Random public beheading plan thwarted in Sydney

[Velar Fricative]

bigstory.ap.org/article/56314454376943a0b2c9fdbcaed18177/arrests-made-australian-counterterrorism-raids


SYDNEY (AP) — Counterterrorism raids in Sydney on Thursday were sparked by security intelligence that the Islamic State movement was planning a random, violent attack in Australia as a demonstration of its reach, the prime minister said.



Australian police detained 15 people and raided more than a dozen properties across Sydney in the country's largest counterterrorism operation, saying intelligence indicated an attack was being planned on Australian soil.



Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he had been briefed on Wednesday night about the operation that was prompted by information that an Islamic State movement leader in the Middle East was calling on Australian supporters to kill.



Abbott was asked about reports that the people detained were planning to publicly behead a random person in Sydney.



"That's the intelligence we received," he told reporters. "The exhortations — quite direct exhortations — were coming from an Australian who is apparently quite senior in ISIL to networks of support back in Australia to conduct demonstration killings here in this country."



ISIL refers to the al-Qaida splinter group leading Sunni militants in Iraq, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which now calls itself simply Islamic State.



"This is not just suspicion, this is intent and that's why the police and security agencies decided to act in the way they have," he added.



Abbott did not name the Australian.



Police have issued an arrest warrant for a former Sydney nightclub bouncer, Mohammad Ali Baryalei, 33, who is suspected to be Australia's most senior member of the Islamic State group.



About 800 federal and state police officers were involved in the Sydney operation — the largest in Australian history, Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Andrew Colvin said. Police also conducted raids in the eastern cities of Brisbane and Logan.



One of those detained, 22-year-old Omarjan Azari of Sydney, appeared briefly in a Sydney court on Thursday.



Prosecutor Michael Allnutt said Azari was involved in a plan to "gruesomely" execute a randomly selected person — something that was "clearly designed to shock and horrify" the public. That plan involved an "unusual level of fanaticism," he said.



Azari is charged with conspiracy to prepare for a terrorist attack. The potential penalty was not immediately clear.



In court documents, Azari was accused of conspiring with Baryalei and others between May and September of this year to prepare for a terrorist attack. Allnutt said the charge stemmed from the interception of a phone call a couple days ago.



Azari did not apply for bail and did not enter a plea. His next court appearance was set for Nov. 13.



The arrests come just days after the country raised its terror warning to the second-highest level in response to the domestic threat posed by supporters of the Islamic State group.



"Police believe that this group that we have executed this operation on today had the intention and had started to carry out planning to commit violent acts here in Australia," said Colvin, who is also the acting Federal Police Commissioner. "Those violent acts particularly related to random acts against members of the public. So what we saw today and the operation that continues was very much about police disrupting the potential for violence against the Australian community at the earliest possible opportunity."



Police declined to reveal exact details of the attack they believe was being plotted. New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said only that it was to be carried out against a member of the public on the street and was at "a very high level."



"Right now is a time for calm," Scipione said. "We need to let people know that they are safe, and certainly from our perspective, we know that the work this morning will ensure that all of those plans that may have been on foot have been thwarted."



Last week, Australian police arrested two men in Brisbane for allegedly preparing to fight in Syria, recruiting jihadists and raising money for the al-Qaida offshoot group Jabhat al-Nusra, also known as the Nusra Front.



Colvin said the raids conducted in Brisbane on Thursday were a follow-up to that operation. It was not yet clear how the investigations in Sydney and Brisbane were linked, he said.



The government raised its terrorism threat last week from "medium" to "high" on a four-tier scale on the advice of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization. The domestic spy agency's Director-General David Irvine said the threat had been rising over the past year, mainly due to Australians joining the Islamic State movement to fight in Syria and Iraq.



When announcing the elevated threat level, Abbott stressed that there was no information suggesting a terror attack was imminent.



Police said raids were conducted in a dozen suburbs of Sydney and in three suburbs across Brisbane and adjoining Logan. A Muslim book shop and community center in Logan was at the center of counterterrorism raids on several properties last week.



Police said at the time there was no terrorist threat to the Group of 20 leaders' summit to be hosted by Brisbane in November that will bring President Barack Obama and other leaders of the world's 20 biggest economies to the Queensland state capital.



