I had just finished writing my Weekend Light Stuff post and was blissfully happy and unaware when hubby came stomping down the stairs.
"Did you hear?"
"Hear what?"
"About the terrorists arrests. Go to any news site," he said. "Now."
I did. I wish I didn't, but I guess the news would have reached me eventually. I went and read and my all my Saturday morning weekend happiness dissipated.
This is what I found, headline after headline:
From The Globe and Mail - Massive terror attack averted: RCMP, Terrorism raids sweep Toronto, Police make terrorism-related arrests in Toronto area, RCMP spokeswoman says; from The Star - Most arrested from GTA; and from CNN - Toronto terror plot foiled — Canada; and so on, and so on.
The story: twelve men and five youths were arrested Friday night (some living in nearby neighborhoods), at which time the police also recovered three tonnes of ammonium nitrate — used to make explosives.
The intent was an attack that could have been three times more devastating than the Oklahoma City bombing, where one tonne of ammonium nitrate was used. All intended targets were in Toronto, according to the reports.
I cannot tell you how upset I am. And for so many reasons. I'm not just angry at the terrorists for wanting to kill me (and don't tell me it isn't personal), but I'm also angry at them for doing everything in their power to destroy our integrated communities and everything that Canada stands for.
Canada welcomes immigrants and our streets look like the United Nations, and there's nothing I love better about this country. Why, oh why, destroy the harmony and create tension between groups? Why use and abuse the freedom and democracy of this country, the trust of the community for this madness?
And who on earth, I want to know, could convince them it was a good and holy idea? I'm sure most Gods wouldn't approve. Who could instill such hatred? And why is it all so easy to instill hatred?
I'm not such a good person myself. Occasionally I dislike people, maybe even hate. But to hate a group of people, people I haven't met? I just don't understand! I didn't understand 9/11, I don't understand bus-bombs and suicide bombing in Israel, I didn't understand the attacks against the school and the theatre in Russia, and I sure as hell don't understand daily terrorist attacks of civilians in Iraq. And if no one understands, how come it still happens? And if we don't understand, what can we do against something we don't understand?
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Dave Nalle
You ask why destroy harmony and create tension between groups?
It's because harmony, peace and racial understanding are antithetical to the intolerance and hatred which fundamentalism feeds on.
I'm surprised Canada with its secular, tolerant ways hasn't been a bigger target sooner. It embodies everything they hate. The only thing America has over Canada is more political and military power.
Dave
2 - Samuel James
Kudos to the Canadian police.
This is why my President has devoted so much time, money, pain and effort into establishing democracy in the middle east. It's because these terrorists are flowing into civilized countries like water, and they want to destroy everything. So to turn off the water, we get to the source.
Thank the true God these attacks were averted.
3 - Melly
But isn't harmony easier, Dave? I can't understand the mindset, I'm sorry.
It's amazing they hate everything I love. I hope you're wrong and Canada will not become a bigger target. Your words aren't comforting (tired smile).
Yes, I applaude the Canadian police as well, Samuel.
However, I still think Bush's strategies are wrong and the moment people start talking about a one true god, I become pale and scared, and I don't care who is talking about their true god.
4 - Dave Nalle
I just heard a troubling thing in one of the reports. One of the arrested terrorist suspects was a student from Georgia Tech down here in the US, and he apparently attended a terrorist training camp in Canada. What worries me is that there are terrorist training camps in Canada in the first place.
Dave
5 - flyby
Ah, so Canadians ask themselves: Why do they hate us? How could they - we are not Americans! We are the smug, the peacekeeping, the multi-culti Canadians!
Of course, it would be better to continue to pretend that "they" don't exist, while living amoungst you.
6 - Silas Kain
Kudos to the Canadian authorities for foiling this group's intentions. Seems like our friends to the North are not as dumb as our Federal Government would have us believe. What scares me most, Dave, is that our Government has failed to carry out the Bush promises of September 12, 2001. Congress doesn't represent the interests of the people. The Supreme Court has become Vatican III of the West. And then there's George. Perhaps it would do the NSA well to import some Mounties to audit our security policies.
