Do you think John Howard has made us more susceptible to a terrorist attack or not?

Question

I was just looking at an answer that made me think are we safer or not .I think not but what do you think and why?

He is Australia's Prime Minister hopefully not for much longer.

Answer 1

Yes, I do feel that John Howard has made Australia more prone to attack by terrorists because of our involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq and the fact that the Indonesians still dislike Australia and Australians.

Most people forget, or do not know, that we have had terrorist attacks in Australia in the past. In the 1960's and 1970's there were numerous bombings by Ustashi (Croatian Fascists) of Serbian churches, Yugoslav travel agents and airline, the Yugoslav Consulate in Melbourne along with an ANZ bank in Melbourne and the home of a Serbian Yugoslav. I covered a number of these bombings as a TV news cameraman for ATV-10 and HSV-7.

Answer 2

I think a lot of Australians believe we are safer but if they scratch the surface of it all just a little then maybe they will realise this is not America and there was never even a problem here to protect us from before. If anything some of the other answerers are correct in that Howard seems to have only infuriated young Muslims into acting out when they would have probably otherwise lived a pretty non-eventful life. Talk about poking a bees nest!

Answer 3

I'm sorry, but this question doesn't have a good answer for anybody. Yes, New York City, Boston, Los Angelos, Dallas and every other major city are likely suspects, but then again, nobody thought Oklahoma City would be struck in 1994 either, and we were hit by a terrorist. Even worse, we were hit by a homegrown terrorist, Tim McVeigh. You can move ANYWHERE in the United States, but nobody can guarantee your safety.

Answer 4

I really believe to burrie our heads in the sand is almost suicidal, we have to tighten up as a Nation. Others do view us as strong, so God help us if/when China or North Korea decide they want our Uranium and coal, without paying for it.

Indonesia is our biggest threat, but only as a terrorist breeding ground and access point. Howard has strenghtened Australias Defence capabilities to the nth degree, to which we should all be proud. We have major contracts with the US for our AirForce and Navy, time for us to take our heads out of the sand. We are not and will never be an "isolated" Nation again.

Answer 5

I think if anything John has made it a little bit more likely that we suffer an attack from home-grown terrorists ....

he has allowed a climate of anti-muslim flourish ... a perfect example was NOT jumping all over pauline hanson when she said we should stop immigration of muslims ( or words to that effect) .. .

he has allowed this feeling to grow as I think HE feels it will make the population more accepting of him sending troops to the middle east ..
AND in doing so he has alienated many of the muslims here.. NOW often the young have hot emotional heads .. ( particularily young men full of testosterone) and some WILL over react to ANYTHING ( and I don't mean JUST muslim boys but any boys) .. and I am sure that there are little pockets of nuff-nuff hot-headed teenage muslim boys PLAYING BIG MEN by wanting to make us *SKIPS* pay for treating them badly .....
JUST as there have been young *skip* lads recently in trouble for assaulting a young Jewish man in Geelong recently ( one young *Skip* man by the name of Mathew Cuthburt made a comment about not appologising to any F@#@$#ing Jew)

so It will be the reaction of a hot headed young mane , to how HE feels John Howard has made Other aussies feel about HIS people .. that WILL possibly cause a problem ..

NOT enough has been done to stress that NOT all muslims are our enemy and that many Muslims themselves HAVE been the victims of Extremists....

do I feel safer? I honestly don't feel that much different ..

I remember decades ago .. when there was a lot of IRA terrorism happening .. and we were at school discussing it .. and even then I knew that because of the nature of mankind that ONE DAY .. the same sort of thing would happen here.. I just didn't know WHO or WHY .. just that the human is a Violent being and we are prone to the extremes...

BUT having said that .. I will never live my life in fear .. it's a waste of engery.

Answer 6

I don't think he has made us more of a target, because I think terrorists will target who they like, but he has made it more possible for terrorists to use 'our' involvement with the US as an 'excuse' for their behaviour.

Also, as Jen and Ms Schlonky have pointed out, a climate of divisiveness now exists in this country which Howard and his hench-idiots ahve fostered.

This type of feeling in a community makes it possible for people to forget we ARE a community and begin to treat each other as 'targets' instead of neighbours.

I will say though that I do partly agree with Wayne A ~ we DO need to be aware we cannot revert to our former isolation as a protection.

Unfortunately for us, Howard has dragged us onto the world stage, a place we should never have gone, and put us squarely in the spotlight for many nuts and wannabe bad guys.

Of course, really important and powerful nations will continue to ignore us, but those wanting to make a name for themselves now know where we can be found.

Bummer, eh :-(

Answer 7

Oh Molly, Much Safer. No self respecting Terrorist would set foot in Australia. Before their feet hit the ground here, You would have Joe Hockey and his hence men getting him to sign an AWA before they threw Him into a detention centre to rot for 5 or 6 years. Of course they would want him to work for nothing during his stay. (Like the rest of us Aussie's do). Nah, easier pickings elsewhere.

Answer 8

Jen put it well. His actions (or lack of) have probably created more divisiveness and threat from within than from outside.
"Be alert but not alarmed". And if they can't even keep The Chaser out of APEC security zones... well, LOL... whatever happens I'll always have my fridge magnet :)
(oh, and I cannot forget Clover Moore's emergency-kit suggestion of putting my cat in a pillowcase when I have to make a quick run for it... I have thought about that a LOT, hmmm haha! what the *??)

Answer 9

Absolutely he made us more susceptible by being in alliance with George Bush who is the enemy of MIddle Eastern Extremist Groups.

However I think it is grossly over rated - that the likelihood is low and remember that keeping a population in a mild state of fear is a great method of control.

Australia will never be that lovely, naive, innocent nation that we were 10 years ago. I think it is so sad. We didnt need to keep up with the USA - we are a great country on our own. Look at how Americanised we are now compared for 15 years ago...language, food, customs, demise of the small stores, invasion of mutinational companies....sad

Answer 10

This is a no-brainer. Of course invading Iraq would make Australia more susceptible to terrorism.