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| Down Under |
| Government made mistake leaving Hicks, Habib overseas: "Expert" |
| 2004-11-22 |
| An international expert on terrorism believes the Federal Government has made a significant error of judgement by not seeking the return of Australian detainees in Guantanamo Bay. Dr Rohan Gunaratna, who is the head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore, is the keynote speaker at an emergency medicine conference in Adelaide today. He says Australian intelligence agencies would have gained more from the return to Australia of Al Qaeda suspects David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib than they have by keeping the suspects detained overseas for an unspecified period. "An Australian who is trained in a terrorist training camp is a risk to Australia," he said. "It is the duty and the responsibility of the Australian Government to bring them home to ensure that they develop a good idea, a solid understanding of the terrorist organisations overseas." Dr Gunaratana believes that a terrorist attack on Australian soil is inevitable. He says Australia appears to be experiencing the same pattern of terrorist attacks as the United States experienced before the devastating September 11 attacks. "If you look at the Al Qaeda trajectory of attacks, first they attack the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, then they attacked the USS Cole and then they did 9/11 on American soil," he said. "It should be very clear that the terrorist groups operating in your immediate neighbourhood of South East Asia have no love for Australia but will attack your country eventually." He says Australia remains vulnerable to further attacks because of its close association with the United States, despite efforts after the Bali bombing to curtail such threats."Australia has significantly improved their capabilities to better manage the threat," Dr Gunaratana said. "However, the threat of terrorism has grown very significantly especially after the US invasion of Iraq." |
| Posted by:God Save The World |
| #3 Gunaratna is a SELF-STYLED expert. In reality a pompous twat whose expertise was Sri Lanka, not the Middle East. He is no Daniel Pipes. He has been exposed by Melbourne's Age as the charlatan he is. He continues to be quoted as 'expert' because a) he says what the leftie media want to say (doesn't matter it's not true) and b) leftie media is lazy and needs to quote an 'expert' in stories whose name readers will accept. Get critical mass and they'll just keep quoting you. see: 'analyse this' 20/07/2004 by Gary Hughes It has been taken off the Age's site, but I managed to find a copy that is cut and pasted into this guys website. You need to scroll down past the playboy interview and Hughes's article appears to be pasted in full: http://www.sangam.org/ANALYSIS/Sachi_9_12_03.htm |
| Posted by: Anon1 2004-11-22 9:47:50 AM |
| #2 I used to have a lot of respect for Gunaratna, until I read this report. There is nothing we can gain from these two morons that we don't already know. Bringing them back to Australia would probably mean their release, as Australian law was lax about what they were up to back 2001. Let them rot in whichever jurisdiction is most unfavourable to their cause. |
| Posted by: tipper 2004-11-22 9:22:49 AM |
| #1 Article: "However, the threat of terrorism has grown very significantly especially after the US invasion of Iraq." Sounds like wishful thinking to me. I would think that having all their men and resources diverted to Iraq would reduce the capabilities of the terrorists. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-11-22 8:37:55 AM |