>Jakarta False Flag:Two Indonesia Blasts Covered with Geopolitical Fingerprints

[UKStewart82]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8155084.stm

Fatal blasts hit Jakarta hotels

At least six people have been killed in two separate explosions at luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, police say.

The country's Metro TV reported that one blast hit the Ritz-Carlton and the other, the Marriott Hotel.

Television footage showed the facade of one of the hotels had been torn off by the blast.

The BBC's Karishma Vaswani, outside the Marriott, said ambulances are present and security is extremely tight.

South Jakarta police Col Firman Bundi said four people who died were foreigners, reported AP.

"There were explosions heard from two separate places, one the JW Marriott, the other in the Ritz Carlton," he said.

"We are still trying to check because right now we are still helping the victims," he said.

Myra Junor, who witnessed the blasts from a nearby building, told Reuters windows on the lower floors of the Ritz-Carlton had shattered.

Ambulances are continuing to arrive on the scene and there is a heavy police presence, says our correspondent.

The two hotels are in Jakarta's central business district.

The explosions come two weeks after presidential elections in Indonesia.



http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Jakarta-Hotel-Bombings-Blasts-Rock-Ritz-Carlton-And-Marriott-Hotels-In-Indonesias-Capital/Article/200907315339830?lpos=World_News_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15339830_Jakarta_Hotel_Bombings%3A_Blasts_Rock_Ritz-Carlton_And_Marriott_Hotels_In_Indonesias_Capital

At least six people, including four foreigners have been killed after bombs exploded in two luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, police have said.

The facade of the Ritz-Carlton hotel was blown off in one blast, while a further explosion hit the neighbouring Marriott hotel just seconds later.

At least three injured people were seen being taken away from the Ritz.

According to one user of web messaging service Twitter, the bombs hit the coffee shops of the two hotels, where business breakfast meetings were taking place.

"Left location. Shocked. Lots of blood," wrote user Daniel Tumiwa.

A picture posted by another user, Andre Siregar, showed the glass front of the Ritz Carlton shattered and strewn on the floor.

Jakarta's Marriott Hotel was badly damaged by a car bomb attack in 2003 that killed 12 people.

That coincided with a period when Islamists militants carried out numerous attacks, including bombings in Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people. Many militants have since been arrested.

[KiwiClare]

I wonder if it will be pinned wrongly on Muslim terrorists, like the Bali bombings were.

Jakarta's Marriott Hotel was badly damaged by a car bomb attack in 2003 that killed 12 people.

That coincided with a period when Islamists militants carried out numerous attacks, including bombings in Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people. Many militants have since been arrested.

It looks like it, doesn't it. The same old bull.

To see some of the truth about the Bali bombings watch this:
Fool Me Twice
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4135706276167925924

[bs]

And of course it was Jemmah Islamia....

All over this ya rats!!

[UKStewart82]

Video of the blast.  Damn.

http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=108135&videoChannel=1

[TheHouseMan]

Alex is already suggesting this is an inside job..

http://www.prisonplanet.com/two-blasts-in-indonesia-covered-with-geopolitical-fingerprints.html

Two Blasts in Indonesia Covered with Geopolitical Fingerprints

Smoke billows from an explosion that went off at J.W. Marriott ...

Jurriaan Maessen
Prison Planet.com
Friday, July 17, 2009

Reuters reports that blasts at the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels in Jakarta killed at least 9 people, as well as injuring at least 50. In addition, Reuters has reported that a car bomb has been detonated at a toll road in North Jakarta not long after- although the Dow Jones news wires report this last explosion was not caused by a bomb but by a pick-up truck, catching fire.

According to eyewitness reports, the blast in both hotels took place just minutes apart, and emanating from within the buildings, pointing to either an attack by suicide bombers- or to the possibility that the explosives were planted there beforehand. Reports by the Straits Times indicate the latter option is the most probable, as an unexploded bomb has been found and defused at the Marriott hotel. In any case, all eyewitness accounts say the blasts clearly occurred from the inside out.

Greg Woolstencroft, chief technical officer at a local television station, was near the scene at the time of the explosions. He told CNN’s Anderson Cooper: “I’ve actually lived at the Ritz-Carlton for 12 months, that hotel has probably got the highest security of any hotel in Indonesia. And I just don’t know how someone could get in there with a bomb, given the level of security, the level of screening people have to go through. I just don’t know how that person got that bomb in.”

