The Government yesterday painted Major George O'Kane as a hero battling for prisoners' rights. Hill told the Senate that in a recent interview, O'Kane had confirmed that he raised the contents of the October Red Cross report containing allegations of abuse with the appropriate military officials, who denied the allegations.

Was this the same Major O'Kane who, we were once told, approved the infamously incorrect statement by General Peter Cosgrove and Defence Secretary Rick Smith that said: "It is understood from Major O'Kane that the October 2003 report raised general concerns about detainee conditions and treatment, but no mention of abuse"?

Major O'Kane has transformed from a man who cannot recognise an allegation of abuse when he reads it, to an officer pursuing every claim.

"I regret that incorrect information was provided to me and, through me, to the Prime Minister," Hill said. But he doesn't regret it enough to say what he's going to do to stop it happening again; or to enlighten us about how General Cosgrove and Ric Smith are planning to get better grips on their empires.

Nor does he have any intention of taking the gag off Major O'Kane, as suggested by US Brigadier-General Janis Karpinski, for whom O'Kane helped prepare a response for the Red Cross about the October allegations.