Islamic State recruitment in Australia

[Rodney Mills]

The following is an in depth report on I.S. successful recruitment in Oz. 3/22/15 My News. I have pasted it in full as I was unable to obtain a link. Rodney



CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A nightclub bouncer who reportedly became a terror group leader. A man who tweeted a photo of his young son clutching a severed head. A teenager who is believed to have turned suicide bomber, and others suspected of attempting to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State movement. All of them, Australian.
The London-based International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence reports that between 100 and 250 Australians have joined Sunni militants in Iraq and Syria. Given Australia's vast distance from the region and its population of just 24 million, it is a remarkable number. The center estimates that about 100 fighters came from the United States, which has more than 13 times as many people as Australia.

Experts disagree about why Islamic State has been so effective recruiting in Australia, which is widely regarded as a multicultural success story, with an economy in an enviable 24th year of continuous growth.

Possible explanations include that some Australian ******s are poorly integrated with the rest of the country, and that Islamic State recruiters have given Australia particular attention. In addition, the Australian government failed to keep tabs on some citizens who had been radicalized, and moderate ******s have been put off by some of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's comments about their community.

Greg Barton, a global terrorism expert at Monash University in Melbourne, said Australia and some other countries underestimated Islamic State's "pull factor."

"We're all coming to terms with the fact that this is a formidable targeter and predatory recruiter that goes after individuals one by one with a very masterful use of technology, and our sense of confidence that because we've got society working well makes us secure misses the point," Barton said.

******s make up about 2.2 percent of the population in Australia, compared to just 1 percent in the United States. And while many U.S. ******s are from families who migrated in pursuit of the American economic dream, a larger proportion of Australian ******s are from families who fled Lebanon's civil war in the 1970s and '80s.

Australian ******s of Lebanese origin are largely based in Sydney, the country's biggest city. They have been less successful in integrating into Australian society than many other groups, and the first Australian-born generation of these migrant families has been overrepresented in terrorism offenses and general street crime.

Mohammad Ali Baryalei, an ethnic Lebanese who reportedly became a high-ranking member of Islamic State's operational command, was formerly a Sydney nightclub bouncer and bit-part television actor. Australian security agencies suspect he single-handedly recruited dozens of Australians and helped them enter Syria.

Once a Sydney street preacher with the ****** group Street Dawah, Baryalei was reportedly killed in battle in Syria last fall at age 33. The Australian government has yet to confirm his death.

Baryalei is accused in court documents of inciting from afar Islamic State sympathizers in Sydney to brutally slay a randomly selected victim. Security services recorded a telephone conversation between him and Omarjan Azari, who is awaiting trial on charges that include preparing to commit a terrorist act.

"What you guys need to do is pick any random unbeliever," Baryalei allegedly told Azari, according to court testimony. "Backpacker, tourist, American, French or British, even better."

Sydney-born Khaled Sharrouf, also ethnic Lebanese, horrified millions last year by posting on his Twitter account a photo of his 7-year-old son clutching the severed head of a Syrian soldier. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry described the image as "one of the most disturbing, stomach-turning, grotesque photographs ever displayed."

Sharrouf's appearance on the Syrian battlefield highlighted a flaw in Australia's defenses against Islamic State: lax border security. Sharrouf had served a prison sentence in Australia for planning a foiled terrorist attack and had been banned from leaving the country, but used his brother's passport to leave in 2013.

The Australian government acknowledged there was a problem with a system of airport security that was more focused on who was coming in than on who was leaving. The government announced in August that biometric screening will be rolled out at all Australian international airports as part of 630 million Australian dollars ($500 million) in new spending on intelligence, law enforcement and border protection.

Counterterrorism police units have been attached to major airports to screen passengers. The unit at Sydney Airport was instrumental in recently intercepting two Sydney-born brothers, aged 16 and 17, who were about to fly to Turkey without their parents' knowledge. Authorities suspect the brothers were headed to Syria.

Australia's net still has holes.

Jake Bilardi, an 18-year-old who converted to ***** a few years ago, had avoided Australia's counterterror radar when he left his Melbourne home for Syria in August. After Bilardi's family reported him missing, police found chemicals that could be used to make a bomb at his home. Images of Bilardi armed with a rifle in front of Islamic flags appeared on social media sites later that year.

A picture of a young man resembling Bilardi behind the wheel of a van was posted this month with claims from Islamic State that foreign fighters from Australia and other countries took part in a near-simultaneous attack in Iraq that involved at least 13 suicide car bombs and killed two police officers. The Australian government has yet to confirm Bilardi's death.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has been granted enhanced powers to prevent Australians joining IS and, in some cases, from returning to Australia. She has canceled about 100 passports, including Bilardi's, though he left before his passport was revoked.

