The Death of Private Kovco

The media has been full of all the "news" relating to the death of Private Kovco, the "loss" of the body and speculation about what caused his death.

That the whole "thing" has been a fiasco is putting it mildly. No less importantly the role of the PM and the Government deserves all the criticism one can marshall.

Alan Ramsay, of the SMH, could never be accused of failing to call a spade a shovel. He is certainly not restrained when criticism is called for.

So, in this week's column Ramsay writes:

"A friend emailed yesterday: "We talk about a values debate in Australia? F--- me dead! A billionaire media mogul like Kerry Packer, who celebrated his tax minimisation, gets a publicly funded state memorial service, and a Private Kovco, who offered his life for his country and paid the ultimate price, gets treated like a piece of meat." His bitterness only reflects national outrage. How can this be?"

Ramsay, rightly, calls into question the behaviour of John Howard and the Government. It is one of Ramsay's best columns of recent times. Read it here.

Meanwhile, fellow-columnist, Mike Carlton in his weekly SMH column, also deals with the Kovco debacle and amongst other things has a very interesting revelation about the man behind the US contractors who "lost" Kovco's body. And, yes, you guessed it, not only is the man unsavoury - but surprise, surprise, he is a mate of Dubya!!! Read Carlton's column here.

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