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| Down Under |
| Australia has intel on impending terror threat |
| 2005-11-02 |
| Australia has received specific information this week about a possible "terrorist threat" to the country, Prime Minister John Howard said on Wednesday. "The government has received specific intelligence from police information this week which gives cause for serious concern about a potential terrorist threat," Howard told reporters in Canberra. "I don‘t want to over-alarm people. I have said for a long time the possibility of an attack is there," he said. Howard refused to give any details about the nature or location of the threat, but said the government would rush through changes to anti-terror laws to enable police to respond. Howard said the current security alert would not be upgraded. The warning comes as the nation‘s domestic intelligence service, the Australia Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO), acknowledged for the first time that Australia had home-grown extremists, some of whom had received terror training overseas. "Some of the more extremist individuals ASIO has identified and investigated are Australian-born," ASIO said in its annual report, adding that some were angry about the war in Iraq, while others believed they did not fit into Australian society. Four Australians are currently awaiting trial in Sydney and Melbourne on terror charges, linked to supporting and training with banned groups such as al Qaeda. Media reports said ASIO was believed to have concerns over up to 800 Muslims in Australia who have voiced support for politically motivated violence, while up to 80 people resident in Australia were known to have trained with militant organisations in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Security analyst Aldo Borgu said Australia‘s involvement in the Iraq war and reconstruction had increased the threat to Australia. "It didn‘t create the threat but it certainly increased it," Borgu, from the Australian Security Policy Institute, told Reuters. Howard said new anti-terror laws would strengthen security authorities to act against a threat, but would not detail what action would be taken in regard to the latest information. The new laws, which the government has said were necessary in light of the July 7 London bombings, have been criticised by human rights and civil liberties groups. A shoot-to-kill provision in the new legislation is expected to be watered down after widespread opposition. Under the new laws police would be able to detain suspects for a week at a time without charge, electronic tracking devices would be used to keep tabs on suspects, and supporting insurgents in countries such as Iraq would carry a seven-year jail sentence. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 Round these bastards up, and put them in a pen with some of those deadly spiders and snakes "Crocodile Dundee" was talking about... |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-11-02 13:34 |