Keeping would-be militants from leaving Australia, however, increases the risk that they will wreak havoc at home.

Numan Haider, an 18-year-old ****** Australian of Afghan origin, stabbed two Melbourne police officers and was shot dead in September, a week after his passport had been canceled. He had caught authorities' attention months earlier over what police considered to be troubling behavior, including waving what appeared to be an Islamic State flag at a shopping mall.

Australian authorities were clearly taken by surprise by the growing domestic menace posed by Islamic State followers. Less than a year ago, officials reduced security at Parliament House to cut costs. Since then, security at the seat of national government has been increased to unprecedented levels.

In September, the government raised Australia's terrorist threat level to the second-highest level on a four-tier scale. Police attempting to disrupt terrorist plots have raided scores of homes. Several suspects have been charged and others have been detained without charge under new counterterrorism laws. The nation's main domestic spy agency is juggling more than 400 high-priority counterterrorism investigations — more than double the number a year ago.

But the intensified vigilance was no hindrance to Man Monis, a 50-year-old Iranian-born, self-styled cleric with a long criminal history. In December, Monis took 18 people hostage at a downtown Sydney cafe, forced them to hold up a flag bearing the Islamic declaration of faith against a cafe window and demanded he be delivered a flag of the Islamic State group. Monis and two hostages were killed at the end of a 16-hour siege.

A government review found that Monis had fallen off a terrorist watch list despite repeated warnings to security services from members of the public concerned by his online rants. As a Shiite ******, he was thought an unlikely recruit to Islamic State, a Sunni ****** movement.

As traumatic as the hostage crisis was, it could not be compared to the enormity of the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States. Hass Dellal, executive director of the Australian Multicultural Foundation, which promotes awareness of cultural diversity within Australia, said that history might make Americans more resistant to Islamic State recruiting.

Dellal also said public discussion of issues around radicalization and extremism is more balanced in the United States than in Australia, which effectively banned Middle Eastern ******s from immigrating until the 1970s.

Some ******s have been critical of comments by Prime Minister Abbott, accusing him of driving a wedge between them and the rest of Australia.

"I've often heard Western leaders describe ***** as a religion of peace. I wish more ****** leaders would say that more often, and mean it," Abbott in a speech in February that angered many ******s with its suggestion of duplicity.

Barton, the Monash University expert, said Australia may prove to be not so different from the United States, if Islamic State expands its influence in America.

"It may be a lag effect," Barton said. "It may be in six months' time, the figures are much more comparable."

Cheers, Rodney

[happy daze john in oz]

Rodders, it would appear this has been an ongoing situation for some time now. The part most cannot understand is how these 'children', and that is all some are, get out of the country without the parents knowing? But today saw a somewhat disturbing video of the Moslem community in Belgium, at the current rate they will have total control of the country in 20 years.t

[Captain Kong]

But today saw a somewhat disturbing video of the Moslem community in Belgium, at the current rate they will have total control of the country in 20 years.

Seeing that we are Ruled by Belgium now. will that mean in 20 years time we also will be an is lam ic country with shar iah.
The future is frightening.

Also let all those kids go to IS in the hope they will all be killed and go to their a lah, Do not let them back into our countries. keep them out as they will be trained killers.
Brian

[John Arton]

There was a program on Channel 4 recently hosted by the former head of Tony Blairs Racial Equality Commission, think his name was something like "Ellis".
It was all about how nowadays you cannot target certain groups and say that they are likely to become terrorists or criminal's.
He used widely available figures to disprove all the P.C. brigades theory's regarding labelling and naming certain groups of citizen's and went on to say that Tony Blair's stated vision of a multi-cultural Britain working together for a better Britain, has turned out to be utter tosh and if he had known then when he set up the Commission, what he knows now, he would have changed the whole ethos of that commission.
Try searching for that Channel 4 documentary from around a week or so ago, its a real eye opener.
rgds
JA

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi All.
The young clown who blew himself up came from an atheist family, turned to the so called faith. according to reports Isis thought him a coward having asked him to become a suicide bomber,My belief is that he was drugged before being sent out in that van and blowing himself but no one else up.
Cheers Des

[john sutton]

An Insightful Observation of Tolerance



Jiggs McDonald, NHL Hall of Fame broadcaster speaking in Ontario, says:



"I am truly perplexed that so many of my friends are against another mosque being built in Toronto. I think it should be the goal of every Canadian to be tolerant regardless of their religious beliefs. Thus the mosque should be allowed, in an effort to promote tolerance."



