In June 2016 we reported on the Islamic State's claim to sovereignty over the autonomous Muslim Mindanao southern region of The Philippines.  We wrote to DFAT about the millions of Australian aid money pouring in to the Islamic State influenced Madrassas (Islamist schools) in the region.  DFAT ignored us and continued to fund the indefensible.

At the time a former SASR contact wrote to me privately (neither this nor the following comments from the SASR contact have been published before)

On 31 January this year The Philippines government confirmed the Islamic State in Syria was in command and control contact with Islamist militias and Islamist leaders in the region.  Julie Bishop and DFAT continue to pour money into the region to pay for Islamists to acquire Koranic knowledge.

I asked the same SASR contact who works in security in the region to comment on DFAT's lack of action on The Philippines and continued support for Madrassas: 

Yeah the situation in the South Philippines, including the way the schools are structured is fueling the monster of terrorism mate, Australia like many other Governments are out of touch with reality of the situation. The Philippines has become the HQ for all regional terror groups, and they are all now communicating and starting to plan joint operations. Conflict is the only option, or allow the cancer to spread as they are doing now. I have no idea what value giving millions of dollars to any Islamic establishment brings to the Australian people. We cannot even control Islamic schools in our own country that have been bleeding money out to other Islamic groups. We are run by morons mate. Glad Trump is rocking the boat these days.

On 28 March this year big-noting celebrity foreign minister Julie Bishop held court in Washington where for the first time she "discovered" the Islamic State moves in The Philippines.

Bishop warns of new Islamic caliphate in Southeast Asia

Speaking on Sky News, Ms Bishop argued this would bring the threat of Islamic State “right to our doorstep” and said she raised the problem of foreign fighters returning to the Southeast Asian region at the Washington meeting of the coalition against IS last week.

Last week inept Defence Minister Payne said that if the Philippines was to ask for our help to fight the now entrenched Islamic State beheaders in the south of the country "we would consider the request - if it came to us".

We need to be much more on the front foot here - especially with so woefully inept and wantonly incompetent ministers in Foreign Affairs and Defence.

The Southern Philippines isn't just a problem for The Philippines.  It is affecting and will continue to affect our security  - much more than Afghanistan, Syria or Iraq ever did.

Former Australian Army LTCOL and Iraq veteran Kyle Tyrell wrote to me over the weekend:

US Special Forces involved in Marawi (Philippines) fight against IS... reported as a "mentoring" and "technical" support only.

This signals the fact that IS Forces in Mindanao have successfully resisted the Philippines security forces. The longer this is the case the more likely Mindanao is to become the "Asian Iraq"...with the worlds largest Islamic population on its door step and other significant numbers in countries such as Malaysia feeding the battle with fresh, radicalised young men will be easy.

Watch as this becomes the next global crisis....

Thanks to reader and former SASR member John B for the very sad reminder  - as John wrote to me this morning:

Twenty years ago tomorrow we suffered our worst ever peacetime loss of life in a military aviation crash.

Fifteen soldiers from the Special Air Service Regiment were killed.

Three soldiers from the Army's 5th Aviation Regiment were killed.

On the evening of 12 June 1996 two S-70-A9 Blackhawk helicopters from the 5th Aviation Regiment carrying SASR troopers collided during a live-fire counter-terrorism/special-recovery operation exercise at Fire Support Base Barbara in the High Range Training Area near Townsville.

The SASR and Blackhawks from 5AR were training for the Sydney 2000 Olympics. "Exercise Day Rotor 96" took place on the second day of the exercise.   The whole exercise was conducted in darkness - requiring the pilots to use night vision goggles (NVG).

Six aircraft were approaching the target area when the crash happened.  At what should have been 30 seconds from the landing zone, one of the helicopters veered to the right, clipping the tail rotor of another helicopter.

One Blackhawk crashed immediately killing 12 personnel on board, while the other was able to make a crash landing but burst into flames, killing six.

Crash survivors, soldiers from the other helicopters and exercise staff risked the flames and exploding ammunition to rescue their comrades and retrieve the bodies of the dead.  

During the week I've been exchanging emails with a mate who was in the SASR.  He said "All our training is for real, most of the guys killed over the years have been killed in training accidents".

