Secret missions

At the height of the Vietnam War, John Ali was in a team of truck drivers recruited on the orders of the then army minister Malcolm Fraser for a secret mission delivering military supplies deep into Cambodia where US and Australian forces were officially not supposed to be. Hmm
Greens senator Penny Wright told parliament last night that Mr Ali’s treatment by successive governments was shameful. He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and lives with the debilitating effects of his experiences in Vietnam and Cambodia, Senator Wright said. “He jumps at the sound of thunder and takes about 20 tablets a day.”
Greens senator Penny Wright. Hmmm. I wonder why Malcolm Fraser didn’t use the thousands of soldiers already in country and subject to military law. And don’t think because we weren’t supposed to be in Cambodia that we weren’t. It’s one thing to convince a Greens Senator of outlandish claims. Let’s face it,  they believe that the Earth is doomed unless we spend hundreds of billions of dollars and otherwise ruin the economy by locking coal in the ground, but it’s another matter entirely to  convince the DVA and us skeptical old soldiers. If he wasn’t in the military then any compensation is a matter for other government bodies, not the DVA.  He could try talking to Malcolm Fraser to confirm the story.  Oh hang on, he’s dead. I’m surprised his problems only came to light after Malcolm was interred. Really surprised.

20 comments

  • I would have no idea whether this bloke is legit or not, but the political affiliation of his advocate is irrelevant to the fact. According to the Fart of the Nation (the Australian) he was awarded an Australian ­Active Service Medal and a Vietnam Logistic and Support Medal.

    From the report – Yet the army took a different position. It awarded him an Australian ­Active Service Medal and a Vietnam Logistic and Support Medal.
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/defence/veteran-pays-the-price-for-secret-mission-in-cambodia/story-e6frg8yo-1227479432073

    • but the political affiliation of his advocate is irrelevant to the fact
      So you think he’d get the same reaction from Andrew Nicolic Brigadier Rtd?
      Yeah, right!
      The Greens will pick up and run with anything that has a chance of making the government look bad. It’s not about him mate, it’s about the Greens scoring cheap points and you’re supporting them.

  • Further to the subject of war service, real or alleged, we have this story – http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-12/vietnam-veteran-detained-at-villawood-detention-centre/6692832

    Bloody disgraceful. The party that sent this bloke to war on behalf of this country locked him up in a detention centre, and were set to deport him until the media cottoned on to the story. We have government by paranoia.

    • Firstly it is a Govt, not a party that sends people to war.
      secondly it was a govt dept that was going to deport him, the minister prevented this.

      Please learn to read you pathetic buffoon.

    • You reckon that was disgraceful, how about this. We deported a genuine war hero who served behind enemy lines with Z Force. Why? because he returned to Broome after the war, an indentured pearler, and thought his service entitled him to freedom from slavery. He began an Association to press for equality. So we called him a Commo and deported him. Samsudin Bin Katib.

      http://uncommonlives.naa.gov.au/muslim-journeys/stories/the-pearl-diver.aspx

      • Having read your reference, he broke the terms of his visa and got deported.

        Do you believe that military service puts us beyond the law? I’m curious because I have a noisy neighbour that I’m thinking of murdering and it would be helpful to point out to the judge that, as an ex serviceman, the laws of the land do not apply to me.

  • Firstly it is a government, not a party that sends people to war

    Unless our system of government has changed since the sixties, political parties form governments who send people to war.

    Please learn to read you pathetic buffoon

    Please learn to argue without abuse.

    • You’ve earned the abuse by being an unrepentant liar you sad fuckwit.

      All you ever needed to do was show everyone else the basic courtesy of telling the truth, but now it is too late, so stop complaining that you are treated with contempt – you shat in your own nest and you choose to keep doing it.

      • the basic courtesy of telling the truth
        Show me one – just one – example of where I have posted a lie.
        Your problem is not that I don’t tell the truth, but that I disagree with you. It’s called bigotry, intolerance or chauvinism. You chose.

        • Numbers, you lying sack of shit, I, and countless others, have repeatedly pointed out your lies. I’m not trawling through earlier postings to find them again.

          However, anyone else here, who feels that numbers is not prone to lying, twisting the facts and moving the goalposts, this would be a great opportunity to point it out.

          http://tinyurl.com/pkc5keo

          • Pretty much par for the course.
            You can’t identify “lying” – not because I’m not trawling through earlier postings to find them, but because there is none.
            And of course, more abuse.
            Sad – but predictable.

          • What a laugh numbers, everyone here knows you are a bullshit artist and you know that again and again most of us here have pointed out your lies.

