Today the Flood report inquiring into Australia's intelligence services is released, and, what a surprise! No evidence of government interference is found that would have effected the service's assessments on the likelyhood of WMDs in Iraq.
Like Bush and Blair before him, Howard admits the assessments were wrong, but it was nothing to do with the government 'heavying' the agencies. Fancy that!
To those who think that this whole exercise was to deliver the politically palatable result for the government should remember the first rule of having an enquiry as stipulated by the BBC's satirical sitcom 'Yes Minister.' You need to pick someone 'sound.' Sir Humphrey himself couldn't have picked better than Phillip Flood.
Mr Flood's recommendations also reflect his background as a former head of the ONA and a former head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Although there's no suggestion that Mr Flood did not conduct the enquiry openly or honestly, surely choosing someone a bit more independent of the organisations being investigated would have made the whole exercise more credible.
As it is, the enquiry doesn't mean much. I can't imagine anyone in the organisation and valuing their career and working relationships stating that political pressure was brought to bear on their analysis. It's not surprising that the enquiry found none.
What is more credible is that intelligence analyst Andrew Wilkie resigned from the organisation before the Iraq conflict started. He claimed the sort of interference that the Flood enquiry failed to find. Regarding the enquiry, he stated;
More than ever there is a desperate need for a detailed inquiry into the Government's relationship with the intelligence services and the misuse of intelligence material.
Fat chance! The government's got the findings and the headlines they wanted. They're counting on public apathy to bury the issue. Depressingly, they're probably got the effect they wanted.
