Bella Vista Incident. Wow. Here Comes Doubting Thomas.

RMS Lusitania

by Mary W Maxwell

This article is in reaction to yesterday’s Bella Vista article, written by Dee McLachlan. I am beside myself over the machinations of government — or is it media? Or are they one and the same? Hello Rupe, you there?

Start with the Lusitania in 1915. Or the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964. Or whatever you like. Governments want the citizenry to rally behind them, and media can always crank up a good INCIDENT to direct everyone’s thought processes the right way. Where would we be, without our killer bees and our false flags? As soon as Americans heard that those mean old Germans had sunk the Lusitania it was right into World War I we go.

Could Oz engage in similar maneuverings? The Main Rule is that you are never supposed to believe it about your own kith and kin. But we do know for sure that the Port Arthur massacre was a set-up, outrageously blamed on an innocent lad. So the Main Rule can’t be rigidly followed anymore.

Now then, what about the Sydney siege. Did it happen under the instructions of someone who wanted us to buy more anti-terrorist missiles? Or someone who wanted Oz to legislate censorship?

Um. Who might that be, that would want that? I doubt any person native to this country would. (But then again, re Port Arthur, even if the massacre was entirely cooked up by foreigners it did have its ex post facto supporters both in Tassie and on the Mainland, right? We’re talkin’ governor, attorney general, the lot.)

The day of the ‘siege’ I was very glum. Mid-afternoon I posted an essay in the US entitled “Terrorists My Arse.” Just did not seem like a legit crisis to me. One man holding numerous people hostage, in the CBD for Pete’s sake. I figured it was a trick. I still think so. At the time I had never heard of Man Haron Monis, but now that I have heard of him and his role as a media mascot I feel sure he was doing a deed that day which did not originate with him. (Frankly, he appeared not brainy enough.)

Bella Vista, NSW

Now to “the Incident.” As far as I know, Dee McLachlan is the only media person who has picked up on this. (And it features in our humble tome: Truth in Journalism.) The day was 25 September 2014. Almost one year ago. All of your basic MSMs  — Australian, SBS, SMH, The Guardian, Business Insider – reported on the case of an Australian soldier being physically assaulted, right here on the sunny shores, wearing his uniform.

Not many legal scholars specialize in treason but there’s one in Adelaide and she recognized right away that such an assault is treason. I mean we cannot have our people attacking our soldiers — or the prime minister or the monarch, etc. Such personages stand for the nation and an attack on them is “war.” (This is black-letter law, I’m not making it up.) You can be sure the police, and perhaps special forces, were sent to capture the miscreant.

Well, actually, they weren’t. We later found out that it was a quiet day at the office. But the ink spent in those MSM journals did have a payout! That very evening, September 25, the Senate agreed to a new law that can put journalists and whistleblower types behind bars for 10 years. By the way the soldier turns out to have been a sailor, age 41. We are not provided with his name.

Admittedly, it’s conspiratorial of me to say that there was a “payout.” I can’t offer proof. I’m only guessing. But what if you were to hear that the reported Incident never took place? Would you then demand to know who provided the ‘facts’ to those press and TV and radio outlets? Would you see a connection between the Incident and the legislation? I mean, who had the motive? Who started it?

The original report did name the alleged location: the Bella Vista district of Sydney. Here it is, per smh.com.au on the very day (Sept 25):

“Thursday morning, at 6.30 am a member of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) was attacked. The 41-year-old man told police he was threatened and assaulted by two men of Middle Eastern appearance while wearing his full uniform at Bella Vista, Sydney. Suffering ‘minor bruising,’ he reported the matter to police and then attended Kings Cross police station in person.”

Withdrawal

So OK, we know which police station to look to, for further information. But the next day, Friday, September 26, the media reported that that the victim had withdrawn the charge!!  I do realize that some people may think there can be no further action against the assaulter once the victim withdraws a charge. But that is not true; the Public Prosecutor can forge ahead.

Anyway, three days ago, on the 8th of August in the Year of Our Lord 2015, Dee McLachlan decided to phone the police media office to follow up on the 25 September, 2014 Incident.  An officer said he would check and call her back.  The next day he did call her back, all very friendly and said “We don’t believe it happened.” (That’s a lot more than “He withdrew the charge.”)

Dee says she thought right away of the song “From Little Things Big Things Grow” (by Kevin Carmody and Paul Maurice Kelly) of which the lyrics start with “Gather round people i’ll tell you a story…”

Harking Back One Week Previous: an Anti-beheading Task Force

Dee reminds us in her newest article that “On 18 September, there had been a raid. 800 police launched synchronised raids on houses and vehicles.” That is MAJOR manpower (more than at the Olympics?) in Steak and Kidney and Brissie. The ABC headline ran: “Authorities thwart ‘beheading’ plot in Australia’s biggest ever counter-terrorism raids” You should go to the actual page here – it is astonishing. (ABC headline).