He went on to talk about attention to every detail, taking nothing for granted, never allowing complacency to slip in and rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal.  "Burkey flew me on ops in XXXX - great pilot".

You'll see why my mate thinks so highly of then Captain Burke in the videos below.

The professionalism of our SASR is the reason they are so widely respected throughout the profession of arms.  It's certainly not for their diversity nor their cultural training scores.

This documentary from the ABC's Four Corners tells the story of that terrible night.

At the going down of the sun

And in the morning

We will remember them.

Lest We Forget.

UPDATE - I'll be very happy to publish tributes to the fallen here.

Here's Regiment Mick.

@mpsmithnews EVEN GOD NEEDS HERO'S BY HIS SIDE.

— mick derby (@regiment_mick) June 11, 2016

@mpsmithnews Did Kapooka with Tim, joined in Syd the same day. Called him 'yabby' -good bod, head full of shit. RIP. pic.twitter.com/cTP3V1EoxI

— The Angry Ranga (@the_angry_ranga) June 11, 2016

Sean said:

I lost a very good mate on that day and had another, as one of those getting members out of the wreckage. This was a day I will never forget and will always remember where I was on this sad day in 1996. Lest We Forget

Gabriel Jose Today, either 4BC or ABC ran an interview with one of the Blackhawk pilots ( I think Black 3). It was a good interview. I have flown with Dave Burke in his Blackhawk from 5AR in 95. He is a great guy and pilot. One of my mates from SASR was supposed to be on Black 1 or 2 but at the last minute was re-assigned to another job and the trooper that took his place was killed. :(

Joe Ellis said:

I lost my father. He was a great man, he was a professional man, above all all, he was the man of my family. I still remember waking up and my mum telling me he wasn't coming home. 20 years on, it still pains me to think of that day. Many times have I thought that it wasn't in my interest to carry on but I did. I now have a beautiful wife and an amazing daughter, which my father would be proud. We love and miss you terribly, 'Hughie', Dad.

@MarkBinskin_CDF @AustralianArmy lost one of my soldiers in that crash; CPL Avedissian, he was so proud of his beret, RIP mate @mpsmithnews

— Old Soldier (@OMGTheMess) June 12, 2016

Kyle Tyrrell

3 mins · Galali, Bahrain ·

 

RIP Bothers

Something light to start the holiday Monday and to get me back into the swing of publishing after 3 days offline.  

Kathy Griffin must be a great writer because these lines are hilarious, but it took the acting genius of James Comey to make her work  into a masterpiece.

Jason really is the best in the business.

Just added a lobster to a lot of taxi fares.

— Michael Smith News (@mpsmithnews) June 8, 2017

In 4 weeks from today Ralph Blewitt will be in court in Perth to answer 31 charges over The AWU Scandal.

I don't propose to tip my hand now but shortly after that you should expect to see some development in the private prosecution I am bringing.

I need your help to keep going.

Michael Smith

National Australia Bank

BSB: 084855

Acct No: 537650476

This footage reveals considerably more than the CCTV vision.

This was a serious assault capable of putting a reasonable person in fear of their life.

The woman's scream shows she was assaulted too (ie put in personal present physical fear of force or violence).

Here's Andrew just moments later - with thanks to Bill Thomson.

And this is the reference the judges in Victoria use when considering matters like Assault.

UPDATE - from Michael Kroger

 

 

Michael Kroger

 

2 hrs ·

 

 

 

Congratulations to Andrew Bolt on his courageous act in defending himself against the left wing neo facists who attacked him in Carlton this week. What a disgusting attack. Let's hope the police charge these people and that the Courts jail them. This type of assault cannot go unpunished. Unfortunately we have seen the rise in the Western world of new left wing facists whose obsession is to attack and/or denigrate anyone with an opposing view. They fear free speech therefore they fear people like Andrew Bolt.

Andrew has put his damaged suit jacket up for auction on https://donateplanet.com/appeals/very-special-kids-bolt-report-appeal/ with all donations going to Very Special Kids.

