Posted by Kevin Bates on October 15, 2002, 2:17 pm Australians vent anger at PM over ties with US after Bali blast "No, Mr Howard, there was nothing indiscriminate about the Bali blast," said a Melbourne doctor in a letter to the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald. "Think about it: why would terrorists want to target Australians? Get the message: we don't want you to suck up to George Bush." "Is it too harsh to argue that the egos of John Howard and (Foreign Minister) Alexander Downer and their desperate desire to be taken seriously on the world stage are responsible for the deaths of so many Australians in this weekend's Bali bombings?" asked Ken Webb in the Daily Telegraph. "Messrs Howard, Downer and (Defence Minister Robert) Hill must be very proud of themselves. They have finally managed to talk Australia on to the world stage," said another author. The frustration began on Monday as details of the horrific injuries suffered by young Australians at the Sari nightclub late on Saturday began to emerge and as the nation's death toll climbed to at least 20 with 160 missing and feared dead. "Perhaps our strutting PM will tiptoe now", ran the headline on the letters page of the Sydney Morning Herald. "Stop making us a target," said one reader. "He (Howard) has jeopardised Australia's security, using shameless fear-mongering to win an election and gain popularity," wrote another. The issue was also the focus of discussions on talk radio, a popular forum for public debate in the country, with a general theme being "just leave them (terrorists) alone". Mr Howard on Tuesday strongly rejected the criticism. "I would say to those people that they are wrong," he said. "Terrorists murdered Australians in Bali, nobody else. They had no right, no justification, no possible moral explanation for what they did." He was supported by a writer in the Daily Telegraph, who said blaming Howard was an "outrageous slur upon the record of one of Australia's most popular and patriotic prime ministers".
Interesting perspectives on radio and in the papers about the possible genesis of the bombing in Bali. Here is a piece from today's ABC website - I wonder what you think.
Australians vented frustration at their Government in letters to newspapers on Tuesday, blaming Prime Minister John Howard's close relationship with the United States for making their country a target for the bombing in Bali.
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