lookleft: "real terrorists?" not really. a bomb in a meat mincer in carry on baggage that was too heavy?? Where is the alleged IED now? What was the explosive? C4? TNT? how was that going to get through security? Two of the four arrested are released. A hydrogen sulphide bomb? now that is school chemistry lab stuff. couldn't deliver an IED, how were they going to distribute h2s effectively?
...And they were caught after a heads up from the british police who were monitoring their contact, not by us. sounds like keystone cops chasing abbott and costello.
what worries me as i said, are the smart guys with military training who use covert communications (not the internet) are well resourced and well trained in remainig undetected. if this pair were like that they would not have been taken alive and would have tried to take plenty of us with them. as far as i can tell Australian terrorism has been inexperienced home grown nutters and self radicalisers, not the A team. let's hope that it stays that way.