Jun 03 2006
The Al Qaeda Threat In Canada
I posted previously on the news that Al Qaeda veterans had discovered Canada as the preffered place to ‘retire’ to:
Canada’s spy agency says potential terrorists already reside in Canadian cities.The deputy director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service said Monday that there are many people currently living in Canada who fought with al-Qaeda during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
And Jack Hooper says those same people have since trained in al-Qaeda terrorist training camps.
I was curious as to what the Canadian response might be to this. Powerline has some breaking news up this morning on this very subject from the Globe and Mail:
Police across the Greater Toronto Area launched counterterrorism raids yesterday, arresting at least eight people in a roundup expected to continue overnight and beyond.
“We anticipate more arrests, but not necessarily tonight,†an RCMP source said of the arrests, in what appeared to be the most concerted such sweep in Canada since the terrorist attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service aided the RCMP and officers from Toronto, Peel and Durham in detaining the suspects, described by an undercover officer involved in the operation as “terrorists, the ones who hate the West.â€
The ethnicity of the group was not clear. A well- placed police source said they are Muslims, but not Arabs, and unconnected to anti-terrorism raids that occurred simultaneously in Britain yesterday.
I guess they had to move out quickly since the story had been ‘leaked’ in the earlier news article that the Canadian government was on to all these folks. Hopefully none of these thugs got away. Apparently they were preparing to attack Canada:
Intelligence sources allege the men were part of a terrorist cell, close to carrying out attacks on one or more Canadian targets.
Police seized chemicals used to make explosives and weapons.
“That’s the tool of choice for anybody who wants to cause damage,” a source who asked not to be named told The Canadian Press.
The suspects are either second-generation Canadians or recently immigrated to Canada with their families.
Sources claimed the men have no connection to al Qaeda, but were allegedly inspired by militant Islamic groups.
Why they think this would help their cause is beyond me. And I am not sure why anyone would buy into the idea they were not tied to, simply inspired by, Al Qaeda at this early stage. More here and here, and keep checking in on Neale News for updates.
“Police across the Greater Toronto Area launched counterterrorism raids yesterday, arresting at least eight people in a roundup expected to continue overnight and beyond.”
Good thing this didn’t happen in the U.S. all those illegal immigrant lovers would be up in arms because we were rounding up those honest, hard working, church going nice guys. I’m sure they have just mis-interpreted all their evidence. Why don’t they just walk across the U.S. border, then they would be qualified for the ‘guest worker’ program, no questions asked. Same as those that are already here. Can’t discriminate against them. Might hurt their feelings.
When people stick their heads in the sand they get SURPRISES (?)
Where did Ahmed Ressam, the terrorist who wanted to bomb LA Airport, come from? (Ressam was arrested as he crossed the US-Canadian border with explosives on the eve of the new millennium).
Fo those who want more of this, just vote Democrat in USA and Liberal or NDP in Canada or better still abstain from voting so when the boms explode you won’t be affected because you did not take sides in the dispute!!!
Enforcement:
While we all have varied opinions on the immigration issue and certainly should be privileged to maintain them, I feel it is unfair to tie every other issue to those thoughts.
Were Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols illegal immigrants?
Perhaps if we could get past the anger on this issue we could work together to push congress to enact laws we all could live with.
I do respect your passion and thoughts, I just don’t feel we can paint every situation with the same brush. And on the issue of this round up I feel we should all be grateful that law enforcement was able to arrest thes individuals before they inflicted harm on innocent people.
Canada Disrupts Terror Cell…Disaster Averted?…
A terrorist training camp in Canada was raided, and a total of 17 people were arrested. They’re homegrown jihadis, and who knows what kind of mayhem they were looking to spring on an unsuspecting Canadian population?…
Thanks for the comments smh1012
I too am thankful that they were apprehended before doing harm. I just thought it would be a good time to point out that with the policies being advocated by AJ, CrossP, Macker, and some others, we will maintain a border that they could just walk across any time and apply for our guest worker program, no background check, all they would have to do is sign their own handwritten statement that they are one of the ‘good people’ and we would hand them their citizenship papers. They don’t acknowledge that some illegal aliens “may” be bad people.
