By Barry Everingham | Senior correspondent
David Flint is a real piece of work – no doubt about that.
His ire has been aroused by two leading Australian born lawyers – Greg Barns and Geoffrey Robertson QC – for “attacking” the United States for killing Osama bin Laden and not sending him to trial.
According to Flint, it was outrageous that these eminent Australian jurists should expect an unarmed man – one undoubtedly privy to a welath of information on terrorist plots and organisations, though Flint doesn't mention this – to have been captured and interrogated, rather than summarily shot and dumped into the ocean from a helicopter.
Of course Flint, a lawyer of sorts himself – one who has, indeed, gotten himself into very hot water for misleading an official inquiry about his relationship with shock jock Alan Jones – seems to think he can say what he likes as a monarchist, but republicans must be silent.
Flint sank to unusually deep depths even for him by bringing Robertson’s wife, the distinguished journalist Kathy Lette, into his story and heaping feline and bitchy criticism on her, claiming she had “surrendered to the charm of the royal family under the glory of the royal wedding”.
[VIDEO: Geoffrey Robertson interviewed by the ABC this morning.]
I have news for Flint.
I watched the programme from beginning to end and it was fabulous and fascinating and a credit to the Poms, who if they do nothing else they sure know how to outdo Disney in the “spectacular” department, but that doesn’t mean what we saw last Friday was in any way Australian. We couldn’t do that nor, I guess, would we want to try.
Back to Barns and Robertson.
First, the fact that that they are republicans has nothing to do with their views on the actions of the Americans.
Second, if they believe bin Laden should have been tried what has that to do with Flint?
The fact that he was “taken out” I would have thought would be the Indonesian way of doing things and as Flint was born there such a method would meet with his approval. But, who knowsPersonally, I think the Americans did the right thing – had they let the monster live he no doubt would have subjected to a Guantanamo Bay kangaroo court, as David Hicks was, and that would never have achieved anything.
(Former ARM chair and distinguished barrister Greg Barns talks about an Australian Republic November last year.)
Flint then slipped back into the sewer by captioning a picture of Obama and his national security team watching transfixed as the drama unfolded.
“Like a medieval king President Obama – an elected monarch – watches the battle”
Flint should realise we should be so lucky to have an elected president for a fixed term replacing an hereditary monarch with no say in the running of our country and who is around doing nothing until he or she dies.
(Update: See Greg Barns' response to the Flint "article".)
