- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 410
Canadians could be next targets, Australia warns
The West under attack: Islamic terrorists pervert Islam, Minister says
Sheldon Alberts, Deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief
National Post
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
OTTAWA - Australia's Foreign Minister yesterday warned Canadians they are potential targets of Islamic terrorists and are wrong to believe radical groups such as al-Qaeda are only interested in mounting attacks against the United States.
The bombing of a popular nightclub in Bali, which killed nearly 100 Australians and at least one Canadian on Oct. 12, was a deadly reminder that other Western nations are just as susceptible to militants motivated to kill by a "perversion of Islam," said Alexander Downer.
"I think both Canadians and Australians have to understand that a lot of these terrorist operations are directed, not just against the United States, but against what we might broadly describe, particularly Canada and Australia, as our civilization," Mr. Downer said following private meetings in Ottawa with Bill Graham, Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister.
"Whether you are a Canadian or whether you are an Australian or whether you are an American, you are part of the so-called West and there are risks that these people will use us as targets."
A radical Islamic group called Jemaah Islamiyah, which has ties to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, is believed to be responsible for the Bali attack on a club patronized largely by Western tourists. One Canadian has been confirmed dead in the attack and another is believed to have died.
More than 90 Australians were believed killed or missing in the Bali explosion.
Mr. Downer said some Australians believed prior to the attack that they were immune from terrorism. Polls suggest as many as 75% of Canadians also believe Canada is not a target.
"I think Australians who said that --and it's true there were some -- and Canadians who say that, are wrong," said Mr. Downer.
The Bali bombers and their al-Qaeda allies "are people who are motivated by their subversion of Islam, their perversion of Islam, their perversion of Islamic beliefs, which they have reinterpreted into an extremist doctrine," said Mr. Downer.
"What they want to do is drive so-called Western influence out of the Islamic world and try to establish sharia, or fundamentalist, Taliban-style states or transnational organizations, particularly in the Arabian peninsula or southeast Asia and Islamic southeast Asia."
Jemaah Islamiyah's goal is to build a pan-Islamic state across Southeast Asia. It was placed on a United Nations list of terrorist groups last Friday after a campaign led by Australia and supported by Canada.
Immediately after the Bali bombing, there was speculation Australians were targeted because of the country's co-operation with the United States in the war against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Australian contributed special forces troops to the war.
But the Commonwealth nation's involvement in peacekeeping in East Timor has also been cited as a possible reason the country's citizens were targeted.
In a videotape broadcast last weekend by the British Broadcasting Corp., Osama bin Laden singled out Australia as an enemy because it helped East Timor win independence from Indonesia by leading an international peacekeeping mission in 1999.
The message from bin Laden was apparently taped last November.
Canada also contributed 650 troops to the East Timor peacekeeping force.
Concern that Islamic terrorist groups are broadening the scope of their attacks to include other Western democracies appears to be taking hold in Ottawa.
Last week, John McCallum, the Defence Minister, said the Bali bombing was proof that the terrorist threat extends well beyond the U.S. He argued Canada's military needs increased funding to help prevent similar attacks here.
Mr. Downer and Mr. Graham discussed ways to Canada and Australia could co-operate to fight terrorism by increasing communication between their respective intelligence agencies and police forces.
"We are determined as countries to co-operate, both with one another, but also to put into place the international framework necessary to deal with the threat of terrorism -- and it can only be done through international co-operation," said Mr. Graham. "We are now seeing the coming together, a co-operation amongst police force and other agencies, a genuine effort to make sure we share information."
salberts@nationalpost.com
It Could Never Happen Here, Could It? (a short story)
The West under attack: Islamic terrorists pervert Islam, Minister says
Sheldon Alberts, Deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief
National Post
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
OTTAWA - Australia's Foreign Minister yesterday warned Canadians they are potential targets of Islamic terrorists and are wrong to believe radical groups such as al-Qaeda are only interested in mounting attacks against the United States.
The bombing of a popular nightclub in Bali, which killed nearly 100 Australians and at least one Canadian on Oct. 12, was a deadly reminder that other Western nations are just as susceptible to militants motivated to kill by a "perversion of Islam," said Alexander Downer.
"I think both Canadians and Australians have to understand that a lot of these terrorist operations are directed, not just against the United States, but against what we might broadly describe, particularly Canada and Australia, as our civilization," Mr. Downer said following private meetings in Ottawa with Bill Graham, Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister.
"Whether you are a Canadian or whether you are an Australian or whether you are an American, you are part of the so-called West and there are risks that these people will use us as targets."
A radical Islamic group called Jemaah Islamiyah, which has ties to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, is believed to be responsible for the Bali attack on a club patronized largely by Western tourists. One Canadian has been confirmed dead in the attack and another is believed to have died.
More than 90 Australians were believed killed or missing in the Bali explosion.
Mr. Downer said some Australians believed prior to the attack that they were immune from terrorism. Polls suggest as many as 75% of Canadians also believe Canada is not a target.
"I think Australians who said that --and it's true there were some -- and Canadians who say that, are wrong," said Mr. Downer.
The Bali bombers and their al-Qaeda allies "are people who are motivated by their subversion of Islam, their perversion of Islam, their perversion of Islamic beliefs, which they have reinterpreted into an extremist doctrine," said Mr. Downer.
"What they want to do is drive so-called Western influence out of the Islamic world and try to establish sharia, or fundamentalist, Taliban-style states or transnational organizations, particularly in the Arabian peninsula or southeast Asia and Islamic southeast Asia."
Jemaah Islamiyah's goal is to build a pan-Islamic state across Southeast Asia. It was placed on a United Nations list of terrorist groups last Friday after a campaign led by Australia and supported by Canada.
Immediately after the Bali bombing, there was speculation Australians were targeted because of the country's co-operation with the United States in the war against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Australian contributed special forces troops to the war.
But the Commonwealth nation's involvement in peacekeeping in East Timor has also been cited as a possible reason the country's citizens were targeted.
In a videotape broadcast last weekend by the British Broadcasting Corp., Osama bin Laden singled out Australia as an enemy because it helped East Timor win independence from Indonesia by leading an international peacekeeping mission in 1999.
The message from bin Laden was apparently taped last November.
Canada also contributed 650 troops to the East Timor peacekeeping force.
Concern that Islamic terrorist groups are broadening the scope of their attacks to include other Western democracies appears to be taking hold in Ottawa.
Last week, John McCallum, the Defence Minister, said the Bali bombing was proof that the terrorist threat extends well beyond the U.S. He argued Canada's military needs increased funding to help prevent similar attacks here.
Mr. Downer and Mr. Graham discussed ways to Canada and Australia could co-operate to fight terrorism by increasing communication between their respective intelligence agencies and police forces.
"We are determined as countries to co-operate, both with one another, but also to put into place the international framework necessary to deal with the threat of terrorism -- and it can only be done through international co-operation," said Mr. Graham. "We are now seeing the coming together, a co-operation amongst police force and other agencies, a genuine effort to make sure we share information."
salberts@nationalpost.com
It Could Never Happen Here, Could It? (a short story)