“Given the bombing that happened at the Marriott previously”, Woolstencrof added, “you can’t actually drive into the lobby. You’ve got to come through, more effectively at the back of the building to get into the front of the building. And there there’s major metal barriers, the vehicles are searched, there’s armed guards at that checkpoint, once you go up to the lobby there’s metal detectors, your bags are searched before you go through those metal detectors. There’s another area where you go into the basement and the vehicles are checked once again before you go into the basement. So that’s the sort of level of security there is, you know, so I just don’t know how a person would be able to get that bomb in, unless there was some level of cooperation, I don’t know.”

All corporate fingers meanwhile point toward the radical Islamists organisation Jemaah Islamiyah (or ‘Islamic Organisation’) led by wanted terrorist Noordin Mohammed Top, who has been held responsible for the 2003 attacks on the Marriott hotel as well as the Australian embassy in the following year. It’s widely believed that the organization has links with al-Qaeda. Although Clive Williams at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre in Canberra speculated that “The likelihood is that it was Noordin Top’s cell that was responsible” for the recent attacks, a Reuters India report says “some analysts are investigating whether some Jemaah Islamiyah members are rekindling links with jihadists in Pakistan, raising the question of whether the Jakarta bombings were a purely domestic attack or whether they may have been directed or co-ordinated from abroad.”

Among those lucky to be alive, is American business lobbyist James Castle and, interestingly, the director of the huge Freeport-McMoran goldmine in the Indonesian Province of West Papua (owned by Freeport Mc Moran Copper & Gold Inc, operating out of Phoenix, Arizona). Craig Senger, Austrade Commissioner in charge of Mining, was also present when the bombs exploded- reports the Daily Telegraph.

A little extra research reveals something very interesting. In the course of the last couple of weeks before the blasts in Jakarta, a series of deadly ambushes in the vicinity of several Freeport-owned goldmines in Indonesia’s remote province of Papua-New Guinea took place. Although according to the New York Times, Indonesian authorities first blamed separatists in the Free Papua Movement for the attacks, Papuan officials have rejected the possibility, saying “the (Free Papua) movement lacked the kind of sophisticated weapons used in the ambushes.” Indonesian news outlets have meanwhile speculated that “military or police officials, who are paid by Freeport for protection, may have directed the ambushes to secure their business.” According to AFP, the Indonesian defence minister Juwono Sudarsono told reporters that foreign NGOs and governments had a history of backing groups that “agitate” in Papua. When asked which countries he was referring to, Sudarsono stated: “Apparently many neighbouring countries to the South.”- meaning Australia and New Zealand. The Indonesian defence minister also told reporters “he did not believe military or police were involved in the attacks on the US owned goldmines but conceded “rogue elements” from security forces could be responsible.”

A Melbourne born employee of the goldmine, Lukan Biggs, who came under attack in one of the ambushes in the first weeks of July, told the Herald Sun that “The shooting was planned. (It’s) clear they were using weapons belonging to the police or the military.”

What an amazing coincidence that the director of the huge Freeport goldmine was present at the Marriott Hotel when the blasts occurred. The same Freeport, that had been subjected to several ambushes the weeks before, possibly set in motion by foreign governments.

On July 8, Reuters also reported, a bus and security post were set ablaze near the massive Grasberg mine in Papua, run by a unit of Freeport-McMoran. Reuters also reported that the Grasberg mine has “the world’s largest recoverable reserves of copper and the largest gold reserve”. The Asia Times reported that the Indonesian military (TNI) “provides security services to multinational enterprises like the world’s largest goldmine, owned by Freeport Mc Moran.”

The first reports point to the possibility of a false flag event, where the perpetrators both attempted to assassinate the Freeman-McMoran goldmine director, and reinvigorate the war on terror in the same attempt. The presence of the Freeport director at the Marriott Hotel at the time of the blasts could therefore be viewed as the last in a series of attacks on the US owned enterprise (reputedly the largest in the world) and- subsequently- the attacks themselves as a geopolitical false flag attack, killing two birds with one stone.

sources:

http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINSYD21857520090717?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/07/16/indonesia.hotel.explosion/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/SE%2BAsia/Story/STIStory_404410.html

http://www.smh.com.au/world/unexploded-bomb-found-after-jakarta-hotel-bombings-kill-at-least–9-20090717-dnkd.html

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/australian-commissioner-feared-dead-in-bombings/story-e6freuy9-1225751493530

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hhL9mY9lCfGx4ookXgPDQQC9pgOA

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/world/asia/16indo.html

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,27574,25770254-2862,00.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSJAK35252620090708

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/KG09Ae01.html

[donnay]

Alex is already suggesting this is an inside job..

http://www.prisonplanet.com/two-blasts-in-indonesia-covered-with-geopolitical-fingerprints.html

Two Blasts in Indonesia Covered with Geopolitical Fingerprints

Smoke billows from an explosion that went off at J.W. Marriott ...

