In another strategic initiatives, the Australian Prime Minister John Howard said some segments of the country's Islamic community were "utterly antagonistic" to Australian society in comments, published Monday 20,2006 that immediately drew criticism from a Muslim group.
Howard also denounced "extreme attitudes" held by some Muslims, including their views on women and support of jihad, or holy war. He said some Muslim immigrants had not integrated into Australian society as well as previous waves of Europeans and Asians.
"There is a fragment [of the Islamic community] which is utterly antagonistic to our kind of society, and that is a difficulty," Howard said.
"There is no equivalent of raving on about jihad ... that is the major problem," he added. "I think some of the associated attitudes towards women [are also] a problem."
Howard's comments were from an interview conducted in December 2005 for a book marking his 10th anniversary as prime minister. They were published for the first time Monday in The Australian newspaper.
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