Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty
Wi bickering brattle!
Like Griffin the main character in HG Wells classic novella The Invisible Man, has Mike "Children Overboard" Silverstone the Executive Director of the CCC, successfully carried out a procedure to make himself invisible?
If he should try to become visible again, will he fail, and like the forlorn Griffin, become mentally unstable as a result?
The Desert Rat has pondered the invisible role played by Silverstone. It is not as though the CCC is investigating vicious criminals, bikie gangs or organised crime (heaven forbid), where there may be some threat to him - why then is he so reticent. Only one photo of Silverstone has been tracked down to date.
If Silverstone is under threat, then so should Roberts-Smith be, but he is happy to have his pompous image displayed without restraint in the public arena.
When the public hearing were announced into the (apparently legitimate) lobbying activities of Burke and Grill, Silverstone was soaking up all the kudos and glory of the coup in front of the TV cameras. Since then this timorous man has slunk into the shadows - no photos, no publicity, very few if any personally attributable statements or public appearances.
The CCC 2008 Annual Report has one only sentence identifying him as the Executive Director. Silverstone has the hallmark of a fugitive, low lying, refusing to be fully accountable to the Parliamentary Inspector Malcolm McCusker QC by not providing details about the CCC's use of telephone interception warrants, warrants for bugging private homes and offices.
What does he actually do? The Desert Rat thinks he may have been employed because of some possible expertise in running covert operations. We can glean from the Annual Report that about 10 to 20 warrants to plant surveillance devices (bugs) and over 100 telephone interceptions are granted each year.
Administration would appear to be Silverstone's weakness. We know on the administration side he has been responsible for the stuff-up of simple search warrants and the embarrassing stuff-up of a number of charges presented to the Court's, as recently as last month. He had to re-issue the media release on Smith's Beach, CCC reports take forever to be finished and years for simple charges to be laid.
Some, including the Desert Rat, would suspect he lacks competence in that area.
Will or does Silverstone insist on having a barrister with him if and when interviewed by the Parliamentary Inspector, as have his minions such as Senior Investigator Mark Ingham? Why are they so precious and wary about being scrutinised by the Parliamentary Inspector, even in private?
Have they done something illegal or indulged in "misconduct" - God forbid? Will the wrath of justice, like Burns plough, wreak havoc upon this timorous mouse and his minions?
Thou saw the fields laid bare an' waste,
An' weary winter comin fast,
An' cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro' thy cell.
But Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving forsight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!
To a Mouse by Robert Burns
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