Why didn’t what Jake Bilardi learned at Hume Islamic Youth Centre counteract what he was hearing from Mirsad Kandic? Why didn’t the true, peaceful teachings of Islam, which he must have been hearing at the Youth Centre (wasn’t he?) convince young Bilardi that Kandic was twisting and hijacking the noble religion of peace? Why do Australian authorities, like authorities all over the wide world, never, ever ponder such questions?
“How an awkward teenager was radicalised by ISIS in his bedroom after his mother died, sneaked into Iraq and blew himself up in a suicide bombing that shocked Australia – and his even more horrific ‘Plan B,'” by Aidan Wondracz, Daily Mail Australia, November 12, 2022:
…Jake Bilardi, 18, shocked Australia with a suicide bomb attack in Ramadi, in central Iraq, about 110km west of Baghdad, in March 2015.
How he went from a suburban Melbourne kid to a teenage terrorist blown to pieces 1,300km from home has only been revealed seven years later.
Bilardi turned to Islam after his mother died to cancer and became radicalised in his bedroom after meeting an ISIS mastermind online….
He was in Year 10 when he began to visit the Hume Islamic Youth Centre where he was introduced to the teachings of Islam and eventually converted.
Bilardi became radicalised online as he spent hours on the computer in his bedroom before he connected with ISIS mastermind Mirsad Kandic.
Kandic, 40, was a high-ranking member in the terrorist group who was responsible for recruiting overseas radicals and sending them to fight in Syria.
Bilardi was angry he had not found a way to leave Melbourne and fight overseas and noted down his frustration in his blog ‘From Melbourne to Ramadi: My Journey’….
Bilardi had given up all hope and began to work on his ‘Plan B’, which was a knife and bomb attack on Melbourne.
He bought six 500g containers of barium nitrate, an ingredient used to make a homemade explosive, but stopped building on his plan when he met Kandic.
Kandic, 40, was a high-ranking member in the terrorist group who was responsible for recruiting overseas fighters and sending them to fight in Syria
The ISIS recruiter said he would be able to help Bilardi get into Syria and gave him a checklist of things to do in preparation.
Bilardi was told to learn Arabic, do cardio exercises to train for battles on the front line, and fly to Istanbul pretending to be a tourist.
He paid extra for his passport to be expedited before booking a flight Istanbul for August 25, 2014.
CCTV footage showed Bilardi wearing a traditional Arabic scarf as he checked in for his flight at Melbourne Airport.
Bilardi called his brother Chris in October where he was pressured to return home.
‘I don’t know what it’s achieving,’ Chris said. ‘It’s achieving maybe something for you, because you think that it’s benefiting you, that you go to heaven or something.
‘But it’s not benefiting anybody else. You’re going to be killing innocent people.’
Shortly afterwards Bilardi was given his orders to join seven other suicide bombers for a mission in the northern Iraq city Baiji.
It was called off just before Bilardi was set to detonate his bomb and it would not be until March 2015 when he was given his new orders.
Bilardi then blew himself up in a suicide mission targeting the Iraqi armed forces at Ramadi in central Iraq.
The attack was a failure: nobody was killed and just a few vehicles were damaged.
Wellington says
This shocked Australia? It shouldn’t have and I know it will not have with Australians like tim gallagher who regularly posts here and who knows what Islam is really all about. To be shocked by this, whether in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Canada, America or anywhere in the West serves as ipso facto evidence of indefensible willful ignorance.
tim gallagher says
Yes, Wellington, there are plenty of Australians who are wide awake to islam’s murderously violent nature. Unfortunately, not enough of us yet or we would have shut islam out of this country in the sensible way that Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia do. Throw in Burma because it threw its Muslims out, no doubt sick of the trouble they caused. Maybe one day not too far away, the slow learners and sleepwalkers will wake up as well. It was strange seeing this Bilardi creature’s photo here because it really is a blast from the past. I had well and truly forgotten this guy and seeing his photo was a bit of a jolt. Why anyone chooses islam is beyond me. There are so many religions a person could choose and islam is always the wrong one unless, of course, a person’s aim is to join a murderously violent and evil ideology, kind of like joining Nazism.
Wellington says
“Unfortunately, not enough of us…”
The problem in a nutshell, tim gallagher, whether in Australia, America, France, the UK, etc.
And compounding all this is that the elites in politics, academia, the media and big business are now in the forefront of continuing the ongoing destruction of the West. Whatever the reason—avarice, willful ignorance, complicity, et al.—no good reason exists for the slow but inexorable evisceration of Western Civilization.
It’s a total waste of the greatest and most productive civilization of all time. Sickening. Beyond inexcusable. Actually, a great crime of tremendous proportions.
tim gallagher says
I agree with all you say, Wellington. I also think that western civilisation is the greatest achievement of mankind. I say this often to people. It’s funny. I have pretty left wing siblings, really nice people, but left wingers. I was talking the other day to one of my sisters, probably the one I get along best with, a charming person, and I said to her that i thought western civilisation is just about mankind’s greatest achievements and she agreed with me. We were talking about the danger of China and how loathsome that regime is. Though she is quite left wing in her views, she obviously is far from the destructive, self loathing view many of the wankers these days, where they spend their time trying to destroy our way of life with their foul agenda. Maybe these fools will wake up before they go off the cliff.
bill carr says
How does teenager get hold of 3 kilograms of a chemical known to be used for making bombs is a question that needs answering. At least he wasted only his life and did not kill any innocent people.
I wonder how much the 72 virgins figured in his plans?
Keith O says
First I’ve heard of this deluded turd.
At least his attack was a failure.
tim gallagher says
When I saw the photo of this Bilardi creature I remembered him, Keith O. I had forgotten him until seeing his photo. Anyway, good riddance to the evil Muslim terrorist.
Keith O says
Hell year Tim, no tears shed on this side.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Oh yeah. At least Albanese and Ardern won’t compete over who gets to keep him. I hope the Iraqis don’t bother returning his remains either
Peavey says
Do not pass Go. Do not collect 72 virgins
DHZ says
Was he able to grow a beard and mustache before he martyred himself? That might have an effect on which neighborhood of Paradise he and his mansion will end up in. There is no evidence in the Quran that Muslims will stop judging each other just because they died.
James Lincoln says
Has any “convert to islam” ever became more peaceful?
Ever?
tim gallagher says
James, if that ever happens and a convert to islam becomes more peaceful then that particular person would be guilty of misreading islam because islam, from my reading of the Koran, is intrinsically violent and that book is full of calls for Muslims to get out there and murder the non-believers.
Michael Copeland says
“Just the rantings of a schizophrenic.”
Sebastian Faulks
James Lincoln says
Great point, tim.
VictorMc says
First I have heard of this story.
At least he blew himself up at no cost to taxpayers……Doing the decent thing. Islam is not all bad then…