero killed in action in the global war on terror; he should have been given a state funeral just like any other Australian soldier, police officer or intelligence operative killed in action in a warzone.

The irony is that if Eric Campbell, the ABC reporter who was wounded during the car bomb that killed Moran, had been the one killed, the case of a war crime for killing a journalist could be justified.

The Fairfax Press and SBS TV have been obsessed with the story of Australian Commandos involved in a botched raid that resulted in the unintentional killing of five Afghan civilians last year - but that is another story. Meanwhile, it would appear that Moran’s role in selling a war that has caused so much death and destruction has slipped under the radar. Attard was brave in airing on Media Watch the Moran story.

Wilkie has the power to call for an inquiry into Moran’s activities.

(end)

About the Author

Sasha Uzunov graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia, in 1991. He enlisted in the Australian Regular Army as a soldier in 1995 and was allocated to infantry. He served two peacekeeping tours in East Timor (1999 and 2001). In 2002 he returned to civilian life as a photo journalist and film maker and has worked in The Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan. His documentary film Timor Tour of Duty made its international debut in New York in October 2009. He blogs at Team Uzunov.

Other articles by this Author - online opinion
» Scrutinising the media's scrutiny of defence - March 30, 2010
» Reporting on the reporters - February 4, 2010
» Scotland the brave, Ulster the unsure? - December 23, 2009
» Greens win the war but lose defence - November 24, 2009
» Afghan dress code - September 30, 2009

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Recent story

www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1008/S00486/commandos-pay-political-price.htm

Commandos Pay Political Price? Scoop News
www.scoop.co.nz

COMMANDOS PAY POLITICAL PRICE? By Sasha Uzunov

Australian commandos involved in a botched raid which resulted in 5 civilian deaths in Afghanistan could face courts martial because of intense political pressure from the media... read on...

Friday, August 27, 2010

AUSSIE COMMANDOS PAY POLITICAL PRICE?

Australian commandos in Afghanistan face political pressure from media over incident.

www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1008/S00486/commandos-pay-political-price.htm

AUSTRALIAN COMMANDOS PAY POLITICAL PRICE?
28 August 2010

By Sasha Uzunov

Australian commandos involved in a botched raid which resulted in 5 civilian deaths in Afghanistan could face courts martial because of intense political pressure from the media, as TEAM UZUNOV writing for www.scoop.co.nz warned last year.

The Fairfax press, which together with the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS TV) have been ferociously investigating the incident, reported on 27 August 2010 that:

www.theage.com.au/national/diggers-may-be-charged-over-deaths-20100826-13u5j.html

“In an unprecedented move that has angered some senior military officers, Brigadier Lyn McDade has told the army she is preparing to lay charges in connection with a deadly raid involving Australian troops near the village of Surkh Morghab in Oruzgan province.”

But both Fairfax and SBS TV have for reasons unknown not taken the story further. The focus has been on the soldiers, not the politicians or the highly paid defence experts.

A scoop article titled “Commando Regiment in Firing Line,” on 7 December 2009, revealed:

www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0912/S00060.htm

“The Australian Army’s elite reservist unit, 1 Commando Regiment, is being made a scapegoat over allegations of misconduct in Afghanistan, a former unit member has told TEAM UZUNOV [blogsite].

“The experienced ex-Commando said that he was deeply concerned over claims that poorly trained and led members had breached rules of engagement during a raid on house in Afghanistan which resulted in the deaths of 5 local children after grenades had been thrown last February.

“My concern is the unit has been left out to dry by the Defence Department even before judgement has been passed. Let due process of law take place,” he said. “If people were innocent then that should be shouted from the rooftops but if people were guilty then throw the book at them.”

“Whatever the outcome of the investigation, the responsibility is with the government of the day as well Defence Department bureaucrats. It is they who send troops to war.”

It boils down to an unfortunate incident which saw Commandos entering a Taliban compound and being fired upon. And in the fog of war a grenade was thrown into the wrong house. Now it has been blown up, pardon the pun, into My Lai Massacre proportions.

