Sorry to return to this topic, which has already been done to death.
However, I thought it was worth posting this excerpt from The Australian's Media section today - written by the newspaper's political editor Dennis Shanahan, who was there...
It was a highly sensitive issue for media organisations and was to result in a dramatic air emergency for Mr Howard and nonsensical conspiracy theories about media management.
As the journalists were being told of the secret trip, Fairfax and News Limited managements were drafting a demand to the Prime Minister that he buy a big enough jet to include the media on all his overseas travel.
Concerned by the death of one journalist and the serious injury of another while they covered Alexander Downer's visit to Indonesia, the newspaper companies were putting extraordinary demands to Howard.
As well, the media coverage of an emergency landing in Iraq involving Mr Howard became the subject of an absurd conspiracy theory on websites that was picked up by Channel 7's Weekend Sunrise program and talkback radio.
......As the Hercules climbed rapidly, the smoke thickened in the back of the plane and the fumes intensified. The pilot declared a PAN - possible assistance necessary - emergency, one step down from a mayday call, banked the huge aircraft and headed back to the runway. The SAS troops, officials and media had to remove their helmets and put on emergency plastic hoods with five minutes of oxygen. The journalists had been briefed the day before on the use of the gas hoods as well as gasmasks for Baghdad because of recent chlorine gas attacks.
The media was also told the security detachment's prime objective was to protect the Prime Minister in case of emergency or attack. When the plane shuddered to a halt on the Tallil tarmac, everyone responded immediately and professionally. SAS troops poured out the back door and set up a security perimeter, Channel 9's Jessop ran on to the tarmac to film the incident while Channel 7's Hunt filmed the Prime Minister coming from the cockpit at the front.
They acted instinctively and independently, with Hunt not even realising where Jessop was when he left the plane. The other media got off the plane before Howard because they were closer to the exit. A ring of SAS soldiers formed closer to the Prime Minister as his personal guard rushed him from the plane. Nobody knew the cause of the smoke, what might happen or what threat there could have been outside the aircraft.
When at a safe distance along the tarmac the journalists interviewed Howard and Houston, who played down the threat and praised the crew. After about 20 minutes, when security prevented mobile phone calls for fear of "bad people" monitoring the airwaves and discovering what had happened, the trip to Baghdad resumed on a second aircraft.
Reports, footage and audio of the emergency were made public in Australia after the original secrecy deadline passed.
Conspiracy theories immediately sprang up on websites,
You don't say.
There we go - hope that satisfies a few doubting Thomases.
SW