Sunday, September 12, 2004
Bombed out big time
My sympathies to the victims killed or injured in this latest terrorist attack.
After anger at the attack, my main reaction has been that the terrorists have stuffed up. All they have achieved is the death of several of their compatriots and the wounding of a 5 year old Australian girl. The former will make Indonesia loathe the terrorists even more, and the lack (I hope) of Australian deaths suggests that JI is getting weaker and that terrorism can be defeated without appeasement.
So much has happened since September 11 2001 - Bali, the Moscow Theatre hostage crisis, Madrid, Marriott hotel, and regime change in Afghanistan and Iraq. While the attacks by the terrorists are continuing, they are growing more impotent and obtaining less respect. I only hope Australia and our allies have not lost too much will to fight in the process.
Was Australia targetted in this attack? The obvious answer would be "yes", but we may read too much into what the terrorists do. Sidney Jones writes in response to the assumption "The bomb was related to Australia's upcoming elections.":
First decide to launch a terrorist attack, then find a target, then write about your "root causes".
And if you're going to talk root causes, try something better than this:
Um ... if you're after "enemies of God", the embassy of North Korea is just down the road.
After anger at the attack, my main reaction has been that the terrorists have stuffed up. All they have achieved is the death of several of their compatriots and the wounding of a 5 year old Australian girl. The former will make Indonesia loathe the terrorists even more, and the lack (I hope) of Australian deaths suggests that JI is getting weaker and that terrorism can be defeated without appeasement.
So much has happened since September 11 2001 - Bali, the Moscow Theatre hostage crisis, Madrid, Marriott hotel, and regime change in Afghanistan and Iraq. While the attacks by the terrorists are continuing, they are growing more impotent and obtaining less respect. I only hope Australia and our allies have not lost too much will to fight in the process.
Was Australia targetted in this attack? The obvious answer would be "yes", but we may read too much into what the terrorists do. Sidney Jones writes in response to the assumption "The bomb was related to Australia's upcoming elections.":
Until the perpetrators are arrested, we won't know their motives. But, if this bombing fits the pattern of earlier ones, the embassy would have been one of several targets considered - a final selection would have been made on the basis of both symbolic value and logistic feasibility.
The Marriott bombers looked at another hotel, the Jakarta International school and the Australian school, and chose the Marriott because it was a US chain, and it was easy to drive up to the entrance. In Makassar in 2002, the bombers also considered other targets.
First decide to launch a terrorist attack, then find a target, then write about your "root causes".
And if you're going to talk root causes, try something better than this:
We decided to settle accounts with Australia, one of the worst enemies of God and Islam. A mujahideen brother succeeded in carrying out a martyr operation with a car bomb against the Australian embassy.
Um ... if you're after "enemies of God", the embassy of North Korea is just down the road.
