Homegrown Jihad or The Saga of Smoke, Mirrors and General Incompetence.

First, the Crown alleged there were 18 homegrown jihadists and Canadians were shocked. Then we learned about the rather unwholesome backgrounds of the ‘informers’.

Then, next thing we knew – three of the alleged 18 jihadists had their charges stayed, so then there was 15.

And today, my oh my, the Ottawa Citizen is reporting the Crown will be seeking to stay the charges of 3 more alleged homegrown terrorists.

BRAMPTON, Ont. - Prosecutors are expected to move to stay charges Tuesday against three men accused of participating in a homegrown terror cell after they agreed to abide by certain court-ordered conditions for one year.

Qayyum Abdul Jamal, the eldest of 18 accused in Canada's largest terrorist sweep, Ahmad Mustafa Ghany and Ibrahim Alkhalel Mohammed Aboud signed peace bonds, finalizing their cases in a Brampton court this morning.

Now we are down to 12 and I still smell acquittal in the air for majority – unless one of them loses their nerve and cops a plea. And it is not because I am Psychics 'R' Amazons but I worked long enough in criminal law to have a feel for the alleged skill set of our top policing agencies and a nose which can smell ‘unsavory’ in an informer/mole. Originally, I wrote this and it still applies:

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 in cells based on a similarity of ethnic/tribal 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/tribal 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.

And my gut tells me - this will not be a first for Canadian multiculturalism.