Inside the bunker where John Howard pledged Australia’s support for the US as 9/11 terrorists struck

The Australian ^ | September 11th 2026 | Tom Scheiffer

[naturalman1975]

.....

John Howard was the only world leader besides president George W. Bush who could see and feel the trauma, the chaos, the panic, the fear Americans felt that day.

.....

The next day, vice-president Dick Cheney loaned us Air Force Two to get the prime minister back home to Australia. (The PM come over on a Qantas commercial flight and the president’s order to ground all commercial flights meant Qantas wouldn’t fly that day).

.....

The secure communications on Air Force Two were quickly put to use. The prime minister called foreign minister Alexander Downer to tell him he thought Australia should invoke the ANZUS Treaty to come to the aid of the United States. Downer and Howard were in complete agreement.

The irony of the moment was that the prime minister’s official reason for coming to the US was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ANZUS Treaty, a treaty that had never been invoked by any party; a treaty no one had ever really believed would be invoked by Australia to come to the aid of the United States rather than the other way around.

.....

Returning to Canberra, I called the office of opposition leader, Kim Beazley, to see when I could brief him on what had happened in the US.

A little while later he called and said he would come to my residence; no one could have been nicer. He said what had happened was an attack on civilisation not just America, and that the Labor Party would be support the government in invoking the ANZUS Treaty.

.....

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TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:

[naturalman1975]

Once again, I'm having to excerpt this article, which is behind a paywall, down to 300 words. I've done my best but it loses a lot.

Australia's Prime Minister John Howard was in Washington DC on September 11th, 2001, having flown to the US for events surrounding the 50th Anniversary of the ANZUS Treaty.

It's quite a short treaty - Articles IV and V are the significant ones here.

ARTICLE IV
Each Party recognizes that an armed attack in the Pacific Area on any of the Parties would be dangerous to its own peace and safety and declares that it would act to meet the common danger in accordance with its constitutional processes.

Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall be immediately reported to the Security Council of the United Nations. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.

ARTICLE V
For the purpose of Article IV, an armed attack on any of the Parties is deemed to include an armed attack on the metropolitan territory of any of the Parties, or on the island territories under its jurisdiction in the Pacific or on its armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific.

Australians and Americans have gone to war as allies on a number of occasions since 1917. The ANZUS Treaty itself was signed in September 1951 and came into effect in 1952.

It is very specific in its language and effect. In essence, a direct attack on the soil of one member (or anywhere in the Pacific) is an attack on all.

It has been invoked only once.

[Repeal The 17th]

https://archive.is/eaHz0
Archive with no paywall

[naturalman1975]

Thank you.

I never seem to be able to get those links to work for me. Not sure why.

[Organic Panic]

And since Australia has bent over and grabbed their ankles for the worst of the worst immigrants from African and Islamic s holes. While at the same time imprisoning Auzzies for not wearing masks or complaining that the streets are over run with Sudanese gangsters

[Repeal The 17th]

Just like us?

[naturalman1975]

Yeah... um... don’t believe all the propaganda you’ve obviously been fed about what actually happens in Australia.

[Red6]

Heading to Australia next Wed. LOL

There is a greater connection between the US and Australia than the US with the UK or even neighbor Canada. I would argue, no country on earth is as close to us as Australia is.

Both were English colonies.

Both had a vast frontier.

Both faced similar threats (WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam) past and present (China).

We are economically tied.

We are in security matters tied.

We are in the arts tied (music, movies, TV, literature)

The news media focuses on conflict and the differences. That is what sells. However, Australia and the US are extremely compatible culturally. IMHO-

[Organic Panic]

Government: “The concept of “African gangs” or “Sudanese gangs” in Australia is widely recognized by scholars, police, and community leaders as a racialized moral panic”

Cops: “’We call it for what it is’: Police say ‘African gangs’ are responsible for terrifying crime spree across Sydney - after Melbourne cops avoided the words at all cost””

There are thousands and thousands of on the ground videos of immigrants doing ‘teen’ things in the streets of Australia’s big cities. If those are all part of a government propaganda why would they do that?

[Paal Gulli]

"Australians and Americans have gone to war as allies on a number of occasions since 1917. The ANZUS Treaty itself was signed in September 1951 and came into effect in 1952."

Australia has been the US's most steadfast ally. Every military action the US took since Australia was federated and asked for allies (there were no allies, for instance, in the invasion of Grenada), the Aussies answered the call. Nobody else.

[naturalman1975]

There are gang problems in Australia. But to say Australians are just putting up with this in the way you imply is not accurate.

I live in Victoria, and there is a particular problem with our socialist state government’s denial of that reality. But that government is likely to be removed from office in a couple of months at our next election.

Basing what ‘Australia’ as a whole is like based on Victoria, is like treating California as defining all of America.

And, for the most part, these problems are trivial compared to the gang problems we see reported from the US. But I’ve no particular idea how much of that is just propaganda either.

[Lowell1775]

“our socialist state government’s denial of that reality.”

You guys let the bastards take your guns....then they came for your God, your speech, your property....and thru COVID, your liberty.....

I know it was not YOU individually,,,,a victim, not a perp, but the country as a whole has been taken by evile.

I literally cry for you.
Is there still hope?

The bastards do not let you “vote” your way out of tyranny.

[naturalman1975]

I've still got my guns, mate. Again, the idea that Australians were disarmed is largely propaganda. There are more guns legally held in private hands in Australia than at any other time in our history.