Australia has estimated about 60 of its citizens are fighting for the Islamic State group and the Nusra Front in Iraq and Syria. Another 15 Australian fighters had been killed, including two young suicide bombers.



The government has said it believes about 100 Australians are actively supporting extremist groups from within Australia, recruiting fighters and grooming suicide bomber candidates as well as providing funds and equipment.

[Velar Fricative]

Sept 18, 2014 8:27:05 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

Are there any good plans for stopping these people?  I'm not even interested in a GOP v. Obama Dems competition.  I just mean, WTF do we do about these people?  Ideas?

You and me both, man. I just don't know. I guess I just have to not be in the wrong place at the wrong time, because if you have a lone wolf out there who just wants to behead someone while walking down the street...well, I would imagine shit would happen so fast that they can't be stopped.

[cville]

I get panicky whenever I read about them (and the whole ISIS v. ISIL thing is bothering me; I know, I know, not a direct translation blah blah. But pick an acronym, everyone. Just one.).

Lots of things in the news about political conflict scare me or make me concerned, or just plain freak me out. But two things give me this strange almost claustrophobic feeling: ISIS and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Because it's a zero sum game and I don't think the people on the opposing sides are merely misinformed (which is what I can tell myself about North Korea) or remotely willing to bargain even in self-protection. I literally cannot see any way out of this. Granted, I am in no way an expert on foreign affairs, but it doesn't seem like anyone else knows either.

p.s. if there are other things I should feel this way about too, please don't tell me today.

[Velar Fricative]

Sept 18, 2014 8:52:19 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

Sept 18, 2014 8:30:11 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

You and me both, man. I just don't know. I guess I just have to not be in the wrong place at the wrong time, because if you have a lone wolf out there who just wants to behead someone while walking down the street...well, I would imagine shit would happen so fast that they can't be stopped.

I don't feel like I have a good handle on who these people are or what makes them tick.  Sunni Extremists.  Okay.  They basically want to restore the Ottoman/Persian(?) Empire?  Okay, except the OE wasn't the intolerant, violent, theocracy these folks would make of it.  

Where did they come from?  I think they broke off of AQ, right?  But now even AQ is like, "Man, you guys are too much for us.  You need to let up on the brutality and violence."  And when the folks who flew to jetliners into the twin towers are saying you're too violent, that's saying something.  And then they're almost like an invading force in these countries, so it's not even like we could just bomb a country and get their president/PM to surrender.  It would be like the Allies bombing France to get the Nazis to surrender.  This is crazy.  Where do you even start with this?  Plus, I think Obama doesn't have much choice other than to arm the moderates in Syria (does he?), but you know, this is how we got in to trouble with the Taliban.  Armed and trained them to fight Russia and then thirty years later, oops, they're not our friends anymore.  So fucked up.  I know I'm not coherent.

I'm iffy on the specifics but I don't think they tore away from AQ as much as AQ in Iraq just rebooted themselves after al-Zarqawi was killed in 2006. 

And as proven by our actions against Al Qaeda, we go after ISIS and they'll just regenerate into something else. Frankly, I'm hoping they just obliterate each other and we stay the fuck away, but that's not happening.

[cattledogkisses]

Well this is terrifying.

SBP, I'm having the same thoughts about us arming the Syrian rebels. Because that strategy has never worked out poorly for us before (sarcasm).

[pixy0stix]

I am so staunchly isolationist when it comes to responding to terrorism that it's not even funny. There is *nothing* we can do to fight this. This has been proven over and over and over again. Not only that, but where is our punishment for building the exact right climate for these people to flourish?

[iammalcolmx]

Sept 18, 2014 8:52:19 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

Sept 18, 2014 8:30:11 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

You and me both, man. I just don't know. I guess I just have to not be in the wrong place at the wrong time, because if you have a lone wolf out there who just wants to behead someone while walking down the street...well, I would imagine shit would happen so fast that they can't be stopped.

I don't feel like I have a good handle on who these people are or what makes them tick.  Sunni Extremists.  Okay.  They basically want to restore the Ottoman/Persian(?) Empire?  Okay, except the OE wasn't the intolerant, violent, theocracy these folks would make of it.  

