Julia Gillard

Miscellaneous comments from 18 March 2013

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Australian PM Gillard claims participation in war necessary to prevent Afghanistan again being used to launch terror

See also: with links to my to the and the concerning from which the submission is linked.

 

... we need to continue the fight against terrorism and particularly to deny Afghanistan as a place for terrorists to train.

What we know is that al Qaeda was facilitated for training in Afghanistan, that’s well known, we’ve seen the consequences of that training, tragically in violent incidents in our world that have taken thousands of lives, including the lives of Australians. So we are there on the same mission of strategic denial. 

 

...

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said that Australia would be asking questions today. What are the compelling answers that you have for them for staying the course?

PM: Well, the same answer I gave you last week is the same answer I would give today – in the hardest of circumstances, we need to be determined to stay the course in Afghanistan.

We’re in Afghanistan because we don’t want it to be a safe haven for terrorists. It has been in the past, and if we left a security vacuum in Afghanistan it would be filled by terrorist groups from around the world. We’ve seen that happen in the past. We would see it happen again.

In order to ensure that Afghanistan doesn’t become a safe haven for terrorists, we need to see the mission through. 

 

...

Bin Laden waged war on innocent civilians. Under his command, al Qaeda planned and executed the 11 September 2001 attacks in New York and Washington in which nearly 3,000 innocent civilians were murdered.

Bin Laden’s al Qaeda also conducted, inspired or had links to numerous other terrorist atrocities in which Australians were killed and wounded.

Today, above all, we remember those who lost their lives in these attacks. These include:

  • 10 Australians on 11 September 2001
  • 88 Australians in Bali on 12 October 2002
  • 1 Australian in London on 7 July 2005
  • 4 Australians in Bali on 1 October 2005
  • 2 Australians in Mumbai on 26-29 November 2008
  • 3 Australians in Jakarta on 17 July 2009
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