After a few arrests were made, some people protested, in Lakemba. As Dee has pointed out, one of the featured ‘speakers’ was Man Haron Monis – later to be featured again at the Lindt Café (where, as far as we know, he died, but maybe someone someday will withdraw that story too? I mean if story-withdrawal is now standard, who’s to know what to believe?).

Then, on September 23, 2014, an 18-year-old man with one of those names if you know what I mean, Numan Haider, made trouble and got himself shot dead by the cops.

“23rd September – 18-year-old Numan Haider, a terrorism suspect, is shot dead by a Victoria Police officer outside Endeavour Hills police station after stabbing the officers.”

I quote The Age:

“Police said the two officers met the Narre Warren man outside the police station before he lashed out at the officers with a sharp instrument. Mr Lay refuted reports that he was running towards the police station when he was shot. Onlookers — who did not want to be named – (well, did the police or the media get their names?  Is there a standard of journalism re witnesses?)  said the dead man had been shouting insults at Prime Minister Tony Abbott.”

When To Be a Doubting Thomas

Wow. I can recall having a few not-nice things to say about John Howard in days gone by but I never got collared for it. So far, I’d just like to throw in a new rule, about When To Be A Doubting Thomas. Pretend I am the baddy who is shouting remarks about the PM, even really outrageous remarks. And say that I had a sharp object. I do own a decent steak knife. Some of my pens are sharp, too.

The question is: WOULD I ACTUALLY run at the police as though to attack them?  If so, I’d know my days were numbered, right?  So we are basically describing a suicidal gesture. Is an 18-year-old so “devoted to the cause” that he wants to end his life? Show me such a person. I know a little zoology; I know an injured bird will fight vigorously for life. There really is a life instinct.

Hence I must invoke the Doubting Thomas rule. If I hear of something that does not make sense to me prima facie, I doubt it.  So, I doubt that Numan What’s-His-Name ever lunged at police, causing them to need self-defence. I say he values his life. Only a babe of 18.

Still, if it happened, if he did put the cops in danger, I certainly agree that they should use self-defense. Is there any video of it? Can we see the hospital reports regarding the officer’s wounds? I know you feel I am being impolite.  I feel very impolite myself.  I wasn’t brought up to ridicule cops.

By the way, The Age described it as “two officers stabbed.” Really? One guy with a sharp thingie was able to wound two strong-built policemen?  Doubting Thomas, please sign in.

How Many Shoots Can a Shooter-Shoot Shoot?

Anyway, how is killing the Numan fellow a proportionate response? Aren’t there other ways the cops can protect themselves? What does their training tell them to do? I had the general impression that they could use IRA–type kneecapping, as a way to stop the guy in his tracks. Even that is pretty fierce but it leaves the boy with a life.

As I reported in my harangue about the Marathon case, Tsarnaev’s friend Todashev was killed outright in his home “in self defense” by an FBI person (who had earlier been the subject of complaints for his thuggery).

No doubt we are supposed to be resigned to it. So long as there are religious ideologues out there knocking down our skyscrapers right, left, and center we have to go a bit overboard in protecting the nation.

Wait! There Was an Apology!

Ah I celebrate our Gumshoe editor for being the only media person to yak about the on-again off-again assault of an ADF uniformed person at Bella Vista. That is, Dee McLachlan queried if it was a convenient story for the purpose of  arm-twisting Parliament.

But the Daily Mail did come forward, right smack dab on September 26, with an apology from the ADF:

“DF Commander Mark Binskin has confirmed that the man has withdrawn the claims … At a news conference today he said ‘on behalf of the Australian Defence Force I would like to apologise to the Australian community and in particular the Middle Eastern community for any angst this has caused’.”

Angst? But who is the sailor? Will he be punished? Does “withdrawn his claims” mean “he admits no one attacked him?”

“NSW Police have also revealed they are looking into the reasons behind the allegations being brought to them, in the first place. ‘We are now investigating why those allegations came to us,’ a NSW Police spokeswoman said.”

Oh excellent. We do need to know. I hope Dee is up for pursuing that angle: “Why were the allegations brought in the first place?”  Plus – just out of sheer stickybeakism – exactly how and when did the Incident get released to the media.

I need to know. “Thomas” wants to know, too, whether there was ever a sailor who made any such report. Thomas reckons it’s classic killer bee.

— Mary W Maxwell is a regular contributor to Gumshoe. She can be reached, easily enough, at maryWmaxwell.com.