Word. The Ottomans had a bunch of wives and would drink( alcohol) and throw parties.

[josieposy]

Why can't we google analyze these assholes? Google knows everything!

[pixy0stix]

Sept 18, 2014 9:27:39 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

Sept 18, 2014 9:14:38 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I am so staunchly isolationist when it comes to responding to terrorism that it's not even funny. There is *nothing* we can do to fight this. This has been proven over and over and over again. Not only that, but where is our punishment for building the exact right climate for these people to flourish?

I am not isolationist about human rights issues, though.  I feel suffocated sometimes under the weight of the world's suffering.  I just want to cry thinking about all this pain.  We can't stop all of it.  But my God, beheading children who are trapped, starving, and dying of exposure on a fucking mountain in a country we fucked to shit because we wanted a foothold in the middle east for oil related reasons...  I mean, we have a moral obligation THERE.  And what is happening in Syria.  Can't handle that.  I need to know that we tried to do something about that.  Even if it fails.  I didn't listen to the President's address regarding ISIL and I should probably YouTube that, but I feel like our approach to this "new threat" is an attempt to apply old tactics to an entirely new enemy.  What exactly is our strategy?  Is it designed to work?  Or just designed to "subdue"?  It does feel hopeless, but I think part of that is because I simply don't understand all the elements at play.  But I am not isolationist.  So I start from the perspective that we should be trying to do something.

I've long thought that the best way to fight against terrorism isn't to fight it with force, but to fight it from the inside by providing care to the people. Which is difficult when the terrorists intercept the care packages. The main problem is the fluid movement of the terrorist groups and not being able to respond to it with our rigid military structure. I wonder what would happen if we went in on a purely humanitarian basis.

[Velar Fricative]

Sept 18, 2014 9:27:39 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

Sept 18, 2014 9:14:38 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I am so staunchly isolationist when it comes to responding to terrorism that it's not even funny. There is *nothing* we can do to fight this. This has been proven over and over and over again. Not only that, but where is our punishment for building the exact right climate for these people to flourish?

I am not isolationist about human rights issues, though.  I feel suffocated sometimes under the weight of the world's suffering.  I just want to cry thinking about all this pain.  We can't stop all of it.  But my God, beheading children who are trapped, starving, and dying of exposure on a fucking mountain in a country we fucked to shit because we wanted a foothold in the middle east for oil related reasons...  I mean, we have a moral obligation THERE.  And what is happening in Syria.  Can't handle that.  I need to know that we tried to do something about that.  Even if it fails.  I didn't listen to the President's address regarding ISIL and I should probably YouTube that, but I feel like our approach to this "new threat" is an attempt to apply old tactics to an entirely new enemy.  What exactly is our strategy?  Is it designed to work?  Or just designed to "subdue"?  It does feel hopeless, but I think part of that is because I simply don't understand all the elements at play.  But I am not isolationist.  So I start from the perspective that we should be trying to do something.

I was never really isolationist until recently. I do not consider myself isolationist as it relates to human rights atrocities, but man, the Middle East absolutely makes me want us to just to be like, "You're on your own, peeps." I like being consistent across the board in terms of whether I'm interventionist or isolationist, but look at what a mess we (the West) have made in that part of the world since forever. Nothing we've done has made anything better. You can certainly argue that we've gone about solving the Middle East crisis all wrong, but I don't want to keep trying anymore. The definition of insanity and all that.

I want to help all the innocents there but I just don't know what we can do anymore.

[Deleted]

A slight side note but how the fuck are there so many Aussies and Brits just ready to be extremists? I was reading a whole thing on buzzfeed (yes, buzzfeed) about the amount of Western women who have just up and moved to Syria, married some ISIL fighter sight unseen and started having his babies. Then he dies and she married another one.

And then I've seen at least a few references to men who moved to the area and have been involved in beheadings and bringing their children along for the ride.

Some of them aren't of middle eastern decent either. One women is a damned doctor. That one was from Malaysia but the point stands. What the hell is going on?

[pixy0stix]

Sept 18, 2014 9:46:58 GMT -5 @helenabonhamcarter said:

Some of them aren't of middle eastern decent either. One women is a damned doctor. That one was from Malaysia but the point stands. What the hell is going on?

