Australia defiant at terror threat

[Memnoch]

From www.cnn.com Original article HERE . Australia defiant on terror threat Group linked to al Qaeda warns of 'columns of car bombs' Sunday, July 25, 2004 Posted: 1434 GMT (2234 HKT) . (CNN) -- Australia will not give in to threats of attack made by a group claiming to be the European wing of al Qaeda, but is taking the warning seriously, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Sunday. . Australia and Italy received terror warnings through a statement, purportedly from militants linked to al Qaeda, that demanded those countries withdraw troops from Iraq. . The message was posted on an Islamist Web site Saturday and was signed by a group identifying itself as Islamic Unification (Islamic Tawhid), an al Qaeda-linked organization in Europe. . To Italy, which has about 2,700 troops in Iraq, the militants warned "you will have columns of car bombs shaking your cities," if the government maintains its military presence in Iraq. . The warning also addressed the Australian government, which has about 880 military personnel and another 120 security forces in Iraq. . "We ask you to leave Iraq," the message said. . "If not, we will turn your homeland into a bloodbath.... We will shake the ground under your feet as we did in Indonesia, and the car bombs will not stop coming, God willing. . "Your fate will be like the Americans if you don't answer our demands. We will turn your day and night into hell. . "We can harm your interests in Islamic and Arab countries. Follow the path of the Philippines and Spain. This is the path that will give you security." . Downer said the threat was by a group unfamiliar to the government. . "Nevertheless it's a threat, it's on the Internet, we take it seriously," he told the Nine Network Sunday program. . "What it does is, it reminds us that we have to be absolutely determined in the face of the threats of terrorists to make sure that we don't give in to those threats." . On Wednesday, the previously unheard-of group threatened Bulgaria and Poland with attacks if they did not leave Iraq. . Downer said the Spanish troop withdrawal and the Philippines decision to pull out troops to save the life of a Filipino hostage had encouraged terrorists to continue threats. . "So now we are subjected, as the Italians are, and the Poles and the Bulgarians, from this particular group, to further threats," he said. . "It is very important we send a strong message that we will not be threatened by terrorist groups. Terrorist groups will not determine the policy of the Australian government or the Australian people." . Downer said the Philippines decision had also fuelled the taking of hostages. . "This is a problem with the Filipino decision," he said. "They've acceded to the demands of terrorists, and within a day or so of the Filipinos doing that, six more people were taken hostage in Iraq." Australian troops outside their country's embassy in Baghdad. . Spain pulled its 1,300 troops from Iraq last month. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the deadly terror attacks on commuter trains in Madrid that killed 190 people and wounded 2,000 in March. . Election analysts say the bombings and the government's subsequent reaction were factors in the election, but there is debate over how big a role they played in the outcome. . Some say the terrorists won by persuading Spain to vote out Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, a key U.S. ally in the Iraq war, though others say Aznar's insistence on blaming Basque separatists, not Islamist terrorists, tipped the electorate against him. . The Philippines withdrew its 51 humanitarian troops a month early to secure the release of a Filipino hostage in Iraq. . There has been a wave of abductions of foreign nationals by insurgents in Iraq. . On Saturday, gunmen seized the chief of a state-owned construction company. . Meanwhile, negotiators worked doggedly to free a senior Egyptian diplomat and seven foreign truck drivers abducted by insurgents. (Full story) . -- Web site translation by CNN Editor Waffa Munayyer. Source: www.cnn.com

[Dreamer128]

Italy has much experience with Terrorism (Red Brigades), Al Quaeda may get more then it bargained for [img]smile.gif[/img]

[B_part]

Just hope you are right... however, I wouldn't be so optimistic... the red brigades were easy in comparison to what al quaeda is... they were motivated and prepared to fight, but weren't willing to blow themselves up with their victims, and were a strictly hierarchical organization, if you got the chiefs, you dismantled the brigade. Also they were easy to infiltrate, and through infiltration they were defeated. Despite this fact, they killed many, including a prime minister (!). Islamo-fascist groups don't have these vulnerabilities...

And besides, democracies are a perfect target for any terrorist: you cannot detain anybody just because they preach hate or they are suspected to be terrorists - that is, you can arrest terrorists only if and when they are caught more or less red handed... sometimes only after they have struck. This is true in the US, even more so in Europe.

There are many targets they can pick, and you cannot guard them all. I can think of at least 3 ways to kill at least 100 people, and one way to build a dirty bomb in 12 hours (forgive me for not giving details...) the only secret is to pick targets which aren't guarded, and anywhere there are more than 20 people within a building, there is a target.

I'm afraid, it's not a matter of if, but a matter of when, be it Italy, Australia, the UK or the US.

[Timber Loftis]

I want to know why we don't simply employ the best hackers to keep Islamic militant websites constantly off the grid. Why do we let them spew their crap??? I'm sure we could keep them constantly bug-ridden.

[B_part]

Originally posted by Timber Loftis: I want to know why we don't simply employ the best hackers to keep Islamic militant websites constantly off the grid. Why do we let them spew their crap??? I'm sure we could keep them constantly bug-ridden.

Because we are a democracy, and we LOVE to entangle ourselves with rules that endanger our very existance... in the specific case, I guess such a move would be illegal if the servers were somewhere within EU or US, and even comparable to an hostile act if the servers were within some other nation's (e.g. Iran, Sirya, etc.) territory...

However,I agree with you TL, and actually I would use different kinds of hackers, namely tomahawk missiles... after you wipe out one or two ISPs (and Al Jazeera too), the others will be a bit more careful about the crap they publish... [img]graemlins/evillaughter1.gif[/img]

[ 07-28-2004, 03:25 AM: Message edited by: B_part ]

[Morgeruat]

Update: The Egyption Diplomat mentioned briefly at the end of the piece has been released.

[Yorick]

I'd love to see what would happen if Al-Qaeda killed an Italian Mafia chief during a terrorist attack. What would happen then I wonder? Would all hell break loose?

Agreed on the hackers. Where are the gung-ho patriotic hackers?

Agreed on the idiocy of Spain and Philipines to acquiesce to terror threats. The only solution is for EVERYONE to refuse to negotiate with terrorists.

[sageridder]

Giving in to those demands let's the terrorists know you are an easy mark, cave to demands once and they know you'll do it again.It's like if you were in prison and you gave it up without a fight next thing you know you'd be wearing lipstick and
get punked at every oppertunity.As far as crashing those sites goes I think it could be a bad idea.I think a better plan would be to hack the sites and figure out where terrorists are sending info from and watch the people in those places to possibly use that recon info to identify and locate cells.also if you could use some sort of keystroke mirror software to steal passwords and usernames keeping these sites up could be a great way to spread disinformation or even set up false missions to capture terrorists.

[Morgeruat]

I agree with Sageridder, and it's the main reason gov't hackers haven't been taking the sites down. Webpages are easy to put up, messageboards only slightly more difficult, if we started taking them down they would be back up, in dozens of other places, and we might not be able to monitor them as well as we do now, and the time and expense of tracking them down again would be very inconvenient for all concerned (granted I'm all for inconveniencing terrorists).