Vigilance alone will not win this war

From The Australian, Editorial, July 02, 2007 ...

...Increasingly, Islamism is a threat in the West. Two attempted car bombings in central London on Friday, and a third one at Glasgow airport on Saturday, are evidence of the kind of violence that Australia could face...

.....Our sense of relief that widespread carnage has been avoided is tempered with a sense of catastrophe delayed. These bombs were prevented only because they failed to detonate, not because the authorities were aware of the plots and intervened. Nobody can doubt that Islamists will only redouble their efforts, not be deterred.

The arrest of five Australians in Lebanon who are suspected of being involved with the al-Qa'ida-linked terrorist group Fatah al-Islam emphasises both the direct threat to Australia of terrorist activities in the Middle East and the global nature of the Islamist menace. One of those detained, taxi driver Omar Hadba, is suspected of being the leader of Fatah al-Islam, which is mounting an armed insurgency in northern Lebanon and allegedly had a cache of 500kg of weapons and explosives including assault rifles, grenades, machineguns and mines. Four of the men are disciples of radical cleric Feiz Mohamed, who counts among his students and friends Australia's first convicted terrorist, Jack Roche; the founders of Jemaah Islamiah in Australia, Abdul Rahim Ayub and Abdul Rahman Ayub; Rahim Ayub's former wife, Rabiyah Hutchison, whose sons were deported from Yemen; Zac Mallah, who was acquitted under Australia's new terror laws; hardline cleric Mohammed Omran; and most of those currently facing terror charges in Sydney and Melbourne. As The Australian reports today, Mustapha Kara-Ali, a former member of the Muslim Community Reference Group, has been investigating radicalisation among young Muslim community members in Sydney. He estimates there are between 2000 and 3000 radicalised Muslims in Sydney alone and possibly double that in Australia, who are ideological sleeper cells and who could become extremists.

... the war against terror is not a territorial battle. It is a battle against an anger-ridden ideology, a threat not only to Islam and Muslims but to the entire world. Good intelligence and law enforcement is our first line of defence and will limit the terrorists' ability to kill and maim, but vigilance alone will not defeat the threat we face. Governments, Muslim leaders and the wider community each have a part to play in breaking the link between religion and extremist ideology. Radical sheiks who have hijacked a noble faith and turned it into a violent rallying cry must be silenced. There is no place for their teachings in this country. So far, Australians have been fortunate to avoid attacks on civilians in our own cities, but the threat of home-grown jihadism is real.