All Al Qaeda does is go around and irritate the most powerful nations on earth. It will not be long before they are swatted and smashed like the pests they are.
Regards, Ivan
Posted on 10/15/2002 2:44:51 AM PDT by MadIvan
OCTOBER 14, 2002, was Australia's 9/11. Piers Akerman writes.
Whatever the ultimate death toll from the Bali blast, the attack on innocent civilians was undoubtedly the work of fanatical, radical Indonesian Islamists with links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda.
They do not enjoy the support of the majority of Muslims in Indonesia or Australia.
But the attack was precisely the sort of barbaric terrorist action that senior figures in the Australian Government, particularly the Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer, had been afraid of and had repeatedly warned Australians about over the past year.
The warnings were greeted with scepticism by many in the media, particularly the ABC, which insinuated that the threat was being highlighted for political purposes.
The ALP (Australian Labour Party - Ivan) was particularly scornful of the warnings with Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin "Pixie" Rudd demanding as recently as last Friday that Prime Minister John Howard make a comprehensive statement about terrorism.
The earlier warnings that the Government had issued about terrorist threats in Asia and more recently toward power stations in Australia, Mr Rudd dismissed as scaremongering.
It seems to have escaped both Opposition Leader Simon Crean and Mr Rudd, terrorists rarely telegraph their moves in advance to their intended targets. That is the nature of terrorism.
The Indonesian terrorist organisation Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) is the group most likely to have been behind Saturday night's slaughter.
JI has been active in Singapore, the Phillipines and Brunei in recent years.
There is also evidence that al-Qaeda has operatives who trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan who are currently unaccounted for in Australia. Bin Laden has twice mentioned Australia as a target.
International terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna last week urged the government to step up anti-terrorism efforts noting a number of al-Qaeda members had been given targets in Australia.
Australian Muslims might demonstrate their opposition to terrorism by assisting authorities root out this evil.
Yesterday however, listeners to Muslim Community Radio (MCR) at 92.1 FM heard a lecture on the need for solidarity of Muslims worldwide – not a word about the Bali attack.
The call for one vast international Muslim nation is at the heart of the radical Islamic Global Jihad movement's struggle to ensure a future world totally controlled by Islam.
Yesterday's broadcast was not a one-off. On September 5, MCR aired a sermon on the first important battle in the Muslim history, the "Badr campaign". This battle, in which Mohammed distinguished himself, is now celebrated at Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.
The broadcaster praised the martyrdom and courage of the early Muslims against their own tribe the Kuriesh, who were infidels (pagans, Jews and Christians) and thus deserved to be killed.
He urged a union under the flag of Islam so Allah might give Muslims victory.
Despite the proximity of the anniversary of the September 11 atrocities, there was no mention of love, compassion or forgiveness.
The tenor, according to Arabic speakers, was approval of those responsible for the attacks in the jihad spirit of Ramadan – then still two months away.
Blood-soaked broadcasts calling for jihads against the infidel are a constant in Third World Middle Eastern nations but we don't need them in Australia.
The Muslim community has a duty to stop this relentless propaganda.
Every Muslim youth converted to a human bomb degrades humanity.
Internationally, Australia has no option but to remain firmly committed to the war against terrorism.
Despite the silliness of the Greens and the Democrats, terrorism is no respecter of geography. Fanatics targeting what they see as infidels and satanic cultures are just as likely to strike at the Mardi Gras or Bondi Beach as they are at a Balinese nightclub.
The task for the Government is to deal decisively with this threat, first, taking a leading role to ensure a degree of professionalism in the Indonesian investigation but more broadly where ever terrorists strike.
No single Australian must die in vain.
No atrocity can be permitted to go unavenged. The terrorists must be routed.
All Al Qaeda does is go around and irritate the most powerful nations on earth. It will not be long before they are swatted and smashed like the pests they are.
Regards, Ivan
Or we will stop it for them!!
The Australian Tom Daschle?
Ahhh ... sometimes Piers just can't help himself.
His statement that there was "not a word about the Bali attack" was demonstrably false, and as a former Community Radio Station manager, I can tell you that the 'lecture' he refers to was almost certainly taped long before the weekend, and scheduled well in advance of the attack.
Given that CommRad stations are staffed entirely by volunteers, it may not have even been noticed until the program went to air.
Again, I stress ... I want to see Islamism crushed - but to quote someone in another thread on terrorist attacks, "there should never be any justification for attacking innocent people" - something which cuts both ways.
Regards
Sadim
Steel Resolve! Death to Al-Qaeda!
Good sense out of our Australian allies. With the USA, Britain and Australia, we have enough. But others will join, to be sure.
Just heard this morning that Romania joined up. Czech Republic has been on board for some time, I understand Vaclav Havel thinks NATO is slacking off by not getting in as a group.
That should have been enough, after 9/11. But I fear the Aussies have stuck their heads in the beach.
Australian Muslims might demonstrate their opposition to terrorism by assisting authorities root out this evil. The Muslim community has a duty to stop this relentless propaganda. Every Muslim youth converted to a human bomb degrades humanity.
Good luck. This reasoning works for the Western mind, but apparently has no impact on the Islamist. The Muslim community has no allegiance to civil "authorities". We just busted a cell in NY, where all 6 spent time in Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. Did they come forward after 9/11? No way. The lived their nice comfortable lives in the USA and felt they owed this country nothing, and made the "authorities" come after them.
Internationally, Australia has no option but to remain firmly committed to the war against terrorism.
That's true, but I have to wonder what level of commitment they can muster. I'm sorry for the Aussies. A good people. But when their fastest growing religion is "Knights of the Jedi" I have to think they are incredibly naive.
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