Although the wisdom of British diplomacy can be doubted, the bravery of the Light Horse cannot. Helal Ibrahim Aaref, they will see you in Baghdad and see you in hell.
Posted on 03/09/2003 11:53:58 AM PST by knak
AN accused Iraqi spy awaiting expulsion says he will fight Australian troops if they join a US-led war on his country.
Helal Ibrahim Aaref, who has been told to leave Australia by Wednesday, told the Herald Sun he would have no option but take up arms.
"I hope Australians don't go to Iraq," Mr Aaref said.
"But anyone, from all the world, who attacks Iraq, enters my cities, enters my country, I fight him.
"You know, Iraq has a long history, from about 8000 years, and all that time we
are fighting enemies because Iraq has oil and resources."
Mr Aaref, Iraq's fifth highest ranked diplomat in Australia and a former soldier who fought in the bloody Iran-Iraq war, is accused by ASIO of being an intelligence officer with the feared Mukhabarat organisation.
The 43-year-old father of four is vehement he is nothing of the sort, saying that since arriving in Australia four months ago, his only job has been to administer visas.
When the Herald Sun visited Mr Aaref in his embassy office yesterday, he showed bulging, colour-coded files containing Iraqi visa applications: one was for journalists, the other for Iraqi citizens.
"This is what I do," Mr Aaref said. Speaking with a picture of a young Saddam Hussein on the wall behind him, the affable diplomat joked he could not even find the nearest post office, much less engage in spying.
He had not been to Melbourne, had once seen Sydney's airport, and said the only places outside of the embassy he had visited were Canberra's Woden shopping centre and the local post office.
He had never met President Saddam Hussein, only seen him on television. "I'm just a small employee but he's in the heart of all Iraqis," he said.
Rejecting the tag of super spy, Mr Aaref said he once got so lost in Canberra's suburbs he had to call for a taxi to rescue him.
The Howard Government said Mr Aaref's expulsion was in the national interest because he had acted contrary to standards of diplomacy.
Labor's foreign affairs spokesman, Kevin Rudd, said that if he was a threat to national security he should have been expelled immediately rather than given five days' notice.
"I fear the Government may be tempted to exploit the timing of the expulsion of this Iraqi diplomat for political reasons," Mr Rudd said.
"Because if this person is a threat to Australia's national security they should be expelled now.
"By expelling them in five days' time we have the drama of an expulsion on the eve of the Prime Minister's address to the nation."
At the time of the Gulf War, Iraqi diplomat Saad Omran was also expelled from Australia for security reasons and to protect the national interest.
The United States has reportedly passed to 60 countries the names of hundreds of suspected Iraqi agents working through diplomatic missions.
During the week, the US expelled two Iraqi attaches working at the United Nations. The Philippines has also expelled an Iraqi diplomat with suspected links to a terrorist group.
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Who is Helal Ibrahim Aaref?
Age: 43
Family: Married with two sons (13 and 11) and two daughters (6, 2). Wife and children live in Iraq.
Ranked: Fifth highest diplomat in Iraqi embassy.
Lives: at the embassy in O'Malley.
Job: Administers visas.
Educated: Baghdad University, degree in administrative law.
Military service: Three years. Fought in the bloody eight-year Iran-Iraq war.
Previous diplomatic posts: None.
Previous experience: worked in the consular section of Iraq's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Previous spying rows in Australia
1954: Russian embassy spy chief Vladimir Petrov is given political asylum in Australia after claiming he feared for his life.
1983: ASIO tells the then Hawke government that senior ALP figure David Coombe had been recruited by Russian embassy agent Valeri Ivanov. Ivanov is expelled, while Coombe is later cleared.
1999: Australian intelligence analyst Jean-Philippe Wispelaere, 28, arrested in the United States trying to sell top secret documents.
2002: ASIO says it has expelled one alleged terrorist and two spies barred from entering Australia following September 11.
March 7, 2003: Australia orders Iraqi attache Helal Ibrahim Aaref to leave the country by Wednesday, March 12 for spying.
Really? Oil was that important 8000 years ago? LMAO!
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