JINSA Report #505 Can We All be Australians Now?

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July 29, 2005

JINSA Report #505

Can We All be Australians Now?

Ed. Note: Australian PM John Howard, a steadfast ally of the United
States in missile defense, Asia/Pacific security policy, Iraq and
Afghanistan. When he spoke in London last week, we wanted to jump up and
vote for him – or at least say, "thank you." The following comments came
in response to the all-time stupid question, "Do you feel in any sense
that you have put people in this position, do you feel that in a sense
your policies may have put people in this position?" British PM Tony
Blair replied, "Well, I think the people who are responsible for doing
these things are the people who do them." PM Howard then elaborated.

"Terrorism is not just about individual circumstances and individual
events. Terrorism is about the perverted use of an ideology for evil
intent and for evil objectives. And those who think that terrorism is
incident-specific misunderstand the mind and the workings of the minds
of terrorists...

"The first point of reference is that once a country allows its foreign
policy to be determined by terrorism, it has given the game away, to use
the vernacular. And no Australian government that I lead will ever have
policies determined by terrorism or terrorist threats, and no
self-respecting government of any political stripe in Australia would
allow that to happen.

"Can I remind you that the murder of 88 Australians in Bali took place
before the operation in Iraq; and could I remind you that the 11
September occurred before the operation in Iraq; can I also remind you
that the very first occasion that Bin Laden specifically referred to
Australia was in the context of Australia's involvement in liberating
the people of East Timor. Are people, by implication, suggesting that we
shouldn't have done that? When a group claimed responsibility on the
website for the attacks on 7 July, they talked about British policy, not
just in Iraq, but also in Afghanistan. Are people suggesting we
shouldn't be in Afghanistan? When Sergio de Melo was murdered in Iraq, a
brave man, a distinguished international diplomat, immensely respected
for his work in the United Nations, when al Qaeda gloated about that
they referred specifically to the role that de Melo had carried out in
East Timor because he was the United Nations administrator in East Timor.

"Now I don't know the mind of the terrorist, by definition you can't put
yourself in the mind of a successful suicide bomber, I can only look at
objective facts, and the objective facts are as I have cited. The
objective evidence is that Australia was a terrorist target long before
the operation in Iraq.

"Indeed all the evidence, as distinct from the suppositions, suggest to
me that this is about hatred of a way of life, this is about the
perverted use of the principles of a great world religion that at its
root preaches peace and cooperation, and I think we lose sight of the
challenge we have if we allow ourselves to see these attacks in the
context of particular circumstances, rather than the abuse through a
perverted ideology of people and their murder."

To which PM Blair replied, "I agree 100 percent with that." To which we
say, "Amen."

To view this JINSA Report online click on the link below.
http://www.jinsa.org/JINSAReports/3087

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