Are you worried about terrorists operating in Canada?
Canadian Security Intelligence Service headquarters in Ottawa (Source: CSIS)
Yesterday’s announcement that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had foiled a terror plot based in Montreal and Toronto follows a long, controversial narrative in Canada that stretches back to the 1990s.
That’s when Algerian terror cells allegedly used Canada’s loose immigration policies to stage and plan attacks aimed at France and the US in Quebec.
The so-called Millenium bomber, Ahmed Ressam, first drew international headlines in 1999, when the Algerian national tried to bring a car bomb into the US to attack LA’s international airport.
In 2005, Canadian intelligence “dismantled” an Al Qaeda cell operating in the Toronto area, including four Algerians. But tensions rose again in 2006 when 18 Toronto men were arrested for operating terror training camps in Ontario.
Then came troubling news that men from London, Ontario were involved in the Islamic terror attack on an Algerian refinery in January of this year.
Which brings us to yesterday’s announcement that two foreign nationals were operating in Montreal and Toronto, allegedly working with Al Qaeda elements in Iran to attack a New York City-bound passenger train, according to the RCMP.
In February of this year, the head of CSIS, Richard Fadden, spoke at a committee hearing in Ottawa and suggested that Al Qaeda continues to make inroads in Canada.
“They are beginning to communicate between themselves far more than they used to. And in every single case, there are Canadians who have joined them,” Fadden said.
“CSIS is currently aware of dozens of Canadians — many in their early 20s — who have travelled or attempted to travel overseas to engage in terrorism-related activites in recent years.”
So what do you think? Is Canada doing enough to reduce the risk of Islamic terror activities in Ontario and Quebec? Has enough been done to beef up border security and cooperation between the US and Canada?
Do you see what’s happening in Canada as different from what we’re seeing in Europe and the US, where young Muslims like the Boston-area bombers have been recruited and carried out attacks?
As always, comments welcome.
“So who is the Terrorist? And what is causing radicalization?”
poverty
Except that many of the young Muslim men who are committing these acts are not poor in fact just the opposite.
None of the 9/11 terrorists were poor, Bin Laden was a very very wealthy man.
Knuckle, yes I think the KKK and Aryan Nations would be Terrorism that could be classified as Christian, the difference is of course that you don’t have Christians in the world supporting those groups, in fact we condemn them. Many Muslims, in the Middle East in particular, support Terrorist groups such as Hamas or Al-quida, that is just a fact.
However, the reflexive “its always the Western Christian Imperialist’s fault” is just a fraud. I know that is what is often taught and it is the PC way of thinking, but the fact is Muslim culture in the Middle East is broken. The Crusades??? We have young men in the 21st Century killing little kids for the sake of Allah and we are supposed to blame something from the middle ages? I mean if I go blow up a bunch of Japanese would it be justified by saying, hey look at Pearl Harbor man!
The one great thing Obama has done is leave them to their own devices. The sooner we get out of that cesspool the better for all of us.
Mervel, I should just let it go…but I can’t.
Crusade was the word W used after 9/11 when he started planning his invasions in the Middle East.
Yes, many Christians – almost all! – condemn the KKK. But not all.
Just as almost all Moslems condemn terrorism by Muslims – almost all, but not all. And if you care to do some research you will find that most radical Moslems who have been detained or arrested in the US have been reported as dangerous BY OTHER MUSLIMS. When you make sweeping statements about other groups you alienate your own friends.
I am not that concerned about a few Canadian tourists – I mean terrorists. If we would remove many of our troops and bases from foreign countries and stop using cluster bombs and drone strikes on innocent civilians, the hatred against the US would largely dissipate.
What I am much more concerned about is corporate terrorism that kills many more in the US than a couple of kids with pressure cookers. Yet we sensationalize these events and call for retribution and new restrictions on our freedoms while largely ignoring corporate terrorism. At the same time as the Boston tragedy a fertilizer plant in Texas blew up killing first-responders. If could have been much worse if the nearby school had been in session. This plant chose to ignore many safety laws over the years and the result is not unexpected. Why didn’t the FBI immediately arrest the CEO?
Think about the BP explosion in the Gulf. Again, ignoring safety issues to save a few bucks. Why wasn’t the CEO immediately arrested? Mine explosions, etc., the list is endless where corporations ignored or violated existing safety laws and US citizens were killed or maimed. But no one was held accountable for it. Let’s get our priorities straight and demand retribution and new restrictions on corporate terrorists.