Tuesday, September 25, 2012

FOOTBALL SUPER MERGER?

Australian Rules Football super club?

I wanted to bounce a crazy idea and would appreciate any feedback from readers, a super Australian Rules Football merger or joint venture between the two existing clubs Melbourne Demons and North Melbourne Kangaroos to be called Melbourne United Kangaroos (MUK) with a playing strip of all blue? Perhaps Port Melbourne in the Victorian Football League could act as a feeder club? 


It could be a successful joint-venture like Wests and Balmain in the National Rugby League (NRL) of Australia; both Melbourne and North Melbourne would still exist but would "sponsor" a joint team in the Australian Football League. It could be a powerhouse with the pooled resources. The names are almost the same and both share blue as a major colour.


Your thoughts?




Above photo by Sasha Uzunov 2011 of Melbourne United Kangaroos. Digitally altered image.
Below photo of Melbourne Demons (left) and North Melbourne Kangaroos (right). Photo by Vince Caliguri / The Age newspaper


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ORDER YOUR COPY - TIMOR TOUR OF DUTY 


LUKE LEON MEDIA (ABN: 91310556447) in association with Sasha Uzunov...

TIMOR TOUR OF DUTY...now available on DVD....RATED M...

Timor Tour Of Duty, which looks at the Indonesian military's secret war against Australian and New Zealand troops and international peacekeepers in East Timor in 2001, received a special commendation Platinum Reel Award from the 2009 Nevada Film Festival.

The film made its US and international screen debut at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival in October 2009.

THE DVD includes 4 extra minutes of two scenes cut from the original film festival screening.

Official film website: order your copy

ABC news website story clipping:

Thursday, September 20, 2012

WILSON WHITEWASH


Was there an SASR rescue mission?
DAVID WILSON WHITEWASH
by Sasha Uzunov

TEAM UZUNOV has been following the story of murdered Australian tourist David Wilson in Cambodia in 1994..

We were one of the first to allege that an Australian Army Special Forces (Special Air Service Regiment-SASR) rescue mission was aborted by Canberra.

 The Victorian Deputy State Coroner's recent findings are nothing of a whitewash of the Australian Government of Prime Minister Paul Keating and of the Foreign Minister, Gareth Evans. The inquest began 14 years ago, was put on hold for a number of years and then re-opened and finally a handing down of a verdict, which has left ex-Australian diplomat turned whistleblower Alastair Gaisford upset that his reputation has been called into question and the long suffering family of David Wilson devastated.

more on that here

With the case closed, we will never know the complete story. We will never know if there was a military rescue mission, and if so, why it was aborted?

The Deputy Coroner's findings leave more questions than answers.

Background go to link:


Friday, July 24, 2009


15TH ANNIVERSARY OF DAVID WILSON KIDNAPPING/MURDER

26 July will mark the 15th anniversary of the kidnapping and later murder of Melbourne backpacker David Wilson in Cambodia. Three months earlier Brisbane backpacker and model Kellie-Anne Wilkinson was also killed in Cambodia (1994).

On 7 September 1994 Wilson, Englishman Mark Slater and Frenchman Jean-Michael Braquet were executed

Could they have been saved?


UNCOMFORTABLE ANNIVERSARY: David Wilson murder in Cambodia 1994

By Sasha Uzunov
copyright 2009

Some of Australia's biggest ex-politicians such as former Prime Minister Paul Keating and Foreign Minister Gareth Evans will look upon the 15th anniversary of the controversial kidnapping and later murder of Australian David Wilson in Cambodia with great discomfort.

The man at the centre of this controversy was Gareth Evans, now playing international firefighter on behalf of the Rudd ALP Federal government. Last year Prime Minister Kevin Rudd appointed him co-chair of the International Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Commission.

On 26 July 1994 an Australian backpacker in Cambodia, Melbournian David Wilson was kidnapped and later killed and three months before Brisbane model Kellie-Anne Wilkinson suffered the same fate. Both Keating and Evans have not said much on the issue.

Michael Costello, a Foreign Affairs adviser during the Paul Keating ALP Federal government, said he would not be commenting on the upcoming 15th anniversary of the kidnapping and murder of Australian David Wilson in Cambodia.

Mr Costello was the Secretary of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) from 1993 to 1996, and later became a Chief of Staff to then Federal ALP Opposition Leader Kim Beazley (1999 to 2001). He is now Chief Executive Officer of Actew AGL, Canberra’s power utility.

The former diplomat, released a statement through Actew AGL spokeswoman, Ms Stephanie Luelf back on 25 March 2009:

“Thank you for your enquiry but we won't be making a comment.”

As a serving soldier in 1997, I remember speaking to a short, tough, wiry Corporal, a former plumber and surfer, who had been on the Rwanda United Nations peacekeeping mission in 1994. The Corporal, who is probably a Sergeant or a Warrant Officer in the Special Forces by now, revealed that there were elite SASR soldiers putting their hands up, without even being prompted, to undertake a rescue mission to save Australian backpacker David Wilson, who was kidnapped and held for ransom by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia but it had been vetoed by those in Canberra. Wilson was later killed by his Khmer Rouge kidnappers on 7 September 1994.

Australia, at Gareth Evans’s urging, had sent a large peacekeeping force to Cambodia in 1993 and was an influential player in that part of the world when Wilson was taken from a train along with two other westerners, Frenchman Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet and Englishman Mark Slater, who also later were killed.

A 1998 Victorian Coroners Inquest into the death of Wilson heard the testimony of an Australian Foreign Affairs official, Alastair Gaisford:

“Evans was advised to but did not use his direct personal connections with senior Cambodian officials to secure Wilson's release.

"He (Evans) did not pick up the phone, as we advised him to do, to say, 'Stop this military build up, stop or we will cancel our aid or punish you in a diplomatic meaningful way'."

Gaisford said the Australian Government did not debrief embassy staff in Cambodia after thekidnapping and murder of Brisbane model Kellie-Anne Wilkinson three months earlier in Cambodia.

We do not know if the Wilson inquest will be restarted as the then coroner Graeme Johnson retired two years ago and it was put on hold.

Whatever the failings of the Howard Coalition government (1996-2007), it did not pussyfoot around when Australian contractor Douglas Wood was kidnapped in Iraq in 2005. It sent in the SASR who rescued Wood.

The moral of the story for politicians is let the professionals handle it and give them the tools to finish the job.

VICTORIAN STATE CORONER:

After a 3 month chase for a response, a spokeswoman from the Victorian State Coroner's Office revealed today that no one was sure when the Wilson inquest would be re-started.

"You can register as an interested party," the spokeswoman said. "You'll be notified if it's restarted."

DON WATSON: PM KEATING SPEECH WRITER

On 19 March 2009, a response from prominent academic and social critic, Dr Don Watson, a former political speech writer for Prime Minister Paul Keating, was sought over his thoughts on the Wilson tragedy.

An email was sent to Melbourne University academic Professor Stuart McIntyre, who kindly suggested Dr Watson could be contacted via Ms Louise Adler, publisher of Melbourne University Press.

An email was sent to Ms Adler, as well as Ms Hilary McPhee, Dr Watson's wife, and a letter posted to Dr Watson's business address.

So far there has been no response.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Previous stories

http://teamuzunovmedia.blogspot.com/2009/03/keating-man-no-comment-on-wilson.html
Wednesday, March 25, 2009

KEATING MAN: NO COMMENT ON WILSON
KEATING’S MAN WONT TALK ON WILSON CASE

By Sasha Uzunov
Copyright 2009

Michael Costello, a Foreign Affairs adviser during the Paul Keating ALP Federal government, said he would not be commenting on the upcoming 15th anniversary of the kidnapping and murder of Australian David Wilson in Cambodia.

Mr Costello was the Secretary of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) from 1993 to 1996, and later became a Chief of Staff to then Federal ALP Opposition Leader Kim Beazley (1999 to 2001). He is now Chief Executive Officer of Actew AGL, Canberra’s power utility.

The former diplomat, released a statement through Actew AGL spokeswoman, Ms Stephanie Luelf on 25 March 2009:

“Thank you for your enquiry but we won't be making a comment.”

A story on http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/ , Australia’s premier e-journal on politics, revealed last week that the Australian government had turned down an offer of a military rescue mission to save David Wilson and two other western hostages being held by Cambodia’s notorious Khmer Rouge in 1994.

