For the Australians

[Evan Burton]

Real Spooks

Reporter: BBC Panorama

Broadcast: 09/07/2007

Across Britain counter terrorism forces are gathering evidence against the planners of the failed car bomb plots in London and Glasgow. The forensic information gleaned from the vehicles and the arrests in Britain and Australia should allow them to piece together how the conspiracy was formed.

But catching suspected terrorists after the act is one thing; real success is preventing an attack in the first place. This report from the BBC’s Panorama asks whether Britain’s security services missed an opportunity to identify the July 7 suicide bombers as a threat over a year before they killed 52 people.

The programme describes the activities of a massive surveillance effort codenamed Operation Crevice. The "real spooks" tracked the movements and communications of an Al Qaeda linked terror cell, which planned to explode a powerful fertiliser bomb. Fearful of an imminent attack, the authorities made a series of arrests. In April this year five men were sentenced to life in prison for their part in the plot.

Panorama reveals that during the surveillance for Operation Crevice, MI5 monitored two men who went on to take part in the July 7 London suicide bomb attack. Their connection to the Crevice cell was noted but no one realised the risk they posed. The programme charts the contact between the conspirators and asks: was an opportunity lost?

"Real Spooks" - on Four Corners 8.30 pm Monday 9 July, ABC TV.

This program will be repeated about 11.35 pm Tuesday 10 July; also on ABC2 digital channel at 10 pm Wednesday and 8 am Thursday.

[Evan Burton]

AS IT HAPPENED: HITLER'S WAR ON AMERICA

Broadcast Date: Friday 13 July 2007

Channel: Free to Air / SBS

Broadcast Time: 8.30 pm

Classifications: Documentary, PG WS

Timeslot Duration: 60 mins

In 1937 Hitler was shown the prototype of a long-range bomber. He believed such a plane could bring America to its knees. When engineers were unable to solve the problem of how to get a plane to America and back without refuelling, Messerschmitt presented a stopgap solution whereby bombers would be refuelled mid-flight with the help of another aircraft. The Americans had by now, however, entered the war and were building their own bombers. Another idea was to send men on suicide missions. Large cargo planes would carry small planes over the Atlantic. The fighter planes would then disengage and their pilots would steer them into the skyscrapers of New York - a 9/11 scenario contemplated half a century earlier. (From Germany, in English, German and Russian, English subtitles) (Documentary)

[Evan Burton]

J.F.K'S WOMEN: THE SCANDALS REVEALED

Broadcast Date: Friday 20 July 2007

Channel: Free to Air / SBS

Broadcast Time: 7.30 pm

Classifications: Other, PG (CC)

Timeslot Duration: 60 mins

(From the US, in English) (Documentary)

[Mark Stapleton]

J.F.K'S WOMEN: THE SCANDALS REVEALED

Broadcast Date: Friday 20 July 2007

Channel: Free to Air / SBS

Broadcast Time: 7.30 pm

Classifications: Other, PG (CC)

Timeslot Duration: 60 mins

(From the US, in English) (Documentary)

Evan,

I didn't see this but I don't think I missed anything.

The blurb stated that that the program 'reveals an unseen side of JFK who allegedly risked his political career and country's security for sex'. Yawn. Another instalment in the slow drip campaign to tarnish JFK's reputation. He navigates his country around the CMC, ignoring calls for a nuclear strike from crazies like LeMay but somehow still 'risked his country's security for sex'. Sure, sure.

The program was probably laced with salacious gossip and 'explosive allegations' from 'people who saw it all'. A direct lift from a Murdoch scandal sheet masquerading as an historical doco would be a more accurate description, imo.

Personally, I don't give a rat's ass how many starlets JFK pantsed.

In the interests of balancing the ledger, when will we see docos about LBJ's famous nooky room? I'm not holding my breath.

[John Dolva]

My mum's in her eighties, saw it, found it interesting, noted that Kennedy choose 'nice ladies' and that the 'doco' made it all seem as if it was a reason for his 'downfall' yet the blurb is: 'the unseen' (presumably then, at the time 'unknown' side of Kennedy). Like you indicate, Mark, just another page 3 smear effort.

JEH should have had a field day....maybe he did? So much naughtyness...so little time...

Better spent manufacturing 'evidence' of MLK's natural (he was black after all) proclivities, and trying to get him to committ suicide a month prior to receiving the Nobel Piece Prize.

It's enough to make one puke.

These 'Intelligence' goons were/are worse than the worst of those they sought to destroy.

(One notes that Loose Cannon Cheney is to have access to 'the button' while Bush's derriere gets a going over. Let's just hope they loose the codes. Or, heaven forbid, even worse, they might find them?)

Letterman might be good for a laugh for a few days now.

[Evan Burton]

CUTTING EDGE: LAST GHOST OF WAR

Broadcast Date: Tuesday 4 September 2007

Channel: Free to Air / SBS

Broadcast Time: 8.30 pm

Classifications: Other, CC

Timeslot Duration: 60 mins

Thirty years after the end of the Vietnam War they are among several millions diagnosed by the Vietnamese as victims of Agent Orange. We meet several who are plaintiffs in a class action suit against 32 US chemical companies. Attorneys, activists, scientists, and a military historian take us to a new battlefield. These Vietnamese victims are seeking compensation and justice. The question is were these dioxin-laden herbicides chemical weapons? And if so, who should be held accountable in the wake of what was allegedly the largest chemical warfare operation in history? (From the US, in English and Vietnamese, English subtitles) (Documentary)