I have happily bid and donated $2,000 as the jacket is a symbol of free speech and is a collectors item for anyone who values fighting to defend the right of people to speak freely in our community without being violently attacked by the people like the left wing facists who attacked Andrew this week.

 

This event will take place on Sunday in the UK but the ideas are equally important for us in Australia.

The message is simple - people united against Mohammedan hate.

Organising against Islam isn't my primary purpose (I'm strapped keeping up with the requirements of the AWU Scandal and private prosecution) - but I hope someone or a group in Australia picks up the very simple and resonant message from UKAgainstHate.com and brings it to Australia.

Mainstream Quranic Islam preaches hate.  We must stop its malignant growth.

Australia still has time but it's running out.

Unite against Islamic hate.

On May 22, 2017, a 22-year-old named Salman Abedi carried out a suicide bombing in Manchester, killing 22 and injuring 116.

The world looked on in shock and anger, devastated by such a brutal attack on our way of life, on our freedom, on our children.

What Salman Abedi did is not the beginning, and it won't be the end. There is a nation within a nation forming just beneath the surface of the UK. It is a nation built on hatred, on violence and on Islam. 

The mosque that Abedi worshipped at has its own Sharia court, it has a long history of giving a platform to some of the world's most radical hate preachers. Speakers at the mosque have called for our troops to be killed, for apostates to be stoned and for homosexuals to be put to death. Even Abu Qatada, one of the world's most notorious extremists has spoken there, calling for the wives and children of those who reject Islam to be killed.

It has now been left to us, the ordinary people of the United Kingdom to stand up to hate, to unite and in one voice say 'no more'.

That's why on Sunday the 11th of June, we will stand together in Manchester in opposition to hate.

We will say 'no more', we will walk in silence through the city to honour the dead, we will rally to demand action, we will make ourselves impossible to ignore.

Meet at Manchester Piccadilly train station at 2 pm for a silent walk through the city, then join us in Piccadilly Gardens for a rally with speeches from Britain's leading counter extremists.

We hope to see you there, let us know if you can attend and tweet the hashtag #UniteAgainstHate

P.S. This event is free of charge, but there is a financial cost to holding it. We need to rent a sound system, stage and have security as well. Please help us recoup the cost of this event by donating here.

Footage of the London Bridge terrorists attacking people. People need to see this . I won't apologise for sharing it pic.twitter.com/aPuX0gQgJ5

— Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) June 7, 2017

That poor man, just out to get something from the shop or cafe - 8 minutes response time for armed police must have seemed like an eternity for those poor people who happened to be in the path of Muhammad's clones.

Let me say up front that these police should be congratulated on their courage and commitment.

The police response however evinces a dangerous lack of training and overdoses of adrenaline.

The police are all over each other's lines of fire - but put that subtlety to one side for a moment.

I can vividly remember my first few times in car chases or turning up to the scene of a call of "offenders on premises" or similar.

The adrenaline is pumping and everything is a bit of a blur.

But police and citizens die because of a lack of training like that.

For what it's worth, it shouldn't be extraordinary for British police to be armed.

It should be normal.

No police officer in Australia leaves a police station without a weapon.

I can't imagine any Australian police officer attending a call like the one above and failing to secure the police vehicle.

I hate to criticise police like this - and I'd like to make clear that my criticism isn't aimed at the blokes who attended the grisly scene above.  It's at their training and the idea that carrying a firearm is something exceptional.

Sadly, for all police it must be so normal it's like using a pen.

Or shutting the door of the police car.

UPDATE

I've asked a couple of mates for their constructive opinions on the video above.

You might remember LTCOL Kyle Tyrrell - we reported on Kyle's adventures with some now broken men on the beach in Victoria a while back.

Kyle's just dropped us an email:

Hi Michael,

Thanks for asking for my comment on the footage you provided of the Police response to the London Bridge Terrorist Attack.

My view less condemning, cannot expect Hollywood perfection. These police got job done and well. Courage and controlled aggression on show https://t.co/2jSBB3IfEh

— Jim Molan (@Jim_Molan) June 7, 2017

It is a significant error. Can't say I ever saw it even once. And at such close quarters, I think I'd prefer a pistol.

— 🇦🇺 Peter Wallace (@PeterWallaceAU) June 7, 2017