I would blow Dane Cook posted:

Wait he still has the support of.... Eric Abetz?

Wistful of Dollars posted:

https://twitter.com/davpope/status/835016771337764864

quote:

The Secret Iraq Dossier
A newly declassified report obtained by Fairfax Media reveals Australia's role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq was undertaken solely to enhance our alliance with the US. David Wroe investigates.

On the night of April 12, 2003, Australia’s military commander in the Middle East, Brigadier Maurie McNarn, was woken by a phone call telling him that a RAAF Hercules would soon fly into Baghdad airport to deliver medical supplies for the Iraqi capital’s looted hospitals.

The caller was his boss, then Chief of the Defence Force General Peter Cosgrove. Nevertheless, McNarn protested, saying the airport was not secure and there was no safe way to distribute the supplies to 40 hospitals across the crumbling capital. Cosgrove, now Sir Peter, the nation’s Governor-General, told him to make it happen. It was being announced to the press in 30 minutes.

Operation Baghdad Assist went ahead and became a media triumph for then prime minister John Howard and Sir Peter amid a deeply unpopular war. The Hercules, carrying three journalists and 13 commandos to provide protection, was the first Australian plane to land in Baghdad after the invasion a month earlier.

But the medical supplies never made it out of the airport. They rotted. A second planeload was diverted to the city of Nasiriyah, whose hospitals were already relatively well stocked. McNarn would go on to dismiss the whole thing as a “photo opportunity”. Special forces commander Lieutenant-Colonel Rick Burr, who learned of the operation on CNN, was equally upset, writing in his diary that the operation made “a mockery of our approach”.

It’s one of many startling revelations in a 572-page, declassified internal report on the Iraq War obtained by Fairfax Media under freedom of information laws. Written between 2008 and 2011 by Dr Albert Palazzo from Defence’s Directorate of Army Research and Analysis, it is by far the most comprehensive assessment of our involvement in the war. Originally classified “Secret”, it was finally released last week after more than 500 redactions.

The report concludes that Howard joined US president George W. Bush in invading Iraq solely to strengthen Australia’s alliance with the US. Howard’s – and later Kevin Rudd’s – claims of enforcing UN resolutions, stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction and global terrorism, even rebuilding Iraq after the invasion, are dismissed as “mandatory rhetoric”.

Howard and Sir Peter, facing domestic political pressure, ensured that Australian lives were exposed to as little risk as possible. The result was a contribution that was of only modest military use and, in many cases, made little sense. Politically, delivering the right force was “secondary to the vital requirement of it just being there” but it led some American military officers to grumble that Australia was providing “a series of headquarters”.

It was managed from the top with a keen eye for the politics and the public relations, yet frustrated commanders often asked what they were doing in Iraq and many took to writing their own mission statements. One commander wryly summed up his time in Iraq thus: “We did some poo poo for a while and things didn’t get any worse.”

The report, which Defence says is an “unofficial history” that represents the author’s own views, is the product of three years’ work and includes more than 75 interviews with military figures, correspondence with other sources, and full access to classified documents.

Palazzo planned it as an unclassified book to be published by the Army History Unit, aimed at teaching junior officers about the Iraq War, but it grew into a larger, classified project that Palazzo hoped would be distributed internally, including to senior Defence leaders.

That did not happen. Instead the report was shelved.

Its release comes as Australia once again ponders the US alliance in the era of Donald Trump, with Australian troops back in Iraq, and with the Pentagon poised to release a new game plan to defeat the Islamic State terror group that could involve asking for more help from Canberra.

adamantium|wang posted:

More at the link.

quote:

No Australian military personnel were killed in action during Operation Falconer or Operation Catalyst, although three died in accidents or during service with British forces; many more have been wounded. Additionally as many as six Australians have been killed whilst working as private security contractors.

quote:

The cost of the Iraq war to Australian taxpayers is estimated to have exceeded A$5 billion.

quote:

Its release comes as Australia once again ponders the US alliance in the era of Donald Trump, with Australian troops back in Iraq, and with the Pentagon poised to release a new game plan to defeat the Islamic State terror group that could involve asking for more help from Canberra.

tithin posted:

After the last phone call?

thatfatkid posted:

The US President could gently caress the Australian PM's partner, brag about it to the media, say it was a dud root and Australia would still do whatever the US wanted.

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

Today is poo poo on Tony Day:

Doctor Spaceman posted:

Man kicked out of gay club
https://twitter.com/aclennell/status/835082367068876800

Doctor Spaceman posted:

Man kicked out of gay club
https://twitter.com/aclennell/status/835082367068876800

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

https://twitter.com/nonstoptom/status/831991997585989632

Doctor Spaceman posted:

That's a hilarious and uncomfortable thing to watch.

quote:

Tinder taking away brothels' 'bread and butter': owner

Dating apps such as Tinder are taking away Queensland brothels' "bread and butter" business, a concerned Brisbane brothel licensee says.

The Viper Room licensee Joan Leeds said while she was fortunate to have more than 4000 regular clients, her business was being undercut by the internet through dating sites and apps like Tinder.

"Nobody wants to acknowledge it but it's true," she said.

"You only have to jump on the internet to see what sort of sites are out there.