7 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Melly,
I have the feeling that at the end of the day you will find that these lovely folks come from Al Qaeda or their friends and relations. They have quite a few, the Taliban, the Moslem Brotherhood, Hamas. I know I've missed a few. If that turns out to be true, you will have your answer right there. If you are not a Wahhabi Moslem, or someone who thoes their line, you life isn't worth camel spit.
That is the bottom line, and the only thing you can do about is to kill the people who so believe - before they kill you.
Welcome to the Middle East.
8 - uncle sammy says
It's true, the West (Canada now included) is hated by these people, and dangerous times are ahead for us, but at least one major source of irritation to fundementalists can be alleviated: I keep saying this, and no doubt people simply don't believe it and are tired of hearing me say it--get out of the Middle East. We are there for oil. Every other reason is a B.S. rationale. They, the fundementalists, don't like us and don't want our western culture in their collective face.
Develop alternate energy sources and leave the Middle East to the natives. Theocracies and democracies are direct opposites, and in the case of Iraq, democracy was a cynical afterthought of this incompetent administration, which, having scared the pants off voters with cries of "mushroom clouds," invaded for oil, oil, oil.
Remove ourselves and then deal with whatever hidden cells of extremists exist within our borders.
9 - troll
we must not be fighting them hard enough 'over there' since they're training and planning 'over here'
troll
10 - bert smith
Can't these people just chill out ! NO. They can't chill out. Their hatred for the Jews is beyond our understanding. They hate North America
because of their support of Israel. This hatred will come to its conclusion at the battle of Armageddon. It takes a lot of people to empty their blood so that it's up to the horses bridle.
11 - Silas Kain
All of this bloodshed in the name of religions. The leaders of all the major religions could come together and settle these idiotic differences if they really gave a damn about humanity. Allah, Yahweah, God, Krishna, Buddah, whomever really don't need to impose their wrath upon us. We do a damn good job of it ourselves. Findamentalist Jews, Islamics, Christians, etc. are the enemy -- period.
12 - troll
I've no problem with fudamentalists who try to live by the fundamental 'golden rule' which holds people together rather than dividing them
troll
13 - Samuel James
Melly,
the problem is not the idea of one true God. The problem is violence carried out in the name of religion. If you lose that distinction (something the American Left would love for you to do), you simply lump the majority of the world in with terrorists.
14 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Folks,
Take a lesson from Dave Nalle. Whatever his opinions on Arab terror might be, he understands that he may need to defend himself against it.
That is the point. All of you on the North American continent who are not Wahhabi Moslems are in the gunsights of these people. It's a very bottom line issue.
Your lives.
15 - Ray Ellis
Melly--you ask why, and I'll skip my usual flippant "and I'll tell you why" line, and just thank whatever god, whoever he/she/they is, that the attempt was thwarted.
Reading the comments that have posted since your original article, however, I think I have an inkling as to why these things happen. It's that kill-or-be-killed, survial of the fittest chip that's implanted somewhere in our primordial make-up.
That, and we like to assume that it was some shadowy Satanic conspiracy, whether we're coming from the Christian far right or the Muslim fringe or whatever other Chosen Land lunatics are claiming rights to the throne on any given day.
But all of that is so much ka-ka, and deep inside we all know that. Why do these things happen? Simple. Weak people like to form gangs to be stronger--you know, united, we can stop anybody. Alone, we are powerless.
And if God is on our side, we're justified in whatever we do.
Bullies are bullies, and they exist only because the weak follow themm and they fall apart once the weak finally awaken from their somnabolistic their state.
They hate, all of them, (scroll up for examples),
because of ignorance born of som stentorian fear.
Fortunately, the Canadian authorities do have clear heads.
16 - The Atheist Jew
Melly, if you want to understand terrorists start reading great blogs like Jihad Watch or Little Green Footballs, I have lots on my blogroll.
Luckily CSIS understood enough about these ones before innocent lives were taken.
17 - Melly
Terrorist training camps in Canada is something very troubling, Dave. I read that too but was upset to consider the possibilities of what that means.
Flyby, obviously no one 'up here' is pretending since the atempt was thwarted (thankfully this time). Sorry if we upset you with our smug, peacekeeping, multi-culti Canadianism.
Silas, words of wisdom!
