Additional emails were released just prior to the 2008 elections, which saw dozens of outspoken party members such as the Mainstream Democrats, the Far Left Democrats, and the Rural Left Party attempting to seize control. Among the reports that emerged were that Victorian Mainline Progressive Party MP Robert Smith was fired from his position in 2007 after the party believed that he had given the party its "bloodhound energy". The party also claimed that Labor party leader Ross Gentle was given a £5,000 bonus and the opposition announced that it was going to appeal the dismissal on September 17, 2008.
The Tea Party controversy on the national level began in the fall of 2007. On 20 September 2007, Channel Seven aired an unusual political advertisement calling for senators to withdraw their party membership and subsequently disband.
The U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, said that he did not think there was any threat of al-Qaeda attacks in Afghanistan. In response, the U.N. Security Council called on the UAE to investigate the television broadcast and on the United States to respect the sovereign rights of individual states to press charges of war crimes against suspected militants if evidence of such crimes were found. On 24 September 2007 the Council unanimously adopted a resolution which called on all states to conduct "comprehensive, full-scale and transparent criminal investigation of all acts of violence, including attacks on civilians and religious minorities". On 5 October 2007 Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern over the proposals for an international criminal investigation.
On the 16th of October 2007, the Syrian Foreign Ministry accused the United Nations of "harsh, cruel and treacherous crimes" and said that its citizens were not protected by the UWC.
During the second week of September 2008, Iraq had announced that the United Kingdom had been making a series of economic and strategic deals with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, respectively. The revelations of secret diplomatic discussions between the two countries prompted Iraq to officially censure the British government for facilitating the European Union's "dangerous" EU-imposed "Guidelines for Regional Stability". The issue caused considerable controversy in the Wes