In today’s environment, it’s easy for the coverage of the inquest into the Lindt Café terrorist attack to be lost in all the other ho-hum reporting of blown up airliners, massacred Syrian Christians and the odd mob that refuses to stand up for a judge after being arrested towing a tinnie to Indonesia.
In other words, in the time it’s taken for the last census to be filed in the national archives and the next one to come around, terrorism has been normalised across Australia and the world.
That’s not a bad effort in just five years.
Unfortunately, the evidence that continues to flow from the Lindt Café inquest shows just how unprepared our military, security and intelligence agencies are for this new version of normality.
Three days ago it was revealed that the lead negotiator at the Lindt Café had only received training in ‘Islam 101’.
This was a nice headline and a quick soundbite. Then this important issue disappeared off the news webpages to be replaced by stories about Johnny Depp.
I guess that also shows the media is entirely unprepared to play its supposedly important role holding the government to account and strengthening our democracy.
Helloooooo? Journalists? Where are you?
There’s a Walkley Award waiting here for someone with the courage to start asking the right people the right questions.
Like this: what exactly makes up the ‘Islam 101’ package presented to military, law enforcement and intelligence officers?
And this: who teaches ‘Islam 101’ to these officers?
Maybe this: do these officers ever get to study ‘Islam 201’?
Or this: are any of the instructors of the ‘Islam 101’ package not pro-Islamic?
I guess that last question is pretty important. It goes to the heart of institutionalised bias within the intelligence community. Just how, for instance, does a Director General of ASIO arrive at the conclusion that Islam is a peaceful religion, or that the Islamic State is not Islamic?
Is it because he simply regurgitates the word of Saudi-funded academics after graduating from the lengthy two-hour long Islam 101 package? Or is it because an unbiased assessment has been made by non-Muslims based on evidence to support that conclusion?
It’s a good question because the government’s deradicalisation program, which actually promotes Islam, has radicalised more people than it has reprogrammed for peace.
That might have something to do with the fact that there’s scant evidence that there’s anything remotely peaceful in Islam anyway. Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped the head honchos. They parrot on about Islam in cool leather jackets on QandA. But beneath the façade is very little substance.
In fact, objective analysis of the ‘Islam-is-peaceful’ propaganda shows that there really isn’t anything there apart from Malcolm Turnbull’s massive forehead and the waffle that always seems to tag along with it.
Actually, to be fair to Malcolm, he wasn’t wearing a leather jacket when he blathered on about Islam being a great religion. He did that on another episode. When he was wearing his leather jacket, Lord Waffle stated that he hadn’t undermined or sabotaged Tony Abbott.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand.
If I was running the joint and believed in all truthfulness that Islam was a peaceful religion based on the life of Mohammad and the Islamic texts, then I’d be doing things a bit different than the current mob.
For instance, I’d plaster mosques with posters like this:
Or maybe this one:
But that isn’t happening.
Instead, adherents of Islam with more knowledge of its ins and outs than your average Director General of ASIO are reaching out to the next generation of halal butchers with their own social media campaign.
This campaign is not vacuous. It means something to those motivated to become good Muslims. It has substance: actual quotes from actual Islamic scriptures, rather than whatever Malcolm Turnbull said on QandA last week.
For instance, this graphic just happens to come from the Islamic State’s monthly magazine of laughs. It contains quotes from Mohammad. About obedience. To the death. And slaying anyone who’ll get in the way.
For a peaceful religion, there sure is a lot of discussion about striking and killing. I’m sure the government’s ‘Islam 101’ package can answer any questions you may have on this point.*
(* No it won’t)
Now the average Aussie is not as ‘professional’ as ‘intelligence professionals’. However, they’re not thick either. They usually only need the time it takes for the call of ‘Allahu Akbar’ to be replaced by the crack of an explosion to ‘assess’ that there is some kind of link between Islam and terrorism.
So here’s another important question some budding journalist might like to ask: where is the government’s assessment that Islam is a religion of peace?
And any journalist worth his salt would not be put off by statements that assessments on Islam are an ‘operational matter’.
Islam is not a state secret.
And, for heaven’s sake, if the government has the answer to refute the Islamic State’s claim that Islam justifies beheadings, why the hell is it locked up and labelled ‘Top Secret’?
Surely this information needs to be spread far and wide.
I guess a journalist hunting down his Walkley would soon come to the conclusion that the government actually has no real idea about Islam; that there is no one within any Defence, intelligence or law-enforcement agency actually looking at the reality of the link between Islam and violence.
And here we come to the crux of the problem: no one is looking at Islam because a decision has been made that critical analysis of Islam is off limits. The government is too politically-correct to question the ideology of those who wish to kill us.
The sad reality is that there is not one single intelligence officer dedicated to understanding why Mullah Aktar quotes from the Quran while turning himself and those around him at the local football ground into pink mist. All of our agencies are too politically-correct to accept that Islam may have some part to play in the situation we face today.
That’s the truth of the matter.
The government has been allowed to get away with this because journalists are not doing their job.
They’ve been fobbed-off, Austin Powers like, with a wave of the hands and a chant about the religion of peace.
So if Australians really want answers to these questions, they’ll have to empower someone else. And that is why I am asking for your votes on July 2. If I am elected to the Senate for the Australian Liberty Alliance, I will ask these questions in parliament.
And answers will need to be provided. You can be sure of that.
