Talk of an Australian forest fire jihad on the web...

Australia's enemy within: The 'mass murderers' and 'terrorists' behind the wall of fire that killed up to 200 people | Mail Online

Police say they have seen no indication that the Victorian blazes were a 'forest jihad', launched by a group of Islamic extremists using fire as a form of terror against Western communities - despite South Australian Premier Mike Rann labelling the perpetrators as 'terrorists'.

The suggestion of a jihad emerged from a website, identified by U.S. intelligence channels, calling on Muslims in Australia, America, Europe and Russia to start forest fires.

The website claimed that 'scholars have justified chopping down and burning the infidels' forests when they do the same to our lands.'

MINA Breaking News - Australia targeted for 'Forest Fire' jihad?

Here is the story from January, and another from September 2008 that is encouraging a lot of the web speculation.

Police block identity of man charged with arson over Australian bushfire - Times Online

An Australian man has been charged with arson over one of the country’s deadly bushfires, but his identity has been suppressed and police have moved him to a secret location amid fears of a backlash by victims seething with grief and anger.

The 39-year-old has been charged with lighting the Churchill-Jeeralang bushfire in the LaTrobe valley region of Gippsland. The suspect is a local man. Twenty-one people died in the eastern Victorian region where the Churchill fire began.

The man appeared in the regional Morwell Magistrates Court on Friday afternoon charged with three counts – one of arson causing death, one of intentionally or recklessly causing a bushfire, and one of possessing child pornography.

There are fears of an enormous backlash by mourning members of the Churchill community, angry over the fact that one of their own has been charged with the fire that devastated 36,000 ha of land, destroyed hundreds of homes and killed dozens of their friends and neighbours.

As a result, the court hearing was closed and a suppression order was imposed on all details of his identity. The man was secretly transferred to Melbourne on Friday afternoon where he is expected to face court again on Monday.

An enormous backlash against an arrested individual, his family, or what? Sounds like some possible journalistic obfuscation, to me.

Here are some bloggers speculating on a new kind of left-Islamist alliance:
Who Helped Enviromoonbats Cause the Massive Australian Bushfires? - Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views)

Real World Libertarian: Victorian fires, Jihad, and the Yanks are coming.

What should a free man do?: Is it just me, or is it getting warm out here?

In a free society the government must tell the truth and help lead an appropriate, non-violent response. The result of covering up any political violence, in the long run, will only be worse violence. Let's hope that if Australia is facing any kind of Jihad fires that they will have the good sense to deal with it in a thoughtful, deliberate, fashion.