“A senior
Australian army officer warned the Howard Government in May 2004 that the ‘jig
is up on AWB’ and that matters were about to ‘get ugly’ because of the wheat
exporter’s ‘cosy relationship’ with Saddam Hussein’s regime,” The Australian
reports today .

The
comments are contained in a written statement to the Cole inquiry by army
lawyer Colonel Mike Kelly – sent to Iraq by the Government in 2003 –
released yesterday.

Cole
continues – as does some very interesting talk. The inquiry
has received 130 new statements from public servants in recent days – but
what’s more interesting is what’s not in writing.

There’s a
lot of talk amongst the diplomatic and intelligence old boy/old girl network
about unminuted meeting between senior ministers – even the Prime Minister – and
officials to discuss the AWB and Iraq.

If the talk
is true, some big names could be in big trouble. If the talk is true – and if
it can be proven.