Jurriaan Maessen
Prison Planet.com
Friday, July 17, 2009

Reuters reports that blasts at the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels in Jakarta killed at least 9 people, as well as injuring at least 50. In addition, Reuters has reported that a car bomb has been detonated at a toll road in North Jakarta not long after- although the Dow Jones news wires report this last explosion was not caused by a bomb but by a pick-up truck, catching fire.

According to eyewitness reports, the blast in both hotels took place just minutes apart, and emanating from within the buildings, pointing to either an attack by suicide bombers- or to the possibility that the explosives were planted there beforehand. Reports by the Straits Times indicate the latter option is the most probable, as an unexploded bomb has been found and defused at the Marriott hotel. In any case, all eyewitness accounts say the blasts clearly occurred from the inside out.

Greg Woolstencroft, chief technical officer at a local television station, was near the scene at the time of the explosions. He told CNN’s Anderson Cooper: “I’ve actually lived at the Ritz-Carlton for 12 months, that hotel has probably got the highest security of any hotel in Indonesia. And I just don’t know how someone could get in there with a bomb, given the level of security, the level of screening people have to go through. I just don’t know how that person got that bomb in.”

“Given the bombing that happened at the Marriott previously”, Woolstencrof added, “you can’t actually drive into the lobby. You’ve got to come through, more effectively at the back of the building to get into the front of the building. And there there’s major metal barriers, the vehicles are searched, there’s armed guards at that checkpoint, once you go up to the lobby there’s metal detectors, your bags are searched before you go through those metal detectors. There’s another area where you go into the basement and the vehicles are checked once again before you go into the basement. So that’s the sort of level of security there is, you know, so I just don’t know how a person would be able to get that bomb in, unless there was some level of cooperation, I don’t know.”

All corporate fingers meanwhile point toward the radical Islamists organisation Jemaah Islamiyah (or ‘Islamic Organisation’) led by wanted terrorist Noordin Mohammed Top, who has been held responsible for the 2003 attacks on the Marriott hotel as well as the Australian embassy in the following year. It’s widely believed that the organization has links with al-Qaeda. Although Clive Williams at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre in Canberra speculated that “The likelihood is that it was Noordin Top’s cell that was responsible” for the recent attacks, a Reuters India report says “some analysts are investigating whether some Jemaah Islamiyah members are rekindling links with jihadists in Pakistan, raising the question of whether the Jakarta bombings were a purely domestic attack or whether they may have been directed or co-ordinated from abroad.”

Among those lucky to be alive, is American business lobbyist James Castle and, interestingly, the director of the huge Freeport-McMoran goldmine in the Indonesian Province of West Papua (owned by Freeport Mc Moran Copper & Gold Inc, operating out of Phoenix, Arizona). Craig Senger, Austrade Commissioner in charge of Mining, was also present when the bombs exploded- reports the Daily Telegraph.

A little extra research reveals something very interesting. In the course of the last couple of weeks before the blasts in Jakarta, a series of deadly ambushes in the vicinity of several Freeport-owned goldmines in Indonesia’s remote province of Papua-New Guinea took place. Although according to the New York Times, Indonesian authorities first blamed separatists in the Free Papua Movement for the attacks, Papuan officials have rejected the possibility, saying “the (Free Papua) movement lacked the kind of sophisticated weapons used in the ambushes.” Indonesian news outlets have meanwhile speculated that “military or police officials, who are paid by Freeport for protection, may have directed the ambushes to secure their business.” According to AFP, the Indonesian defence minister Juwono Sudarsono told reporters that foreign NGOs and governments had a history of backing groups that “agitate” in Papua. When asked which countries he was referring to, Sudarsono stated: “Apparently many neighbouring countries to the South.”- meaning Australia and New Zealand. The Indonesian defence minister also told reporters “he did not believe military or police were involved in the attacks on the US owned goldmines but conceded “rogue elements” from security forces could be responsible.”

A Melbourne born employee of the goldmine, Lukan Biggs, who came under attack in one of the ambushes in the first weeks of July, told the Herald Sun that “The shooting was planned. (It’s) clear they were using weapons belonging to the police or the military.”

What an amazing coincidence that the director of the huge Freeport goldmine was present at the Marriott Hotel when the blasts occurred. The same Freeport, that had been subjected to several ambushes the weeks before, possibly set in motion by foreign governments.

On July 8, Reuters also reported, a bus and security post were set ablaze near the massive Grasberg mine in Papua, run by a unit of Freeport-McMoran. Reuters also reported that the Grasberg mine has “the world’s largest recoverable reserves of copper and the largest gold reserve”. The Asia Times reported that the Indonesian military (TNI) “provides security services to multinational enterprises like the world’s largest goldmine, owned by Freeport Mc Moran.”

