Australia shows how to respond to extortion threats from Islamic thugs and murderers: Australia Says Will Ignore Terror Attack Threat.

“We are still investigating the authenticity and relevance of that body, but we will not take any notice of threats of that kind,” Prime Minister John Howard, a close ally of President Bush, told reporters in Sydney on Monday.

“We will not parley and negotiate with terrorists and I believe the overwhelming majority of the Australian public will agree with us,” said Howard, who sent 2,000 troops to the U.S.-led war on Iraq.

On Wednesday, the previously unheard of Islamic Tawhid Group also threatened Bulgaria and Poland if they did not leave Iraq.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer again said that the decision by Spain and the Philippines to withdraw troops from Iraq had encouraged terror groups.

“What they have done in these two cases is accede to the demands of the terrorists. And in those circumstances, if you accede to the demands of terrorists, all you do is embolden them to continue the strategy,” he told Australian radio on Monday.