Greg Sheridan, July 2007, the Australian
SENIOR figures in Australia's national security establishment believe the nation is on course to emulate Britain, where there are simply too many Islamic extremists for security services to monitor.
The arrests in Britain at the weekend of people unknown to the intelligence services, among them doctors, illustrates two of the worst fears harboured by Australian authorities. Namely, that there are whole networks of extremists of which the intelligence services are unaware, and that the process of radicalisation is so strong that seemingly well-integrated professionals can be turned into terrorists.
Some of the best minds in Australia's national security establishment believe we may not have the ability to stop such a scenario being transported to our shores.
MI5 director-general Eliza Manningham-Buller said last year the British domestic intelligence agency was following 1600 people of concern and there were 200 groups supporting terrorism and 30 full-blown terrorist plots. On top of that the number of terrorist sympathisers in Britain grew by 80percent last year ...
There is a consensus among security insiders of the imminent danger of radicalism migrating from Pakistan and Lebanon, unchecked by Australia's non-discriminatory immigration program and propelled by the family reunion program.
The grounds on which people can be legally refused entry are quite narrow: health and character checks.
The character check normally consists only of matching names against databases and seeking evidence of criminal convictions.
Association with extremists is not usually a bar to entry ...
Australia's Muslim population stands at more than 340,000, a nearly 70 per cent increase on the figure a decade ago. While all Australian government bodies believe the overwhelming majority are law-abiding citizens, the number associated with practices or groups that have provided recruits for terrorism is growing. And there is no effective government control over the way this number grows.
My thoughts ...
No, the only effective control over the growing number of extremists in Australia is a Muslim Population Policy i.e. the less the better. So, Greg Sheridan, what do you propose we do about it? Your article is only half finished ... meanwhile the clock ticks, the Muslim population is out-breeding us 6 to 2. What is your "effective control over the way this number grows"? We're still waiting ...
Anything less is to sleepwalk down the same road Britain and Europe is on - towards Islamotakeover.
More: the Australian
