Why?

[A_Wanderer]

What the bloody hell could Australian have done to deserve this possible fate?

Plane plotter 'met al-Qaeda chief here'

A MAN jailed in India for plotting to fly a plane into Australia's tallest office tower claims to have met an al-Qaeda "chief" based in Melbourne.

Mohammed Abdul Afroz Razzak, who lived in Melbourne in 1997, was jailed last Friday for seven years for "committing depredation on territories at peace with India".

The Mumbai court heard that, between 1997 and 2001, Afroz, along with two other men, planned to hijack passenger planes and crash them into Melbourne's Rialto Towers, the Indian parliament and the House of Commons in London. Excerpts of Afroz's confession, tabled in court documents and run by Indian media outlets, name Mansoor Iliyaz as an al-Qaeda chief based in Australia.

"I met with Mansoor Iliyaz, al-Qaeda chief in Melbourne, Australia," Afroz is reported to have told authorities.

Iliyaz is believed to be linked with a mosque in Melbourne's western suburbs. Attempts to contact him were unsuccessful.

Afroz was initially arrested by Indian authorities in December 2001 in relation to a series of burglaries.

During questioning, Afroz confessed to being an al-Qaeda member and claimed to be involved in plans to hijack planes and attack the landmarks, attacks that were called off after September 11.

A spokeswoman for Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said claims made by Afroz had been fully investigated by Australian authorities.

"The claim that he met with an al-Qaeda chief in Melbourne, along with a number of other claims made by Mr Afroz, were thoroughly investigated at the time and Australian authorities were satisfied there was basis to them," the spokeswoman said.

Afroz lived in the Melbourne suburb of Hampton in 1997 while he took flying lessons at Moorabbin airport. Afroz also took flight training courses in the US and Britain.

His former landlord, Gaynor Brunner, said yesterday that Afroz was shy and spent hours crying in his room.

"He was a bit wussy. He was always either crying or speaking to his mother on the phone," she said. "He only stayed for six months so I didn't get the chance to know him all that well."

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Why? What possible reason is there for terrorists to be plotting attacks against Australia between 1997 and 2001? What did we do to justify that sort of action?

Parts of his story have been questioned by Australian authorities but it is not contested that he underwent flight training in 1997 at Morabbin airport.

Was it because the man was pre-emptively radicalised by our future invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan? or the just over the horizon stealing of East Timor from Indonesia?

Was it Australia's support for the Saudi royal family and pumping of money to prop up the regime? Selling weapon systems to the Israelis? Backing the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan and then leaving the mess? Was it because of the PNAC? Troops in Saudi Arabia? Indifference to Muslim suffering? Islamophobia? Racism and sexism? White male dominated professions? Not giving enough money in foreign aid? Too close to the United States? Being a secular democracy? Pluralism?

Any good ideas and/or motivations for such an attack. I mean people step up to the plate on Iraq and Afghanistan and attribute every attack since 9/11 too those actions but comeon, massive attack against a middle power in the world. Not particularly oppresive to Muslims around the globe. I am looking for some decent reasons here, some real root causes that people had in spades after 9.11 or pretty much any attack against Israelis.

 

[verte76]

With kooks like this you never know if they're pissed off at someone for letting women vote.

 

[melon]

Why? What possible reason is there for terrorists to be plotting attacks against Australia between 1997 and 2001? What did we do to justify that sort of action?

Take a look at it from a different angle.

From the Western cowboy POV, what's the difference between Libya, Iraq, and Iran? Nothing. They're nothing but three countries with evil brown people.

Likewise, to a terrorist, what's the difference between the U.S., U.K., and Australia? Nothing. They're nothing but three countries with evil white people.

Melon

 

[MadelynIris]

Right, but I think A was getting at the whole 'Iraq' as motiviation to terrorize thing....

And Melon, you are right. It's not about Iraq, it's about the west (and allies) and their 'godless ways'.

He who crashes the biggest plane into the biggest building and kills the most people, wins.

Where's FinanceGuy on this one?