Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Homegrown

I’m going to go out on a limb and stake out the ground with a few comments that are not usually to be found on the Last Amazon. No doubt it will put me in situation where I find that my politics are in opposition to most of the people I am politically comfortable around and enjoy associating with socially.

I haven’t gone and gotten hung up on this weekend’s arrest of the 17 “homegrown” terrorists. Homegrown seems to be the operative word here and then there is a nagging keystone cops quality to the whole affair that is giving me the feeling that reality has gone slightly surreal. Maybe it was the snipers on the courthouse roof that put me over the edge. For 17 allegedly homegrown terrorists; who were the authorities expecting to ride into Dodge to rescue these guys – the Taliban? Or maybe its today’s revelation that one of the possible targets was the CBC building – I mean the CBC! Other than the Summer of Love media hacks and their families - who would have noticed? And frankly, a significant portion of Canadian taxpayers might have been relieved to be relieved of that tax burden.

Perhaps, it's nothing more than the corrupting influence of spending a few years of my life as a criminal law clerk for two truly outstanding criminal defense lawyers. Call it the result of an occupational hazard but I seem to be a tad more suspicious than most of my contemporaries on the workings of law enforcement officials. I don’t doubt their sincerity, but a nudge or a shove to push someone over a line or two wouldn’t be unheard of either.

The authorities watched this alleged cell for approximately two years and when this group finally began to get their Jihadie act on the road - the authorities apprehended them in a rather extraordinarily timely fashion. Pity, they can't do for organized crime what they so obviously can do for Jihad in Canada. Frankly, it just seems a little too pat. I don’t think it would be entirely out of line to ask exactly who supplied the alleged Jihadists with the name of the fertilizer supplier or who helped draw up the plans.

I am reserving full judgment until the crown’s case is fully laid out, and until that day, I cannot speculate accurately as to the how serious the intentions of the alleged perpetrators were, nor can I realistically judge their commitment to Jihad in Canada. Let me direct – there is nothing like having an allegedly neutral undercover party cheering you on to higher highs or giving you a shove over the edge when you have been content to sit around with your buddies discussing how much Canadians/Christians/Jews sucks while playing extreme camper now and then. Really, it seems more like Boys club than Jihad.

Here’s another issue. They appear to be relatively nobodies. They have no ties to any known terrorist networks or even the Khadr family. I will concede that even Italy’s Red Brigade had to start somewhere and probably with a single cell, but I just don’t see it with our extreme camping homeboys here. Where’s the funding and how are they funding themselves?

I know the PLO are in Toronto and I had the misfortune of meeting one of their operatives in the mid-80’s in Riverdale of all places (for those not in the know, Riverdale is a relatively upscale gentrified neighborhood of Toronto). He had been sent to oversee business interests of his uncle’s and scout out new money making opportunities. He also had a booming business supplying the local hashish market. In the course of my life, I have run into many former members of the Lebanese Phalange militia, and it would not be unrealistic in Toronto’s Lebanese community to find that Hezbollah is operating here as well. Also, our homegrown homeboys seem to have extremely clean criminal records. I have yet to hear of a terrorist network that did not require their members to finance themselves with the proceeds of crime.

Perhaps, I would take these arrests far more seriously if anyone had serious connections to the any known terror groups currently operating, but these Al-Qaeda wannabe’s might never have gotten around past the talking the walk if not for the efforts of our own law enforcement officials. Jihad is real, and the consequences are terrifying and tragic for all who have the misfortune to cross the Jihadists’ path. I just am not feeling it here which is no doubt probably a good thing.

If anything, the CSIS and the RCMP appear to have managed to do what no other international law enforcement agency has done before which is to shut down a Jihad cell of this size. Who would have thought it possible? Certainly not I, and I bet that Maher Arar wouldn’t either. If my memory is not entirely on the fritz, the US’s department of Homeland Security largest single capture was a grand total of 6 in a single swoop in Buffalo.

Another thing that nags at me is the diverse backgrounds with these pre-dominantly young men. Jihad as it is practiced out in the wider world tends to operate cells based on a similarity of ethnic background. These young men do not share a common ethnic heritage and the bond that ties seems to be strictly their religion. But where Jihad is a way of life in such places as Bosnia, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq or even Egypt; groups of Jihadists tend to co-operate in cells based on ethnic lines. It’s a trust issue. Saudis trust other Saudis before they will trust Syrians, Iranians or Palestinians etc. Who knows, maybe it is just another first for Canadian multiculturalism – our Jihadists cross ethnic/tribal lines.

Don’t get me wrong. Jihad is real and religious hatreds run deep and often explode with brutal but casual violence. Nor do I think there is very little that humans are not capable of doing to each other in the name of anything. After all, I’m the woman who has had to live with a Star of David craved in her door inscribed with the immortal phrase “Kill the Jew”.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Finally. Good to see some sober thought on this event.

Thanks.

Gordon Pasha said...

