Baron:
The ADF figure you cited yourself - the 100 muslims figure in the reserves took me about 5 seconds to find on google. I will post a source if you *REALLY* insist, but I don't think you are realy questioning that are you?
As for the 150 fighters - read your source again:
Quote:In Syria, she said it seems that had moved from supporting the more moderate opposition groups to the more extreme ones and that includes the brutal group ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria - the al-Qaeda splinter group leading Sunni militants in Iraq.
150 people in total have apparently joined the fight since the conflict began over 3 years ago. As Bishop herself says, this includes people who joined the secular moderate groups - groups incidentally that the US and her allies directly supports. These groups have spent more time fighting the jihadists than they have the Assad regime. So no, we don't include these people when we are talking about head hacking crazy muslim jihadists.
As for how many are fighting or supporting the actual jihadists, ASIO agrees with my original assessment:
Quote:ASIO believes there are about 60 Australians fighting with the two extremist al-Qa’ida derivatives, Jahabat-al-Nusra and the Islamic State in Syria or Iraq. We believe fifteen Australians have been killed in the current conflicts, including two young Australian suicide bombers. Another hundred people here in Australia are actively supporting these extremist groups
http://www.asio.gov.au/publications/speeches-and-statements/speeches-and-stateme...