The first reports point to the possibility of a false flag event, where the perpetrators both attempted to assassinate the Freeman-McMoran goldmine director, and reinvigorate the war on terror in the same attempt. The presence of the Freeport director at the Marriott Hotel at the time of the blasts could therefore be viewed as the last in a series of attacks on the US owned enterprise (reputedly the largest in the world) and- subsequently- the attacks themselves as a geopolitical false flag attack, killing two birds with one stone.

sources:

http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINSYD21857520090717?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/07/16/indonesia.hotel.explosion/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/SE%2BAsia/Story/STIStory_404410.html

http://www.smh.com.au/world/unexploded-bomb-found-after-jakarta-hotel-bombings-kill-at-least–9-20090717-dnkd.html

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/australian-commissioner-feared-dead-in-bombings/story-e6freuy9-1225751493530

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hhL9mY9lCfGx4ookXgPDQQC9pgOA

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/world/asia/16indo.html

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,27574,25770254-2862,00.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSJAK35252620090708

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/KG09Ae01.html

Excellent article!!!!

[TheHouseMan]

Well, the US bankrupted Indonesia through loans in the 21st century, and used it to destroy their infrastructure.

I guess they're back with a vengeance.

[mr anderson]

And of course it was Jemmah Islamia....

All over this ya rats!!

Of course! Within hours it has the HALLMARKS of JI who allegedly perpetrated the 2002 & 2005 Bali Bombings.  

Bloomberg LIVE Coverage - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzHLmdiBDfw


Australian's fateful business breakfast

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25799085-2702,00.html

AUSTRALIAN businessman Nathan Verity was attending a high-level business breakfast at the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta when he was killed in yesterday's bomb blast. Ominously, his dining companion was Canberra's top trade official in Jakarta, Craig Senger, who has not made contact with relatives since the explosion.

A third Australian, understood to have been a guest at the breakfast, is also missing. The fact that Mr Verity, 38, a West Australian who ran a human resources company in Jakarta, was at the breakfast, arranged by an Indonesian consultancy firm, Castle Asia, was no surprise to those who knew him.

He was passionate about doing business in Indonesia, and about hiring Indonesians, as well as expatriate workers.

He is the father of a young boy. He and wife Vanessa spent regular time in their home state of Western Australia, where family were grieving yesterday. Mr Verity's uncle Geoff Lazarus said: "I would like to say that I'm gobsmacked that Australian security officials would allow trade and embassy officials to go to these five-star hotels that are known terrorist targets."

Mr Senger was apparently not on the official invitation list for the breakfast, but is believed to have been seen there. His wife, Kate, was last night sheltering at the Australian embassy, waiting for news.

His mother, Joan, who lives in Canberra, was distraught as she waited anxiously for news regarding her son.

Mr Senger had been living in Jakarta for 18 months. Joan Senger said it had been an extremely difficult time, after her husband died suddenly following a brief illness six weeks ago.

"We've been through hell," she said, with tears welling. "It's a lot to take in."

Mrs Senger was being comforted by her daughter, Mr Senger's sister Cate, at her home in the Canberra suburb of Deakin. Mr Senger's university friend Harry Eeman described the Austrade official as a "real go-getter" with a passion for skiing and rugby union.

"He's always full of positive energy, he's enthusiastic about life and loves his job," Mr Eeman said. "He is a genuinely all-round Aussie bloke, dependable and an absolutely wonderful friend."

Mr Senger is a popular and talented member of the local expat football team, known as the Jakarta Bintangs, after the beer. Mr Senger, who studied arts and politics, was always keen to get involved in foreign affairs and Indonesia was his first posting. Mr Verity's father, Peter, who lives in Western Australia, was planning to fly to Jakarta to bring his son's body home.

"It was some of his friends in Jakarta who went around the hospitals and found him," Mr Verity said. "He's got a little boy. He's dead. What do you want me to say?"

Mr Verity's staff in Indonesia confirmed he had been at one of the hotels, and was killed there, but could not speak further.

"It's true," said his personal assistant, Tari.

Mr Verity was previously an industrial advocate in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and the West Australian Industrial Relations Commission. He was a member of the Indonesia Australia Business Council, which regularly holds functions at the Australian embassy in Jakarta.

His body was identified by a long-time friend, Duncan McDonald, a graduate of Bond University, who is founder of the insurance company dMAC Asia Group and has worked in Indonesia for 14 years. Mr McDonald was clearly shattered at having to declare his friend dead. After the last Jakarta bombing in 2004, Mr McDonald said many businesses were packing up in Indonesia in favour of China, which was considered safer.

'The waverers have long since left, and we are left with the hard core," he said.

