More Australians think the death of Osama bin Laden will see more terrorism than believe it will help — but more think it’ll make no difference.
Afghanistan
Our shrinking asylum seeker problem
While Australia’s asylum seeker numbers fall, Labor is ensuring it will always lose the debate by remaining wedded to mandatory detention.
The bureaucracy of Gitmo
Benjamin Franklin’s famous trade-off between liberty and temporary safety – for those who deserve neither — stands itemized in human form in the Gitmo documents, in those many files full of misspellings, malapropisms and justifications, the dream-diary jottings of a superpower nightmare.
US Army kills civilians then poses with their bodies
It’s a gruesome tale. US soliders in Afghanistan killed civilians and then posed, smiling, for photos with their corpses. NATO have been preparing for the release of the photos for months, reports Der Spiegel.
Essential: shock — support drops for nuclear
Unsurprisingly, support for nuclear power has plunged following Fukushima, according to today’s Essential Poll. And Tony Abbott’s inconsistency on climate change has left voters confused.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Children, marketing and fast food
Crikey readers have their say.
Huckabee sees no “end game” for Afghanistan
Mick Huckabee has become one of few high profile Republicans to speak out against the war in Afghanistan, citing no confidence in the President and a landscape that looks “like the surface of the moon,” reports Sam Stein.
Political snippets: Another death and more political lies
There are more brave soldiers, I read somewhere recently, than there are brave politicians.
The Afghan women who set themselves on fire
This is a horrifying look at women who choose to set their own bodies alight as a means of escaping violent and abusive relationships… and Maria Bashir, the female chief prosecutor who’s trying to save them.
How shit happened for Tony Abbott
Seven had given Abbott’s office two-and-a-half hours notice of the story’s angle, including the “shit happens” remark in relation to the death of Australian soldier Jared MacKinney, and Abbott’s office had agreed to the interview.
Child abuse: the new Taliban tactic
There’s a rising number of domestic abuse cases in Afghanistan and the US military wonders if it is a new Taliban technique to help gain access to US military bases and gather intelligence, since military hospitals care for the wounded.
Rising Afghanistan death toll
The death toll for foreign troops in Afghanistan hit 700 for the year this weekend making 2010 the deadliest year of the nearly decade-long war. At least in Iraq foreign troop deaths are declining, explains Richard Farmer.
David Hicks: responding to the critics
On Sunday, December 12, the Sun Herald printed an article that falsely claims that i have broken my silence “for the first time”. At no time did I agree to an interview with the Sun Herald. At this time I have still never given an interview to any media, writes former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks.
‘Bizarre’ and ‘unworkable’ — Morrison’s plan for asylum seekers
Opposition immigration spokesperson Scott Morrison’s plan to send Afghan asylum seekers — who arrive in boats — back to camps in countries such as Pakistan and Iran is doomed to fail, say asylum seeker advocates.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Crikey apologises to The Franklin Mint
Crikey readers have their say.
Elite Oz soldiers in covert operations for top-secret Alliance Base
Elite Australian soldiers are involved in covert operations for the Americans in the “war on terror”, co-ordinated through the top-secret, Paris-based centre Alliance Base.
What did America think about our Afghan debate?
Plenty of Australians were skeptical of the “furious agreement” espoused by both major parties during parliament’s debate on the war in Afghanistan, but United States Ambassador to Australia Jeff Bleich was glued to the screen and chuffed with the results, writes Leo Shanahan.
M*A*S*H, public sentiment and the war Afghanistan
On the subject of the war in Afghanistan the Australian public seem to be echoing the same old testaments espoused in M*A*S*H - that war is futile and childish - but it is harder to imagine a better war to be a part of, writes David Burchell.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: If we continue to tread water on Afghanistan, we’ll drown
Crikey readers have their say.
Abbott delivered a more effective case on Afghanistan
This Parliamentary debate on Afghanistan will do nothing to change voters’ views — particularly when the Government can’t provide voters with a compelling case.
Political snippets: Why just Afghanistan?
There is no evidence I have seen that suggests that fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan has lessened the danger of terrorism.
Crikey Says: Meanwhile, in Afghanistan…
Just to put things in context…
must read 
US troops + Afghan police: not exactly a match made in heaven
Politicians keep talking up the important of training Afghanistan’s police force, but as Christopher Beam learns, the ANP and US Troops encounter cultural misunderstandings, Taliban infiltration of the cooking department and arguments about whether the Afghanistan police are lazy.
Why Powell can save Obama
David Petraeus has bet his career on counterinsurgency strategies in Afghanistan, so there’s a good chance he will resign and turn on Obama if the President pulls the plug. Only one man can protect Obama from that kind of threat and his name is Colin Powell, writes Peter Beinart.