"That is why I also propose that two nightclubs be opened next door to the mosque; thereby promoting tolerance from within the mosque. We could call one of the clubs, which would be gay, "The Turban Cowboy," and the other, a topless bar, would be called "You Mecca Me Hot."



"Next door should be a butcher shop that specializes in pork, and adjacent to that an open-pit barbecue pork restaurant, called “Iraq of Ribs."



“Across the street there could be a lingerie store called "Victoria Keeps Nothing Secret," with sexy mannequins in the window modeling the goods,

and on the other side a liquor store called 'Morehammered'."



"All of this would encourage ******s to demonstrate the tolerance they demand of us.”



"Yes, we should promote tolerance, and you can do your part by passing this on. And if you are not laughing or smiling at this point . . . It is either past your bedtime, or its midnight at the oasis and time to put your camel to bed."

[Rodney Mills]

Today on BBC News.

Up to 50 Australians fighting overseas with terror groups could lose their citizenship under new government rules.

The government will soon introduce legislation allowing it to strip dual citizens fighting in Iraq or Syria of their Australian citizenship.

People working in Australia to support terror groups would also be targeted by the changes.

Concern has been rising since mid-2014 about Australians fighting for the Islamic State militant group.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the legislation, due to come before parliament in June, was "all about combating terrorism".

"We face an increasing threat from those in our midst who would do us harm," Mr Abbott said at a press conference in Canberra on Tuesday.

Conflict zones

He said at least 100 Australians were fighting with terror groups in the Middle East, and as many as half of them had dual citizenship.

Another 150 people in Australia were known to be supporting such groups, while Australia's intelligence agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), was investigating about 400 high-priority terrorist cases.

This could be the most serious national security challenge we face in our life time," Mr Abbott said.

Officials are worried about the effect on domestic security of people returning from conflict zones in the Middle East, as well as of those who support them and their activities.

Australia already has the power to confiscate the passports of people suspected of planning to go and fight overseas. About 100 passports have already been cancelled on national security grounds.

In recent months, there has been a series of raids in Australian cities of people suspected of being involved in terror activities.

Mr Abbott said the government would ensure no-one became stateless and that any decision to strip citizenship from an Australian would be subject to judicial review.

People convicted of terrorism offences, regardless of citizenship, would be jailed.

If they no longer had Australian citizenship, they would likely be deported, he said. But someone could lose their citizenship without being convicted of an offence.

The new laws will be based on overseas models, in particular those in the UK.

"Australia is not acting alone here and we are not ahead of the pack ... We have taken advice from our partners," Mr Abbott said.

The legislation might also hold ramifications for second-generation Australians because the government is looking at whether it would strip them of citizenship if they were entitled to citizenship of another country but did not actually have it.

Rodney

[j.sabourn]

Everything when it comes to infilteration of illegal bodies of people into a country simply boils down to Border Protection, if this is not practised for starters it will be much worse. As for freedom of religious rights, someone should define what religion is. If it is a cover for terrorism then it should be taken off the list of genuine religions. Therefore anyone claiming a belief in Sharia Law is an undesirable. There would be much more protection against such terrorism if the more or less useless lawmakers and tribes of bleeding hearts sat back and let a proper government of doing the job it is expected to do and that is protection of its citizens first last and foremost by whatever means necessary. For starters the building of tall edifices should not be allowed, it is like building the hills for the ants to occupy. JWS...... As for these youngsters going to fight overseas it must seem like a heaven sent opportunity to go and make mayhem have their way with pillage and rape and all in the legality of a religious group. We over the years have had such groups, these were kept under more control and supervision though by proper policing, we would not recognize them now but were our own Teddy boys and Rockers. Youth has always been wayward and susceptible to any dominant leader of a group, they also were called gang leaders. We however had corporal punishment to straighten some of them out, today there is nothing. Gaol time was hard labour, again nothing there. We seem to be more interested in same sex marriages and a persons right to be married in a church, which brings us full circle back to religion which apparently some people cant live without, all religion is fast losing any credibility it once had. JWS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

HI Rod.
A week ago a young Australian woman who converted to the ****** faith has flown to Syria leaving her seven and five year old children behind, she has gone to become a bride of whoever will have her, her family are devastated, her estranged husband hasn't been interviewed, I suspect he left her when she did the stupid thing.
The bloke who took his family over there and photographed his kids holding severed heads now wants to come back to Australia, or at least his wife and kids do, as they are finding that the bad living conditions they have there doesn't agree with them.
I hope the Govt here quickly brings in the cancellation of citizenship for all these idiots we don't want them back.
Cheers Des

[gray_marian]

#8, 'all religion is fast losing any credibility it once had' ........Apart from you know what