Mr Verity was passionate about bringing Indonesians into the burgeoning expat businesses, telling a business breakfast in 2007, "not to rely solely on expats, who may not have an equal grasp of how things are done".

"There is a rapidly increasing number of talented, well-educated Indonesian staff available," Mr Verity said.

Other Australians injured in the blasts include Scott Merrillees, who works for the ANZ Bank. He was at the Marriott when the bomb exploded, and was treated for cuts and what the bank described as "other non-life threatening injuries" in a Jakarta hospital.

Mr Merrillees, 47, is a graduate of economics and commerce from the University of Melbourne, where he completed a major in Indonesian studies. He has worked in Australia, Japan and Indonesia, in accounting, commercial banking and stockbroking. He is the author of the lavish coffee-table book, Batavia (the ancient name for Jakarta) that sells on Amazon for more than $250.

According to his book biography, Mr Merrillees's interest in using early photographs to discover the 19th-century topography of major cities dates back to his teenage years growing up in Melbourne.

He is married to Theresia and the couple have two children, Maxi and Nicole. ANZ had several key executives in Jakarta when the bomb exploded. On July 15, the bank announced the expansion of its Indonesian banking network, opening an eighth branch in Semarang, central Java. Also injured in the blasts was Noke Kiroyan, 63, an Indonesian business leader with close ties to Australia. Some of his family members still live in Melbourne.

A former head of Rio Tinto Indonesia, Mr Kiroyan was at the Marriott when the blast occurred. The 63-year-old was lucky to escape with minor injuries.

"He was sitting behind this huge pillar so he was shielded from the blast," his 31-year-old daughter, who lives in Melbourne, told The Weekend Australian last night. "Those who were beside him passed away."

Mr Kiroyan is a former president of the Indonesia-Australia Business Council.

He sat on the three-member APEC Business Advisory Council, appointed by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono, to advise on how best to operate in the Asia-Pacific forum. Mr Kiroyan visited Sydney for the APEC forum in 2007, and he explored a free trade agreement with former prime minister John Howard.

He deplored the bombing of Jakarta in 2004, saying: "Any kind of violence, especially bombing, is detrimental to business."

Also killed yesterday was Tim Mackay, the New Zealand-born president director of PT Holcim (Lanka) Ltd.

A company spokesman confirmed his death.

Mr Mackay had been president director of the company since May 2004. A master mariner, he earned an MBA from Massey University in New Zealand.

Additional reporting: Debbie Guest, Natasha Robinson


Govt 'working to confirm' Aussie deaths

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/838699/jakarta-hotel-attacks-are-barbaric-rudd

The federal government was working on Friday night to confirm the identities of three Australians believed to have been killed in the Indonesian terrorist hotel blasts. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told a press conference he had grave concerns for one embassy official and two other Australians in Jakarta.

Perth businessman Nathan Verity is believed to be one of the Australians killed in the bombings, which Mr Rudd described as "appalling".

Jim Truscott, a personal friend, said Mr Verity had run a human resources and recruitment business out of Jakarta, but lived in Perth with his wife Vanessa and five-year-old son.

"He only lived in Jakarta for work. He would spend a couple of weeks in Jakarta and couple of weeks in Perth," Mr Truscott told Fairfax Radio.

"His home base was Perth."

Mr Truscott said Mr Verity's body had been found amid the rubble of one of the bomb blasts that struck the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta's upmarket Mega Kuningan business district about 8am local time (1100 AEST).

"We don't know at all exactly (how he died) other than his body's intact and he must have been killed by a blast," Mr Truscott said.

Austrade official Craig Senger is also believed to be among the dead. The overall death toll in the Indonesian capital currently stands at least eight, with 42 injured, 13 of whom are foreigners. Mr Rudd confirmed the principle area of damage was the hotels' restaurants and warned the death and injury toll could rise further.

"I have grave concerns for three Australians and await further information and confirmation before making further information public," Mr Rudd told reporters in Sydney on Friday night.

"I believe that is the responsible thing to do.

"Because this is such a difficult time for many Australian families I don't believe that would be responsible until all proper processes have been gone through between Australian and Indonesian officials."

"Australian Federal Police are providing assistance to investigators in Jakarta," Mr Rudd added.

Australian hospitals have also been told to reserve space for victims if the need arises.

The prime minister said there was no further evidence available on Friday night as to who was responsible for the bombings. He said Australian intelligence agencies had also offered no advice about the culprits.

"I do not propose to speculate further on who is responsible. It is not proper to do so in the absence of further direct advice and information.

"I've also received a communication from the president of Indonesia today welcoming Australia's message of sympathy and support as a result of these horrific bombings as well as a message fron the president expressing his appreciation of our offers of Australian government support.

