More fallout from the Zapatero and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appeasements. From AP, with thanks to Nicolei:
Prime Minister John Howard's government warned that Australia could become a terrorist target during a six-week election campaign that began Monday, with the war on terror and the nation's troop deployment in Iraq already taking center stage.Treasurer Peter Costello said Australia should be alert for attacks in the lead up to the Oct. 9 election since Islamic militants detonated bombs in Madrid that killed 191 people in March. Several days later voters elected Spain's Socialists, who opposed the war and occupation of Iraq. Many said the conservative government's support for the war made Spain a target for al-Qaida.
"In Spain during an election there was a terrorist incident, so we have to be careful in Australia," he told Melbourne radio station 3AW on Monday - the first full day of campaigning.
The Madrid bombings were believed aimed at influencing the Spanish vote days later. Socialists won the election and made good on their pledge to pull Spanish troops out of Iraq.
Costello warned terrorists that they could not sway Australian voters with such an attack.
"Any terrorists should understand this point, if they think some kind of attack on Australians is going to change Australian policy, they're wrong, dead wrong," he said, adding later that he was not referring to any specific information of a threat.
The spaniards & the Australians are cut from completely different cloth. spain decided to elect a coward & do a giant ostrich impersonation, hoping that if they just offered complete capitulation & appeasement that the jihad would pass them by. The Australians are a much tougher bunch & I, for one, am very glad to have them on our side.
The Madrid bombings were planned long before the American or Spanish intervention in Iraq. These myths concerning the aetiology of the jihadi guerrilla military operations againsts the non-Muslims are more lethal than the attacks themselves because the failure of the target policy makers to understand them exposes millions of their civilians to further, more deadly assaults.
How many more innocents need to die at the hands of the jihadi murderers before the true enemy and their demented ideological motives are exposed? Until then, the policy makers in the non-Muslim world will be be jousting with windmills while their citizens burn alive by the thousands around them. Perhaps the heads of state in all non-Muslim nations, like President Bush has himself already done, need to inhale with their own breath the pungent odor of the charred flesh of their citizens before they are awakened from their slumber of ignorance.
Am hoping Latham won't win Australian election as Oz needs a strong, committed leader. You could almost say Australia is Deputy Sheriff and we certainly need a powerful presence in the Pacific
to deter many Islamic Terrorist Groups here.At the moment , America and Australia make perfect allies and 'speak the same blunt, uncompromising
language' to the likes of Indonesia.
Hulegu Khan
The Madrid bombings were planned long before the American or Spanish intervention in Iraq.
You make a very interesting point. In effect you are saying that terrorist attacks are planned long before they actually occur. Even the approximate dates are known. It is only the reason for the attack, that is fabricated at the last moment, using the current political situation, to give a plausible political cover. Our media and politicians of course, swallow these without question.
The rest of your post is also dead on target.
The main problem is that we have allowed millions of Muslims into the West. Their population is increasing rapidly. It is difficult, if nigh imposible, to differentiate between a Jihadi on a mission and a Muslim who is for the moment in a passive mode.
The question then is - WHAT THE HELL DO WE DO?
Don't hold your breath waiting for a 'tough' Australian government.
In Australia we have two convicted terrorists walking the streets of Sydney. They are brothers who migrated here from beautiful downtown Lebanon and in their luggage they carried the vile characteristics of life as it is lived in that former war-torn country. Oh the joys of multiculturalism. It seems the boys slipped back to Lebanon (ain't it funny how they say they are fleeing oppression yet always gravitate back to the source of the oppression) to carry out some unpleasant duties. They returned to Australia.
A court was convened in Lebanon and the delightful brothers (not their real name) were found guilty of facilitating a terrorist act. They were sentenced to 10 years in prison.
How to get them out of Australia and into a Lebanese prison? It can't be done. We don't have an extradition treaty with Lebanon. The Lebanese government is happy to enjoy the sight of our impotent government in a moment of extreme discomfit.
Wouldn't you think we would have a law in place which made deportation automatic if certain activities are pursued by the migrant?