For Enforcement –
While I confess that I do not know that I understand the background check provisions of the Senate bill (assuming that you are equating, for example, AJ’s position to be identical with that bill), no doubt there is room for movement on the question of background checks, for resident alien (of whatever category), such that something reasonable may be hammered out in conference.
Of course, that won’t solve all problems. Traffic is pretty free between Canada and the US for tourists (I think it is anyway – and I don’t know that provisions in the House or Senate on immigration are dealing with this), and so far as I am aware, no background checks are required for tourists. (Please correct me, if I’m wrong (I surely could be), and point me to the statute or rule)
And, of course, there’s no guaranty of anything in this world. When you’ve got 15,000 + miles of border (including water-fronting border) like we have, it’s hard to secure it, at least if you don’t fancy having the State resemble the Soviet Union in 1964. Determined and moderately intelligent terrorists (or rum-runners, or drug dealers, etc.) really shouldn’t find it too awfully difficult to evade authorities.
This, of course, is not to say that no measures should be taken to secure the borders on “national security” grounds. But rather to acknowledge that those efforts will be far from foolproof/terroristproof whatever they likely turn out to be. And, as is generally the case with those who get caught (look at our prisons, for example), they will tend be the the dumber (or unluckier) of the lot.
As is the case with so much which has energized the citizenry in this country post 9/11, fear seems to have dissipated a great deal of our native intelligence and practical common sense. This is due, I think, both because it is human nature, and I fear, because it has been fostered by those in power. That, too, is natural (altho unfortunate) in the course of human events.
For all the treasure and blood and often dubious readjustments of civil liberties which the post 9/11 approach has exacted, we might well re-consider devoting energies other approaches to making ourselves safer from terrorism. The Israeli-Palestinian question, for example, remains the biggest elephant in the room, and the retrograde current US foreign policy approach to that subject is disheartening, to say the least. But that (as they say) “is a whole ‘nother thread”.
— Regards
FE,
Canadians can walk across right now for vacation. Don’t kid yourself about how useless the House Bill is. It is nothing but feel good BS without the comprehensive elements added to it.
The plans of the “Canadian residents” (UPDATED)…
…
AJ
It is nothing but feel good BS without the comprehensive elements added to it.
Comprehensive? the only thing comprehensive about it is how comprehensively complete the AMNESTY is for all, including all those terrorists that are already here.
Just out of curiosity? What is comprehensive about the bill in your opinion? I’ve always thought comprehensive meant ” something” like complete, whole. Come to think of it, you may be right, it is complete, whole surrender to the illegal immigrants.
What? Terrorists in Canada? How can that be? I thought that Canada was such a warm, fuzzy nation that prized diversity above all that no one would ever want to harm anyone in Canada. At least, that is what Canadians have told me. They don’t go to war with anyone, they don’t discriminate, they are not like their evil, war-mongering neighbor to the south.
Wonder how they will feel when Montreal is in flames?
Canada Thwarts Terrorists…
From the AP:Seventeen Canadian residents were in custody Saturday on terrorism- related charges, including plots to use explosives in attacks on Canadian soil, authorities said. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said they arrested 12 male adults and fi…
Terrorism, eh?…
Why is the liberal blogosphere so silent about 17 terrorists being rounded up in Canada? Is it because terrorism in Canada doesn’t fit into their warped reality, a reality where the Bush administration has created this threat?…
Exactly Seison!
Where is the Savage man on this?
Continuing to lead many over the cliff, imho.
We are very lucky about these arrests. And we must all be vigilant here in the States…
And for the record, anyone who wants to do us harm and has half a brain can get into this country LEGALLY…just like the 9/11 terrorists…They did NOT walk across our southern border.
Delusions.
