Excerpt from the article by JOHN KELLY There is something quite odd about this latest decision to raise Australia’s terrorist alert level to ‘high’. I can’t see what it is supposed to achieve? Is there credible evidence that a terrorist threat is likely? If so, why let the perpetrators know that? Why tell them you are aware of their intentions? This is what makes yesterday’s announcement by the Prime Minister, look suspiciously like a well-engineered stunt. By making the announcement in the company of the Director General of ASIO, David Irvine and the Australian Federal Police Commissioner, Andrew Colvin, Tony Abbott seemed, to me, to be playing politics. Call me a cynic but that’s how I see it. My suspicion is that the government is testing the reaction of the public and will gauge that reaction through polls they will take this weekend as well as those commissioned by various media outlets. A positive movement in the polls immediately after such an announcement will tell them what strategies best suit their chances in the lead up to the next election. The Prime Minister says there is no specific intelligence that tells us an imminent terrorist attack is likely, so what is the purpose of the announcement? “What we do have is intelligence that there are people with the intent and the capability to mount attacks,” he said. So what is new about that? We have always known that. You only have to go back and have a look at some of the news broadcasts of 2001 and 2002 to see that. READ MORE = theaimn/terror-alert-political-stunt/
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 00:21:46 +0000
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