"If you speak to most people who go onto internet dating sites, it's a hook-up, most of them are expecting sex, that is what happens ... Tinder especially."

Ms Leeds, who bought the business in March 2006, claims she has seen no growth in her business for the past four years and suggested there would only be about six out of the 22 licensed brothels operating in Queensland that were making "any real money".

"I would suggest the industry is dying out," she said.

Ms Leeds said she was losing customers who would often frequent brothels over the weekend.

"These guys used to come into the brothels all the time because they are the people who don't commit to anybody," she said.

"They are the sorts of people who will come into a brothel after they didn't pick up and it would be a notch on their belt, they would never see the same girl twice.

"They would be the bread and butter of your Friday and Saturday nights. Well, they don't come in anymore because they just jump on Tinder, it's free."

Ms Leeds, whose annual registration fee of $42,435 is coming up fast, said brothels had to evolve with the times and create a point of difference.

"(I am offering) someone that is happy on the desk, that is happy to chat to them (the customer), I make them a coffee when they come in the door, I know a little bit about them, I recommend girls to them once I know them and I keep a happy house," she said.

"If he (the client) thinks it is a happy place to come to where people care about him and he is not scared to walk through that door and be treated like dirt just because he is paying for sex, then you will have good regular clientele and that is what you have to rely on and that is all I have been relying on."

Call for ban on mobile phones in sex ads

More than 27 brothel licensees and managers met in Brisbane on Sunday to discuss problems within the industry and how they could best protect themselves against illegal sex workers who were taking away a substantial amount of business, according to Cairns brothel owner Aart Brons.

There are two legal forms of sex work in Queensland - sex work conducted in a licensed brothel, from which outcalls are prohibited, and sole operators who are sex workers that work privately from a premises.

Escort agencies, unlicensed brothels, massage parlours, street workers and two or more sex workers operating from a single premises are considered illegal.

According to Prostitution Licensing Authority in 2011, the illegal sector was "likely to be larger than the legal sector".

There were 22 licensed brothels operating in Queensland at the end of the 2015-16 financial year, the lowest number of brothels since 2005-06, according to the PLA.

Mr Brons, who owns Northern Belle, told brothel owners on Sunday he believed the best way to stamp out illegal operators would be to make landlines compulsory on all sex ads to make advertisers more accessible to the PLA.

Legislation states a person must not publish an advertisement for prostitution that describes the services offered, states directly or indirectly that the person's business provides or is connected with massage services or be worded in such a way as to induce a person to seek employment as a sex worker.

"To distinguish between illegal sex operators masquerading as genuine, legal sole operators, that is where the problem lies," he said.

"The landline would have such an effect that it would throw a wrecking ball through the illegal industry.

"The PETF (Prostitution Enforcement Taskforce) would have a pivotal tool to see whether that ad is genuine to the person it belongs to.

"An escort agency that might have three or four on the books, if there was such a thing and there is, it would then stop them.

"Advertising would stop and therefore girls from interstate and overseas would only be able to work in Queensland if they had a premises and a landline."

Mr Brons has put forward a petition, with signatures from 21 brothel licensees and managers, calling for the Attorney-General to make landlines compulsory on sex ads in Queensland.

In a statement released in 2011, the PLA indicated advertising restrictions would be "insufficient" in stopping illegal operators.

"The PLA remains convinced a multi-pronged approach is required to tackle illegal operators … (and) should include the lifting of the prohibition on outcalls from licensed brothels and the legislation of escort agencies," the PLA statement read.

"Advertising restrictions and police enforcement action are insufficient to make any significant long-term impact.

"The current regulatory regime is restrictive and provides insufficient incentive to draw illegal operators into the licensed sector."

Mr Brons has also called for the state government to adopt an outstanding recommendation that was laid out in the Crime and Misconduct Commission's 2011 review into the Prostitution Act, established in 1999.

The CMC, now referred to as the Crime and Corruption Commission, had recommended the establishment of a Ministerial Advisory Committee under the Act with a legislative obligation to report directly to the Minister.

It was recommended the committee include a wide range of representation from sex workers, brothel owners, police, to the state health department and local councils.

Ms Leeds said the committee was a good idea to make sure all brothel licensees worked together to improve their industry.

"In terms of the committee, I think that is the best thing that we should be doing," she said.

"I think the single biggest enemy of the brothel industry is ourselves because when we are all in fear of something, we all of a sudden try to do something about it but as soon as that fear for themselves disappears they all go, 'Oh, we will run our own race now'".

A spokeswoman for the Attorney-General said there were no changes to the Act under consideration.

"The Attorney-General understands there are diverse and strong opinions about the issue in the community. However, there are currently no changes to prostitution advertising under consideration."

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

ShoeFly posted:

Schneider Inside Her posted:

Seriously though the human race is garbage

Schneider Inside Her posted:

Seriously though the human race is right-wingers are garbage

Dan Didio posted:

The best moment of the last Libspill will always be Peter Van Onselen rattling off the list of people Tony Abbott couldn't put on the leadership ticket next to himself, and being like, "He can't pick Cormann, he can't pick Abetz, he hasn't got Bishop, he certainly can't pick Kevin Andrews, for god's sake."

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

I would blow Dane Cook posted: