Australia Islam's enemy, Muslims told

Australia has been accused of being an enemy of Islam in speeches to mosques in Asia, increasing the risk of terrorist attacks, according to a leading defence expert.

The director of terrorism studies at the Australian National University, Clive Williams, said Australia had first been singled out in the sermons nearly a month ago, according to regional intelligence sources.

The naming, prevalent in Pakistan, appeared to be driven by an Osama bin Laden audio tape criticising Australia, he said.

Mr Williams told a parliamentary inquiry into the nation's readiness for a terrorist attack that involvement in a military campaign against Iraq would further increase the likelihood of terrorism against Australians.

In other evidence to the inquiry, the director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Hugh White, said the nation lacked an integrated counter-terrorist campaign and intelligence effort. Taking issue with the evidence of federal bureaucrats, he said the adequacy of the response to the Bali bombings and Australia's bushfires gave no confidence arrangements were in place to deal with a major terrorist attack.

Mr Williams said that more ominous for Australia than the Bali attack was the audio tape from bin Laden a month ago.

Since then he had attended a regional security forum where he had been told "that Australia was now being mentioned in mosques in terms of being identified as one of the countries aligned against the Muslim world".

"We have more of a profile now in countries such as Pakistan; that has implications," Mr Williams said. "The bin Laden tape is raising our profile and if we go into Iraq with the Americans, it's going to ramp up the level of attention . . . "

Attacks in Australia were more likely to be carried out by al Qaeda than its regional offshoot Jemaah Islamiah, and United States and Israeli diplomatic missions were the most likely targets, he said.

"We should think very seriously about the security of those (Australian) missions overseas. Clearly where those are located in areas where al Qaeda's affiliates operate, we should be very concerned."

But Mr Williams queried the need for a second, expensive, special-forces counter-terrorism unit established in Sydney. "Police could work together to deal with an incident and call in the SAS from Western Australia if necessary," he said.

The defence force head of strategic operations, Major-General Ken Gillespie, said the unit was needed to meet the threat of multiple terror attacks.

Anti-terrorism cooperation among the Commonwealth, states and emergency management was good and getting better following the September 11 and Bali attacks, the inquiry was told by the secretary of the Attorney-General's department, Robert Cornall.

"They have been tested in Bali. They have been tested in the bushfires." However, Mr White said response to bushfires and other natural disasters should not be used as an indication of what could happen after a terrorist attack.

"Even the adequacy of the response to Bali, significant and impressive as that was, gives us no confidence that we have the arrangements in place to deal with a major terrorist attack," he said.

Intelligence was at the heart of prevention, Mr White said. "There is a lot of coordination going on. But I am not yet persuaded we have a single integrated national counter-terrorist campaign, which is what we need."

Similar artcile from different source:

Australia is the enemy: Asian clerics

By John Kerin and Sophie Morris December 10, 2002

MUSLIM clerics in mosques throughout Asia are naming Australia as an enemy of Islam, in an ominous indication of this country's high profile as a potential target for terrorism.

The director of terrorism studies at the Australian National University, Clive Williams, told a parliamentary inquiry into Australia's preparedness for attack that intelligence from an authoritative foreign source said Australia was being mentioned by clerics as "being aligned against the Muslim world".

He said the information had been revealed in Asia at a regional terrorism conference.

"Australia is being mentioned by name in mosques, particularly in Pakistan," Mr Williams said. "That gives Australia more of a profile in the war on terror . . . it is pretty disquieting."

In other evidence to the inquiry by the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade, National Counter-Terrorism Committee chairman Andrew Metcalfe said shopping centres, football clubs and other popular public venues were as much at risk as government buildings, power plants and defence sites.

He said terrorism no longer was limited to bombs and hostage-taking, but could now involve acts ranging from igniting bushfires to flying planes into buildings or contaminating water supplies.

"The local shopping centre or club on a Saturday night or Friday night may well be the place that is more vulnerable than a heavily guarded and protected installation," he said.

Mr Metcalfe said the heightened and broadened terror threat meant the entire community had to be aware of the potential danger, and authorities had to co-operate in planning responses.

Mr Williams said although the Bali attack had been horrific in terms of loss of life, it was the audio tape released by Osama bin Laden on November 13 that signalled an "ominous" change in the level of threat to Australians. That tape, reportedly of bin Laden's voice and broadcast on Arabic-language Al-Jazeera TV, said Australians were targeted in Bali because of the Government's strong support of the US against Iraq and its contribution to the separation of East Timor from Indonesia.

But the federal Government has claimed intelligence showed the Bali attack was directed at all Westerners, not just Australians.

Mr Williams also suggested that should Australia support an attack on Iraq, which now seemed likely as early as February next year, it would face even greater risk of attack.

"If we do get involved in an attack on Iraq, that will raise the level of threat . . . both overseas and in Australia," he said.

"The highest-value targets for an al-Qa'ida operation are US diplomatic and Israeli diplomatic premises, probably more the consulates than the embassies because those are harder targets," he said.

"We should think very seriously about the security of those (Australian) missions overseas. Clearly, where those are located in areas where al-Qa'ida's affiliates operate, we should be very concerned."

Mr Williams stressed that authorities should be flexible in their preparations as al-Qa'ida had demonstrated an ability to adapt its methods of attack, as demonstrated by the use in Kenya of surface-to-air missiles in an attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner.

He also repeated his call for a national identity card to be introduced.

His comments came as the director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Hugh White, said a co-ordinated intelligence plan between police, civil defence and counter-terrorism agencies was needed to thwart future attacks as well as a reinforced ASIO.

"ASIO is smaller today than it was at the end of the Cold War, and yet its task is much bigger," he said.

An historical coalition existed including the US, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. There were probably others for WWII (South Africa).

I expect as the muslims continue their campaigns, a larger coalition will form, including Russia and India, who have muslim problems of their own. Italy seems to "get it."

My guess is that the average Frenchman, German, Spaniard, scandinavian, detests the idea that terrorism would be allowed to spread.

It would interest me to know about world food distribution, as far as net importing and exporting countries go. For example: Is Australia in effect feeding Pakistan?

In the end, it will require cutting off money (oil and drug money), and may require starving and/or nuking enough of them, to bring them to their senses, if they have any.

Harry Truman judged that the nukes were a great humanitarian solution, for a nation gone mad with fanaticism. Muslims offer a similar challenge to civilized societies, worldwide.

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