The Australian newspaper’s Rory Callinan and Jeremy Kelly have summed up the dilemma for the soldiers involved:

www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/fateful-oruzgan-grenade-was-part-of-training/story-e6frg6nf-1225911089567

“A source said the troops came under fire from a building in the compound and they responded with a grenade. When the firing continued they responded with another one as their training required, the source said. "What were they supposed to do?"

“The source said there was anger among the troops about what they would do if prosecution for a possible manslaughter went ahead. "Every time someone goes into a compound and gets shot at they will be thinking will we get charged with manslaughter if we use a grenade."

“The former governor of the province where the incident occurred, Asadullah Hamdam, described the night raid as a mistake but one largely attributable to the behaviour of the raid's alleged target, who was killed while shooting back at the commandos.”

SBS TV’s Dateline program reporter, the self-styled media tough gal, Sophie McNeill, broke the story, which initially got off to a false start, and Tom Hyland, self-appointed defence expert, has followed it for Fairfax.

McNeill back in 2008 asked not to be contacted to discuss media issues, including Afghanistan. It would appear taking no for an answer only applies to those who do not scrutinise SBS or Fairfax journalists!

McNeill’s advice for young journalists ( Walkely Magazine, issue 62, Aug-Sep 2010, page 37):

“Don’t take no for an answer. And once they actually let you in the building refuse to leave. Just quietly take over a desk and become part of the furniture...”

The ABC TV’s Media Watch program, hosted by Jonathan Holmes, revealed that SBS Dateline on 8 March 2009 with such haste put together a story by McNeill, which ended up quoting Zahir Khan, a survivor of the commando raid. But it turned out he was an imposter.

www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s2853029.htm

A year later McNeill went to Afghanistan and finally tracked down the real Zahir Khan. SBS Dateline threw the blame on wily Afghan media fixer Fazel Reshad “Arshad” Wardak for the mistake in the first story. If all else fails, blame the hired help!

You can see Wardak boasting about his services to SBS in 2008 on this youtube clip. www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-5TaNvLsrk

Jonathan Holmes then smacks naughty Sophie McNeill on the hand with the full force of a feather duster: as if the second story somehow redeems the first big mistake, a sack able offence. Great spin by Holmes. If only all journalists got such second chances.

Holmes:

“Sophie McNeill's second report is compelling. It includes film of the surviving family, and the graves of the victims, in their village in Oruzgan. And it poses serious questions about the ADF's original account of the incident, and why a year later it has said nothing more, and not even interviewed this family.”

You’re now beginning to get the picture: a boutique scandal which has Walkley Award, Australia’s version of the Pulitzer Prize, written all over it.

While the ABC’s Media Watch, quite rightly criticises the Australian Defence Force (ADF) over a lack of information on the commando story, an ever sceptical Australian public is still waiting for any more information about the controversial life and death of ABC cameraman Paul Moran who had alleged links to the CIA and was killed in Iraq in 2003. It seems the ABC is reluctant to open up its own scandals. Link:

www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0912/S00083.htm

A source, former Australian Special Forces soldier who served in Afghanistan, has revealed to TEAM UZUNOV that there are far worse incidents involving Australians in Afghanistan and cannot believe they have been buried and ignored.

“I can’t understand why they’re picking on the Commandos?” he said.

There could be three reasons why a court martial could be held. First, there is enough evidence of misconduct. Second, there is not enough evidence but a court martial would appease the media but find the soldiers eventually were not in the wrong. Third, and dare we even mention it, someone within Australia’s Defence Department, has a grudge against Commando reservists and wants them out of the frontlines.

The Sydney based 1 Commando Regiment is largely a reservist Special Forces unit, and has a high number of New South Wales State police officers who serve within the ranks.

