American Consulate, Sydney, Australia
Posted on 09/30/2001 3:13:26 PM PDT by Byron_the_Aussie
Almost as bad as the anti-American bile filling our newspapers and e-mail inboxes is the misguided silliness of peaceniks.
People who really ought to know better are peddling the line that retaliation for the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon would be a disaster. The only way to avoid World War III, they believe, is for the US to turn the other cheek and do nothing.
Newspaper letters pages have been full of such gems as this, from Linda Rutter of Mayfield East: "The US does have an alternative to its apparent present course of action. It would take an incredible amount of courage and would be almost inhumanly humbling. They could do nothing."
Great strategy. Do the appeasers really think that if the terrorists get away with killing more than 6,000 innocent people and destroying the most potent symbol of Western success, they will stop? Even a decorated brigadier, Adrian D'Hage, writing in The Sydney Morning Herald on Friday, called for the US not to wage war against terrorists but instead to build schools and hospitals, and invest in food, training and agriculture in these desperate communities. But isn't that just rewarding people for mass murder? And who says charity will erase the multimillionaire Osama bin Laden's hatred of the West?
The appeasers call for peace. They exhort the US to be calm, not to act rashly or strike out in anger. They've been doing this for more than two weeks, not noticing that US President George Bush and his team haven't bombed anyone yet, but are calmly gathering evidence, building their coalition and planning their offensive.
Those, like Pauline Hanson, who think Australia should betray the US to protect itself are fooling themselves. Maybe they think Australia is invulnerable because we're far away and so much smaller than the US.
But apart from the moral problems of such a stance, what about the reality? As a free, open Western democracy, with a majority Christian population, and as a long-time US ally, Australia is far from immune from Islamic terrorism.
Remember last year before the Olympics, when police investigating a people-smuggling operation in New Zealand found, in the home of three Afghan suspects, a map of Sydney with the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor highlighted? The three men, reported to belong to the Mujahideen, were arrested. A fourth was arrested in August, a month before the Games.
The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper last week reminded us of the case, reporting that all four men were still in New Zealand, free on bond and awaiting trial.
"Did the New Zealand police thwart a terrorist plot aimed at the Olympics?" the newspaper asked, quoting Bill Bishop, national crime manager for the New Zealand police, who said the possibility was still "in focus to us and it would be naive to suggest it is not uppermost in our thoughts".
Equally chilling was the news last week from Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock that he was powerless to deport a Palestinian-born suspected terrorist with links to Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. The man, 34, a suspect in two bomb attacks in Saudi Arabia in the mid-1990s, has reportedly been living freely in Melbourne for the past three years while the authorities try in vain to find another country to which to send him. He is stateless, Ruddock said, and therefore Australia remains his host.
Our Prime Minister was among the first of the world's leaders to pledge support for the US two weeks ago. Opinion polls have shown that more than three-quarters of the population support his stand. Aware of the sacrifices ahead, most Australians are also aware there is no alternative but to confront the perpetrators of the evil of September 11.
Bush is right. This is a battle between good and evil and there is no place for fence-sitters and appeasers. As Winston Churchill said: "An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile hoping it will eat him last."
Lookin' for a solution? Drag his sorry a$$ behind a shrimp boat off Ningaloo Reef, trailing alot of bloody chum.
If anything worthwhile has come out of this horror for Australia, it has been to make us realise what a pushover we've been. Our relaxed laid-back attitude to life has been identified as an exploitable opportunity by men like this terrorist. But I'll tell you what Spud, the winds of change are blowing Downunder. I've rarely seen our people so fed up with political correctness.
American Consulate, Sydney, Australia
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