All three were later murdered.Mr Costello was asked why the government rejected the military plan. He was also asked, considering his position in DFAT when Prime Minister Paul Keating had committed Australian troops into combat in Rwanda in 1994, why he Mr Costello had not volunteered for military service as a youngman and fight in the Vietnam War (1962-72).

In 1998 the Victorian State Coroner began an inquest into the death of Wilson but was stopped when the then Coroner, Graeme Johnstone, retired in 2007.

The Who’s Who of Australia book reveals that Mr Costello was born on 23 March 1948 and joined Foreign Affairs in 1971 and did a stint as Head of Current Intelligence Office with the Office of National Assessment (ONA).

(end)

Link:http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=8673&page=0

When politicians should step aside

On line opinion article on David Wilson - 19 March 2009
By Sasha Uzunov

extract:

"...Prior to their murder, in early August 1994, the French government had sent a rescue team of intelligence officers (DGSE) to the Kampot province where the hostages were being held. Headed by the infamous Major Alain Mafart of Rainbow Warrior bombing fame, it conducted a four-day surveillance mission, then returned to its team to standby near Angkor Wat, awaiting the order to rescue Wilson, Braquet and Slater.

"Also by early August, the British had their own SAS (Special Air Service) rescue team on standby in Bangkok, Thailand, like the French team already in Cambodia, waiting for their governments' green light. Fearing failure, the Australian government’s opposition to such a snatch and grab raid, forced the French and British governments to call any rescue mission off, ensuring the hostages murder three weeks later..."

4 comments:

observer said...
i'm glad you bring this up

if this had happened these days, with all the web 2.0 stuff, there would be saturation coverage

ask any "traveller" who david wilson was, or who kellie-ann wilkinson and dominic chappell was , and the vast majority will give you blank stares
Anonymous said...
Hello,
The Death of David Wilson affected my family deeply. David Wilson was best friends with my Uncle and grew up to together. My family continues to pay respect every year but whenever I ask my father about what exaclly happens he fails to tell me clearly and I know its hard for him to talk about. I just wanted to know if you could give me any information on who the killers were and what their punishment was? I dont know if you reply to this or anything but feel free to email mre with information on; megan.live.laugh.love@hotmail.com
Thank you for paying tribute.
DA said...
As a young American traveler in 1994 I briefly traveled with and befriended David Wilson in northern Malaysia and southern Thailand, and weeks later I bumped into him again in Bangkok just prior to his fateful trek into Cambodia.

I remember David's charisma, his engaging smile, his open and expansive heart, his unique ability to engage people from all walks of life, which can only come from an empathetic and compassionate heart. He was the consummate laid-back, self-confident Australian. Around the backpacker hangouts his humor and positive energy were contagious.

The experience of witnessing David's ordeal through the media
was heart-wrenching, to say the least, and is permanently seared into my memory. Most of all it caused me to reflect on the time when our paths crossed and to honor him by remembering his personality and life-loving spirit.

In the years since then and to this day, I remember David when I travel. He reminds me to stay curious, to engage people along the way, to look for hidden gems in the nooks and crannies of travel, and most of all: to have fun.

I knew David just long and well enough to appreciate what he must have meant to his family and friends back home in Australia. He was an exceptional person, deserving of remembrances and tributes.

It is tragic that there were, and remain today, political and social environments around the globe cultivating people who place no value on human life.
Anonymous said...
I knew Kellie when she was in Bali in 1994.

I waved good bye to her, whilst she headed off into the distance on the back of a car.

For some strange reason a feeling of finality swept over me.

Weeks later I heard reports of her capture and murder.


I watched this case unfold....but never knew about the RSAS boys wanting to go in and rescue the hostages. It's sad they were not allowed.

Martin Griffin

Friday, September 07, 2012

MISSION NOT IMPOSSIBLE ! - Scientology vs ASIO

ASIO files 
- Scientology threatened to sue ASIO over "harassment" 
- Scientology tells ASIO not to exchange information with CIA

- UPDATE - Scientology unsuccessfully sued ASIO

Photo source: Wikipedia / PictorialEvidence

by Sasha Uzunov

Decades before Hollywood action hero and Scientologist Tom Cruise was chasing imaginary bad guys and spies during the filming of his smash hit movie Mission Impossible 2 on Australian soil, his coreligionists were waging a real life legal stoush with Australia's Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), declassified secret files from the late 1970s reveal.

