FBI man says US alliance boosts risk

In comments strongly supporting Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty's remarks on Sunday, FBI executive assistant director counter-terrorism John Pistole said Australia was now "absolutely" a target.

"Whether it's Sydney for all of its commercial wealth; or Canberra as a capital city, as a seat of government; or the Gold Coast as a tourism centre - they are clearly seen as targets," Mr Pistole said in an interview with The Australian.

Asked to explain why, he said: "One, because of the alliance with the US and the close association, and two, (Australia) has been perceived, perhaps inaccurately, as a soft target."

Mr Pistole, who is in Australia to attend a counter-terrorism conference in Sydney, also said the Madrid bombings on Thursday that killed 200 people and injured hundreds more "clearly had the hallmarks of al-Qaeda".

"They were designed to make maximum psychological impact and take a large human toll and create carnage," Mr Pistole said. "There will be a number of people who use mass transit, not only in Madrid, but around the world."

It was the fallout from Mr Keelty's weekend remarks linking the Madrid bombings to Spain's involvement with the US-led coalition in Iraq that dominated the terror conference yesterday.

Mr Keelty had told the Nine Network's Sunday program: "The reality is, if this turns out to be Islamic extremists responsible for this bombing in Spain, it's more likely to be linked to the position that Spain and other allies took on issues such as Iraq."

Also endorsing Mr Keelty's remarks - and directly contradicting Prime Minister John Howard - was regional al-Qaeda expert Rohan Gunaratna.

"Certainly, Australia continues to face a certain level of threat," Mr Gunaratna said. "This scale of threat has increased since Australia's high-profile participation in Afghanistan and in Iraq.

"Whether you work actively or not (against terrorism), you are categorised as a crusader country," he said.

NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney, who commands the nation's biggest force, was another to back the national police chief.

Speaking more broadly on Southeast Asian terrorism, Mr Pistole said little had been gleaned about threats against Australia from captured regional terror leader Hambali. During CIA debriefings he had made scant reference to any activity outside of Southeast Asia.

Mr Pistole said it was still being decided whether Hambali would be turned over to his home country, Indonesia, to assist with terrorist prosecutions of alleged Jemaah Islamiah figures. But it was unlikely he would ever be seen in an American, or Australian, court room.

http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,8981106%255E421,00.html

Terror attack on Australia 'likely inevitable': FBI expert

SYDNEY: The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has disputed claims by the Australian government that its support for the US-led war in Iraq has not placed the country at greater risk of terrorist attack.

The FBI's executive assistant director of counter terrorism John Pistole, who is in Sydney to address a counter-terrorism summit, backed warnings by Australian police chiefs that an attack on Australia is more likely because of its alliance with the United States.

Prime Minister John Howard has disputed claims by Federal Police chief Mick Keelty and other experts that, if Islamic extremists were behind the Madrid bombings, it was probably because Spain, like Australia, supported the war in Iraq.

But, asked if Australia's support for the Iraq war made it more of a terrorist target than other Western nations, Pistole told a commercial radio station here: "I think it does, clearly from the perspective of being a good target in Iraq.

"But whether they take the fight to the homeland, for example here in Australia, remains to be seen...

"I would agree with the statement that an attack is likely inevitable."

But he also believed that any Western nation is a target for the Al-Qaeda terrorist network, which has purportedly claimed responsibility for the Madrid bombings in which around 200 people died and 1,500 were injured.

Pistole's statement comes amid warnings that Howard, who is facing an election this year, could suffer the same fate as Spain's conservative government, thrown out in the weekend elections in what appeared a voter backlash over its support for the war in Iraq.

Among those predicting Howard may pay the ultimate political price for supporting Bush is Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at Washington's Cato Institute and a former special assistant to former US president Ronald Reagan.

He said in an article published by The Australian newspaper that other US allies, including Australia's John Howard, might eventually meet the same fate as Spain's prime minister Jose Maria Aznar.

"Alas they are likely to pay the price for Washington's misguided policies that have made brutal murderous terrorism, more, rather than less likely," he said.

Howard told reporters Australia's involvement in the Iraq war would be just one thing voters would take into account at the upcoming election.

But he added: "I don't have any regrets about the attitude that we took in relation to Iraq, it was in my view the right thing to do."

He also rejected suggestions that Australia should change its foreign policy under threat from terrorists.

- AFP

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/75616/1/.html