No Nation Is Immune (From Terrorism)
The Australian ^ | 6th June 2006

Raids in Canada, UK show terrorism is everyone's problem

SPEAKING in Washington earlier this month, John Howard stated that "those who imagine that somehow or other you can escape (terrorism) by rolling . . . into a little ball . . . and hoping that you're not going to be noticed are doomed to be very, very uncomfortably disappointed". The truth of this sentiment was borne out late last week with the arrests of 17 terror suspects in Canada, a generally pacifist nation that did not join the effort to topple Saddam Hussein and where a 2000-strong troop deployment to Afghanistan remains deeply unpopular. Details are still emerging, but it appears that the suspects had acquired three tonnes of ammonium nitrate and had major urban targets in southern Ontario in their sights. By way of comparison, 1995's Oklahoma City bombing used one tonne of ammonium nitrate. At almost the same time as the Canadian arrests occurred, British authorities made a series of raids connected to what was believed to have been a planned chemical weapons attack in Britain. As an indicator of the size of the terrorist threat in that country, Home Secretary John Reid revealed last month that police had uncovered 20 "major conspiracies" since last year's London suicide bombings. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair has stated that three serious attacks have been thwarted since the July 7 attacks.

Last week's raids on both sides of the Atlantic are a powerful reminder that terrorism is still very much a threat in the West. And they are a rebuke to anti-war progressives and so-called foreign policy realists alike who believe that Western �?specifically American �?meddling in the Middle East and support for Israel is responsible for tensions between Muslims and the West. Would that international relations were so simple. While Britain's Tony Blair has been an enthusiastic supporter of the war on terror, until the election of Conservative Prime Minister Steven Harper, Canada had been anything but. Yet the alleged plot broken up in Canada had been in the works for two years, during a period when that country played the same role in the northern hemisphere as New Zealand plays in the south �?namely, a pacifist foil to a powerful, internationally engaged state.

Those who believe Australia runs a heightened risk of terrorist attack because of our participation in the coalition of the willing need only look to Canada to see their theory disproved. Radical Islamic terrorists would still target the West even if coalition troops were pulled out of Iraq and Israel were left to fend for itself.

While the long-term goal of stabilising and democratising the Middle East is vital to stamping out the terrorist threat, these recent raids in countries with very different foreign policy remind us that terrorist plots can grow in any soil. Authorities in Western countries must do more to shut down mosques and prayer halls, such as London's infamous Finsbury Park Mosque, where hatred is preached. And more must be done to understand and prevent seemingly well-integrated young Muslims from becoming radicalised and taking up the banner of jihad. In England, one of the July 7 bombers spent his last night on earth playing cricket; another had a last meal of McDonald's. In Canada, five of the 17 suspects arrested last week were under 18. One theory holds that a love-hate relationship with Western culture, combined with a feeling that Islam is being oppressed around the world, among young Muslims can lead to an embrace of jihad. Such feelings are often nurtured by radical websites that serve as an echo chamber for their members' paranoias. Fortunately, terrorists have not succeeded in spilling blood on Australian soil, though Australians were twice targeted for death in Bali. But the events of recent days prove that this is no time to relax the effort to root out and prosecute the would-be terrorists who hide among the vast majority of Muslims who happily assimilate into Australian life while privately finding peace and succour in their faith.