ISIS Terrorism or the Act of a Criminal Individual It is too early and unwise to speculate, as the Prime Minister has done, about whether the Lindt Café gunman was motivated by ISIS to act as he did. Early reports from the Australian Police suggest that these were the lone-wolf actions of an individual with a criminal history who was facing charges for being an accessory to the murder of his wife. John Key knew this when he made opportunistic comments suggesting the hand of ISIS in the affair. The gunman had an Islamic banner but it is not unusual for deranged individuals committing criminal acts to claim the justification of religion or to hear voices telling them what to do. Whether ISIS was in anyway a factor will need to be investigated. As an organisation it does exploit the vulnerable and the alienated and tries to motivate them to commit terrorist crimes. However, while it is important not to be complacent about terrorism, it is equally important not to beat up the issue and create unnecessary fear. John Key has done this before by talking about beheadings in the street. Last week, there was an horrific axe attack which left a woman dead and two others injured. Earlier in the year a man killed two women and wounded another with a gun at the Work & Income Office in Ashburton. Some years ago William Bell shot three people dead and critically wounded another at the Panmure RSA. None of these were terrorist attacks, all were atrocities committed by deranged individuals. We can’t rule out an attack by another deranged person who might be motivated by an extremist group. But the Government’s own assessment of the danger of a terrorist attack in New Zealand is low. This view that it is possible but not likely seems about right. What we don’t need is opportunistic politicians making premature links which may generate more concern than is warranted.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 21:37:53 +0000
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