Fleeting

"We were terrorising Iraqis. Intimidating them. Beating them. Destroying their homes. Probably raping them. The ones we didn't kill had all the reasons in the world to become terrorists. Given what we were doing to them, who could blame them for wanting to kill us, and all Americans? This sick realisation lodged like a cancer in my gut. It grew, and festered, and troubled me with every passing day. We, the Americans, had become the terrorists in Iraq."

Joshua Key, The Deserter's Tale.

Our time was sandwiched between so much else; there wasn't anyway these people could survive financially. For sale signs dotted the suburban streets. The government went on and on and on about the booming economy and what great economic managers they were; and your average dude out there was completely stuffed. It's been boom time at the top; the rich have gotten richer; but the actual flow of money, that was going nowhere near the pockets of the poor; or even just your average worker.

John Howard's adoration of George Bush and everything American has led to a similar mistreatment of the working poor; and they couldn't care less. They've lined their own well tailored pockets. Hands comforted in silk in the wintry mornings of the capital. Just go, everyone wants you to go; they shouted, a silent scream; and the polls bounce about. Howard is back in the running; everything is up in the air.

So much has been ripped off these people; they have been so totally taken for granted and so contemptuously treated; that he is shocked when he actually meets them; in the car parks of suburban shopping malls; knocking on their doors. These were just horrific days. The kids kept squirming; and it didn't matter how hard they worked they couldn't get on top of things. I used to love Sydney, it's become impossible to live in; I say, trying to establish contact. Every one's getting out, going to Queensland, you wouldn't believe the number, even in our street; they say. And we nod in agreement; the place has gone to the dogs.


THE BIGGER STORY:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The fog of war keeps getting thicker. The Iraqi government's decision to temporarily ban the security company Blackwater USA after a fatal shooting of civilians in Baghdad reveals a growing web of rules governing weapons-bearing private contractors but few signs U.S. agencies are aggressively enforcing them.

Nearly a year after a law was passed holding contracted employees to the same code of justice as military personnel, the Bush administration has not published guidance on how military lawyers should do that, according to Peter Singer, a security industry expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

The Age:
Our taxes at work:

Howard denies Rudd smear campaign


Prime Minister John Howard has denied mounting a smear campaign against Kevin Rudd, saying government attacks on the Labor leader's substance are legitimate.

Senior ministers have attacked Mr Rudd this week, labelling him a phony, while Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce has tried to reopen a case involving shredded state government documents from 1990 when Mr Rudd was a senior Queensland public servant.

Mr Rudd has predicted the government will resort to increasingly negative fear and smear campaigns as the federal election draws closer.

But Mr Howard defended the government's tactics and accused Mr Rudd of engaging in stunts and slogans.

"If Mr Rudd regards a criticism of him as a smear campaign then he's got a very thin skin," Mr Howard told reporters in Queanbeyan, in the marginal NSW seat of Eden-Monaro.

Mr Howard said a smear campaign involved targeting someone's private life.

"But it is not smearing somebody to say that they have no policy," he said.

"It is not smearing somebody to attack their policy when they do have one.

"It's not smearing somebody to say all you ever announce is committees, all you ever promise to do is react to a review that you might get some time in the future if you are elected and after a process of consultation."