Theos-Talk Archives (March 2003 Message tt00253)

While we have to make our decisions based on the
knowledge and integrity of organisations such as CNN,
ABC, NBC and CBS there are those on the inside that do
speak out from time to time. 


>From the Sydney Morning Herald, 12.3.03

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/12/1047144999476.html

Analyst 'vilified' for quitting over Australia's stand
March 12 2003

A senior intelligence analyst who quit in protest at
Australia's role in a potential war against Iraq today
said he had already been vilified for his stand. 

Senior analyst Andrew Wilkie resigned from the Office
of National Assessments (ONA), the office which
advises Prime Minister John Howard on international
issues of importance to Australia.

Mr Wilkie, a former army officer, says a war against
Iraq would be bad policy and that Australia's position
is based on incomplete information.

Today he said vilification for his stance had already
begun.

But he said while his action would hurt ONA, he stood
by his comments.

"I think it's (vilification) already started, in some
ways," he told ABC Radio.

"ONA's statement to the media yesterday I think has
tried to play down my access to information on the
Iraq issue, as I would have expected them to do.

"And I would have expected that sort of management of
the issue to continue within government.

"It's going to hurt ONA a lot, and I regret that.

"But I think there some issues that are bigger than
those sorts of concerns."

ONA director-general Kim Jones yesterday told
reporters Mr Wilkie was a member of ONA's
Transnational Issues Branch and normally worked on
illegal immigration issues.

Mr Jones also said it was not the role of ONA to give
policy advice to the government.

Mr Wilkie today said Iraq did not pose a security
threat to any country, its military was weak and its
weapons of mass destruction program disjointed and
contained.

The Iraq problem was unrelated to the war on terror,
he said. 

While Iraq was a rogue state, the Iraq problem was
more related to US domestic politics and US
credibility, he said.

"It may well be that we have to go to war against Iraq
eventually but we should be exploring better
inspections and so on," he said.

"What worries me is that a war, an invasion, is the
option that's most likely to prompt Saddam to do
exactly what we're trying to prevent."

War could prompt recklessness from Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein, Mr Wilkie said.

"A war is what is most likely to force him to act
recklessly, to possibly use weapons of mass
destruction himself and to possibly play a terrorism
card."

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Mr Wilkie had
done the right thing by resigning but he said he
disagreed with the analyst.

Former colleague David Wright-Neville, Monash
University's senior research fellow with the Global
Terrorism Project, described Mr Wilkie as
hard-working, competent and trustworthy.

Dr Wright-Neville was a senior terrorism analyst with
ONA until last year.

"He's a person of high ethics, high standing," Dr
Wright-Neville told ABC Radio.

"He has a set of personal ethics that are absolute.
This is not a decision he would have taken lightly.

"To my mind he is a hardworking, very competent, very
capable, very trustworthy person.

"He would have had access to high level intelligence."

Dr Wright-Neville said that while he had not worked
with Mr Wilkie for a year, he knew he had access to
information on Iraq in his former job.

"And if he was getting ready to work in the watch
office, which is an office that is set up at a time of
crisis, then it's absolutely, to my mind, certain that
Andrew would have been doing some background reading,
and would have had some access to some, if not all,
the intelligence that was available on Iraq," Dr
Wright-Neville said.

AAP 



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