The War on Terror /Central Asia/Mid East/Africa thread

[bada]

[Birds in Hell]

ISIS in Sydney

A tragic outcome to a truly terrible day.

[E.H. Ruddock]

[Sgt. Crackpot]

Such a shitty outcome. They had a clear view of the guy, if only they could've sniped him yesterday.

[Birds in Hell]

Indeed, I expect there will be much discussion of how it could have been handled differently. Hindsight is, of course, 20/20. Undoubtedly a great job by law enforcement in very difficult circumstances regardless.

[ridleybradout]

Very proud of our law enforcement and the people of the city too for the way they handled this. Wish I could say the same for the Daily Terrorgraph:

http://www.pedestrian.tv/news/arts-and- ... 9734b3.htm



They were so quick to assume it was an ISIS flag and portray this as 'Australia's 911' when it was actually a random psychopath with a grudge acting on behalf of no one but himself.

The irony of actions like this that seek to cause division in our society is that they are actually resulting in improved racial relations here and solidarity with Australian Muslims.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-15/i ... ge/5969102

[surfndestroy]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-15/i ... ge/5969102

I that the #illridewithyou thing was pretty cool. Somehow some people are always at their best when others are at their worst.

[Birds in Hell]

At the risk of being a contrarian, I think the #illridewithyou hashtag campaign was a further regrettable aspect of yesterday. While I'm sure there was a great deal of good intention at work, it strikes me at both somewhat patronising and an exercise in shallow narcissism at a time when innocent lives were quite literally in the balance. An armed, crazed Islamist gunman is holding hostages and people are taking to their Twitter and Facebook accounts, bursting to position themselves against what they imagine is a boorish, racist Australian populace. Terrible stuff.

The Daily Tele front page yesterday was very poor, as was Murdoch's Tweet in the early hours of this morning (and, this coming from me, someone who has absolutely no time whatsoever for hollow Murdoch bashing):

Much terribleness amongst a very real human tragedy.

[ridleybradout]

I see where you're coming from Spenno - the hashtag thing was a bit cringe-worthy but I think anything that makes passive racism less socially acceptable has got to be a good thing (even if mostly preaching to the converted).

That Murdoch tweet is bordering on self-parody.

[Birds in Hell]

I think anything that makes passive racism less socially acceptable has got to be a good thing (even if mostly preaching to the converted).

Agreed, however tying it to this event while it was still playing out struck me as opportunistic and crass.

Oh guys, this has made me tremendously sad.

The Herald Sun reports Tori Johnson, the cafe manager, died trying to wrestle the gun from Monis, allowing most of the other hostages to flee, while Katrina Dawson died shielding her pregnant friend; such immense bravery in the circumstances.

[ridleybradout]

The Herald Sun reports Tori Johnson, the cafe manager, died trying to wrestle the gun from Monis, allowing most of the other hostages to flee, while Katrina Dawson died shielding her pregnant friend; such immense bravery in the circumstances.

Utterly heartbreaking - so courageous after 16 hours of torment.

[Birds in Hell]

I've just learned that my brother, who was at work only a block or two away throughout, and sister-in-law know both Katrina and her husband quite well.

Simply awful.

[dimejinky99]

Shocking stuff...Murdoch and Abbott's christmas came early..

[malice]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/alanwhite/austr ... ?bftw=main

Australians Offer To Travel With People In Religious Attire By Tweeting #IllRideWithYou
The terrible events in Sydney, where Martin Place was locked down after an armed man took hostages, have sparked a heartwarming reaction on social media.

posted on Dec. 15, 2014, at 4:37 a.m.

[Birds in Hell]

Shocking stuff...Murdoch and Abbott's christmas came early..

Don't be a dickhead, dime.

This is a legitimately terrible event and I'm sure Tony Abbott is as shocked and saddened as anyone else in Australia is today.

If I'm being charitable to Murdoch I'd consider it a very poorly considered Tweet in which he attempted to express pride in the job done by the editorial team at one of his papers without any intention of trivialising the circumstances themselves. It was at least a very serious error of judgement.

[ridleybradout]

I've just learned that my brother, who was at work only a block or two away throughout, and sister-in-law know both Katrina and her husband quite well.

Simply awful.

Terrible news - sounds like she was a quality human being.

[dimejinky99]

Was just quoting an Aussie pal who happens to be staying with me tonight, Spenn. I'm horrified too, but this is exactly the kind of incident they'd both use in their own agendas.

[Birds in Hell]

Was just quoting an Aussie pal who happens to be staying with me tonight, Spenn. I'm horrified too, but this is exactly the kind of incident they'd both use in their own agendas.

Look, I hardly think this is an argument worth having - suffice to say I don't believe that's a position with any great deal of merit.

[McParadigm]

I sincerely love your entire country for the fact that this incident has had more public emotional response than just a brief headline on HuffPo/Drudge and a segment that gets rushed by before CNNs already-scheduled When Cell Phones Attack expose, which is all we would give it if it happened in a US city.

[LetMeSleep]

I was on rolling news all day yesterday and it was clear that this guy was known to the police and was dangerous. It's truly shocking to read his rap sheet, knowing that he was on bail.

As for the twitter campaign. At first I thought it was typical social media crap until I heard the stories of women being yelled at by random people. This is no different to any other bullying situation and the banding together through that campaign was quite welcome. Around the time of the Cronulla incident, my wife had some comments that were appalling. This was in the centre of Sydney. So idiots exist and as a community it's important to say no to certain behaviour.