While the left-which-cannot-move-on is mired in the past, with a microscope squarely aimed at irrelevant intelligence and conspiracy theories from the leftward fever swamps – real progress is being made in the War on Terror.

Police arrested 17 terror suspects in Australia’s two biggest cities Tuesday in raids authorities said foiled a plot to carry out a catastrophic terror attack. A radical Muslim cleric known for praising Osama bin Laden was charged with masterminding the plot.

More than 500 police backed up by helicopters were involved in raids across Sydney and Melbourne, arresting eight men in Sydney and nine in Melbourne and seizing chemicals, weapons, computers and backpacks.

One suspect was in critical condition after being shot in the neck during a gunfight with police, said police Commissioner Graeme Morgan. An officer was also slightly wounded.

One of the suspects wanted to die a martyr, a police officer said in court.

“I’m satisfied that we have disrupted what I would regard as the final stages of a large-scale terrorist attack … here in Australia,” New South Wales Police Commissioner Ken Moroney told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

One wonders about the priorities of the liberal media and the obsessed far left in this country. Why are the Senate democrats focused on which politician said what about intelligence 2-3 years ago when we have a two new democracies to support in the ME and blood thirsty, rabid islamists wishing to eliminate us from the face of the earth? What part of the threat did they miss?