Free Republic

SO it wasn't a political stunt. It isn't about Iraq. And the threat of Islamist terror right here is more real than many pretend. How real? If the police are right, they have saved scores of you from being blown up -- as people in Madrid and London were blown up. As NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney put it, the arrest yesterday of 17 Muslim men disrupted "the final stages of a large-scale terrorist attack". He said explosive material had already been collected. Yet only last week, Prime Minister John Howard was pilloried by many for having warned of an...

ACCUSED of providing long-term liaison between al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, the young man with impeccable JI lineage smiled gently and began his long litany of denials and refusals. Abdul Rohim, the youngest son of accused terrorist cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, denied he had ever met convicted Australian terrorist Jack Roche in Pakistan. He insisted his years in the sprawling Pakistani city of Karachi were spent studying, not working with al-Qaeda. He told The Australian he did not even recognise the name of the al-Qaeda mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, let alone serve...

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia's first convicted terrorist, who confessed to conspiring with Al-Qaeda to blow up the Israeli embassy in Canberra, wants a deal in exchange for testifying against terror suspects in foreign courts. The Australian newspaper said British-born Islamic convert Jack Roche has undergone two lengthy interrogations with Australian Federal Police since he was sentenced to nine years in jail three months ago. The paper said the interrogations produced two witness statements for Indonesian authorities, two for Germany and one for France. But it said Roche has refused to sign the statements or commit to giving evidence at foreign...

Convicted terrorist Jack Roche could be free in three years after being sentenced today for plotting with al-Qaeda to blow up the Israeli embassy in Canberra. Roche, 50, was sentenced in Perth District Court to nine years in jail, with a non-parole period of four-and-a-half years, backdated to the time of his arrest in November 2002. Having spent the past 18 months incarcerated awaiting trial, Roche could be eligible for release in May 2007. Prosecutors had sought a sentence approaching the maximum 25 years. Roche last Friday became the first person to be convicted under Australia's new anti-terror laws when...

Australian guilty of embassy plot Roche had earlier claimed he was innocent A British-born Muslim convert has been convicted of plotting to blow up Israel's embassy in Australia after he changed his plea to guilty. Jack Roche, 50, had earlier told the court he agreed to conduct surveillance of the embassy for al-Qaeda and Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI). He said he had feared for his life if he did not carry out the task, but had never agreed to bomb the building. Roche is due to be sentenced on Tuesday and faces up to 25 years in...

PERTH, Australia (AP) - In testimony to investigators and scribblings in a pocket notebook, a British convert to Islam has shown how tightly knit the terror network of al-Qaida and Jemaah Islamiyah really is. Ties to men in both led Jack Roche to a meeting with Osama bin Laden himself. The 50-year-old Englishman pleaded guilty Friday to conspiring to bomb the Israeli Embassy in Australia in 2000 - a plot that was never carried out. He is to be sentenced Tuesday, and could face up to 25 years in jail. Roche told the court the idea for the embassy attack...

British-born man admits bomb plot By Nick Squires in Sydney (Filed: 29/05/2004) A British-born Muslim convert was convicted yesterday of plotting to bomb the Israeli embassy in Canberra. Convicted: Jack Roche Jack Roche, 50, who discussed the plot with Osama bin Laden at a camp in Afghanistan, had originally pleaded not guilty at Perth district court. But halfway through the trial his lawyers asked for the charge to be read out again and he replied: "Guilty". Roche, who was arrested in November 2002, is the first Australian citizen to be convicted of a terrorist offence and faces a maximum 25...

A British Muslim convert characterized an alleged mission to bomb the Israeli embassy in Australia as his obligation to Allah to perform jihad, his son told a court yesterday. The alleged al-Qaida recruit, Jack Roche, 50, made the comment in a letter sent in 2000 from Afghanistan, where prosecutors say he met with al-Qaida leaders to hatch the plot, reported the Scotsman newspaper. Roche wrote in the letter, read by his son Jens Holland, 24: "There are always doubts ... but as Muslims we are obligated to perform jihad to uphold the laws of Allah, the truth on his earth."...

10:12am (UK) Muslim Convert 'Obliged' to Bomb Embassy - Court Told A British-born Muslim convert, allegedly recruited by al-Qaida to bomb the Israeli embassy in Australia, felt he was obliged to carry out a jihad, or holy war, his son told an Australian court today. Jack Roche, 50, made the comment in a letter sent to his son from Afghanistan in 2000, where prosecutors allege he met with al-Qaida leaders and forged a plot to bomb the embassy in Canberra to bring attention to the Palestinians' plight. The bombing was never carried out. Roche has pleaded not guilty to one...

Joining Al Qaeda By Josh Lefkowitz and Lorenzo Vidino Wall Street Journal | September 1, 2003 Randall Royer, David Hicks, Jack Roche, Christian Ganczarski. These aren't the names one expects to see when reviewing a list of those charged with participation in international Islamic terrorism. However, a disturbing number of converts have turned to militancy in a quest to add direction to their lives. Disillusioned with mainstream society, these disaffected men are attracted by the sense of community that Islam offers. While those who adopt mainstream Islam find solace in its teachings, the result can be quite different when converts...

Australian accused of plot to bomb embassies An Australian man charged after a series of counter-terrorism raids this month allegedly planned to bomb Israeli diplomatic buildings in Canberra and Sydney. The 49-year-old man, named as Jack Roche, was arrested in Perth late last night over an alleged plan to bomb diplomatic posts in Australia. The Australian Federal Police said he faced a charge of conspiracy to bomb diplomatic premises in Australia when he appears in the Perth Court of Petty Sessions this morning. AFP general manager national operations Ben McDevitt said his arrest was not connected to the Bali bombings....