Howard speaks

John Howard may be gone from parliament but fortunately he is still around and talking sense:

With the world's market crisis dominating public attention, Mr Howard today urged the Australian Government not to ignore the long-term threat of terrorism.

"(There is a) need not to take the eye off the ball as far as terrorism is concerned," Mr Howard said.

He said terrorists would be rubbing their hands with glee over the problems with the capitalist west.

"Terrorists would see advantage in the economic meltdown," he said.

"Anything that puts an added strain on the budget demands of western governments that perhaps means that fewer dollars or euros or pounds might be spent on defence or intelligence gathering, would be a good thing.

"Terrorism plays a very long game - it's a five, 10, 15, 20-year game - it's not something that's played in the short term."

My concern is that in January the West will end up being lead by a US President who will do exactly what Howard fears.