I, too, have some reservations, though if it turns out these people were in fact planning a violent event, then I would like to see the Canadian ones publicly hung for treason. And I must admit to being amazed at Canadian law enforcement being able to pull of such a coup, when in general they seem to be a bunch of bumblers (which may be a subjective viewpoint of my own). And the whole "behead the PM" thing, puhl-leese. On the other hand, some of your points may not be too solid. For instance, the ethnic diversity bit. This is Canada, not the Middle East, and here Islam might well be a stronger tie amongst second generation wannabe warriors than would ethnicity. As for funding, many of them seem to have held decent jobs, and it can't be all that expensive to buy guns and fertilizer. Remember too that, as Canadian citizens and permanent residents, they would not need cash for fake passports, air travel, long distance communications, etc. Ties to al-Quaeda or other terrorist groups? I don't see the requirement. As for the potential nudge over the edge by undercover cops, well, yes, I certainly agree with you there. And if it turns out that these guys were actually trying to plan something, and they get off because the cops clumsily helped them along, then I am going to be mighty peed off. Good post.

Chris Taylor said...

I am not writing them off because of their failure to fit the terror cell profile. The fellas who pulled off the July 7 London transit bombings appeared to be operating on a shoestring budget and without a cool gang name until Al-Qaeda later took responsibility on a chat forum and through a videotape.

You could not prove conclusive foreign links between the London bombers and "official" Al-Qaeda, aside from the web and video proclamations, and AQ does not seem likely to claim anybody incompetent enough to get caught before self-detonation (like the Toronto 17).

I don't think they are an existential threat to the city of Toronto, but then neither was the hostage-taker at Union Station. Lack of organisation and formal accreditation didn't make him any less dangerous to bystanders, though.

Since they were planning to detonate at the tower right across the street, I am glad they got hauled in before and not after any prospective event.

K. Shoshana said...

But Chris the problem seems to lie in that they really couldn't make up there mind exactly what they wanted to target. CNN Tower, assault on Parliament, TSE building, CF base etc. Furthermore, to plan an assault by smuggling into the country 1-2 small handguns at a time seems the height of stupidity. Why risk the possibility of being caught at the border when handguns are easily available here? Crack dealers in my neighborhood are better armed than these guys. But why not even go the legal route and purchase rifles with scopes? To be honest, I would take their threat potential much more seriously if they had used a minimum of brain power and approached the Biker's or the drug gangs in Regent/Jane Finch corridor.

One thing that concerns me is the RCMP/CSIS spent a great deal of resources and time following and tagging these guys who were so careless that they spent a great deal of time planning jihad in internet chatrooms.

I wish they would expend the kind of resources that they used with these guys on discovering who the Hezbollah operatives are here - and here they are, rather than using these resources for the guys out in plain sight. This could easily been a Metro Police/OPP operation. The President of Iran a few weeks ago threatened the west and announced that he had operatives in over 40 western countries waiting for the word from him to strike. Hyperbole, maybe or maybe not but if true these are the people with the tactical, technical and financial resources who have the ability to reduce our daily waking moments to nightmares.

Chris Taylor said...

The media has reported that they did not know Ottawa well and thus would probably not have been familiar with the security precautions at the various targets there. As for Toronto, it is not like it takes any brains at all to paint a courier logo on a van and leave it at the curb to remotely (or personally) detonate.

If one is considering taking a high-value target in Ottawa, I would suggest that rifles and scopes would be the last thing you need. They are big and bulky and easily identified visually. Assuming you want to get close enough to behead someone, do you want to blast your way in, alerting security and risking death before you get to the target? Or do you want to slip in quietly, eliminate the personal protective guard, and definitely get your mitts on the target? You don't have to get every guard on-site, you just have to catch the target in a confined, semi-defendable space, take down the protection close enough to stop you and be able to hold off reinforcements only for as long as it takes to sever a head. Then off goes the head and who cares if you die afterward. If they caught the PM in an office or in the can, and were able to dispose of the immediately present guard force, how long do you think it would take to put a nonfatal bullet into him (to keep him from running away) and saw off his head? Not very long at all.

As for weapons acquisition, dealing with a bike gang, for instance, might make you "of interest" to the police, if said gang is already under surveillance. Smuggling your own goods will not -- provided you don't get bagged coming across the border.

The other thing to keep in mind is that they aren't in the same business as gangs. Gangs want to continue to exist, in order to make more money and provide gang members with the perqs they desire. I am not so sure potential Islamists have the same value calculation.

I don't think they are Hollywood-syle brilliant, but they certainly come off as stupid enough to be criminal. If they had a surfeit of brains, they wouldn't be in the racket in the first place.

Gordon Pasha said...

"But why not even go the legal route and purchase rifles with scopes? To be honest, I would take their threat potential much more seriously if they had used a minimum of brain power and approached the Biker's or the drug gangs in Regent/Jane Finch corridor."

Two things Kateland. First I will echo Chris; rifles with scopes are for taking out specific targets, for snipers. If you want to scare the crap out of people, and to satisfy your bloodlust and frustration, you get an automatic weapon and spray as many rounds as possible in a crowded area with no easy egress.

As for their apparent lack of brain power, it worries me. Like you said, and I agree with you on this, way too much time and energy was spent busting a bunch of clowns. Stories in the news today suggest it was because the cops are more worried about p.c., not hurting anyone's feelings, than about fighting the enemy.

On the surface, it may seem to many people that this was a great coup. As I think you are suggesting, and I agree, this may actually show us how clumsy and lacklustre our security services are.