One of the most shameful episodes in Australia's history has come to an end, with the commencement of the withdrawal of our combat troops from Iraq.

The withdrawal came more or less with a whimper, and certainly not telegraphed in advance. Earlier this year the Senate Estimates Committee was told that Australia's role in Iraq was complete, and this was confirmed by Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston yesterday (video). We, of course, should never have been there, an aggressor nation (along with the USA, UK and numerous smaller members of the "Coalition of the Willing") invading a sovereign entity on the other side of the world, on the basis of fabricated "intelligence". The acronym for the original (subsequently discarded) US name for the invasion, "Operation Iraqi Liberation", sums up the underhanded motives fairly well.

Australia has been a leading exporter of rice, supposedly feeding up to 40 million people worldwide. But decades of mismanagement of water allocations in the Murray-Darling river basin, exacerbated by the recent drought, has hit rice crops hard, despite the fact that Australian farmers have taken huge leaps in improving water efficiency in rice production.

But there's another problem. They can grow grapes on their land, using less water and making money from the booming wine industry. Yes, the hungry of the world risk playing second fiddle to middle-class Aussie tipplers.

Al Jazeera English visited the Riverina district of New South Wales for this report, which aired on April 23:

A thirty-year phase of cricketing history came to an end at the Gabba tonight. The triangular one-day international series had long past its use-by date, and was finally being put out of its misery. But instead of ending with a whimper, it went out with an unexpected bang. India completed a 2-0 clean-sweep of the best-of-three finals series against Australia to win the 2008 Commonwealth Bank Series.

OK class, repeat after me:
"Monkey is not a racist word in Australia."

It's not, in general. There is, however, a long history of "monkey" being used as a term of racial derision in Britain and continental Europe against people of African or Caribbean heritage, most prominently on the football field. Andrew Symonds, born in Birmingham of Jamaican parents, and an immigrant to Australia as a child, comes into this category.

Whatever clowning about Harbhajan Singh was up to at the SCG on Sunday afternoon, it may have been stirring, or it may have been answering back to the crowd. Or it may have been nothing at all. Certainly ICC match referee Jeff Crowe was not interested.

And neither should we be.

"Lack of professional expertise in managing a sporting franchise of this magnitude seems to be a glaring gap, especially as a lot of these teams are led by what we call 'casual but rich fans' who are assuming their team will be in the top three."

- Anirban Das Blah, VP Globosport India, from the 3.3.08 edition of Outlook magazine

Today, Victoria were narrow losers in the final of the Australian domestic one-day competition, which this year is sponsored by an automobile with a big carbon footprint. Bowled out for 158 at Bellerive Oval, they lost by one wicket when Tasmania reached a Duckworth-Lewissed target of 131.

Cameron White is the captain of Victoria. Today, White did not bowl. Earlier, he was out first ball, caught by Travis Birt off the bowling of Brad Geeves.

It would be remiss of me if I were not to mention the fabulous events in Canberra last week. February 13, 2008, will go down as one of the most joyous days in modern Australian history - the day that Kevin Rudd, on behalf of the Australian parliament, said "Sorry" to the stolen indigenous generations. Rudd gave what was unquestionably one of the great speeches of our country's history.

Harbhajan Singh's successful appeal against his Level 3 transgression, and its replacement with a Level 2 charge, seems on the surface of things to be the right decision, though I think the penalty imposed (50 per cent of his "match fee" - whatever that is) is light. The use of obscene language in an abusive context, regardless of the language in which it is spoken, is abhorrent.

We will know later today more about Justice Hansen's reasons for the findings when he releases his full written statement. Meanwhile, the reports that are coming out concerning back-room deals before the appeal hearing are very disturbing.

The hearing of Harbhajan Singh's appeal against his ICC Code of Conduct breach has begun in camera in Adelaide today. Appeals Commissioner, Justice John Hansen, briefed the media yesterday on the procedures to be undertaken.

With due legal process taking its course under the watchful eye of a New Zealand High Court judge, why then:

1. Is the BCCI demanding that Harbhajan Singh be found not guilty?
2. Has the Indian team refused to travel from Adelaide to Melbourne today as scheduled until the outcome of Harbhajan's appeal is handed down tomorrow?
3. Have Indian team sources claimed that the squad will return home if Harbhajan's "racism" charge is not dropped?

Are they attempting to influence the outcome of the appeal through public threats? Are they going to refuse to accept any decision they don't like? Having had the appeal hearing delayed until the conclusion of the Test series, are they trying to do "whatever it takes" to keep Harbhajan Singh available for selection for the Indian eleven?

"Attempting to pervert the course of justice" - does this rather ugly cap fit the BCCI head?

It was during the one-day tri-series of 1981-82. Australia versus Pakistan, from memory I think it was the Adelaide Oval game. Javed Miandad, a few weeks after his legendary contretemps with Dennis Lillee, was in hot water for apparently being overhead shouting the F-word to Greg Chappell as the Australian captain was leaving the field after being dismissed.

In the days well before codes of conduct and match referees, Javed explained that he was actually greeting the successful wicket-taker, off-spinning all-rounder Ijaz Faqih.

Javed's words to Ijaz in Urdu translate into English as, "Faqih, you got him third ball!"