July 7, 2016
Our prayers are with you. Congratulations on your and ALA performance.
Brian and Judy Magree
June 16, 2016
I early voted today: ALA 🙂
June 4, 2016
Charles Stuart Bathurst has a course — presumably it’s only for senior police officers —- Policing Islam in Modern Society.
That says it all really.
May 31, 2016
Bernard what scares me is it has taken this long to expose the fiasco that was the Lindt Cafe siege. The top brass totally botched it and the man at the top has been lying non-stop. What is shocking is that the brass has no sense of honor whatsoever. The Assistant Commissioner should have resigned long ago.
I’m also curious as to why has it taken two years to finally start exposing this fiasco? When one of the hostages spoke out last year she was condemned as if she were a heretic. Since when has it become anathema to criticize our security apparatus? Mark my words, this enquiry will end up being a labour of Sisyphus, once we think that all the skeletons have emerged from the closet, more will continue to do emerge. For this reason I think the enquiry will eventually ground to a halt or end up on page 3 of the telegraph. What was scary was that the top brass was supposedly unaware of the sniper reporting that hostage was on his knees. This terrible situation lasted for a full ten minutes before Monis had shot him. The Assistant Commissioner claimed to be unaware of this report and was also allegedly unaware of an AUSGRID team in the area. This team was allocated to him for the express purpose of shutting off the lights and he claims he was unaware. I find all this hard to believe and what is even worse is that the media is all mum about the whole affair. Is this Australia or is this Russia? Even if Islam was not involved, the siege demonstrates that our security apparatus and our government agencies have stagnated and rotted, they, the higher-ups, seem to be aloof, corrupt, lazy and incompetent. Our security services may appear strong on the outside, but inside they are rotten to the core. I think our short-sighted elites are playing hot potato hoping that the next disaster does not happen on their watch.
June 21, 2016
I would have hoped that standard police training would be to practice just this type of event using various scenarios, but using the whole kit: all the relevant command and control infrastructure, etc. to test how it works. Heck we did that in the Rural Fire Service with volunteers, why not with police; then they’d be sure of their command system, comms and deployment.
May 31, 2016
Islam 101 is published at Jihad Watch.
https://www.jihadwatch.org/islam-101
May 31, 2016
Good idea Castellan. I also want such stickers!!! Many of and I would be happy to pay for them too.
May 30, 2016
Does the government Islam deradicalisation program cover how the moderate terror orgs use social media to sell sex slaves?
https://mobile.twitter.com/PressTV/status/736971044712554496
May 29, 2016
I have long maintained the only way to defeat Islamic terrorists is to “out terrorise” them.
Their fear is they wont get to paradise. Let’s make sure they think they aren’t going to get there.
Whatever it takes and wherever it leads us. We must inflict a greater horror on them and theirs than they can do to us.
Total and brutal annihilation.
If we could do it centuries ago we can do it now.
It is ridiculous to even contemplate combatting barbarism with civility.
We need to start weeding out the twisted anti Australians at home here. when was the last time a charge of treason was laid against anybody in this Country?
Cease dual citizenship. How can a person pledge loyalty to two Countries and be sincere?
If migrants can’t add value to Australia then they should be denied entry.
May 29, 2016
I want a ALA sticker that’s done just like I seen here with the “Political Correctness is wrong”
Can we get them or hand them out.
Most People do not know that Political Correctness is truly what the Nazis and Communist used so as to control the people, such nonsense comes across as something so called respectable but then the fact is anyone who rejects any of this rubbish in the future, then becomes an enemy of the State.
The Australian people are being treated as mushrooms, kept in the dark and being fed you know what.
May 30, 2016
Castellan, Becoming a member is one way, I received a few ALA stickers with my welcome pack, the sticker says “Stand With Us” but not sure about the political correctness slogan. Would be great if they do it now. Or you could try and call Head Office on 1300 188 869 and someone there may be able to assist you. If you are already a member then Head office is the way to go.
May 31, 2016
This is true Castellan, however our society’s seeming willing acceptance is in stark contrast to totalitarian enforcement. Something has gone terribly wrong…
May 29, 2016
Good on you Bernard Gaynor.clearly you and your colleagues deserve to be Australians of the year.
May 28, 2016
The whole question of Islam: a religion of peace? a religion of war? a religion of jihad against unbelievers? a religion of happy multiculturalism? a religion of subjugation? a religion of tolerance and kumbaya? It can be any or all of the above in terms of propaganda. (The record of historical fact is another matter and quite clear. )
It can be any or all of the above because the Qur’an states that Allah is the best of deceivers 3:54; 8:30; 7:99 etc. The sunnah of Muhammud records his lying, deceit, betrayals – his injunctions to do the same. All of this in line with Allah the best of deceivers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCPgqB2B7To
Islam Exposed #160 – Allah the Deceiver
May 28, 2016
It is a pity that ruinous politicians cannot be tried for treason. The cultural sabotage they wage on our once great society should be punishable by banishment to those Islamic dung piles of the middle east. Religion of peace my butt!!!
June 17, 2016
How very true Steve! It’s really high time we all got together and rallied against this
ever festering ulcer!
Someone suggested we ALL stopped paying income tax! Now THERE is food for thought! Sadly there are so many ewes and lambs out there who haven’t heard about ALA. perhaps for the above mentioned reason?