The ASIO files from 1979, lodged with the National Archives of Australia, reveal the Church of Scientology threatened to take legal action if ASIO didn't stop allegedly persecuting it and publicly distributing "smear materials and false documents "about the Church. ASIO denied both charges.

ASIO informed the then Federal Attorney General Senator P.D. Durack QC of the Scientologist's complaints. In a letter to ASIO, the Attorney General blamed the now defunct and infamous New South Wales State Police Special Branch for the leaking of genuine ASIO documents about Scientology, which have not yet been declassified.




The Church of Scientology engaged an Australian law form, Minter, Simpson & Co, which sent a letter to our domestic spooks, and also warned them not to share any information with the United States of America's external spy service, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).  






ASIO files - Title: "Briefing of the Attorney-General by ASIO Volume 2," 1978-1979, 
Series number A6122,  Control symbol 2516, Item bar code 30820885, 
De-classified: 6 September 2010. National Archives of Australia

Solicitor's letter to ASIO warning it not to harass
Scientologists nor to exchange information with the CIA.



ASIO's response to the solicitor's letter.


ASIO informs the Attorney General over the authenticity 
of a leaked document about Scientologists.


UPDATE - Australia's premier investigate reporter and former official with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Phillip Dorling has kindly informed us that the Church of Scientology unsuccessfully sued ASIO in the High Court of Australia in 1980. The full court decision can be read at the link below:

Church of Scientology v Woodward - High Court decision 1980
------------------------------------


ORDER YOUR COPY - TIMOR TOUR OF DUTY - A film by Sasha Uzunov


LUKE LEON MEDIA (ABN: 91310556447) in association with Sasha Uzunov...

TIMOR TOUR OF DUTY...now available on DVD....RATED M...

Timor Tour Of Duty, which looks at the Indonesian military's secret war against Australian and New Zealand troops and international peacekeepers in East Timor in 2001, received a special commendation Platinum Reel Award from the 2009 Nevada Film Festival.

The film made its US and international screen debut at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival in October 2009.

THE DVD includes 4 extra minutes of two scenes cut from the original film festival screening.

Official film website: order your copy

ABC news website story clipping:

Thursday, September 06, 2012

1975 DISMISSAL: G-G KERR SPOOKED BY SOVIETS?

1975 WHITLAM GOVERNMENT DISMISSAL: was Governor General Sir John Kerr spooked by Soviet spy visit?

-ASIO files reveal planned Soviet Spy visit
-TEAM UZUNOV joins the Jenny-Hocking-Dr Gerard Henderson fray over "The Third Man"

by Sasha Uzunov

At TEAM UZUNOV we regard it as our sacred duty to dispel or debunk myths and conspiracy theories, to shine a light into officially dark places but we are only human and sometimes we cannot resist the temptation to indulge in some wild speculation ourselves!

On Remembrance Day, 11 November 1975, the Governor General Sir John Kerr sacked the Labor (ALP) government of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and plunged Australia into a constitutional crisis.

The Governor General is the Queen's representative to the Commonwealth of Australia and according to the Constitution is also Commander in Chief. The position is largely ceremonial but does have the power to sack governments. Prior to Whitlam, no Prime Minister had been dismissed in this manner.

Days before, a planned visit to Australia by Soviet spies undercover as scientists was cancelled when the media got hold of the story. Did this spook Sir John, (pictured left) a former Australian Army intelligence officer during World War II,  into acting quicker on a decision already made up in his mind to sack Whitlam, a case of the straw that broke the camel's back in a long list of government gaffes, scandals and disasters?

The Whitlam Government did not have a good track record in dealing with intelligence services of any colour: the 1973 raid on the head quarters of the domestic spy service the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) by Attorney General Lionel Murphy, did a lot of damage to the Prime Minister:

Whitlam lamented "the greatest mistake the Government has made has been to take the (Commonwealth) police into ASIO HQ." 

