Downer in Deep Tabouli

Fess Up, Alexander... you've known about the AWB bribes all along, haven't you? The US Embassy knew, the State Department knew, DFAT knew... Uncle Bert in Naracoorte had it sussed. How could you be the only person in the whole chain of events who knew what was going on?

When you arranged for Australia's US ambassador to divert US attention to the AWB into a UN inquiry, what blackmail did you use for leverage? Surely it took more than a "please"?

And when the Condileeza's boys fixed the US wheat ban last year, surely it wasn't because it wasn't just because you're such a nice bloke?

Perhaps everyone's beginning to panic because this might be just the tip of the iceberg of Australian centred scamming. What will happen if the US public learn that Congress has had the flow of aid money hidden from its eyes by diverting it along its path to Iraq through Australia?

When PM Howard promised lots of Ausaid to Iraq in the same week that KBR advertised in the Economist for an International Aid Director to be based in Adelaide, did you think nobody would notice? Well, some people did, Alexander, and there's a rumbling in 'Merica that this could be the next Watergate.

Maybe this was why everyone was in such a hurry to kick out Scott Parkin last year... what if he blew the whistle while Rumsfeld was in Adelaide. It would make very bad press, and poo sticks much more easily than sugar.

Back to the wheat drama. How many people will fall on swords to protect the mass of deceit and bribery that lies behind it? No matter how much harakiri goes on, Alex, you'll still need to "spill your guts" in the end.