Saturday, September 16, 2006

[Australia] Keelty: terrorism not fault of Muslims / The Australian, 16 Sep 2006

http://digbig.com/4mxpx
George Megalogenis
"FEDERAL police commissioner Mick Keelty has urged people to back off Muslims, insisting Islamic Australia is not to blame for terrorism. Mr Keelty said racial profiling was self-defeating because it risked alienating mainstream Muslims while ignoring the real danger of homegrown non-Muslim terror. And Mr Keelty said he did not like the phrase "the war on terror", because it did not apply in Australia. "Unless people understand what is happening here, we risk alienating the Islamic community, we risk branding the Islamic community," he said. Mr Keelty made no criticism, direct or implied, of how politicians were conducting the debates on immigration and terror. But his message of inclusion is in contrast to the thrust of federal politics in the past few weeks."