"This is a very, very tough time for many Australian families tonight and many families in Indonesia.

"Our hearts and prayers go out to them tonight at this most trying of times."

Earlier on Friday, Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull expressed sympathy to the victims of the Jakarta hotel blasts, which he described as a "vicious assault" on the values of free societies.

Among the dead is New Zealander Timothy David Mackay.

Mr Turnbull offered his sympathies to the families of those killed in the explosions, which have come just over a week after Indonesia's presidential elections.

"Indonesia is a new and flourishing democracy, the world's most populous Muslim nation, and one of Australia's most important neighbours," he said in a statement.

"The recent re-election of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signified an explicit repudiation by the people of Indonesia of those who stand for religious intolerance and violent extremism.

"Tragically, today's bombings indicate there are those who remain unwilling to accept the desire of the Indonesian people for a free, open and tolerant society."

Authorities haven't yet suggested who might be behind the bombings. There are some suggestions the explosions are connected to dissatisfaction with the recent presidential elections.

Mr Turnbull said the attacks were a reminder that there was still much work to be done on terrorism.

"The federal opposition will support the Australian government wholeheartedly in providing whatever assistance may be necessary to help Indonesia deal with these latest attacks," he said.

[mr anderson]

Meet JI terror at the prison gate

Carl Ungerer | July 18, 2009
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25798902-31477,00.html

JEMAAH Islamiah remains the most dangerous terrorist group in Southeast Asia. Although responsibility for these latest attacks in Jakarta remains unclear at this time, the co-ordinated, simultaneous bombings of Western hotels carry the hallmarks of a JI attack.

In recent years, a gap emerged between academic assessment of JI and the judgments of security and intelligence services. Many commentators suggested the threat from JI was receding, that splintering of the organisation had sidelined the violent factional groups and another campaign of violence was unlikely.

The police and intelligence services, in Indonesia and Australia, took a different view. Splintering, in some ways, has made the group more dangerous. There is less of an organisational brake on militants in the group. Individuals, sometimes acting alone, have bought into the ideology of salafi jihadism.

As JI has continued to splinter, the patterns of recruitment and radicalisation have changed. Networks are less formal. The internet has become an increasingly important source of information and communication for members of radical fringe groups.

Younger recruits to JI reject calls by the senior leadership to avoid violence.

The hunt for the perpetrators of these attacks will focus on the Malaysian, Noordin Top. His group, al-Qa'ida for the Malay archipelago, is the most violent of the JI factions, and continues to inspire younger JI recruits.

Members of this group retain the capability and intent to conduct an ongoing campaign of violence. In the medium term, the terrorist threat in Indonesia will remain high -- probably higher, now that these latest bombings have demonstrated the propaganda of the deed.

Attention will now turn to the counter-terrorism response. Australia is well placed to provide further assistance to the Indonesian police and intelligence services. A particular focus for this effort should be on the prisons.

Around 150 jihadis remain in Indonesian jails. More than half of them had some association with JI. As they come out of the jails and back into the community, the focus should be on post-release programs that convince these young people the path of violence and destruction is not only wrong, but ultimately futile.

Carl Ungerer is director of the national security project at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

[bs]

Practice run for Australia within the next month.
For real!

Mr Anderson,remember the post about FEMA at the Marriot in Adelaide?....hmmmmm.

[mr anderson]

Practice run for Australia within the next month.
For real!

Mr Anderson,remember the post about FEMA at the Marriot in Adelaide?....hmmmmm.

Yeah, I wish there was more info on that. Perhaps in the not too distant future   

[kushfiend]

I don't know how much more b.s. I can take

Not to mention that all MSM can talk about is that f**kbag Cronkite.

ARRGH

How do ppl not see thru this b.s.?

[bs]

Yeah, I wish there was more info on that. Perhaps in the not too distant future   

It has certainly fired up my interes in tracing some things that i still think plausable...esp.since the bombing...im seeing A LOT of police armoured trucks around Sydney,and lastweek saw a gathering on the way back from the net at Central Station that raised my antenna...American accents,mid 30's to 50's,military looking and smoking outside a bus(white,no logos,black windows)with one or two filming things...
If i had more time i would PI my own thread of what i thinks going down...Sydney for sure.

[mr anderson]

It has certainly fired up my interes in tracing some things that i still think plausable...esp.since the bombing...im seeing A LOT of police armoured trucks around Sydney,and lastweek saw a gathering on the way back from the net at Central Station that raised my antenna...American accents,mid 30's to 50's,military looking and smoking outside a bus(white,no logos,black windows)with one or two filming things...
If i had more time i would PI my own thread of what i thinks going down...Sydney for sure.

