This week's stories: But The Taxpayers Probably Asked For It...Dramatic Rescue...Government Believes It Is Losing to Public Sector Unions...Weapons of Mass Destruction Found...Quotes of the Week.
Former Governor-General Peter Hollingworth will get a lifetime government pension worth at least $184,000 a year. He will also get a taxpayer-funded office, a permanent staff member, and free business-class travel for him and his wife on official business. Dr Hollingworth also gets a pension from the Anglican church. For the 23 months that he served as Governor-General, before resigning over allegations that he helped cover up sexual abuse while an Anglican Archbishop, Dr Hollingworth was paid an annual salary of $310,000 per year. (The Age, May 27). The rescue of Private Jessica Lynch from an Iraqi hospital during the invasion of Iraq was faked, according to local medical staff. The Times of India reports that the Iraqis had actually withdrawn from the area two days before the 'rescue'. Hospital staff drove Pvt Lynch to a US checkpoint in an ambulance a day earlier but were fired on by American troops. Dr Harith Houssana told the Toronto Star that American troops faked a rescue operation for the cameras. "It was like a Hollywood film" he said. "They cried 'go, go, go', with guns and blanks without bullets and the sound of explosives. They made a show". (The Times of India). Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott says that unions have largely frustrated the government's attempts to get public servants on to individual, non-union agreements. A document by Mr Abbott says that non-union agreements are declining, the government's favoured Australian Workplace Agreements remain unpopular, and public service agreements continue to be higher than equivalent pay rises in the private sector. The document recommends that the government make AWA's compulsory for all new public servants. (Workers Online website, May 23). ['[EMAIL PROTECTED]' is mis-spelled deliberately because the censorship software at my work would block it otherwise] Investigators at a US Army base have found more than 2,000 tons of hazardous waste including 100 vials of [EMAIL PROTECTED] and other dangerous bacteria. They are believed to be left over from a US germ warfare program that was ended in 1969. The Pentagon said it had no record of the biological agents dumped at the US site, which is being excavated as part of a $US15 million ($A22.94 million) clean-up of the area. "The documentation for where this came from doesn't exist," Lieutenant Colonel Donald Archibald, Fort Detrick's director of safety, told the Washington Post newspaper. The Army expected to find mostly laboratory chemicals, debris and incinerator ash when they started digging at the site two years ago. Instead, they uncovered vials of live bacteria like Brucella melitensis, which causes the flu-like disease brucellosis and Klebsiella pneumoniae, a cause of pneumonia. They also found a nonvirulent form of [EMAIL PROTECTED] The potent form of the disease was brewed by the gallon at Fort Detrick until the weapons program was shut down. Another 50 pressurised cylinders of gases and liquids found at the site are still awaiting analysis. "You never know what's there until you start digging," said Colonel John Ball, the Fort Detrick garrison commander. "We've generally ruled out finding a nuclear weapon." (Australian Associated Press, May 28). Quotes of the Week: "I'm ready to meet my Maker and answer for those who have died or who have been horribly maimed as a result of my decisions". Tony Blair, in the Times, May 27. "In Iraq, there was a government holding valuable resources the U.S. could not control. So the U.S. took action. In the Congo, the U.S. controls the government and the resources, so it doesn't really matter that millions of Congolese are dying." Prof. Didier Gondola, author of "The History of Congo" (Greenwood Press 2002). "The United States cannot afford to write off any potential new export market. A vast and growing market of 700 million consumers, Africa is in many ways the last frontier for U.S. exporters and investors. We cannot stand idly by waiting for Africa to achieve perfection before we engage actively in helping to shape its future. If we temper our engagement, or hold back until the whole of Africa is on even footing, we will concede important opportunities to our competitors and worse still, leave doors open to our adversaries...A visionary economic policy toward Africa is in our own long-term interest." Susan E. Rice, former US Govt. Assistant Secretary for African Affairs. Since 1998, civil war in the Congo has killed three and a half million civilians. Less than 25% of its 55 million population have access to clean water, and three out of every four children born during the war have already died or will die before their second birthday. Last October, an independent panel of experts reported to the UN that 85 multinational companies based in Europe, the US and South Africa had illegally profited from the war in Congo. The panel's investigations led to the conclusion that the war "has become mainly about access, control and trade" of minerals. (information from SchNews news report). anarchist news service write to James, PO Box 503, Newtown NSW 2042 or email [EMAIL PROTECTED] contact us to get ATNTF emailed directly to you. If you like All the News That Fits, forward it on to people or lists who might be interested in it, or post it on your local Indymedia http://www.indymedia.org. Some other Australian anarchist contacts: Love and Rage is an anarchist, non-profit record label. 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