There are a lot of disenfranchised people in the world. Before they would become part of homegrown militant groups, etc. With the internet and widely available world travel, they can find people who share their beliefs a lot easier and move to form bigger groups.

[Deleted]

Sept 18, 2014 9:44:55 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

I think much like Mexico, the best way to fight it would be to basically enfranchise these countries.  So, you'll note countries that are rich as hell aren't having this problem.  United Arab Emirates?  ISIL isn't there is it?  Saudi Arabia?  What are the other countries over there that are oozing money?  Those governments don't want ISIL there because it will fuck up the flow of money.  But you know, we aren't always on the same side as those countries because we need them to be a little bit disorganized and a little bit underdeveloped so we can keep the cost of oil low.  So what would probably REALLY end ISIL is fully empowered somewhat socialist governments that were in control of their country's natural resources...  Maybe? 

Uhm, a lot of the ISIL fighters are from these so called oozing money areas. If Saudi Arabia didn't have a bigger wealth divide than America has a gun problem, I can't help but think ISIL wouldn't have so many fighters drawn to the area in the hopes of creating some kind of caliphate that actually tends to the needs of the people.

Now granted, I understand how twisted that sounds, ISIL fighters wanting equality and a socialismesque community but judging by the social media accounts of the women, that's exactly what they are there for. After they get done killing anyone who doesn't wear the niqab in public and doesn't close the shop for prayers. Apparently, ISIL fighters and their families earn a wage, are provided with free healthcare, food, clothing, and shelter. When they aren't slaughtering children, they're living a somewhat empowered life gathered around a common goal.

I would say that the abject wealth and bullshit in those rich countries is a heavy fucking contributor not just to ISIL but to this brand of terrorism since Bin Laden. It was part of what made the Taliban appealing in Afghanistan, of why Bin Laden left Saudi Arabia.

[Deleted]

Sept 18, 2014 9:50:58 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Sept 18, 2014 9:46:58 GMT -5 @helenabonhamcarter said:

Some of them aren't of middle eastern decent either. One women is a damned doctor. That one was from Malaysia but the point stands. What the hell is going on?

There are a lot of disenfranchised people in the world. Before they would become part of homegrown militant groups, etc. With the internet and widely available world travel, they can find people who share their beliefs a lot easier and move to form bigger groups.

Yes, I realize that. But usually they are attracted to Jim Jones type free love camp outs in the desert that exude warmth and sunshine. Only once you're inside do you realize all the women will be sleeping with the cult leader and your children will never leave.

It's just very strange to me that you would see what these people are doing, the beheadings, the crucifixions, the murder, upfront and right there and say, yeah, I wanna go hang out with THOSE people.

[Velar Fricative]

Let's not forget that Saudi Arabia gave us 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers but we are still BFFs with them*. This shit is just complicated and I want out of there.

*Yes, I know there are more complexities involved here but I'm just saying that while Saudi Arabia may not have a huge ISIS presence, that doesn't mean their citizens aren't partaking in droves. I honestly don't know though.

[Deleted]

I would imagine they probably do attract a large amount of Saudi's foreign workforce. I've read/watched more than a few things detailing how shittily foreign workers are treated in Saudi Arabia and there are a fuckton lot of them. So you leave your village or even the cities of Pakistan, Syria, Afghanistan, etc to find work in Saudi Arabia. Then through a variety of fuck ups and other situations find the grass isn't greener over there, that all the hard work you're putting in to send money back to your family isn't going well.

The marriage between Saudi oil and American money starts to sit really sour when you see how people of your faith are being run roughshod by forces you can't control and suddenly the idea of a space for people like you starts to look awful appealing. From there, it becomes really easy to see the leadership in those countries as being corrupted by Western influences and how they need to go in order for ordinary people like you to have a chance of a decent life. And if they need to die, so be it.

I mean here in America we have it pretty good and we still have fucking nutbars crying about how amazing this country was forty years ago and that people need to turn back to whatever belief system, value set, etc people used to hold back then to make our country great again.

[secretlyevil]

Ok, I really want to go hide under the covers now. Obviously that does no good but fuck!