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| Down Under |
| Terrorists planning for attack in Ocean Grove |
| 2005-11-08 |
| THE sleepy coastal Victorian town of Ocean Grove is just a stone's throw from the hamlet made famous by the hit television series SeaChange. As such, it's one of the last places on earth you would expect to find terrorists training for an attack. Not so, according to Prosecutor Richard Maidment QC, who today told the Melbourne Magistrate's Court that nine men arrested in suburban raids overnight formed a terrorist group to kill innocent men and women in Australia. Mr Maidment said the Melbourne suspects had been planning terror crimes for more than 12 months, had undertaken military training, and were planning another training weekend in Ocean Grove. But the court was told the Ocean Grove plan came unstuck because of a troublesome landlord. Locals said the strip from Queenscliff to Barwon Heads, not far from the start of the famed Great Ocean Road, is more likely to field groups on a golf or bowls trip. While a massive influx of holidaymakers doubles the population of the region to some 80,000 people at the height of summer, a group of men acting suspiciously would surely be noticed. "It's a great place – warm, friendly, it's still one of your old school neighbourhoods," Ocean Grove Hotel general manager Ashley Kreig said. "I mean 20 years ago or 10 years ago you used to be able to leave your front door open and the kids could play in the street – that's what Ocean Grove's still like today." Besides, one of those arrested in Melbourne was Abu Bakr, a Muslim cleric who already has a public profile after attracting headlines in August for publicly stating his support for al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. "There's plenty of other places to go – if they wanted to blend in they'd be much better off going to a bigger place like Ballarat or even Geelong," Mr Kreig said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 that is, NOT educating them in the West |
| Posted by: ex-lib 2005-11-08 16:17 |
| #1 "I mean 20 years ago or 10 years ago you used to be able to leave your front door open and the kids could play in the street – that's what Ocean Grove's still like today." Okay, okay, okay . . . here it is, hidden between the lines. The Islamists LOOK for what's best in western culture, which generally features safety, prosperity, family, stability, etc., because, from a para-military viewpoint it's WEAK. People on holiday are busy with their family and friends. They're relaxed. The perfect "bombing" spot. Like Bali. The most "bang for the buck" in terms of instilling terror--innocent people having fun are more traumatized than a barracks full of soldiers, and so the trickle-down effect among their families and friends is also greater. That's why I agree with a poster the other day about educating these guys in western universities. They also see that as a WEAKNESS and will exploit it to the hilt. Time to get very, very non-ethnocentric about this. Easier to think of the Islamists as aliens from another planet--then there wouldn't be any "huh, they were gonna do what?" coming from the gullible earthlings. |
| Posted by: ex-lib 2005-11-08 16:16 |