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| Southeast Asia |
| Australia’s Howard unveils spy campaign |
| 2002-12-27 |
| Islam Online/Agencies Australian Prime Minister John Howard unveiled Friday, December 27, a controversial government advertising campaign informing the public how to spot and report on who they think are terror suspects. Howard said the campaign ‘Look Out for Australia’ urged people to report suspicious behavior that was "clearly out of phase, out of sync" to a telephone hotline, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP). The sense behind that seems remarkably common... But he was quick to dismiss criticism of undercover work by saying, "I don't think Australians are going to be amateur spies." "I mean, it's not like most of us are nitwits or something..." Opposition Leader Simon Crean said he had no problem with an anti-terrorist information campaign, but he criticized the government for failing to consult the community about the content of the advertisements. "We are concerned that the ads should be informative and don't seek to in any way politicize or add to community fears about terrorism," he said, quoted by AFP. Critics of the unprecedented campaign have warned it must avoid whipping up public hysteria and racial stereotyping, with Muslim groups expressing strong reservations about the plan, AFP added. "Though, I'll admit, some of us are." They said that since the October 12 Bali car bombing, which killed about 190 people, almost half of them Australian, racist attacks on Muslims in Australia had increased. That's good quantitative analysis. With a percentage rise like the one cited, you can see that... Oh. There isn't one. No doubt the incidence of making faces and smartass remarks has gone up, though. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #1 "With a percentage rise like the one cited..." Not taking the chance someone would look further, Like when US stats were cited as showing a 400% increase - from 60 to 240, wasn't it? And fewer violent: faces and remarks. But Howard should have learned from our discarded Operation TIPs. There are places to report suspicious things already, why start up another agen$$y - oh. |
| Posted by: John Anderson 2002-12-28 05:18:26 |