Dont think terrorism cant strike at home It’s not a question of if, but when. In Paris, the gunmen are dead, their three-day reign of terror finally brought to a violent end — but not before the radical Islamists had massacred 17 innocent people: cartoonists, police officers, Jewish shoppers getting ready for the Sabbath. It was a horrifying time whose dramatic denouement brought inevitable relief. But then the question inevitably turns to home — could it happen here? And the answer is as simple as it is terrifying, of course it can. There is no escaping the reality that in this new form of terrorism, where the elusive enemy lives securely in our midst, the odds are on their side. All the police work, all the covert intelligence and public vigilance can stop only so much. “Today we were unlucky,” the Irish Republican Army famously warned the British after their 1984 plot to assassinate Margaret Thatcher was thwarted. “But remember: We only have to be lucky once. You will have to be lucky always.” We have been lucky several times already. In 2006, a plot by the Toronto 18 to bomb the Toronto Stock Exchange, CSIS offices in Toronto and other targets was foiled by an undercover informant. In 2010 Hiva Alizadeh was arrested after the RCMP discovered he’d smuggled violent propaganda videos, instructional manuals and 56 electronic circuit boards into Canada from a training camp in Afghanistan that were designed to remotely detonate improvised explosive devices (IEDs). In 2013, the RCMP said they’d thwarted an al-Qaida planned plot to derail a cross-border Via passenger train. Also that year, police said they’d prevented a terrorist plan to plant pressure-cooker bombs near the British Columbia legislature on Canada Day. At least three times lucky that we know about. What happens when that luck runs out? It did in Ottawa and Quebec last year. Will it happen in Toronto as well? The ticking time bombs are young, alienated Muslim youth who are being radicalized in their comfy homes by the virulent anti-Western, cult-like messaging they get online. Those who feel disenfranchised are ripe pickings for Internet preachers who twist Islam and insist violent jihad and killing the infidel is their highest calling. And as Paris, Australia and Ottawa have demonstrated, that infidel is not only the Jew. But unlike the times of old, the bold, bin Landen-style grand spectacular is no longer necessary. To inspire terror, to provoke heavy-handed government response — which they hope will push more moderates into the extremist camp — they’ve been told that all they have to do is launch much smaller attacks. No amount of spies and surveillance can prevent every one — and we should not be willing to sacrifice the civil liberties we cherish to safeguard ourselves against those who hate those very freedoms. So what are we supposed to do? Mubin Shaikh, the former jihadist who infiltrated the Toronto 18 and became a paid RCMP informant, believes the first step is resiliency. “Keep calm and carry on or we are going to fall into their trap. They want people to hate on Muslims,” he said. “We need to avoid blaming the entire religion and all Muslims. If we blame all the Muslims, we’re just driving people into the hands of extremists. We don’t want to inadvertently turn into their recruiters.” He believes that unlike Muslim youth in France, those living in Canada are not as vulnerable to radicalization because they are less marginalized, with far better chances at employment and upward mobility. But Shaikh also acknowledges that there are bound to be sympathizers who will look at Paris and be inspired. “It’s easy to say, ‘Hey, I’m going to jump on the bandwagon,’” he warned. “And we have seen how much damage one person can do.” So what is the answer? There is no easy one and that is what is most terrifying of all. freaky crazy read this one drivers everybody else here 10-4
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 03:46:21 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015