http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/terrorism/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/icb-is-mark-wahlberg-really-hangin-tough/ Welcome to this week’s I Call Bullshit column. In a world full of bunkum, it’s often hard to narrow the field down – but today there is a clear winner. Mark Wahlberg and his funky bunch of bollocks. The brother of a NKOTB member, actor, producer and all round ripped guy told the Men’s Journal he could have totally sorted out those September 11 terrorists. He was meant to be on one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Centre. He told the journal: “If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn’t have went down like it did. There would have been a lot of blood in that first-class cabin and then me saying, ‘OK, we’re going to land somewhere safely, don’t worry.’” piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/icb-is-mark-wahlberg-really-hangin-tough/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/icb-is-mark-wahlberg-really-hangin-tough/#item7564 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 What happened Our biggest wartime horror in a long time. Three diggers and their Afghan interpreter were killed and seven other Aussie troops wounded when an Afghan army ally turned his weapon on them. This was not the first time that an Afghan colleague attacked Australian soldiers this year and nor was it the last. Lance Corporal Andrew Jones was killed by an Afghan soldier as he came out of his base accommodation in May. And just last month three diggers and two Afghans were wounded when an Afghan soldier opened fire from a guard tower with an automatic weapon and grenade launcher. What happened next A serious erosion of trust between Australian troops and their Afghan allies. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/biggest-moments-of-2011-afghans-turn-on-aussies/ What happened Our biggest wartime horror in a long time. Three diggers and their Afghan interpreter were killed and seven other Aussie troops wounded when an Afghan army ally turned his weapon on them. This was not the first time that an Afghan colleague attacked Australian soldiers this year and nor was it the last. Lance Corporal Andrew Jones was killed by an Afghan soldier as he came out of his base accommodation in May. And just last month three diggers and two Afghans were wounded when an Afghan soldier opened fire from a guard tower with an automatic weapon and grenade launcher. What happened next A serious erosion of trust between Australian troops and their Afghan allies. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/biggest-moments-of-2011-afghans-turn-on-aussies/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/biggest-moments-of-2011-afghans-turn-on-aussies/#item7392 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 What happened Our biggest wartime horror in a long time. Three diggers and their Afghan interpreter were killed and seven other Aussie troops wounded when an Afghan army ally turned his weapon on them. This was not the first time that an Afghan colleague attacked Australian soldiers this year and nor was it the last. Lance Corporal Andrew Jones was killed by an Afghan soldier as he came out of his base accommodation in May. And just last month three diggers and two Afghans were wounded when an Afghan soldier opened fire from a guard tower with an automatic weapon and grenade launcher. What happened next A serious erosion of trust between Australian troops and their Afghan allies. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/have-these-terrorists-reformed-umm.-fingers-crossed/ One of the more striking photographs from the sadly crowded files of modern Australian terrorist coverage came in 2005, when 17 men were arrested for plotting the murder of hundreds of civilians in a bombing campaign against major landmarks in Sydney and Melbourne. When the men were rounded up by the Australian Federal Police, two of their wives decided to go public. They said their husbands were just normal Aussies, good blokes going about their business who loved Australia and wished no one any harm. The women were photographed in a normal suburban backyard with a Hills Hoist and a barbecue in the background and were wearing full body-length niqabs, those burqas on steroids, peering through the slots in their medieval outfits to say that they were no different from any other group of Australians. As a public relations exercise this little photo opportunity wasn’t exactly a roaring success. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/have-these-terrorists-reformed-umm.-fingers-crossed/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/have-these-terrorists-reformed-umm.-fingers-crossed/#item7153 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 What happened Our biggest wartime horror in a long time. Three diggers and their Afghan interpreter were killed and seven other Aussie troops wounded when an Afghan army ally turned his weapon on them. This was not the first time that an Afghan colleague attacked Australian soldiers this year and nor was it the last. Lance Corporal Andrew Jones was killed by an Afghan soldier as he came out of his base accommodation in May. And just last month three diggers and two Afghans were wounded when an Afghan soldier opened fire from a guard tower with an automatic weapon and grenade launcher. What happened next A serious erosion of trust between Australian troops and their Afghan allies. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-are-doing-the-right-thing-in-afghanistan/ Three more Australians are dead, and seven injured, in Afghanistan. It’s even more tragic because it appears the killer was an Afghan soldier, a colleague. Follow the news at news.com.au. Nathan Mullins spent time with the Australian Special Forces in Oruzgan, and this is his perspective on the many questions that beset Australia about our role in Afghanistan. What are ‘we’ doing in Afghanistan? People ask me whether we can win the war. That’s not the important question. The question is whether we should be trying to ‘win’ in the first place. But before that the question is: who’s ‘we’? We the Coalition, we the Australian Army, we Australians, or indeed, we the western world? It’s a long way from Melbourne to Afghanistan, both geographically and figuratively, but when I had the chance to fight in the hills and valleys of Uruzgan with the Australian Special Forces, I did it. I needed to know if ‘we’ should be there. When I decided to go I thought I represented the Australian Army. While I was there I realized that the people of Afghanistan feel isolated from the rest of the world. They didn’t see me as an Australian soldier, or an Australian really, they saw me as a citizen of a world that was so foreign to them as to barely exist. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-are-doing-the-right-thing-in-afghanistan/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-are-doing-the-right-thing-in-afghanistan/#item6995 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 What happened Our biggest wartime horror in a long time. Three diggers and their Afghan interpreter were killed and seven other Aussie troops wounded when an Afghan army ally turned his weapon on them. This was not the first time that an Afghan colleague attacked Australian soldiers this year and nor was it the last. Lance Corporal Andrew Jones was killed by an Afghan soldier as he came out of his base accommodation in May. And just last month three diggers and two Afghans were wounded when an Afghan soldier opened fire from a guard tower with an automatic weapon and grenade launcher. What happened next A serious erosion of trust between Australian troops and their Afghan allies. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dancing-on-graves-immoral-even-if-its-gaddafis/ World leaders and of course, many Libyans, have celebrated the death of Colonel Gaddafi. Many suffered under his brutal regime. There is no doubt Gaddafi was a tyrant and the head of a government known for torture and mass killings of dissidents. He was either complicit or directly aware of major human rights abuses happening under his rule. He also took power of a country without the mandate of his people. He was eccentric and unpredictable and many world leaders accepted him and treated him as their equal, yet none truly admired the man. His death was a cathartic moment for many.  But even though he was a mass murderer and rightly despised, his death should not have been treated in the undignified manner that we saw again and again on our screens. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dancing-on-graves-immoral-even-if-its-gaddafis/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dancing-on-graves-immoral-even-if-its-gaddafis/#item6989 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 What happened Our biggest wartime horror in a long time. Three diggers and their Afghan interpreter were killed and seven other Aussie troops wounded when an Afghan army ally turned his weapon on them. This was not the first time that an Afghan colleague attacked Australian soldiers this year and nor was it the last. Lance Corporal Andrew Jones was killed by an Afghan soldier as he came out of his base accommodation in May. And just last month three diggers and two Afghans were wounded when an Afghan soldier opened fire from a guard tower with an automatic weapon and grenade launcher. What happened next A serious erosion of trust between Australian troops and their Afghan allies. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Like-flickering-candles-the-911-babies-symbolise-hope/ The lack of comprehension for the atrocity committed on September 11 is such that it has taken 10 full years for it even to begin to sink in. In many ways, this is the first anniversary of September 11. One woman from the Red Cross, handing out water and tissues down at the Ground Zero memorial, was asked what was different about this anniversary to the others. She said on the first anniversary, she saw so many women wheeling in babies. On this day, a decade on, as the families gathered at the memorial in lower Manhattan, there were no prams or strollers. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Like-flickering-candles-the-911-babies-symbolise-hope/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Like-flickering-candles-the-911-babies-symbolise-hope/#item6694 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 What happened Our biggest wartime horror in a long time. Three diggers and their Afghan interpreter were killed and seven other Aussie troops wounded when an Afghan army ally turned his weapon on them. This was not the first time that an Afghan colleague attacked Australian soldiers this year and nor was it the last. Lance Corporal Andrew Jones was killed by an Afghan soldier as he came out of his base accommodation in May. And just last month three diggers and two Afghans were wounded when an Afghan soldier opened fire from a guard tower with an automatic weapon and grenade launcher. What happened next A serious erosion of trust between Australian troops and their Afghan allies. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/growing-upin-the-age-of-terror/ Ten years ago to the day, Australians woke up to discover that the world had started to end overnight. At least, that’s how it felt. No one had any idea of what was happening that morning, or why it was happening. Especially the kids. In September 2001 I was 10 years old. That morning I remember rolling out of bed at around 7:30, nothing on my mind but the Milo I was about to have and the game of CrazyBones I was going to play at lunch. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/growing-upin-the-age-of-terror/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/growing-upin-the-age-of-terror/#item6687 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 What happened Our biggest wartime horror in a long time. Three diggers and their Afghan interpreter were killed and seven other Aussie troops wounded when an Afghan army ally turned his weapon on them. This was not the first time that an Afghan colleague attacked Australian soldiers this year and nor was it the last. Lance Corporal Andrew Jones was killed by an Afghan soldier as he came out of his base accommodation in May. And just last month three diggers and two Afghans were wounded when an Afghan soldier opened fire from a guard tower with an automatic weapon and grenade launcher. What happened next A serious erosion of trust between Australian troops and their Afghan allies. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/osamas-death-took-me-back-to-ground-zero/ Nathan Edwards was the first Australian photographer at Ground Zero on September 11. He wrote this piece for The Punch when Osama bin Laden was killed. For the past six months I’ve been sifting through hundreds of photographs that captured the anonymous heroes of September 11. I’ve spent countless hours tracking down those New York firefighters who put their lives on the line as the ten year anniversary looms. But it wasn’t until the news that Bin Laden had been killed - a decade later - that I had flashbacks to the day that changed the world. I was the only Australian photographer at Ground Zero capturing the horror around me. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/osamas-death-took-me-back-to-ground-zero/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/osamas-death-took-me-back-to-ground-zero/#item5796 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 What happened Our biggest wartime horror in a long time. Three diggers and their Afghan interpreter were killed and seven other Aussie troops wounded when an Afghan army ally turned his weapon on them. This was not the first time that an Afghan colleague attacked Australian soldiers this year and nor was it the last. Lance Corporal Andrew Jones was killed by an Afghan soldier as he came out of his base accommodation in May. And just last month three diggers and two Afghans were wounded when an Afghan soldier opened fire from a guard tower with an automatic weapon and grenade launcher. What happened next A serious erosion of trust between Australian troops and their Afghan allies. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/i-was-there-when-planes-hit-the-towers/ There are many things I remember about 11 September 2001. Like almost all New Yorkers on that day, I remember the crisp fresh air and the blue sky unbroken by clouds. I remember going to work, thinking about the busy day I had ahead of me. For me, that day was just another day. Another day at work as a human rights activist.  And then the first plane streaked across New York’s crisp blue sky, flying too near, too low, too fast and too loud. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/i-was-there-when-planes-hit-the-towers/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/i-was-there-when-planes-hit-the-towers/#item6679 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 What happened Our biggest wartime horror in a long time. Three diggers and their Afghan interpreter were killed and seven other Aussie troops wounded when an Afghan army ally turned his weapon on them. This was not the first time that an Afghan colleague attacked Australian soldiers this year and nor was it the last. Lance Corporal Andrew Jones was killed by an Afghan soldier as he came out of his base accommodation in May. And just last month three diggers and two Afghans were wounded when an Afghan soldier opened fire from a guard tower with an automatic weapon and grenade launcher. What happened next A serious erosion of trust between Australian troops and their Afghan allies. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-day-that-changed-everything/ It’s a pretty reasonable guess that, over the coming week, we’re going to hear a LOT more about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Ten years on from that awful event, the media will hammer us remorselessly with commemorative newspaper liftouts and TV specials, and we’ll quickly tire of emotionally-loaded words like “courage”, “tragic” and “heroism” being used ad nauseam. At times, it will seem like a collective remembrance of tragedy almost completely disproportionate in scale to the nearly three thousand lives lost on that day. (Which, to put that number in perspective, is one fifth of the number of people that died in March this year as a result of Japan’s earthquake and tsunami.) piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-day-that-changed-everything/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-day-that-changed-everything/#item6638 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 What happened Our biggest wartime horror in a long time. Three diggers and their Afghan interpreter were killed and seven other Aussie troops wounded when an Afghan army ally turned his weapon on them. This was not the first time that an Afghan colleague attacked Australian soldiers this year and nor was it the last. Lance Corporal Andrew Jones was killed by an Afghan soldier as he came out of his base accommodation in May. And just last month three diggers and two Afghans were wounded when an Afghan soldier opened fire from a guard tower with an automatic weapon and grenade launcher. What happened next A serious erosion of trust between Australian troops and their Afghan allies.