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Paras Indonesia, 11, 17 2005 @ 10:09 pm

Australia Unfazed By Terror Threat Tape

Roy Tupai

Australia says it is not intimidated by threats that it will be hit by terror attacks if it fails to withdraw its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The threats were made in a videotape by a masked man, believed to be terrorist recruiter and strategist Noordin Mohammad Top, who is now the most wanted man in Indonesia following last week's killing of his accomplice, bomb-maker Azahari Husin.

The 15-minute videotape, segments of which were aired on Thursday (17/11/05) by Indonesian and Australian television networks, was found last week during a raid on Noordin's hideout in the Central Java capital of Semarang. Also found during the raid was an instructional videotape on how to make bombs, as well as videotaped farewell messages from the three suicide bombers who killed themselves and 20 other people in attacks on cafes in Bali on October 1. The bombers, who were not wearing masks, said they were martyrs and their action would gain them entry to heaven.

The masked man, who wore at least one gun at his side, threatened to attack the US, Australia, Britain and Italy for their military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. "We repeat that our enemies are America, Australia, England and Italy. You will be the target of our next attack," he said, repeatedly jabbing his index finger at the camera.

He singled out Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer as supporters of US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "We remind you that our enemies are all those who support and help Bush and Blair. Infidels, apostate rulers, who rule Muslims and hunt clerics and mujahidin. They are also our enemies that are targeted in our attacks," he said.

"We especially remind you Australia, that you, Downer and Howard, are killing all Australia, leading it into darkness, disaster and mujahidin terrorism. Know that as long as you continue to colonize the lands of Iraq and Afghanistan, while you intimidate Muslims, then you too will feel our intimidation and terror," he added.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla and National Police chief General Sutanto said the man in the black mask was apparently Noordin, judging by his Malaysian accent. Kalla spent Wednesday evening and Thursday evening showing the videotapes to Muslim leaders, advising them to preach against the terrorists' use of violence, which he said was a misinterpretation of Islamic beliefs.

Downer said Australia was taking the videotaped threat seriously but would not be intimidated. "No democratic country like Australia should be intimidated by a fanatic like Noordin Top. We have to make that perfectly clear that whatever these people say, whatever threats they make, we've got the strength and courage to stand up to that. And Australians don't expect terrorists like Noordin Top to dictate to us our foreign policy or our domestic policy. This is somebody who wants to destroy what he would describe as the apostate government of Indonesia and impose on Indonesia a kind of Islamic extremist tyranny. He would like us well and truly off the map as well. I understand that, but it's not going to happen and he is not going to succeed."

Howard played down the assertion that Australia's presence in Iraq and Afghanistan had made it a terrorist target, but said he was not surprised by the threat. "I don't find that the least bit surprising. I've said before that whatever the motivation of terrorists might be they will always opportunistically link what they do with decisions taken by Western countries and by Western leaders. Just because he said that doesn't prove that that's the real motivation, it just proves my proposition that they will always opportunistically link the two. I remind you that the first time we scored a mention was specifically in relation to our intervention in East Timor."

He said his government would not be swayed by the new threat. "We were a target long before Iraq. It will always be opportunistically claimed, whether it's true or false, that our continued involvement in Iraq is part of the reason. But whatever the true explanation is no self-respecting democracy can or will have its foreign policy determined by threats from terrorists."

Howard further said he was not too concerned about his personal security. "Obviously I take advice and obviously I'm always concerned about matters relating to my family rather than myself. But I don't allow concerns for personal security to impede the job I do in Australia and I won't in the future. It's not uncommon in these things for particular references to be made to leaders, it's not uncommon; it's not the first time. I don't think it should be given too great a degree of consideration and too great a weight."

He denied that pulling out of Iraq would make Australia less of a terrorist target. "I don't think the threat to Australia is going to change markedly over the next few years. I don't. I think we have to accept that in common with a lot of other Western countries, and also countries that wouldn't regard themselves as Western; we're going to have to live with a terrorist threat for a lot of years into the future. I think it is idle to pretend that this something where we can predict an end date, That is not the nature of the threat; it is not the nature of the enemy against which we are now pitted."

The prime minister said withdrawing from Iraq might actually increase the risk of a terror attack. "There are some who believe, and these are things that you can't prove, there are some who believe that to withdraw in the name of reducing the level of risk might in fact increase it because it would be seen as a sign of weakness and a sign that you could actually bring about changes in government policy if you lifted the threat level high enough."

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