Below is Keith Burley's
letter to Member of Parliament Allen Barry, dated Monday
4th November, 1991.
Dear Allen,
As discussed on the telephone, I
am and have been for some time, concerned at the ongoing
enquiries into the Hilton bombing affair. More to the
point, the fact that maybe not all is being told. I'm not
exactly sure what format this type of letter should go,
but I think if I tell you what I know to be fact and what
I know was said at the time it will suffice.
At the time of the bombing I was
a Corporal with the Military wing, at the School of
Military Engineering, Casula N.S.W. The role of this unit
was to breed and train German Sheperd dogs for sniffing
out explosives. At the time we had what was called an
operational team. This consisted of myself and my dog
plus two other handlers and their dogs. We were on
standby 24 hrs a day in case of emergencies involving
explosives such as bomb scares. The dogs and handlers
were very proficient at their jobs.
Approximately two weeks prior to
the Hilton bombing the operational team was placed on
standby for the CHOGM Conference. We were told
specifically to train the dogs on such things as letter
bombs and parcel bombs. This we did by making up these
articles using live explosives. We trained specifically
for this task for almost two weeks. On the Thursday
before the Hilton bombing (Monday) we received
information at the kennels saying that we were no longer
required. This we thought was very usual to say the
least. We attempted to find out why but were unable to
determine where the cancellation came from. All I know is
that it came through Victoria Barracks in
Sydney.
(Note: Keith eventually located
the call from the Prime Minister's security
office)
Early hours Monday morning we
received the news that the bomb had gone off at the
Hilton and the operational team was required. I don't
think there is any need to describe the sight that was
before us upon our arrival in George Street. We spent all
day Monday searching areas around George Street, the
entrance, the garbage bins, the downstairs area around
the car park, etc. We went home that night and returned
on Tuesday. It was decided that we should stay on site
and accomadation was arranged. We continued to search
areas designated by security officers up until Friday
when we finished our commitment at the Hilton. The
security staff I refer to include NSW police and plain
clothed persons identified to us as both police and ASIO
personal.
(Note: ASIO spokesman denied on
TV that they had anything to do the the Hilton security
after the bombing--contrary to what Keith has just
stated.)
By Wednesday it was quite clear
to us that we were being used mainly for cosmetic
purposes. That is to say that anytime there was a camera
crew around someone called for the dogs to search a
convenient location were we could be seen. It was
bullshit in my opinion. We expressed that to the people
in charge and they were not impressed.
There was a lot of rumour and
innuendo going around at the time we were on the scene.
The strongest being that ASIO had stuffed up. It was
common comment around at the time that ASIO had in fact
planted the device and planned to find it for whatever
purpose, but the garbage men were early that morning.
There was also mention of someone referred to as the
woodchip bomber from Western Australia. At first it was
blamed on him and later the stories about the Ananda
Marga started to emerge.
It is hard to describe in words
exactly what the atmosphere was like, but I spent time
overseas [dealing with actual terrorist attacks]
and it was totally different to that. There was
definitely something going on at that time. I hope that
this information is of some help to you and as discussed
by phone, feel free to pass this on to Terry
Griffiths.
Yours sincerely,
Keith Burley
The outcome of this letter was
discussed in NSW State parliament but nothing came of it.
Keith said after the bombing there was a sick joke going
around the police/army subculture:"ASIO two, garbo's
none." [The third man died later.]