Take heaps of pictures 

[bs]

Take heaps of pictures 

I am buying a digital camera tomorrow with good vid capabilities...i didnt actually think to take a photo,took down the buses number tho.
Have you seen these tanks?The armoured cars im seeing are scary looking,big turrets on top,a grey/dark grey/black shade...like the big Briggs armoured cars.

Im sure FEMA will be staying at our favorite hotel's tho...

[mr anderson]

I am buying a digital camera tomorrow with good vid capabilities...i didnt actually think to take a photo,took down the buses number tho.
Have you seen these tanks?The armoured cars im seeing are scary looking,big turrets on top,a grey/dark grey/black shade...like the big Briggs armoured cars.

Im sure FEMA will be staying at our favorite hotel's tho...

I know at least 3 APC's were used during the bushfires in Victoria.

[mr anderson]

Questions raised on Jakarta security

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/18/2629661.htm?section=world

Experts say the bomb attacks on two of Jakarta's luxury hotels would have required months of careful planning, raising questions about hotel security and whether a prevention was possible.

Indonesian police say two suicide bombers were behind the blasts at the city's Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels yesterday, in which nine people are confirmed to have died and up to 55 injured.

A senior police source has told an Indonesian newspaper that metal detectors went off when the bombers entered one of the hotels, but that the men were let through anyway.

Nobody suspected them, even a hotel security guard who let them through.

The metal detector sounded and they passed with their bags and suitcases, the quoted police officer said.

The International Crisis Group's Sidney Jones says preparation for the attacks would have involved several trips to the hotels.

"It would probably have involved maybe 10 to 15 people in total, several trips to the hotels to probe the weak points in the security," she said.

"It's not something that can be done on the spur of the moment. Nor can it be tied to a specific date; you do it when you're ready and when it's feasible."

Indonesian police say the bombers checked into the Marriott Hotel as guests and probably assembled the device in their room.

But the Marriott's head of security, Alan Orlob, says the hotel has extensive security checks and he is not sure how they made it through. (Look above ^^)

"Every vehicle that comes up to the hotel is inspected. All luggage is inspected with sophisticated explosive detectors," he said.

"We have walk through metal detectors at the hotel. Nobody can go into the hotel without being screened with a metal detector - It's like going into an airport."

Security probe

Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith is leading a delegation of experts to Jakarta to lend support to Indonesia in the wake of the bombings. He says while security arrangements were beefed up after the 2003 Marriott attack, which left 12 dead and 150 injured, security at the time of the attacks needs to be examined.

"The security arrangements for these hotels have been substantially improved since the attack upon the Marriott hotel in 2003, but obviously in the face of such a terrible event there are a couple of things that we want to do," he said in an interview on AM today.

"One, of course, in conjunction with Indonesian authorities we would want to satisfy ourselves about the arrangements on the actual day, but secondly to satisfy ourselves as to the improvements that were made to those security arrangements.

"In the face of these terrible circumstances in the cold light of day, there's a need to exhaustively examine all of these things and we will, together with the Indonesians, but the improvements to these hotels is obviously an issue that needs to be carefully examined."

Mr Smith says the Federal Government had no intelligence that could have predicted the attacks.

"The advice I have from officials is that there was no intelligence which would draw attention to these attacks but obviously as well that is now being exhaustively, exhaustively assessed," he said.

"We want to satisfy ourselves about that matter."

Travel risks

Mr Smith says the Government's advice on travelling to Indonesia has, for a considerable period of time, been that people carefully consider their need to go there. He says this has primarily been due to the risk of a terrorist attack.

"But our travel advice is not a direction, it is advice. And Australians make their own judgement about what they do," he said.

"Yes, there are risks associated with going to Indonesia [and] we draw that to attention.

"But in terms of both the Indonesian Government, foreign governments and international business people doing business in Indonesia and working in Indonesia and getting the job done in Jakarta, these hotels and other hotels were regarded as places where substantial improvements had been made to security arrangements since the attack upon the Marriott in 2003."

The Government still holds grave concerns about the fate of three missing Australians, including Austrade official Craig Senger, Perth businessman Nathan Verity and an executive with the mining company Thiess Indonesia named Garth McEvoy.

One injured Australian, Scott Mirilles, is understood to have left Jakarta to seek further medical treatment in Singapore.

Likely event

Jim Truscott, a friend of Perth businessman Nathan Verity and a former SAS soldier, says the Australian Embassy phoned him to tell him Mr Verity had been killed. Mr Truscott runs the crisis management company Truscott Crisis Leaders, and told today's AM that something like this was bound to happen.

"Well, it's all about taking risk. Providing you accept the risk environment, you then need to be prepared for the consequences," he said.

