Jay of Melbourne, agree, a storm in a teacup again, still it makes Abbott look good again in the eyes of the gullible, let's have him return to the budget he created, but then the war machine is more his Christian forte, that is killing ordinary people somewhere in the world. When are we ever going to get the truth from Government and the media, how many stooges do we have overseas ringing someone whose views may be suspect? There are thousands of suspect viewpoints on a daily basis, Asio and the police Weill be exceedingly busy. David G couldn't agree more, get rid of stupid religions that seem to create stupid people with their stupid beliefs and that goes for all of them.

Well said Lego!
You put that far better than I did, onya!
I think there's still a little of the sixties floating around, "Love will solve everything" etc, I'd really like to see these "people" sit down with ISIS for a rousing rendition of Kumbayah around the campfire, I'm sure they'd immediately see the error of their ways and throw their guns away in apologetic shame! Yeah, ri-i-i-i-ight!
C'mon all you luvey lefties, get a peace delegation together and go tell ISIS you "feel their pain", that you love them as brothers, that it's all the Wests fault and you're sorry about that, want to bet what THEIR reaction will be?
You'll soon be feeling positively "light-headed", I'm sure!

Hi James O'Neill.

I am one of the "shining ignoramouses who infect OLO", and I am proud of it

I see that you are another one who wants to blame the USA for everything that went wrong with the Islamic world, instead of focussing on why every Muslim country on Earth is an economic basket case unless it is either floating on an ocean of oil, or has a bunch or Chinese running the economy. A little hint might come from the self evident fact that the more Islamic a society is, the more of a social and economic craphole it is.

The USA supported the Afghans when they were invaded by the USSR. My own take is that it was entirely the correct thing to do. Especially since the Afghan debacle was directly related to the breakup of the USSR, and the freeing of hundreds of millions of east Europeans. As a westerner, I would have thought that the Afghans would be grateful for that and consider the USA as their protectors. But these people are Muslims and virtues like gratitude apparently don't have much meaning for them. I don't see where Muslim ingratitude is the USA 's fault.

The attack on Afghanistan was directly related to the 9/11 incident in which the Taliban was an active participant. What did you expect the world's greatest military might to do, sit on their hands and cry, then do nothing? That late unlamented ABC journo Richard Carlton confidently predicted that it was "impossible" for the USA to invade Afghanistan, and like most lefties, he got it wrong. It was not a US affair, it was a NATO and SEATO affair where America's allies clearly recognised that the USA had been attacked and they had treaty obligations to uphold. And that even included former Warsaw Pact nations like Poland and Czechoslovakia, where fashionable western leftist anti American views are seen as absolute insanity. For these nations who lived under the USSR heel, the USA was always their only hope.

James,

From your arguments, you appear to oppose any resistance to the most reactionary force in the world today. What is anybody supposed to conclude from that ?

Joe

So far:

THOSE WRONG - G'dayBruce, Loudmouth, ozzie, Cody, rehctub, SILLER, Hasbeen, ConservativeHippie,

EITHER WAY - David G, Shadow Minister, Big Nana, Rhrosty

RIGHT-ON Jay Of Melbourne, Daffy Duck, Ojnab, halduell and quite a bit James O'Neill.

Number of police + ASIO in the Sydney and Bris raids yesterday: 1,000+

Number of “terrorists” imprisoned following yesterdays raids: 1 (only 1)

Numbers of Australians in Middle East by this time next week 1,100 due to:

- 400 new RAAF in addition to 450 who have been there for more than a year

- 200 new SAS in addition to the 50 already there.

Again and again a reminder - Be alert not alarmed. Call the hot line if you see anyone, even if they are white and dressed as the new Archbishop of Sydney, doing suspicious things.

Instead of Invasion of Iraq then Syria how about:

- Making sure Bali and Jakarta are not asleep at the counter-terrorist wheel again.

- our direct support for a more inclusive (Sunni and Shiite and Kurdish) government in Baghdad.

- cutting the flow of financing to ISIL from oil rich Gulf States.

- applying pressure on Turkey to close the border to flows of foreign fighters.

- active support to regional actors to starve ISIL of weapons and funds.

Thanks, Plantagenet,

"Instead of Invasion of Iraq then Syria how about:

- Making sure Bali and Jakarta are not asleep at the counter-terrorist wheel again.

- our direct support for a more inclusive (Sunni and Shiite and Kurdish) government in Baghdad.

- cutting the flow of financing to ISIL from oil rich Gulf States.

- applying pressure on Turkey to close the border to flows of foreign fighters.

- active support to regional actors to starve ISIL of weapons and funds."

Thanks for advising our government how to suck eggs. What, in that list, has our government neglected, as much as would be in its power to do ? AS WELL AS to advise us all to stay alert, not alarmed (Abbott, today); to undertake to send humanitarian aid; and to make a quite proper military contribution. What else is on your wish-list ?

Whether Australia's contribution is open-ended depends very much on whether ISIS can be beaten back. If the piss-weak Saudis et al. do nothing, and if the arm of the US et al. is tied behind its back by not being able, politically, to launch attacks on ISIS in Syria, it's unknowable how of this will turn out in the near future, let alone the more distant future. And this, being ideological, not just military, will go on for a hell of a long time yet. I don't expect an end in my lifetime.

Which is even more reason, not less, why the US and a coalition, including Australia, has to get involved quickly NOW, to prevent the dispute getting any wider, and to cripple ISIS in Iraq. The Greens' kindergarten kids don't have the wits to realise the dangers of letting ISIS get to Baghdad and to the Iranian border, or to be able to push back the Kurds. Or to grasp the complexity of the issues hampering the efforts of the US in combatting the most reactionary force in the world today.

Joe