The reason that they don’t think that these guys are officially “Al Qaeda” is that they havbe a lot of intelligence that people are just reading Al Qaeda on the Internet and then doing their own thing.
They aren’t necessarily formally linked with Al Qaeda, but they are Inspired by them on the Internet. they also talk with each other on the Internet.
Here is a general article about what the Canadians have been seeing
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=8ef8514e-3fa2-44e2-83ee-6073a8e6ea19&k=39010
This article discusses the targets and how the terrorists were tracked.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1149285034044&call_pageid=976163513378&col=969048863474
They were going to bomb the Canadian internal intelligence. I think this is like the British MI5.
The internal spies monitored the teens on the Internet. It was a lot of teenagers who had never been in the ME. They were inspired by Al Qaeda sites.
Reminds me a bit of the boys that did Columbine.
Rats! I posted the wrong post.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1149285034044&call_pageid=976163513378&col=969048863474
This is the one I described above. Sorry.
The point is, Al Qaeda is more of an inspiration.
AJ,
This might be the work of Mustafa Setmarian Naser almost bearing fruit. If that’s the case, we really have moved past the era of terrorist organizations and terror franchizes are what we have to look out for in the future. It will be interesting to see what comes out in the next few days, but my guess is that a jihadist veteran came to Canada years ago, possibly before 9/11. After arriving there, he acted as a one-man sleeper cell. After the collapse of the aQ network, he became a kind of jihadist franchize owner, along with a link between homegrown radicals (including native-born, white former protestants, important to remember before we try to make the connections between immigration issues and asymmetrical jihad warfare. We might be able to stop all of the immigrants, both illegal and legal, but what happens when our enemies are not immigrants?) and the world-wide jihad community. This franchize owner trains the newly-radicalized jihadists, making them de facto members of the global jihad network. At this point, the senior, combat-trained veteran from Afghanistan or North Africa or Kashmir or Chechnya or the Balkans can either take on the role of an operational commander of the cell, or just move on to spawn another cell. It would probably be best if a senior jihadist veteran was arrested with the rest of the radicals, because if he wasn’t arrested with them, that means that they are probably following Naser’s plan for global jihad. If that’s the case, the job of both the Canadian security officials and our own becomes exponentially harder. I fear the worst.
If you’re really interested in the global war, I suggest visiting the Counterterrorism Blog and reading up on Naser (a.k.a. Abu Musab al-Suri)
ivehadit –
And for the record, anyone who wants to do us harm and has half a brain can get into this country LEGALLY…just like the 9/11 terrorists…
Well, it that’s the case, then we’re all gonners. If at this point we can’t refuse entry to a whole passel of Saudi-grown threats, including guys already identified as terrorists and actually being by watched the CIA prior to their flying into LA, then it’s time to move to Belgium. 😉
-Regards
SEIXON –
The liberal blogosphere hasn’t been so silent on the subject as you suggest (at least if Huffington is at all typical). Maybe the liberal key on your keyboard is stuck. 🙂
– Regards
DGF,
Where is a post on Huffington Post about this? They have a link to the story – that’s it. Just like DailyKos. As I said, no prominent liberal blog has written a blog post about this story as of right now. In comparison, virtually every conservative blog has done so. Start asking yourself why instead of denying the truth.
As far as ties to al Qaeda, I doubt it. I doubt al Qaeda would make the mistake of trying to bomb Canada. After all, al Qaeda is as involved in the propaganda effort as they are anything to do with terrorism. Their efforts in the world are defined just as much by what they preach in comparison to what and who they bomb.
Of course, they did bomb a hotel in Jordan, and that produced a backlash. A strategic error? Certainly I doubt they’d make the same error again in a place like Canada. The terrorists depend on the left-wing to defend and rationalize their actions, and thus they can only bomb places like the USA and the UK, places where the left-wing can justify it. Attempting to bomb Canada, as we have now seen, doesn’t get the left-wing all too excited.