I hope, since these men have been presumed guilty, that they really are.
I hope that Stephen Harper doesn't use this as excuse to ramp up a war machine. I hope, if he does, there is widespread public sentiment against it. And, if he does, I hope that someone didn't frame the men to give him that excuse.
I hope Canadians will not use this as an excuse for intolerance and bigotry, or to turn away from multiculturalism. It can't be a coincidence that, a few days after the arrests, the Globe And Mail's online poll asked, "Is multiculturism the proper course for Canada in the 21st Century?"
Many bloggers have pointed out that Harper's platitudes after these arrests recycled W's famous post-9/11 blather. I first saw it at The Gazetteer:
"We are a target because of who we are and how we live, our society, our diversity and our values - values such as freedom, democracy and the rule of law. The values that make Canada great, values that Canadians cherish."The Gazetteer's post on this is very good, and very simply sums up my feelings on the matter. What are yours?
Stephen Harper, June 3rd, 2006
"Americans are asking, why do they hate us? They hate what we see right here in this chamber - a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms - our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other."
George W. Bush, Sept 21, 2001
7 comments:
Here's a good article from the Star.
On the plus side though, at least this will be in an open trial, instead of some secret kangaroo court.
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If these guys are terrorists, they aren't very good ones. At least that seems to be the picture that is slowly emerging of the 17 men and boys charged this week under Canada's anti-terror laws.
Their so-called training camp turns out to have been a swath of bush near Washago, where their activities — shooting off firearms and playing paintball — were so obvious and so irritating that local residents immediately called police.
Serious terrorists, like Osama bin Laden, base their operations in remote areas where no one will bother them. These suspects, it is alleged, simply trespassed on someone's farm and, when the owner told them to leave, gave him lip.
Serious terrorists, like the 19 who attacked New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, try to avoid making waves. They try to blend in.
The young men charged this week apparently didn't bother with this kind of tradecraft. They apparently didn't realize, or perhaps didn't care, that large groups of brown-skinned urbanites dressed in camouflage are not a common sight in rural central Ontario.
Link
The main observation I take away from it (assuming that CSIS and the RCMP have the right guys and have put together a solid case against them) is that we managed to break up the plot without gutting the Charter of Rights and Freedoms or invading any countries.
Second: Judging from the descriptions of the plot, these guys are nothing more than Timothy McVeighs with a different religion. The US is currently fully of these sorts of folks (usually involved in the "militia" movement), but they're largely given a free pass because they're not brown enough to be considered enemies.
Third points: it wasn't until hours after I first heard of the arrests that I found out the people arrested were actually Muslim. The news reports apparently felt that the nature of the plot was more important than the background of the plotters, which works for me (see #2 above).
I wouldn't be at all surprised if, sometime soon, some white-rights militia were to blow up a(nother) Federal building over imigration, gay rights, abortion, or some such. And Bush's boys will be spinning like mad, trying to pin it on Iran, or at least on Muslims.
If these guys are terrorists, they aren't very good ones.
Most terrorists aren't very good. Their paranoid and conspirational mindsets end up betraying them, unless they keep things really simple (i.e. blow yourself up in a market). Anyone "training" by running around the bush with paintball guns has let the militia mentality get to him.
The main observation I take away from it (assuming that CSIS and the RCMP have the right guys and have put together a solid case against them) is that we managed to break up the plot without gutting the Charter of Rights and Freedoms or invading any countries.
Exactly. That's why I linked to the Gazetteer's post, above. Old fashioned under-cover police work. No extraditions, no torture cells, no extraneous bombings...
I've only seen a few news reports, though I do want to read more. (As I've said to L, my first and strongest reaction to all stories like this is that they are BS (the sting operation that netted these 17 guys could easily have been a set-up) and are created to turn public opinion towards some (obvious or not-so-obvious) political goal.
One interesting note: They knew they were being watched for at least two years.
Weren't there 19 or 23 "terrorists" arrested in Toronto a couple of years ago that turned out to be a big pile of nothing?
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The 9/11 hijackers did very little to blend in. Besides the many loud, late-night parties, excessive drinking, leaving their Korans in strip clubs, etc., many of them (Atta especially) often acted in public in ways that screamed "remember me".
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I wouldn't be at all surprised if, sometime soon, some white-rights militia were to blow up a(nother) Federal building ... And Bush's boys will be spinning like mad, trying to pin it on Iran, or at least on Muslims.
Or Bush's boys want to make sure the job is done right, so they do it themselves. (Again.)
Laura--
Yes, and given your recent move I would think that someone like yourself can put the difference in how things are (at least for the moment) done up here vs. down in the States (again, at least for the moment).
I also believe that it is important to remember the Air India investigation and trial at a time like this.
Clearly that case was not handled well from an investigatory point of view largely, apparently, because of difficulties between CSIS and the RCMP at the time. Regardless, the justice system was allowed to work, as it should, above board. And, thus, even though there were serious shortcomings in the end there was no loss of civil liberties and the social fabric was not badly torn.
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If this weren't the "war on terror" we were in middle of, common sense would call these people "copy cats". Look at the almost pathetic lack of imagination: fertilizer (OKC), beheading (CNN), "terror videos" (YouTube). And then there's the almost laughable idea of trying to buy 3 tons of fertilizer in the expectation that no one would notice. But instead of calling them what they plainly are, they get the sinister "home-grown terrorists" label. Orwell lives.
I'm willing to wait and see what evidence is admitted at trial, but while I recognize that even incompetents can do real harm if not stopped (look at the current President of the United States), I currently do not regard these arrests as signifying much.
But while we're on the subject of "home-grown terrorism," how's that anthrax killer investigation going, eh, George? (chip, chirp)
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