"This is a global conflict, not a conflict confined to Indonesia, but that fact that some 100 Jemaah Islamiah people were released only within the last couple of months, blind freddie could say that this was going to happen."

When asked if he expected the attacks, Mr Truscott said: "no doubt about it, no doubt about it."

He says business people in Indonesia should try to remain inconspicuous.

"You never make yourself a target," he said.

"You make yourself a grey man. So, you don't stay at those places associated with high profile international brands like the Ritz-Carlton or the Marriott."

[mr anderson]

Indonesian police: Explosives 'identical' to Bali

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iq-RSvjSDopV724MnWihBs7hYbpwD99HTTK01

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Explosive material recovered from the scene of two suicide bombings at hotels in the Indonesian capital is "identical" to that used by the Southeast Asian terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah in earlier attacks, police said.

An unexploded bomb left in a room of the J.W. Marriott in Jakarta resembled devices used in attacks on Bali and one found in a recent raid against the network on an Islamic boarding school in Central Java, national police spokesman told a news conference Sunday.

The culprits in Friday's attacks that killed nine and wounded 50 are believed to have belonged to Jemaah Islamiyah "because there are similarities in the bombs used," Maj. Gen. Nanan Sukarna said.

Anti-terrorism police were hunting for Noordin Mohammad Top, a fugitive Malaysian who heads a particularly violent offshoot of the network and has been linked to four major strikes in Indonesia since 2002.

The twin suicide bombings at the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels came four years after the last serious terrorist attack in Indonesia and unleashed a new wave of anxiety in the world's largest Muslim-majority country.

Indonesia had been enjoying a period of stability, and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was re-elected to a second term earlier this month, partly on the strength of government efforts to fight terrorism.

"I am shocked by these bombings," Razif Harahap, a 45-year-old graduate student, said in Jakarta on Sunday. "The same people who carried out these attacks could launch another one, because the mastermind is still at large."

The latest attacks killed seven, plus the two attackers, and wounded 50, many of them foreigners.

Investigators have been examining body parts and other forensic evidence in an attempt to identify the two bombers, one of whom is believed to be Indonesian.

They were decapitated in the explosions, and confirming their identity could help determine if they had links to Noordin.

The official Antara news agency said Sunday that the government was intensifying efforts to find Noordin and trace the network's finances to try to uncover any links to Friday's blasts.

Officials have identified five of the dead — three Australians, one New Zealander and one Indonesian.

Among the dead was Craig Senger, the first Australian government official to be killed in a terrorist attack, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Sunday. Senger worked as a Trade Commission officer at the embassy in Jakarta.

Officials said 17 foreigners were among the wounded, including eight Americans and citizens of Australia, Britain, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and South Korea.

Jemaah Islamiyah rose to prominence after the 2002 nightclub bombings in the beach resort of Bali that killed 202 people, most of them foreigners.

It staged attacks in Indonesia in each of the next three years: a 2003 car bombing outside the J.W. Marriott hotel, a 2004 truck bombing outside the Australian Embassy, and triple suicide bombings on Bali restaurants by attackers carrying bombs in backpacks in 2005.

After the government launched a massive anti-terrorism campaign, no major attacks had been reported since then — until Friday's explosions.

Remnants of the bombs found outside the hotels had circuits that were "identical" to those in explosive devices used in previous attacks on Bali, the national police spokesman said Sunday.

Police were also looking for connections between Friday's bombing and explosives discovered last week in the Cilacap region of Central Java, which were buried in a garden at the house of Noordin's father-in-law, who is also at large.

While the attacks rekindled old anxieties, Indonesians interviewed Sunday said they did not believe the bombings signaled a resurgence by the militants, who want to establish an Islamic state in the region.

The Islamist extremists enjoy little support among the country's largely moderate public.

The terrorists do not have the money or backing to launch another major attack soon, said Agus Triharso, 40, a motorbike taxi driver in Jakarta.

"Noordin Top and his friends have support from just a few hard-line Muslims," Triharso said. "As Muslims, we have to stop them."

[mr anderson]

Some connect the Jakarta bombings to US intelligence – Wayne Madsen

Russia Today - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmGjNdDqCPM

http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-07-21/Some_connect_the_Jakarta_bombings_to_US_intelligence___journalist.html

Former naval intelligence officer, investigative journalist Wayne Madsen shared a theory that last week’s bombings in Jakarta may be connected with American and Israeli secret services.

Police in Indonesia say last week’s bombings in Jakarta, that left nine people dead and many others injured, are identical to those in Bali in 2005.

Suicide bombers blew themselves up in the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels, and Asia’s most wanted terrorist is the suspected mastermind.

However, according to Madsen, there are other suspects too.