            But because you are such a worthless, delusional piece of self important shit, you insist that I go trawling through reams of your bullshit to point it out yet again? I’ve already done it a number of times and you and I both know it.
            I’m sure any moment now others will leap in and point out how honest you have been, won’t they? that’s the problem you have numbers, isn’t it – that you have soiled your reputation so thoroughly that bluster and more bullshit is all that you have.
            You are a sad joke and you only have yourself to blame.

          • Come on, where are the “lies” ?
            Put up or shut up😄

          • as you already know numbers, you lying piece of shit, I and others have already “put up” in this regard, so its time for you to accept that we know you are a liar and stop demanding that we show proof yet again.

            Its all you have left, the fact that we can’t be bothered going over your lies again and again to prove it again and again.

          • Sit down, the dog is pissing on your swag. If, as you insist, I tell lies “all the time”, you would no trouble finding them. You can’t, because they’re aren’t any.
            I have different opinions from most who post here (which is probably a good thing for the viability of the blog, and helps to prevent it from becoming an echo chamber) but a different opinion is not a lie.
            I research and fact check everything I post.
            Remember various accusations of “lying” in posts on this site over my story about the Surat basin not so long ago?
            The Australian published a similar story last weekend, pointing out exactly the same issues I did. Was the Australian “lying” because they pointed out the negative impact of the extraction industry on the township of Miles?
            By your bizarre definition you would have to accuse them of lying.

          • I’ve done this before, you lying sack of shit, point out your lies specifically to you and you simply continue to lie, then try to move the goalposts.

            I don’t owe you the courtesy of repeating the exercise since you refuse to show the basic courtesy of telling the truth.

            Having a different opinion isn’t lying, so don’t try to pretend that this is what it is about – your lies have been repeatedly revealed by myself and others and you know it, but the bit that stings is you know that everyone knows it – you just need the attention so badly that you can’t stop.

            “Remember various accusations of “lying” in posts on this site over my story about the Surat basin not so long ago?”

            However, take the above, I don’t give a fuck about the Surat basin and have never raised the issue of it with you, so how about we agree that this is a lie on your part, proving my point, since I never raised the issue and you are using it as proof.

            Now we can also throw in the lie that “I research and fact check everything I post.”, since if you had, you wouldn’t have posted the previous lie.

            It is the only reliable thing about you numbers, you will lie. you can’t help it.

          • Remember various accusations of “lying” in posts on this site over my story about the Surat basin not so long ago?
            Where did I direct that personally at you? You’re showing signs of paranoia. Like the individuals who claimed my posts about the Surat basin were fiction, you simply join the queue and abuse because you can’t argue.
            I’m still waiting for you to point out a “lie” – looks like I’ll be waiting a long time……

  • Bear away 17….

    Political allegiance has everything to do with it. The Greens (your lot) want to raise the minimum wage but claim this will not be a blow to jobs. In which case, you will surely agree the minimum hourly rate should be raised to $75/hr. That way equality and social justice will be achieved overnight, which is also about as long as it will last.

    Then there is this from your lot’s website:

    “Real security rests on cooperation, fair economic and social development, and respect for human rights, rather than on military capability.

    Climate change represents one of the greatest threats to international peace and security.

    Environmental degradation caused by sea-level rise and other climate change impacts will increasingly result in the displacement of people, undermining global peace and security”.

    Why would you believe anyone (Senators Wright and Hanson-Young for example) who accepts this gobbledygook? Do you think our potential enemies structure their defence forces on such blancmange? If they do, we stand a chance. But if not, they will beat us to a pulp.

    Likewise 17…. it’s clear you are no longer wearing your boxing gloves to bed. You denigrate The Australian and then quote it as an authority. As the actress said to the bishop – FMD.

    While putting the gloves back on you might ponder the fact the veteran in question was and remains a permanent resident, not a citizen, and therefore not entitled to the rights and privileges of a citizen. Got it?

    As for your beloved unions….. In 1973 I visited Mt Newman and watched a unionist smashing the ore bucket of a massive excavator into the ore face again and again. Wage negotiations were due and it was explained to me that boofhead (and he was not alone) was deliberately trying to damage machinery worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in attempt to soften up management. Why are you surprised business wants nothing to do with unions?

  • And let us not forget that this Irish chappy had 59 years to renounce his heritage and become an Australian citizen.
    59 years of changing governments with the same citizenship laws.

    Only a militant fucking teacher could find fault with our present government, in laws that have been consistent since federation.

  • Have arrived home after 6 weeks roaming around West Queensland. Spoke to a few of the locals in pubs and clubs, as you do, that is if you want to get a true feel of how they think out there.
    General consensus of opinion seems to be that the greenies and environmentalists are at fault.
    Apparently the UN want to put the Diamentina Basin on a heritage list as well.
    That’s 1/6th of Australia, that Australians will have to get permission from overseas to go near.
    What a joke these so called environmentalists are.

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