The lead up to The Dismissal, as the event is known in Australian history, was a political stalemate. The Whitlam Government (1972-75) did not have a majority in the Upper House, the Senate, and was blocked in passing money supply bills by the Opposition, the Liberal-Country Party coalition, headed by Malcolm Fraser. The government of the day is formed in the Lower House, the House of Representatives and needs a majority of seats to govern. However, it does not need a majority in the Senate but must have control of the money supply, which must gain approval from that chamber.

Sir John argued that he was compelled to break the impasse by sacking Whitlam and appointing Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister. At a federal election held after the dismissal, Fraser won in a landslide.

All eyes and cameras on sacked Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, 11 November 1975, Parliament House, Canberra.

The controversy of The Dismissal still rages and was in the media spotlight recently about the involvement of a Third Man, High Court Judge Sir Anthony Mason. (Go to link- the Jenny Hocking-Gerard Henderson debate.)

Others, namely on the far Left, have gone so far to allege that the United States government, through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was involved in bringing down Whitlam because of his opposition to American military installations, such as Pine Gap, on Australian soil.





The 4th of July 1975, Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam (centre) celebrates American Independence Day at a function with US Ambassador Marshall Green (right).








A gem unearthed by TEAM UZUNOV from the 1975 de-classified files of ASIO, lodged with the National Archives of Australia, reveals two Soviet intelligence officers (KGB), Aleksandr Kulakov and Vladimir Kuzin, posing as Scientists were granted visas for an Australian trip to study the Snowy Mountains Hydo-electric scheme and were due to arrive on 11 November 1975, the day of the sacking of Whitlam as it turns out but Moscow Centre aborted the mission because of the intense media scrutiny.

The photo of the Soviet KGB intelligence officers, contained in an ASIO file. Source: National Archives of Australia, title: ASIO document: A cancelled visit re Vladimir Andrianovich Kuzin, 1975, Series no: 12389, A48. Item barcode: 4725019. De-classified: 9 December 2008.

The headlines of the day--press clippings in the ASIO file.  Source: National Archives of Australia, title: ASIO document: A cancelled visit re Vladimir Andrianovich Kuzin, 1975, Series no: 12389, A48. Item barcode: 4725019. De-classified: 9 December 2008.
 The Canberra Times 8 November 1975

No doubt this, the latest press controversy to plague the Whitlam Government, and we can only speculate on this, would have added more weight to Sir John Kerr's decision to sack in order to break the Parliamentary deadlock. Some of those on the Australian Right would have applauded Sir John's actions as the only honourable thing to do. But opinion still remains divided over the Governor General's fateful decision.

What is certain is the accident prone Whitlam Government, once bitten over the Murphy ASIO raid, should have been twice shy over the Soviet Spy visit. ASIO recommended against the Depatment of Foreign Affairs (DFA) issuing a visas to the Soviets, Aleksandr Kulakov and Vladimir Kuzin, but DFA did anyway arguing that it was a goodwill visit agreed to by Whitlam during his visit to Moscow in January 1975 as part of an agreement on scientific cooperation between the two countries.

The ASIO files:  Source: National Archives of Australia, title: ASIO document: A cancelled visit re Vladimir Andrianovich Kuzin, 1975, Series no: 12389, A48. Item barcode: 4725019. De-classified: 9 December 2008.


Kulakov was involved in recruiting a British Royal Air Force (RAF) spy, Douglas Ronald Britten, in the early 1960s.
ASIO's recommendation against the visas for Kuzin and Kulakov.
The Australian press pick up the story and place the heat on the Whitlam Government and the Soviets forced to cancel visit. Note the wry almost sarcastic comment from ASIO:

During the afternoon of that same Tuesday, 11November, the Governor General of Australia dissolved Parliament and the ensuing events tended to minimise the non-appearance of the Soviet visitors.
---------------------------------------------


ORDER YOUR COPY - TIMOR TOUR OF DUTY - A film by Sasha Uzunov


LUKE LEON MEDIA (ABN: 91310556447) in association with Sasha Uzunov...

TIMOR TOUR OF DUTY...now available on DVD....RATED M...

Timor Tour Of Duty, which looks at the Indonesian military's secret war against Australian and New Zealand troops and international peacekeepers in East Timor in 2001, received a special commendation Platinum Reel Award from the 2009 Nevada Film Festival.

The film made its US and international screen debut at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival in October 2009.

THE DVD includes 4 extra minutes of two scenes cut from the original film festival screening.

