Australia All But Silent On Ally Terror Attacks Killing 80 Children

The Australian government believes the "strategic bombing" of Gaza is acceptable.

This is "strategic bombing" (images from Flickr) :













Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was too busy over the weekend to explain how he feels about an Australian ally using indiscriminate terrorism to collectively punish the Palestinian people in Gaza, for the actions of their democratically elected government. State terror attacks that have killed more than 400 people, including at least 80 children, wounding thousands more in nine days.

Kevin Rudd was at the cricket, laughing it up with Tim Blair.

Is Howard Delaying Election In Anticipation Of An Explosive 'Event'?

As we mentioned here, there is a growing paranoia amongst the Australian people, and some quarters of the media, that prime minister John Howard is holding off announcing the date of the federal election in anticipation of a Big Event that might turn the tide against a humiliating defeat at the polls.

The short version of this suspicion is 'Howard Needs Terror'. Murdoch journalist Andrew Bolt was probably the first to clearly state that a terror attack in Australia could be of great benefit to John Howard. Back in July, Bolt dreamily fantasised about how :

"...something might yet turn up that will make us appreciate anew his vast experience and steadiness under fire...if there were to be another terrorist attack...(we could) admire his firmness in handling it."

The 'Big Event' scenario popped up again last night in a discussion on Lateline. The interviewee is Michael Costello, a columnist with Murdoch's The Australian newspaper :

Costello : In 2001, events were absolutely crucial. Not so much Tampa as people think, but what was absolutely crucial was out of the blue, 9/11 and the war in Afghanistan. That totally turned things round and it's worth remembering that even so, with all that going for them, the Government only just got across the line, 51-49.

Q: So the Government's hanging out waiting for a disaster?

Costello : No, no, I'm just saying events can happen.

If President Bush has already made his decision that the US and Israel will go to War On Iran before Christmas, you can rest assured that he has already told his good mate John Howard about his plans. Hundreds of Australian troops in the south of Iraq would likely become targets for retaliatory strikes or terror hits by Iran, or the Shiite militias, so Howard would need to get them out of the way. Hopefully.

If terror threats elevate as polling day grows near, you can expect to see the 'Steel Wall' security fencing used during the APEC conference back on the streets of Sydney. The government has a three year lease on the five kilometres of ten foot high security fencing. It's being stored in Darling Harbour, only minutes out of the city centre, along with dozens of the white mobile 'prison' buses that were used to block off entire streets during the anti-Bush protests a few weeks back.

If you were being funneled through gates in that fencing, lined with police, to cast your vote on election day, would you be more likely to vote for Howard or Ruddley-Do-Right?

Exactly.

Conservatives And Lefties Agree : Howard Needs Terror

The Australian media's most relentless, absurd hypocrite strikes again.

Andrew Bolt, of the Herald Sun, is shocked, shocked we tells ya, that Catherine Denevy of The Melbourne Age could even think of writing the following, let alone putting it into print :

If I were John Howard, I’d be praying for a terrorist attack.

Bolt claims Denevy is 'Praying For Murder'. It sounds like she is telling John Howard to 'pray for murder'.

Bolt then claims that Denevy's words say "a lot about the culture that sustains her."

The culture of the mainstream media, of which Andrew Bolt is also a member?

But Denevy's power-of-prayer advice to Howard on how he might coerce God to ramp up his chances of winning the federal election is nothing new.

Ironically, it was Andrew Bolt who, months ago, anticipated how the Australian public's reaction to car bombs shredding passers-by might work to John Howard's favour :

...something might yet turn up that will make us appreciate anew his vast experience and steadiness under fire...if there were to be another terrorist attack..."

Nice.

Maybe Bolt is just annoyed at Denevy's pseudo-plagarisation of his own mind garbage?


Andrew Bolt : Back In The Gutter When He Belongs

Shock : Murdoch Journalist Denies Murdoch Media Conspiracy

Betrayed By Murdoch : The Changing Climate Of Andrew Bolt

Conservatives Cut Off Howard's Head : Bolt Kicks Prime Minister Fair In The Cags

"I've Done My Dash" - Bolt Admits Defeat On Global Warming

Family of Australian Terror Victim Brushed Off By Downer

Why? She Didn't Die In A "Mass Casualty" Terror Attack

Families Of Bali Bombing Victims Sent "Insert Name Here" Form Letters

Australia's foreign minister, Alexander Downer, feels it is completely ethical to use the threat of terrorism, and the horrific deaths of more than 120 Australians from terror attacks over the past seven years, to frame his arguments on why the War On Iraq must continue, why Australia is a part of the 'War on Terror' and to explain why Australians must get used to having their civil liberties torn away as part of that war.

But the shattered family of one Australian terror victim were told by Downer that they would not get any help from the government to meet the costs of bringing home the body of their dead daughter, who died in a terror attack in Turkey.

They needed $16,000, and thought they would get help, because the Australian government had compensated the families of Australian terror victims who were killed in Bali, in Indonesia, in London and in the 9/11 attacks on New York City.

But the distressed, mourning family were brushed off by Downer, then ignored. Then they were sent an insulting letter.

Why?

Because their daughter didn't die in a "mass casualty incident"

Why should that make any difference at all?

Because Downer's clearly not interested in one dead Australian terror victim here, or a couple there. He only wants to know about the terror attacks where dozens of Australians are slain, because that's what grabs the headlines, and that's the kind of horror and terror that supplies the political capital he needs to justify the War On Iraq and to attack political opponents for supposedly being "soft" on terror.

Alexander Downer is beyond repulsive. and as inhuman as all the other despicable creatures who use terrorism for political, religious or personal gain.

Just when you think Downer can't get any lower, he'll prove you wrong.


And then there's the generic form letters sent to the Australian families of terror victims by Downer's office. You can see the letters for yourself here :

...the email version came with a number of documents, apparently sent by accident. They included a six-page summary of occasions the Government had helped Australians, such as reimbursing the cost of repatriation of remains for Bali bombing victims, $5000 for funeral costs, the cost of air fares and accommodation for close relatives to go to Bali and financial help to attend the first anniversary of the bombings and the trials of the accused terrorists.

Another attached document was a generic Foreign Affairs letter for Bali bomb victims' families, with spaces to "insert address here" and add "first name" here.

If Downer and John Howard can find the time to spend entire mornings preparing for their purely politically motivated attacks in Parliament, ranting about the threat of terror and why Australia is supposedly fighting in the front lines of the 'War on Terror' in Iraq, then they can surely find the time to write all the families of terror victims proper letters, and deal with their inquiries in a humane and decent way.

Beyond chilling.

Bureaucracy as its coldest, and most heartless.