***WASHINGTON (AP) - Facing angry criticism and challenges to his authority in Congress, President Bush on Saturday unapologetically defended his administration's right to conduct secret post-Sept. 11 spying in the United States as "critical to saving American lives.".......*** Source
City faces Christmas lock-down
***SYDNEY faces a summer lockdown as beaches, the city centre and suburbs are flooded with police armed with new powers in their fight against continuing threats of racial violence.
Behind a facade of peaceful but almost deserted beaches at the weekend, a disturbing picture of determined violence emerged. Alleged white supremacists, and isolated groups and individuals of various ethnic backgrounds, were arrested as police seized weapons, cars, phones and bomb-making materials
The Police Commissioner, Ken Moroney, told the Herald last night he was prepared to maintain the unprecedented level of police activity over Christmas and the new year, including warning the public off beaches if intelligence reports continued to point to credible threats.
He defended the weekend show of force, which included 2000 officers and roadblocks at beaches including Bondi, Coogee, Maroubra, Brighton-le-Sands and Cronulla, as well as in Wollongong and Newcastle.
"We acted appropriately this weekend and we will continue to sustain this focus," Mr Moroney said. "These were extraordinary measures for an extraordinary time. The intelligence is coming from a variety of sources, including the criminal community - I'll be that blunt - and it will form the basis of our operational tactics."
By last night 59 people had been arrested since Friday night and almost 200 charges laid. Police seized 22 mobile phones, 13 cars and scores of weapons including swords, knives, iron bars, baseball bats and axes. In Wollongong five cars and a replica pistol were confiscated.
Police said five white supremacists were arrested at Ramsgate Beach, near Brighton, carrying a 25-litre drum of petrol and equipment to make Molotov cocktails, as well as military helmets, police scanners and portable radios. Police roadblocks made Brighton virtually off-limits to all except residents last night.
Buses in the eastern suburbs were stopped and searched during the afternoon after two men apparently of Middle Eastern background were taken from a Bondi-bound bus carrying two 600-millilitre bottles of petrol. The driver had smelt petrol and notified police.
The men, one of whom is from Melbourne, had been at a "harmony" rally at Belmore Park in the city earlier in the day and were carrying what police described as "anti-government literature" from the gathering.
The Premier, Morris Iemma, told residents: "This is not to be a one-day fight. We are in for a long, hard fight but the message is: the hoons and the hooligans will not win. The police will keep the pressure on throughout the summer."
He said a decision on whether the traditional Bondi Beach Christmas party would be allowed to proceed would be made during the week and he refused to say when the restrictions on the public freely attending the beach on weekends might be lifted.
About 10.30pm police began dismantling roadblocks around Brighton. But a heavy police presence remained, as groups of youths stood around on corners.
Mr Iemma deflected calls for compensation for business owners, saying it was unlikely his Government would offer cash compensation to individual businesses, because it would be extremely difficult to administer.
But he would consider ways in which affected areas could be helped: "In coming days I will get together with the [local government] officials and the business people to see what assistance the Government can provide for the area."
Tourism groups are worried that the racial conflict will scare off overseas visitors and take a toll on the country's $73 billion tourism industry. Christopher Brown, from the Tourism and Transport Taskforce, said: "Who wants to be holidaying in the middle of a brawl?"
On show: weapons of hate
THE weapons at times resembled a medieval armoury of swords and daggers, engraved and entwined with dragons and skulls. Others were more prosaic: golf clubs, baseball bats. Others more terrifying: a table leg embedded with nails, samurai swords, knives and iron bars.
Then there were snooker balls crudely fashioned into a weapon, a ball at either end of a rope.
Beachside police stations displayed the collections of confiscated weapons yesterday.
The police force is throwing almost a fifth of its resources into controlling Sydney's outburst of violence, but it is struggling to find a pattern. The diversity of weapons and backgrounds of the 59 men arrested over the weekend highlights the problem.
Three of five Middle Eastern men arrested at Brighton-le-Sands yesterday were from Canberra and allegedly carrying phones with messages inciting violence, including that "all our soldiers are ready to attack".
Police described another five men arrested at nearby Ramsgate as "white supremacists" who had petrol intended for Molotov cocktails, , commando-style utility belts, helmets, dust masks, police scanners and portable radios. "The picture is very confusing," an officer said. "It changes by the hour."***
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/city-faces-christmas-lockdown/2005/12/18/1134840742414.html
It's simple enough. We just cannot tolerate what Islam brings to the table.
Thank God Bush reacted to this in a strong manner. What in heaven's name does the NY Times, et al. think he should have done? Have they really forgotten Sept. 11th and what it felt like that day and the days afterward? And they are right there in NYC! I was terrified leaving the house with my kid for weeks after, here in jihad central, Hudson Co. NJ, where the first WTC bomber lived ACROSS THE STREET from me. LITERALLY! Where the cook at the VIP Diner in Jersey City, where we'd had my kid's first Communion Breakfast years ago, was taken out in handcuffs. Thank God they did this, and God bless for Bush for doing it and defending it. And may the appeasing, America-hating slime at the NY Times and on the left in general GO TO HELL!
How odd! The word "Muslim" is not mentioned anywhere in this article. If one didn't know better, one would thing white Australians had resorted to violence for no reason at all.
This article by a retired Australian cop should help put current events in Australia in perspective for you.
http://www.quadrant.org.au/php/article_view.php?article_id=581
I hope to God they keep fighting the Islamonazis.
Not one word about Islam or the buccaneering Lebanese immigrants in the entire article.
People are a lot smarter than given credit for, they know that there are times when things have to be done that nobody likes. The paranoids who think rights are being "taken away" simply don't understand that extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary measures.
No, at some point you have to put a stop to police searches without probable cause. I know laws are different there, but if a cop here asked to rifle through my cell phone, I'd tell him to go try to get a warrant.
But are they protecting the innocent, or are they protecting order at the expense of the innocent as well as the guilty? The problem with stopping 'disorder' is that 'disorder' is the dictator's word for 'freedom'.
Sounds like the bully pulpit is going to get a good workout starting tonight.