SEND A PRAYER DOWN UNDER:

Investigators probe Bali bomb blast (BBC, 14 October, 2002)

Many tourists have already opted to leave Bali and now the US State Department has urged all American citizens in Indonesia to leave the country and ordered the departure of non-emergency US Government personnel from there.

Speaking in the Australian parliament on Monday [Prime Minister John] Howard expressed his outrage at the attack.

"In many respects, Mr Speaker, the word 'terrorism' is too antiseptic an expression to describe what happened. It's too technical, it's too formal. What happened was barbaric, brutal, mass murder without justification," he said.

As a mark of respect for the victims Mr Howard suspended the afternoon sitting of parliament and has declared a national day of mourning next Sunday.

The BBC just did a piece on the bombing in which a government minister pretty clearly suggested that it was perpetrated by the United States in order to cast blame on Muslim fundamentalism. The Indonesia expert they were talking to said that this a common enough analysis in the Muslim community. That kind of denial of reality makes you wonder if the government even can take the steps necessary to crack down on what are apparently freely operating terror organizations.
Posted by Orrin Judd at October 14, 2002 6:22 AM