Be Afraid... Relax

"Among the many considerations that show what a man is, none is more important than seeing either how easily he swallows what he is told or how carefully he invents what he wants to convince others of." Machiavelli

How Greg (Jerusalem Prize) Sheridan spins the government's Counter Terrorism White Paper*:

"In other ways, the global terror network is growing more menacing. As the Rudd government's white paper on terrorism noted, Hezbollah is now a very widely spread international terrorist network, with a great deal of technical capability and a serious presence in Australia, and could be expected to strike at many targets if conflict with Iran broke out." (A nuclear threat we cannot ignore, The Australian, 15/4/10)

What the White Paper actually says:

"2.1.4 Other forms of terrorism: Jihadist terrorism is the predominant focus of Australia's counter-terrorism efforts due to its spread, impact and explicit targeting of Australians. But terrorism motivated by other beliefs has affected Australia in the past and will affect us in the future. Australia is currently home to a small number of people who support other causes that involve active terrorist campaigns overseas. The terrorist movements they support do not necessarily see Australia as a target for their violence but some might see that Australia could be used as a suitable or convenient location for an attack on their enemies. This includes groups with a long history of engaging in terrorist acts and a current capability to commit them, such as Lebanese Hizbollah's External Security Organisation. Future geo-political events could mean other terrorist movements with a presence or support base in Australia could become willing to engage in operational activity here. And in the future new terrorist threats could manifest themselves in Australia, either as a by-product of events overseas or as a result of political grievance within Australia. There will always be the disaffected and disempowered, often but not always at the fringes of communities, or the followers of radical ideologies, who mistakenly see advantages in the use of terrorist tactics." (p 14)

[*See my 11/3/10 post Who's Afraid of Hezbollah?]