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Howard accused of failing to warn travellers of danger on their doorstep

By Raymond Whitaker
16 October 2002

As the number of confirmed Australian victims of the Bali bombing climbed to 30 – seven more than the number killed in the 11 September attacks – John Howard's government was accused of failing to warn the country of the danger on its doorstep.

Last month the US ambassador to Canberra, Thomas Schieffer, questioned whether Australians had come to grips with the fact an attack could happen in their backyard.

Yesterday the Prime Minister denied receiving intelligence from the US warning of a possible threat to an Indonesian tourist area. Mr Howard said: "We had no warning of the specific attack that occurred. There have been general warnings about the deteriorating security position and the deteriorating terrorist position in Indonesia." He admitted that the risk appeared greater since the attack on Saturday.

For several months the Foreign Ministry has been warning Australian travellers to avoid large gatherings and to exercise caution in Indonesia, but it never gave advice specific to Bali, the most popular destination. "I thought the consular warning was strong, quite strong," Mr Howard said.

Critics accused the government of being too soft in its warnings to avoid offending Jakarta and putting further strain on a historically testy relationship with Indonesia.

As flags flew at half-mast and churches planned memorial services for the country's own "11 September", security was increased around Australia's only nuclear reactor, the Lucas Heights research facility in Sydney, as well as power stations, gas and water plants, schools and places of worship. At Red Cross blood banks, people queued up to donate blood.

The Sydney Morning Herald demanded the authorities "call the butchers of Bali to account". But one of the newspaper's readers said in a letter: "Stop making us a target", arguing that the government's uncritical support for the war on terror put Australians at risk.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/australasia/story.jsp?story=343021

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• ハワード政権、豪で批判轟々［Independent］↑タイトル間違い 通りすがり 2002/10/17 19:46:15 (0)

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