I do wonder why it seems so necessary for some people to spread lies in America about one of its closest allies and friends.

That isn't to say, we don't have some dumb gun laws. We do have universal registration and you have to be licenced to own a firearm. It's quite easy for any law abiding citizen to get a licence for basic longarms (Category A/B). Hand guns (Category H) and anything semi-automatic (Category C for some) is a little harder - but I've done it. Anything deemed 'military style' or fully automatic (Category D) is difficult unless you have a specific work related need for it, though not quite impossible.

Website for my favourite Australian gun shop. My local shop is much smaller with a much more limited range, but there's quite a few of these smaller shops around.

[Lowell1775]

“...Australians were disarmed is largely propaganda...

I disagree....you just do not understand how bad it is....never having tasted freedom, you are now content with permission from your betters.

I have been a lieutenant in the Gun Wars since 1977 with the NRA Reforms in Cincinnati...I have spent 10’s of thousands of dollars and thousands of hours in our defense, and then the prosecution of our rights.

I saw in dismay Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand fall one by one by design....and then as the enemy hurled itself against America time after time after time stacking bodies with each contrived and propagandized “gun massacre”.

Contrast Outcome:

Australia (Post-Port Arthur 1996):
-Single national framework negotiated between federal and state governments....no place to run.

-Prohibited weapons: Semi-automatic rifles/shotguns, pump-action shotguns, high-capacity magazines ie, the very weapons you need vs a govt. gone Bolshevik.

-Genuine reason requirement: Self-defense not valid; must show hunting, sport, or occupational need
Use a gun in self defense, go to jail.

-28-day waiting period for all purchases even for existing gun owners.....how many women raped or killed over that one?

-Mandatory safe storage with inspections...an unloaded gun is no better than a car without gas.

-Result:~1.2 million firearms destroyed; 1/3rd of the stock.

Yes. You have more guns now than before, but they are the useless ones, peasant guns...and fewer gun owners....and all on a list like Jews for easy collection.

I read where 260k semi’s are “hidden” according to the Staties.......old saying is when guns are buried is when they should be dug up.....Eastern Europe remains pockmarked by rusting gun hordes “hidden” from the old days of tyranny....never retrieved.

Australia getting worse, not better.

Source: My recollections confirmed by Australia Institute (2024); Parliamentary Library; BBC; & Wikipedia Gun Laws of Australia.

---

United States (2024):
-Heller (2008) / McDonald (2010): Individual right to bear arms for self-defense incorporated against states

-Bruen (2022): Courts must assess laws against “historical tradition” of firearm regulation

-State divergence: California/New York strict vs. Texas/Arizona constitutional carry

-Federal minimums: 18 for rifles, 21 for handguns; prohibited persons (felons, mentally ill); NICS background checks for dealer sales

-Result: ~446 million firearms in circulation (latest estimate); 30+ states now permitless carry..nearly every year a record year on wins and buys.

US is getting better every year in most states.....gun-owners can flee to still free states, and we are organized and feared politically and militarily by the Left....

I wish you my best, Brother Freeper....but do not accept the dregs you have been left.

Resist.

Jesus-Mercy-Peace.

[naturalman1975]

I live here. You telling me I don't know what it's actually like when I'm the one in the place is really quite funny.

I have lived in the US as it happens. And in a lot of other places. Both free and less so.

You have swallowed wholesale misinformation and propaganda.

Think about this - what does it say about your country that they need to lie to you to make you feel like you're more free than other countries?

Because that is what is happening.

They are trying to split your country from your closest friends and allies. And you are swallowing it. Constantly.

You're telling me semi-automatic weapons are banned? Funny that I own one, isn't it then?

And, no, it's not illegal to use a gun in self defence in Australia. If you or another person is at risk or death or serious injury, any method of self defence is legal.

The most recent case I'm aware of is Keith Blessing in New South Wales, who in June used a gun to defend himself and his wife from a home invasion. I shared a few articles about that here at the time, but here's just one of them for you.

Cops praise 75yo homeowner who shot alleged stabber during home invasion

(I'll admit it is quite surprising for police to be so fulsome in their praise of a man who shot an intruder, but, then again, the Blessing case is a lot more obvious than some are. There's little ambiguity about the fact that he and his wife were in genuine danger. Some other cases where that's been less clear have sometimes lead to inappropriate action by police. The courts have normally eventually cleared those up.)

No, you know better than the people that live here.

[naturalman1975]

And, by the way, I’ve just spent much of this year making sure my state of Victoria (which is a socialist hell hole in many ways) didn’t sign up to Prime Minister Albanese’s new attempts to enact further wide ranging further gun controls after the Bondi shootings in Sydney.

Something he wouldn’t have even have needed to try to do if the laws were as restrictive as you seem to think they are.

For the moment, it looks like we’ve succeeded in stopping that happening in Victoria.

Misinformation both here and abroad actually makes it harder for us to succeed in stopping changes like this.

[Organic Panic]

It was invited in by a government of the people who want the disfunction. As are gangs in big blue cities in the US. Criminal immigrants, invited. Grooming Pakis, invited. Incompatible Muslims, invited. The city council where I lived invited in thousands of Somalis and Honduran illegal aliens completely secret from the citizens and dumped them in welfare housing. All invited. If that’s not grabbing the ankles for your own destruction I don’t know what is.