Just thinking a little more about the anniversary of the Bali bombing on Sunday. I would be very interested to know how many Americans are aware of the event, either the original or the anniversary. For example, will the New York Times will have some article, buried somewhere deep in the World section, mentioning it? If so they no doubt will pick up a wire story and run it unchanged. I just ran "bali bombing anniversary" in Google and found 2 US news references in the first 5 pages.

This annoys me. Sep 11 was a devastating event in the US and the world. George W said either you are with us or against us. Australia is with them. Likewise in Iraq a few nations joined the 'coalition of the willing', including Australia. Yet the Americans I have spoken with seem only distantly aware of Bali and that's partly because they work with Aussies. I know it is not a scientific sample. But I cannot help but feel that sometimes our American friends forget that terror is not always directed against them alone. They are not alone in the fight and they are not alone in the suffering.

Regardless of your view of John Howard, he's doing a fine job in representing the country at this time. He is visiting Bali for the commemoration despite the snubbing of himself (and by proxy, the nation) by Indonesian President Megawati, who seems to think it best to stay well away: Mrs Megawati had no plan to attend the events. Many Indonesians were murdered too and their President is too busy for the whole week to visit. Cultural excuses of avoiding confrontation and bad memories don't cut it here. She is the symbol of her nation and her nation is also trying to ignore the event. Our job is to never let the world forget.