War in Iraq and resisting terror domestically are not exactly the same thing. The message of the Prime-Minister may contain useful advices on how to avoid becoming a victim of the terror attack. For example, to pay attention on the suspicious items left in the railway station and to report to the police. Therefore, one that returns to sender such an instruction is not acting in the wisest way possible.
Deb -- That is what I remember from the news at the time. Here is a source:
STEVEN GUTKIN
Associated Press
JAKARTA, Indonesia ---- The Bali bombers "hate Americans" and their real targets were U.S. citizens in the nightclub attacks that killed nearly 200 people on the resort island, a top investigator said Friday, citing the confession of a key suspect.
The reported confession of an Indonesian man identified as Amrozi has prompted more arrests and linked the blasts to a fugitive, Riduan Isamudin, also known as Hambali, who has been tied to the Sept. 11 hijackers.
Referring to the Oct. 12 bombings in Bali, Maj. Gen. I Made Mangku Pastika said the goal was "to kill as many Americans" as possible.
"They hate Americans. They tried to find where the Americans are gathering. That is in Bali. But they were not that happy because Australians were killed in big numbers," Pastika said.
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Since there were two other bombs (one that went off prematurely) targeting the US Consulate that night... it doesn't seem far-fetched.
In that special, rather charmingly casual Australian way, on the day we declared our intention to annoy the Moslem world a lot by supporting the USA in its war against Iraq, an anti-war protester calmly scaled the sails of the roof of the Sydney Opera House, in broad daylight, and painted a HUGE anti-war slogan on the tippy-top of one of them!
Now, this building is one of the three big Oz icons - one would imagine that SOMEBODY would have been watching it, just in case some terrorist organization decided to bomb it, or something - but, no, apparently either nobody WAS watching, or somebody glanced away for a bit.
Really, the whole thing is sort of cute, in a way - a bit like managing to lose an entire Prime Minister at sea in 1967 - I mean, it was the weekend, he was presumed to be quite able to watch himself, but he seemingly lost sight of himself and disappeared under the waves never to be seen again.
As a symbol of protest, the person who did the slogan has managed a doozy - but I do hope they can clean the building later!
PS Piffka - re your last post - the Bali bombers appear to have been telling their captors that they most certainly DID intend to target Australians - we seem quite able to annoy people a lot, too.
12 years later, another Liberal government, and the same bullshit.
