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| Down Under | |
| Over 100 terrorist attacks thwarted in Australia, US, and UK | |
| 2004-08-24 | |
| MORE than 100 planned terrorist attacks have been prevented since 2001, according to Attorney-General Philip Ruddock. Mr Ruddock refused to divulge how many had been thwarted in Australia, saying most of the planned acts were in the US and Britain. Intelligence gained from captured terrorists, spying activities and electronic intercepts was responsible for most of the preventive actions. "It is important to recognise we have been targeted," Mr Ruddock said. "There are people among us, working and living in our community, who would seek to do us harm," he said. Mr Ruddock told the third annual Australian Homeland Security conference in Canberra yesterday that the Australian and international intelligence community was making inroads into thwarting the terrorists' plans. He also warned that a planned Labor judicial inquiry into spy agencies would distract key senior officers from their task of fighting terrorism. "Nearly two-thirds of Al-Qaeda's leaders have now been captured or killed and more than $200 million belonging to . . . terrorist accounts has been seized." Mr Ruddock also warned against using a "broad brush" in relation to targeting terrorists. Meanwhile, an American terrorist expert estimated that about 70,000 trained terrorists remained at large around the world. Daniel Benjamin, a senior fellow at the Centre for International and Strategic Studies in Washington and former counter-terrorism adviser to president Bill Clinton, told the conference via satellite that the Iraq war was a mistake and had pushed many moderate Muslims towards terrorism. He said the Bush Adminsitration had failed to understand the war against terrorism was an ideological campaign and that targeting states or individuals was not the answer. "You have the potential to marginalise and alienate," he said. Mr Ruddock said society should be bolstering moderate Muslims. "More Muslims have died as a result of terrorist activity than non-Muslims." Mr Benjamin said only about 3500 Al-Qaeda or other Muslim terrorists had been "taken out" since September 11, 2001. Many of those were the leaders, but the remaining 70,000, trained in Afghanistan, were active in communities around the world. Mr Ruddock said the September 11 terrorist attack, which had so far cost the US economy about $120 billion, represented an "extraordinary return on investment". "All of this damage came at the expense of the lives of just 11 suicide bombers and about $500,000," he said.
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| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #5 oops..my bad. I guess he was a sattelite feed into the conference. Doh! |
| Posted by: B 2004-08-24 11:02:57 PM |
| #4 Meanwhile, an American terrorist expert estimated that about 70,000 trained terrorists remained at large around the world. Daniel Benjamin, The propaganda is getting so bad, they don't even try anymore. Meanwhile? Yes, we are talking about all of the terrorist attacks avoided and MEANWHILE... a world a way and nothing to do with this article, we found someone who said something negative about GW. I guess it was time for coffee and the reporter couldn't find a negative GW quote to fit the story...so he just stuffs this completely unrelated one in. |
| Posted by: B 2004-08-24 11:01:07 PM |
| #3 For more on Benjamin's rantings see here. |
| Posted by: tipper 2004-08-24 10:49:36 PM |
| #2 Mr. Ruddock needs to go back and re-do his math, and check his facts. Nine-Eleven was not the first, nor the only, terrorist attack on the United States, nor was it the only terrorist attack by al-Qaida. We cannot forget, or marginalize, the first WTC bombing, the Khobar Barracks attack, the embassy bombings in Africa, or the attack on the USS Cole. Secondly, there were 19 terrorists on those four airplanes, Mr. Ruddock, not 11. The total cost to al-Qaida was also substantially higher, although most of those costs were after-the-fact costs, due to US response. How many al-Qaida fighters have been killed since the US invasion of Afghanistan? The Taliban government has ceased to exist. The free and open training grounds are gone - today all training has to be done as clandestinely as possible, and always with one eye open for a sudden rush of Tomahawk missiles - or worse. I'm sure recruiting has also suffered, but we don't have access to the records to judge that. The money hasn't dried up completely, but it's slowed from the massive flood pre-9/11 to a mere trickle of its former self, and what money does get through carries with it the potential of being tainted. Each DAY sees another half-dozen of the better-trained operatives, even the higher leaders, being killed, captured, or driven underground. The United States is in the midst of a long-term pitched battle to suck dry the entire Islamist movement by killing those with the desire to carry that movement forward. The killing fields of Iraq have bled dry half a generation of those most dedicated to the cause. The operation continues. Of course, I can understand Daniel Benjamin's behavior. Anything to distract from your own failures to do anything substantial in the fight against those who have targeted this country, anything to marginalize your own failure to grasp the obvious facts that there were people who had declared war against your nation, and anything to protect "your" president is ok, isn't it Mr. Benjamin? |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2004-08-24 1:12:41 PM |
| #1 "All of this damage came at the expense of the lives of just 11 suicide bombers and about $500,000," he said. This clueless statement totally ignores the 70 billion dollars the Saudiâs spent over thirty years seeding the ground for our current problems. It also ignores the support and training provided by Iran for a separate group of terrorists. It also ignores that countries such as China and France have their own reasons for causing the US problems. And that many countries and people are reacting to an increasingly globalized culture and economy with rising anti-Americanism. 9-11 was the bomb and Al Qaeda was the group that delivered the bomb. But the enemies the US faces are the forces that nurtured the terrorists. The money and blood the US is spending is to counter that broader enemy. So far the âreturnâ on the Islamic investment has been the overthrow of the Taliban and Saddam, the awakening of the US to the Islamic threat, and the willingness of the US to confront terrorists sponsors throughout the world. Before this is over the âreturnâ will look far worse for the Saudiâs, the Saddamâs, Iranian mullahs, etc. |
| Posted by: Anonymous5032 2004-08-24 12:42:56 PM |