Official film website: order your copy

ABC news website story clipping:

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

GREEN ON SACRE BLEU (BLUE) ATTACK !


Famous, some say infamous, Afghan and Uzbek military Commander General Abdul Rashid Dostum (left) pictured with Canadian journalist Scott Taylor. Photo by Sasha Uzunov 2007. Dostum has never been on a "losing side" in 30 years of war in Afghanistan. Recent developments have seen Afghan Army soldiers turning on their NATO and Australian military allies.

GREEN ON SACRE BLEU (BLUE) ATTACK !

Australian PM Gillard & Andrew Bolt correct on not speeding up Afghan War withdrawal 

by Sasha Uzunov

It is not everyday that we witness Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her staunchest critic, conservative newspaper columnist Andrew Bolt agreeing on an issue, namely the staying the course in the Afghanistan War and not speeding up the planned withdrawal, because of the recent tragic deaths of 5 Australian soldiers, three of which killed by an allied rogue Afghan soldier.

Pundits and "experts" on the Afghanistan War have not been able to resist in re-inventing the wheel. We now call booby-traps or makeshift mines as "improvised explosive devices" (IED); Green on Blue attack means an allied Afghan soldier turning against his NATO or Australian military trainer. In the past we would have referred to this as simply as enemy infiltration, subterfuge, enemy in disguise, espionage, Trojan Horse, Fifth Columnist, swinging voter,  hedging your bets and so on.

But this phenomenon is nothing new, and it even applies in a non-lethal form in civilian behaviour or politics, I call this Green on Sacre Bleu attack. More on that later!

In World War II (1939-45) Italy changed sides in 1943 after first supporting Nazi German and then became part of the"Allies:" Britain, US, etc. We have Italian "allies" who march on ANZAC Day, April 25, here in Melbourne every year. Bulgaria did the same thing as Italy but in 1944 and later became a Soviet Bloc satellite.

France began as an ally of Britain in 1939 before falling under German occupation in 1940. A collaborationist Vichy French regime (1940-44) had soldiers fighting the British and Australian troops in Syria, in the Middle-East. However, a Free French Army under exiled General Charles De Gaulle sided with Britain and a domestic French Resistance took part in sabotage and guerllia style warfare against the German occupiers.

Many conclusions can be drawn from the spike in Green on Blue attacks, that is Afghan Army soldiers killing American or Australian troops, One would be a new phase in the Taliban's war against foreign troops, and this type of warfare is as old as time itself. I mentioned previously the Trojan Horse. In more recent times, say World War II, notorious Nazi German elite troops from the SS dressed up as Polish troops and staged an attack on the German border on 31 August 1939. Known as the Gleiwitz incident, this was the pretext used by German dictator Adolf Hitler to launch his invasion of Poland and the start of World War II.

Another SS operation took place during the Battle of the Bulge, the last German offensive against the Allies. Germans dressed up as American and British troops and caused mayhem in the Allied rear lines. This type of behaviour is regarded as breaking the Laws of War, including the Geneva Convention, a set of protocols drawn up by the "civilised world" to regulate how war is fought.

Those who understand Afghan history, Green on Blue attacks is par for the course. Afghanistan is a country made up of four major ethnic groups: the majority Pushtuns in the south (and traditional recruiting base for the Taliban), Persian speaking Tajiks, the Turkic Uzbeks, and the Hazara, the descendants of the Mongols. Afghan politics is about cutting deals, making alliances or turning against one-time allies.

One famous Afghan military commander Abdul Rashid Dostum, an Uzbek, has never been on a losing side in over 30 years of conflict. He started off as an Afghan Army officer, when his country was under Soviet occupation (1979-89) and then swung his allegiance to the Mujahaddin resistance fighters, then chose sides in the Mujahaddin civil war in the early 1990s by supporting Tajik commander Masoud Shah. 

Dostum in effect ruled his own sub-state in the north of the country and was the main instigator of the Northern Alliance, which opposed the fanatical Islamist Taliban regime that had come to power in the south of Afghanistan when Masoud's hold on the capital Kabul fell. In 2001 the Northern Alliance supported the US intervention against the Taliban and led to the instalment of the Hamid Karzai regime.

