Australian academic: US as big a threat as al Qaeda

I'd like to think John Quiggin was having a "hey everybody, look at me" moment when he wrote the following, but I have my doubts:

There are various ways of assessing threats, and most Australians rightly regard terrorism as an overstated danger. But, as far as terrorism is concerned, there can be few instances more horrible and terrifying than the kidnappings and televised beheadings we’ve seen in Iraq. There are, however, equally awful things going on that are not televised, and that are carried out by the United States government.

An unknown number of people have been kidnapped, then shipped to torture chambers in unknown locations.

As with quite a few of the worst policies of the Bush administration, the practice of extraordinary rendition apparently began under Clinton, but has been greatly expanded by Bush1.

As far as I’ve seen so far, all of the victims in this cases have been Muslims. If that comforts you, perhaps you ought to read Martin Niemoller

As long as extraordinary renditions and similar practices continue, Australians are right to regard at least some aspects of US foreign policy as a threat comparable to that of Al Qaeda.

Luckily, I'm not a Muslim so I'm not in danger.

Rather than compose a long rebuttal to professor Quiggin's fear-mongering, I'd like him, and his like minded liberal friends, to consider the following scenario. Imagine one of your siblings has been captured by al Qaeda and another by US forces. The whereabouts of both are unknown. Would you be equally worried about their chances of being killed while in captivity? Do they have an equal likelihood of eventual release? How is rendition a threat to the Australian nation?

Maybe the professor actually thinks rendition is as bad as beheading kidnap victims. One thing I do know, I wouldn't want this guy teaching such nonsense to my children.