Not in too much of a mood for blogging tonight, so how about link dumpalooza on the war against Islamist terror?<\/p>\n
Let’s start with what, in my view, is the most disgusting story of the day.<\/p>\n
Suicide bomber kills 18 Iraqi kids<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Tiny plastic sandals, some tattered and stained with blood, lay in a pile near a child’s crushed bicycle. Mothers wailed and beat themselves after a suicide bomber killed 18 children and teenagers getting candy and toys from American soldiers.<\/p>\n One of the soldiers was among the up to 27 people killed in Wednesday’s blast in an impoverished Shiite Muslim neighborhood. At least 70 other people, including three U.S. soldiers, were wounded. A newborn was among those hurt.<\/p>\n […]<\/p>\n “There were some American troops blocking the highway when a U.S. Humvee came near a gathering of children,” said Karim Shukir, 42. The troops began handing out candy and smiley-face key chains.<\/p>\n “Suddenly, a speeding car bomb…struck both the Humvee and the children,” Shukir said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Americans give chocolate. Islamists give death. Tell me this is not a war that needs to be fought.<\/p>\n Australia to redeploy troops to Afghanistan<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Australian Prime Minister on Wednesday announced that Australia will send 150 troops to Afghanistan at the request of the United States, Afghanistan and others to combat the regrouping of Taliban and al-Qaeda networks.<\/p>\n The troops, comprising SAS (Special Air Services) soldiers, commandos and logistic support, will be deployed in September, when parliamentary elections will be held in the war-ravaged country.<\/p>\n The fresh troops will stay there for 12 months working with the US troops.<\/p>\n […]<\/p>\n Australia sent 1,500 strong troops to Afghanistan in 2001 but withdrew all the troops in 2002. There is only one Australian engineer being engaged in mine clearance in the Asian country at present. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n Welcome back, blokes. As an aside, I’ve always held the Aussie spirit in very high regard.<\/p>\n Labor alarmed by PM’s talk of terror attack<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Labor’s foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd is alarmed by Prime Minister John Howard’s comments that the possibility of suicide bombing attacks in Australia like those seen last week in London cannot be ruled out.<\/p>\n Mr Howard says he does not believe the Government’s decision to redeploy soldiers to Afghanistan will make Australia more of a target but says he cannot count out the possibility of an attack here.<\/p>\n “We shouldn’t complacently imagine that there aren’t potentially suicide bombers in this country,” Mr Howard said.<\/p>\n Mr Rudd says if Mr Howard has intelligence about potential threats he should make it public.<\/p>\n “If you have have no intelligence that there are suicide bombers in Australia, then make that plain to the Australian people as well,” he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Mr. Rudd, I have some relevant intelligence for you: there are people out there that would love to kill you. And me. And any infidel they can touch with their knives or shred with their bombs.<\/p>\n British Police Search for Mastermind of Blasts<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Britain said today that it was hunting the mastermind of the terror attacks here last week, and the British Home Secretary offered the first official indication that officials believe the four attackers were suicide bombers who “blew themselves up” in the blasts.<\/p>\n The police said late today that officers had raided a home in Buckinghamshire, around 40 miles northwest of London and close to Luton, where police seized a car laden with explosives one day earlier. Police officials declined to give further details or to say whether the raid, conducted under anti-terrorism laws, was against the home of a fifth suspect.<\/p>\n The four coordinated mass-transit bombings last Thursday confronted Britons with the very scenario they feared most – an attack by British-born terrorists drawn from the ranks of disaffected Muslims and seeming to copy the grim tactics of assailants in Israel or Iraq that most Britons see only on their television screens.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Make no mistake — suicide bombers will find there way to many more western countries. The London attacks underscore the dire situation many European nations must soon face, that of large pockets of isolated, unassimilated Moslem immigrants that are fertile breeding grounds for radicalism and violence.<\/p>\n Pakistan \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcthwarted\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 UK pre-poll plot<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Pakistan helped Britain avert a terrorist attack ahead of the general election in May by alerting officials to a potential plot, the Pakistani interior minister said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Aftab Khan Sherpao said that information shared by Pakistan with Britain led to arrests in various countries, including Pakistan, and that the plot was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153aborted\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Before the general elections in the UK we had received reports that [a terrorist attack] may arise before the elections, and that was aborted because of the information provided by the government of Pakistan,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mr Sherpao told reporters in Islamabad.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This story, along with the recent bombings, show the flawed concept of treating this war exclusively as a criminal matter, even with large cooperation from the international community. Law enforcement and intelligence has to be perfect or blood flows. That is the reason why such a strategy must be coupled with something more. Currently, that something more is trying to provide an alternative to the radical culture by building a viable, democratic Iraq. If that fails, the alternative strategy may eventually have to be far bloodier.<\/p>\n Italy convicts 2 on terror charges<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n An Italian judge on Wednesday convicted two North Africans of belonging to an extremist cell alleged to have planned attacks in Italy, including one against Milan’s subway.<\/p>\n Judge Silvia Milesi sentenced the defendants — Moroccan Mohamed Rafik and Tunisian Kamel Hamraoui — to up to four years and eight months in prison, a defense lawyer said.<\/p>\n A third suspect, Tunisian Najib Rouass, was sentenced to one year and two months in prison on the lesser charge of inciting violence, while a fourth, Tunisian Romdhane Ben Othmane Khir, was acquitted, said lawyer Ilaria Crema.<\/p>\n All defendants denied the charges, and those convicted are expected to appeal the ruling. Prosecutor Roberto Di Martino described the verdict as a “balanced ruling.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I do sincerely hope that the aim of the ruling was for justice rather than balance.<\/p>\n