I, together with two Canadian journalists Scott Taylor and David Pugliese, were fortunate enough to interview him in 2007 when we visited his northern stronghold of Shebargan. Huge portraits of Dostums dominated the smaller ones of Karzai. He had up til that time refused to speak to western journalists for many years.

The very nature of any counter-insurgency war, going back to the recent Vietnam War (1962-72), is a complicated form of warfare. Many times the "enemy" do not play by the rule book. I explained this to Herald Sun journalist Paul Toohey who quoted me in an article he wrote:


"They go away in the winter and when it comes to the summer they come out of the woodwork and the shadows and start attacking coalition forces," says Sasha Uzunov, a former Australian soldier who has visited Afghanistan twice as a war cameraman.
"A lot of the Taliban activity is simply giving money to illiterate and poor teenage boys, maybe giving them $US50, and giving them a Kalashnikov and getting them to take pot shots at passing troops.
"It's as basic as that, so it's very difficult to track down who these guys are. They take pot shots and disappear and hide in the villages. How do you know who these guys are?"
The planned withdrawal of NATO and Australian troops within the next 2 years has, ironically, caused the rise in Green on Blue attacks. Speeding up the withdrawal will only cause more allied deaths. So Prime Minister Gillard and Andrew Bolt are correct in their view.

Simply put, the average Afghan government soldier or policeman is not too sure about his future. So by some striking out against American or British or Australian soldier, this might, however misguided, be their ticket to survival should the Taliban come to power again.

We are also forgetting the human factor such as disgruntlement, dissatisfaction felt by the Afghan man in uniform. We also had episodes in Vietnam of American soldiers killing their officer, known as fragging. Green on Blue attacks in anyone's language is nothing new.

However, what interests me is the Green on Sacre Bleu (French term meaning Holy Blue, an exclamation) attack--the changing of sides in politics or ideology.


I have named this in honour of New Zealand activist turned mainstream politician Iron Mike Rann (pictured above, source: wikipedia)  Rann over a period of time dramatically changed sides. He started off in New Zealand as an "Admiral" with the environmental group Greenpeace in the early 1970s and was responsible for sending in ships to "invade" French territorial waters in the South Pacific in protest against France's testing of nuclear weapons in that region. 

In retaliation to these Greenpeace "incursions" France began a series of intelligence operations. The result was the bombing of Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior ship in New Zealand's Auckland Harbour in 1985 and the death of photographer Fernando Perreira who was on board at the time. Two French Foreign intelligence (DGSE) officers Dominque Prieur and Alain Mafart were arrested by New Zealand Police for their involvement.

Rann left New Zealand in the mid 1970s to work for flamboyant and notorious pink shorts-wearing  South Australian Premier Don Dunstan, eventually Iron Mike became Premier of that state, serving between 2002 and 2011. Not once did he stop uranium mining in South Australia. Highly unusual when you consider his activities provoked the French to take drastic action.

Iron Mike Rann has been appointed Australia's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, meaning that he will be Ambassador. High Commissioner is a term used within the British Commonwealth family of nations. I wonder what the French, Britain's ally and fellow member of the European Union will make of his appointment, considering his "anti-French" antics in the 1970s?

For a man who began his political life as an environmental warrior trying to restore balance and harmony on the planet, Rann has antagonised the Australian Macedonian community by taking sides in the political dispute between Greece and The Republic of Macedonia.


As South Australian Premier, Mr Rann vowed his government would "remain firm and unswerving" in supporting the Greeks. "It is important because no one is entitled to steal another nation's history or culture," he said.  (link to The Australian newspaper article)

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


ORDER YOUR COPY - TIMOR TOUR OF DUTY - A film by Sasha Uzunov


LUKE LEON MEDIA (ABN: 91310556447) in association with Sasha Uzunov...

TIMOR TOUR OF DUTY...now available on DVD....RATED M...

Timor Tour Of Duty, which looks at the Indonesian military's secret war against Australian and New Zealand troops and international peacekeepers in East Timor in 2001, received a special commendation Platinum Reel Award from the 2009 Nevada Film Festival.

The film made its US and international screen debut at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival in October 2009.

THE DVD includes 4 extra minutes of two scenes cut from the original film festival screening.

Official film website: order your copy

ABC news website story clipping: