Theos-Talk Archives (October 2002 Message tt00147)

I am deeply saddened to see that it has all come to
this. Our greatest fears have come true and we are now
definitely involved in this whole terrorism nonesense.
But a country such as Australia that has traditionally
viewed ourselves as isolated and free from the
turmoils that we so often witness on our television
sets is now no longer seperate from the pain and
suffering our brothers in other parts of the world
have had to endure.

But how did this state of affairs come about? The
closest Australia has come to international turmoil in
the past was during WWII when the Japanese bombed
Darwin or even earlier in the 19th Century when it was
believed the Russians would invade our shores. Yes it
is true that the horrors of last weekend were not on
our soil but Bali is a place where Australians go and
have a good time. That two thirds of the victims in
the blast were Australian is testimony to this,
although we should never forget the others that also
lost their lives. But why would anyone want to attack
a country that supposedly advocates tolerance,
multiculturalism and freedom? Some people have said
that the bombing was a response, albeit rather late,
to Australia's role in East Timor. Although it is more
than likely that it is a response to Australia's
support for the United States and its so called war on
terrorism. Therefore the attack should be seen as an
attack on that ideology rather than a direct attack on
Australia itself.

This being the case should Australia take the American
attitude and bomb the crap out of Indonesia until the
terrorists relent? I am afraid that this is the sort
of action that the Australian government would favour
and would find ready support from the US and most
likely the UK. Although seemingly a proactive course
of action, appeasing those unfortunate souls who have
lost loved ones in the bombing, it can only lead to
one thing: more death. Not only will there be innocent
lives lost in the search for the terrorists but there
will be further ramifications, some of them not as
obvious and quite indirect. For instance, there is the
inevitable cost incurred in taking a war action and we
the people of Australia will have to incur this cost.
Yet, to some people, this is a small price to pay for
justice. 

But if Australia is going to solve the root cause of
this problem it has to address the root cause of the
problem. And the root cause is this: Australia is
supporting a murderous, hypercritic, unjust regime
that is George Bush and the United States government.
The sooner Australians denounce this tyrant and his
selfish goals of making America the most superior
military cohort, with the nearest challenger merely
holding spears, the sooner we can extablish peace in
our region and among our brothers. The sooner
Australians realise that George Bush and the current
US government are perpetuating the problem, not
solving it, the sooner we can find peace. The sooner
Australians realise that George Bush is just a dumb,
ignorant, naive, idiotic, reincarnation of Hitler the
sooner we can again be at ease. 

I doubt that this realisation will occur any time in
the near future. Hopefully my children's generation
can look back and see what is really happening in our
world today and learn from our mistakes. But I'm
afraid that what we saw in Bali on the weekend, and in
New York last year, is merely the beginning and it is
only going to get worse.

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