Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Downer's right, you know
I fully understand ‘Lord’ Alexander Downer’s concern that terrorists might ‘possibly’ have been behind the attack on a cruise ship Seabourne Spirit in Indian Ocean last week.

After all, it is becoming so difficult to determine who are pirates and who are terrorists, particularly since these days pirate ships seem never to fly the skull and crossbones.

Worse, some fair dinkum terrorists are now flying the old Jolly Roger, pretending to be pirates. Some have even taken the step of growing black beards, cheeky devils.

So you can understand the predicament that Lord Downer finds himself in.

Some naysayers might accuse Downer of trying to manipulate the event in an effort to raise public anxiety over the global threat of terror. But this is unfair.

That there has been 27 similar events in the region since March attributed to pirates does not mean that this attack was not terrorism.

That this attack occurred off the coast of the most politically unstable region in the world also does not mean that this time it wasn’t terrorists.

That this government has muddied the waters before - linking boat people with terrorists during the Tampa affair in 2001 - does not mean that it would try such dubious tactics again.

That this government is currently attempting to introduce draconian, and possibly illegal, counter-terrorism laws, again, does not mean that it is trying to scare voters into thinking that there are terrorists everywhere.

People should stop being so circumspect and accept Howard’s honest, fair and unprejudiced government for what it is.

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