Confirmation that Khaled Sharrouf avoided his constant companion Mohamed Elomar’s drone-directed dispatch to paradise:
Highly classified images captured by the US military in Al-Raqqah, Syria, have confirmed the death of Sydney terrorist Elomar.
But authorities say that none of the photographs suggest Sharrouf was killed in the missile strike …

It is understood there are three images that capture the moment Elomar was killed by a Predator drone during an attack on an Islamic State convoy.
I haven’t seen them, but I’m guessing these images would make excellent screensavers or t-shirts. On Sharrouf-related matters, Adelaide’s Amanda Blair – no relation, so far as I’m aware – pleads for the return of the terrorist’s family to Australia:
The land of their birth. The land where they hold citizenship. They’re currently in Syria where they relocated to in 2013.
They merely relocated to Syria. Just a lifestyle choice. Forget sea changes and tree changes; their move was a Sharia change.
It’s impossible that you’ve missed the story, it’s also impossible not to feel torn.
You mean like this guy?
[Tara Nettleton’s] five Australian children who were just 12, 11, 8, 7, and 2 when they were removed from this country are not to blame. They had no say in the actions their parents took.
At 14, Sharrouf’s eldest daughter reportedly married drone magnet Elomar. An Islamic State widow is not exactly your standard-issue troubled teen.
Please, let’s not give up on them. Let’s not cut our ties and abandon them to a life of more evil and depravity.
Why not? It’s not as though Australia had any strong ties with them to begin with.
Sure, the parents did a whole lot of wrong …
Readers may detect the slightest hint of understatement.
… but to not give people a fair go, a right to redemption, a right to make better choices – particularly children – is about as un-Australian as it gets.
I’d say this is rather more un-Australian.
We’ve been lucky here in the lucky country. No planes have flown into skyscrapers, no bombs have gone off and nobody’s been beheaded on their way to work.
Luck has nothing to do with it.
Terrorism is frightening to us all. It’s something we don’t really understand and only see on the television news.
Or in Sydney cafés.
So like politicians, we break down a complex issue into simple terms because it’s easier to digest and for the politicians, much easier to sell. We make it black and white. Us and them. Yes or no. But it’s not a simple issue …
It couldn’t be simpler. Terrorists want to kill us. We want to stop terrorists killing us. It really is that basic. Just ask the terrorists.
I’ve always believed that it takes a village to raise a child.
In Syria, Islamic State children raze villages.
I’d rather the Nettleton children were home in my village than left in an evil one in Syria where their only option is to commit the same sins as their father.
It’s settled, then. The Sharrouf kids and their mother will live in Amanda’s Adelaide street – ideally, in her house. Pro tip: keep the knives in a safe.