"All indications are that he was what he appears to be - a somewhat unstable, opportunistic, self-promoting fake with a dubious history."

What is the relevance of this, Poirot? Are you claiming that, with or without the ISIS imprimatur, Monis would have perpetrated this? He had already taken on the cause as indicated by and his webpage and utterances before and during the siege, converting to Sunni, and demanded an ISIS flag. Are we not to take his own utterances and actions as evidence for his motivations? Why psychoanalyze the truth out of the way? A spade is a spade.

Peaceful Islam is compromised by a holy book that equally supports the actions of ISIS. What we need is a pledge to secularism by the Grand Mufti of Australia that all Muslims here must follow despite what the Quran might say in opposition to it.

This pledge should required of all other religions too. Anyone, from any religion, who works against this pledge by action, or by association, should be punished through laws legislated for the purpose, and to hell if some think that's a slippery slope.

What else do you see as heading off a great division in our society as events such as we have experienced are inevitably repeated to further polarize us? Harmony can not be achieved by avoiding the truth.

'We're discussing the unstable antecedents of the man who took hostages in Martin Place. '

Yep fits your 'progressive' narrative Poirot and you now that.

A .338 Lapua or a .50 BMG rifle would have ignored 11 mm of toughened glass but as has been pointed out Monis gave the impression that he had explosives and he could have been wearing a simple mercury switch that would have ignited an electronic explosive primer as soon as he fell.

The police could not take the risk of an explosion within the confined space of the cafe.

The police had no choice other than to negotiate.

Hold on everybody! It seems you have all forgotten the events in Endeavour Hills some months ago. Not blaming anyone as the ABC have not mentioned it either.
Some little ISIS supporting Afghan scrote sheltered by us as a refugee tried to kill two coppers outside the police station. He stabbed them both before one of them offed him.
So lets stop this rubbish about "Isolated" incident. It is just another one of a string of murder and mayhem.
Lets just help anyone but muslims into our country. Let them stay in muslim Malaysia or Indonesia although of course neither have Centrelink or any propensity to put up with dissidents.
I have no intention of bullying or standing by and seeing anyone else bullied on Public Transport. What about when we are insulted by signs saying "Behead those that insult the prophet", now that is bullying but not a peep from the mongrel media.

THe regressives just can't bring themselves to admit that this man was motivated by his religious beliefs ( same in every country where they have caused havoc and murderered the innocent). Instead he is a lone wolf with mental problems along with numerous other lone wolfs who hate the West. No doubt if it was a man killing a few women the motivation would definetely be the hatred of women rather than mental problems. Progressives are so pig headed with their narratives that they prefer to put inocent lives at risk than face reality. They have created a massive issue with muslim immigration from the middle east and now want to excuse all behaviours.

Thanks SteeleRedux and Is Mise

The information or views you've provided are valuable.

It shows that to raise a question that is a little, but not too off-beat, makes someone correct you with a better answer.

If security agencies/police, NSW Premier and PM suspected that Monis had a bomb in a backpack and a dead man's switch setup then that DID prevent the bright idea of a sniper shooting Monis.

If those that escaped (or were freed) couldn't clarify if Monis had no such switch or bomb then waiting and talking Monis out of it was the only way for police.

After bangs were heard at 2am it would have taken serious guts for the police to storm into the Cafe - not knowing whether a dead man's switch would set off a bomb in the Cafe and kill all.

Has to be said that a nut will take on religious clothing and in that respect IS provides a convenient excuse. Yet drunk drivers kill many more - though taking on the State is severly disruptive and intentionaly a media magnet.