Hyland, flashing his Fairfax Media Sherriff’s Badge, wrote on 21 March, 2010.

http://teamuzunovmedia.blogspot.com/2010/03/fairfax-crusade-against-1-commando.html

" Along the way, it has exposed a rivalry almost as old as the army itself, between full-time troops and part-time reservists - chocos, some regulars call them, chocolate soldiers who can't take the heat."

"The regiment's experiences have triggered an intense debate within army ranks - about Special Forces tactics, and wider questions about a political and military preference for sending Special Forces, rather than large infantry units, to conflicts like Afghanistan."

Hyland, after picking up the correct scent, pardon the military pun, then pulls back and does not take another step forward, likewise SBS TV’s Dateline. But why?

Here is a key point that has been missed: why is it Australian Defence Policy to use Special Forces in an infantry role in Afghanistan, as well as throwing Army reservists in the deep end? Who caused this dramatic shift in defence thinking?

The change came about in Defence policy when two key “experts” Professor Paul Dibb and ex-Fairfax journalist turned government advisor Hugh White decided to cut back the number of full time infantry soldiers with the consequences of using reservists in combat roles.

Mr Bruce Haigh, a former diplomat, in an interview which slipped under the radar, told SBS TV’s Dateline program on 27 September 2000 that:

“Defence is the department that’s divided amongst itself, as far as I can gather, and there are certain people inside Defence who’ve taken a certain line for a long period of time - the Paul Dibb line, if you like, which is high-tech, US-alliance - and you’ve got others who are saying, "No. We’ve got the situation to the north- we need to have more people in uniform, we need to have them trained, we need to have night-vision equipment provided for them. “… the Australian Army can see what needs to be done, but many of the civilian Defence personnel, who’ve built their careers on playing up to this particular line, are arguing the other case, and feeling increasingly isolated, because they are not facing reality. That’s the problem.”

Respected Brigadier Jim Wallace, former Special Forces Commander, wrote in 2003:

“Unfortunately, Australian defence policy has been mainly wrong for the whole of this period. Even after we committed troops to East Timor, Professor Paul Dibb, the policy's chief architect, was standing in front of parliamentary committees vowing that Australia would not be conducting what he called "expeditionary" operations out of the region. This was despite a series of major UN deployments over many years to places as far afield as Rwanda and Somalia. Afghanistan and Iraq have hopefully now discredited this logic.

“At the same time, Dr Hugh White was arguing in initial drafts for the 2000 white paper to reduce the size of our army to about 19,000, on the basis that, like Professor Dibb, he didn't see the Government needing options for deployment out of the region, particularly for sending the army. The result has been an incredible demand on the dedication and professionalism of our special forces as they have again been thrown into the breach that our supposedly expert defence planners couldn't predict.”

McNeill and Hyland now need to take their story all the way and not just take aim at sitting targets—soldiers. But we seriously doubt if failed defence theorists and ex-Fairfax journalists will be scrutinised.

(end)

Monday, August 23, 2010

Now on Twitter

TEAM UZUNOV now on Twitter

http://twitter.com/UZI9mmmm

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

TIM LESTER: MEDIA TOUGH GUY?

Fairfax Press's poorly disguised attempt at taking down Independent Senator Steve Fielding.

With an Australian federal election around the corner, the Kiwi media examine Tim Lester's media tough guy shtick...

Scoop - New Zealand's top independent news website.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1007/S00246/aus-fed-election-journo-takes-down-senator.htm

Australian Federal Election: Journo Takes Down Senator?
By Sasha Uzunov

In what can only be described as a bizarre and poorly disguised takedown, Fairfax newspapers’ reporter Tim Lester has belittled Independent Senator Steve Fielding over a trip to Afghanistan to visit Australian troops, which coincided with the Federal Labor government announcing the next election to be held on August 21 this year.

Lester, formerly a television reporter with the ABC and Nine Networks, is a self styled "media tough guy" and “defence expert” who made a name for himself covering the conflict in East Timor (Timor Leste) in 1999.

ALTERNATE COMMS.