Howard to attend Bali blast service despite new fears<\/p>\n
Mary Longmore, Associated Press, Sydney, Australia<\/p>\n
Australia's prime minister vowed on Sunday to attend a service
\nfor the victims of last year's bombings on the Indonesian resort
\nisland of Bali, despite an attack on a Jakarta hotel this week
\nand warnings of more terrorist violence in the region.<\/p>\n
\"It would send a very bad signal if the Australian prime
\nminister didn't go,\" John Howard told Channel 9 TV. \"It would
\ntake a very big change (in security) ... to stop me going\" to the
\none-year anniversary service for the 202 people, including 88
\nAustralians, killed in the Oct. 12 blasts.<\/p>\n
Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, an Indonesian, was sentenced to death on
\nThursday for his role in the Bali nightclub bombings. Two days
\nbefore he was sentenced, an apparent suicide bomber killed 11
\npeople and injured 146 outside Jakarta's Marriott hotel.<\/p>\n
The United States and Australia have since warned that
\nextremists may be planning more attacks against Western interests
\nin Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Howard said on Sunday that Australia's national airline Qantas
\nis a potential target of terrorists firing heat-seeking missiles
\nfrom the ground.<\/p>\n
Howard said concerns in the United States and Britain about
\npossible terrorist attacks on commercial airlines prompted
\nAustralian authorities to launch intelligence-sharing talks with
\nLondon, focusing on Qantas flights in and out of London's
\nHeathrow airport.<\/p>\n
\"That's one of the things we're constantly in touch with the
\nBritish about,\" Howard said. He didn't disclose further details
\nabout the concerns.<\/p>\n
No one at the airline was immediately available for comment.
\nQantas flies to Heathrow about 20 times a week.<\/p>\n
The United States issued fresh predictions of more terrorist
\nattacks in the Asia-Pacific region following the Marriott blast.
\nHoward has not ruled out the possibility of attacks on Australian
\nsoil.<\/p>\n
Howard said all Western embassies and gathering points in
\nIndonesia were potential targets.<\/p>\n
He said the latest intelligence showed the Marriott blast was
\n\"almost certainly\" carried out by the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI)
\nterror group, and possibly linked to al-Qaeda. Jamaah Islamiyah
\ncopied al-Qaeda tactics and was a \"menace\" to Australia, Howard
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Howard said the Marriott bombing had hit the local Indonesian
\npopulation hardest -- only one victim was foreign.<\/p>\n
\"One of the perverse things is that these things are meant to
\nbe done to 'avenge our Muslim brothers,' yet what they do is kill
\nour Muslim brothers,\" Howard told Channel 9. \"It's a reminder
\nthat terrorism is as much an enemy of Islam as it is of other
\nreligions.\"<\/p>\n
Howard dismissed fears that Amrozi -- who greeted his
\nexecution sentence with apparent jubilation -- would become a
\nmartyr if killed by authorities. He again stressed he would not
\nseek to intervene to keep the sentence from being carried out
\ndespite Australia having no death penalty.<\/p>\n
\"People will think, well that's a bit odd, this man killed 88
\nAustralians and has been sentenced to death and the Australian
\ngovernment is asking that he not be executed,\" Howard said,
\nadding that Amrozi would probably be regarded as a martyr by some
\nwhether he was killed or jailed for life.<\/p>\n
Responding to a report by the Australian Institute of
\nEngineers that Australia was 18 months behind the United States
\nin its counterterrorism security measures, Howard said the risk
\nto Australia \"while real\" was nowhere near as great as that to
\nthe United States.<\/p>\n
He said the report failed to consider the government's new
\nantiterrorism unit, set up to coordinate intelligence and advice.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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