CN Live!‘s Cathy Vogan discusses the case of Australian whistleblower David McBride, who will be sentenced tomorrow in Canberra, with lawyer Eddie Lloyd.
Cathy Vogan reporting for Consortium News from Sydney Australia is about to head off to Canberra to report on the sentencing [on Tuesday] of David McBride, a former military lawyer who was charged with stealing government documents and giving them to journalists to reveal covered up murders of unarmed civilians by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.
McBride’s defense had rested on the court accepting his argument that he had a duty to do so beyond obedience to military orders but the trial judge Justice David Mossop said he would instruct the jury to disregard any public interest in the defense. “There is no aspect of duty that allows the accused to act in the public interest contrary to a lawful military order,” he told the court.
“We do not own Australia. America owns Australia.” — Eddie Lloyd.
McBride’s legal team tried to appeal that decision in November [relying also on the Nuremberg principle] but the application was denied by Supreme Court Chief Justice Lucy McCallum. Then agents of the Attorney General’s office entered the courtroom to remove classified documents from the defense’s possession, which McBride’s team had intended to present to the jury.
This effectively left McBride with no real alternative but to plead guilty and he appeared last week for sentencing, half expecting to be led off to prison, but after a full day of hearing arguments on how McBride should be dealt with, Justice Mossup deferred his decision for a week and we are back in court tomorrow, Tuesday, to learn of his fate.
The government wants McBride to serve about four years in prison though the judge has the option of subjecting him to monitoring and counselling with restricted movements. Whether his actions caused harm is the key factor and there is no evidence that it did.
Cathy Vogan has reported live from the inside the courtroom throughout these hearings alongside lawyer Eddie Lloyd who joins CN Live! today.
“The mainstream media have been absent in the case of David McBride. They are in bed with the government.”
Lloyd argues that as a lawyer McBride’s duty was bound by law to the court and to the public to reveal wrongdoing, rather than to the interests of the military. She cites this legislation:
Ladies & Gentlemen, this “Conversation” is GOLDEN!!! “Crank Up the Volume!”?
…. “I’ll just say, straight-up, Cathy, I think he’s NOT guilty. He’s got grounds for a high appeal; something that ends up in the High Court!” EDDIE LLOYD
“The Journalist & the Lawyer” in depth reporting aka “After Action Review” unpack EVERYTHING the MSMedia is NOT reporting about David McBride’s suffering, stamina, grace, the cover-ups, the gaslighting, the getting beyond screwed, for doing his job!!! in the service, his loyalty, his allegiance to the King’s Court, above & beyond military duty. AND, David McBride, ends up on the wrong side of the f.u.b.a.r f/King. FUGG ‘EM!
“The Journalist & the Lawyer” detailing the suffering executed upon David McBride, i.e., surveilled, scrutinized, screwed with, 24/7; AND, NOT just McBride; but, all the love in his life, his support team, his pup, his family, his friends, his counsel/lawyers have all been suffering, damaged, destroyed; AND, come away with, “Never Say Die!!!”
…. “He [Judge Mossop] is going to make sure he has dotted the “i’s” & crossed the “t’s.” AND, make it as tight as possible so we can’t appeal!” EDDIE LLOYD
“The binary narrative, created by the Media & the Commonwealth in terms of what they let in or out. This has been very disappointing; BUT, we will get the full story out there. EVEN IF, it’s just you & I, doing it, Cathy!!! EDDIE LLOYD
Basically, “The Beast” is doing what The Beast has always done, “Use! Abuse! Abandon! The persons whom they should protect NOT f/persecute, prostitute, prosecute, put-away…used, abused, abandoned aka “Death by a Thousand Cuts.”
Onward & upwards. “Never Say Die!” To The Court of APPEAL!!!
…p.s., Thank You, the Journalist, CATHY VOGAN & EDDIE LLOYD, the Lawyer, you’re beyond awesome, 100%!!! TY. No offense; but, I’m happy i listened after, Tuesday’s hearing. I feel, this “Conversation” is worth replaying 1,000 times!!!
Thank You, CN!!! “Keep It Lit!” Ciao
Welcome, first world peoples, to being treated the way natives peoples were by colonial powers.
And are
There goes not a day across this godforsaken planet, without Lord Acton’s profound propositions being substantiated;
”Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.”
2014 – “Australia’s frmr FM Bob Carr, has lashed out at the country’s Israel lobby lamenting that during his time in office it reached “extraordinary” and “unhealthy” levels of influence over Canberra’s foreign policy — mainly because of campaign contributions by Jewish donors” source times of Israel
Bless you, Kathy, & Eddie!
I will refer the reader to “The Law of Land Warfare” published by the Annapolis Press, Annapolis, Maryland: A member of a military has an absolute right to disobey any order which offends his conscience (or words to that effect). Things are different for Australia ?
Sounds like what the USA is doing to Julian Assange too. Unfair, Unkind and UNREAL. “We the People……….” don’t count in Australia either. : (.
When the State is held to be the highest authority above all others, we have descended to the lowest rung of humanity, behaving like the lost school children in Lord of the Rings.
Lord of the Flies. Excuse my faux pax.