18 - Melly
Ruvy, I've had my 'run-ins' with you before so I'm fairly familiar with your views on the matter and I still disagree. This didn't change my views; nothing new happened here. We've seen it all before. It's just that it's a little closer to home.
Umcle Sammy, I agree with most of what you're saying except that Israel (a democratic, western state) has no choice and nowhere to go.
Troll, do you really think that fighting them harder 'over there' would do any good, or were you being sarcastic?
Bert, I refuse to be that pessimistic. I still have hope. Even after watching Syriana.
19 - Melly
Samuel, if you put it that way it sounds better. I thought from your comment you meant something else but I see now what you mean. Of course people can believe in God :)
Ruvy, I'm not irrational. I'll protect myself, but as long as threats aren't iminent, and while I'm still on a watch, I'll look for other means to solve my problems.
Ray, I just hate the fact that they use weak people for that and I hate the fact that brainwashing can be that easy.
Atheist Jew (I like that :), I've lurked on the blogs you mentioned enough to know they're not for me. They're filled with hatred as well. You might call the hatred warranted, but this is the part that's hard for me to understand. I cannot hate a group of people simply because a few representatives behaved a certain way. I cannot hate a people. It's no better.
20 - The Atheist Jew
Melly, it isn't about hating a people, it is about observing facts. There are reasons that terrorists attack. Understanding is a poor way to put it. You don't try to understand why a serial killer kills, you do examine his reasons though, and try to prevent future killings.
21 - David Desjardins
If we just removed God from the equation, there would be nothing to fight for. God is the reason freaks come out and bomb other people. Because they surely don't want to live in Canada, the cold would kill them. Fundies are all the same, whether they be Al Queda, Hamas and dare I say all those fools running around the White House. Monotheism is the biggest ditch in the road humanity has ever been in.
One true God my ass. It's those silly hole-in-your-soul-filling sentiments that start wars to begin with. I hope those losers get the big prison treatment from Big Bruno and his friends.
And if Nalle thinks that they wanted to attack Canada because of our secular multi-culturism, he's wrong. He still thinks this is a war of ideology, when it’s always about power and nothing else. This is probably related to the fact that we are leading the fight in Afghanistan and suddenly we get the same bum rap as the US does (that’s probably because we elected a conservative government).
The US military thinks they’re all powerful with a big army. Truth is they can barely hold siege to a town in the middle of the desert, they can’t find a 6 foot 5 tall mad Arab with a face anyone could recognize, they think they can swoop in an area and declare mission accomplished after just a few weeks when they don’t even have a plan for what comes after the invasion, they couldn’t predict that by imposing “democracy” on a people, it would stir up insurgency, they couldn’t conceive that the invasion/occupation wouldn’t be welcomed with open arms, they can’t provide proper body armor and vehicular armor to protect it’s own “heroes”.
Personally I think that if the US government would stop kicking everyone's ass around like a schoolyard bully because it needs resources we wouldn't get attacked (or nearly attacked). You want oil fine, screw the middle east, come see Canada, we got more oil then the whole middle east and we're selling. And there hasn't been any Canadian terrorist organizations since the early 70s. We promise not to burn down the White House again if you'll just leave the Middle East alone so the rest of the world can have peace. Let them kill each other if they want to.
You guys have a decider leading an army of liberators who thought it would be enough just to think of it that way and can’t use simple little things like HISTORY to project, extrapolate potential outcomes.
Now look at the mess the world is in. Who drew first blood is irrelevant, what is relevant is who will mop up when the blood has stopped pouring?
22 - Ray Ellis
It's really not a question of "those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it" so much as it is "those who re-invent the past to suit their own agendas are doomed to fuck it up for the rest of us."
23 - flyby
Flyby, obviously no one 'up here' is pretending since the atempt was thwarted (thankfully this time). Sorry if we upset you with our smug, peacekeeping, multi-culti Canadianism.
You misunderstand, probably on purpose. The allusions of safety held by Canada have been ripped apart. If I really wished you ill, I would have hoped them not to be caught, insofar as all the targets are in Canada.
As things stand, I see this as potentially the best of all possible situations: Canadians such as you get a kick in the teeth, but yet suffer no loss of life.
24 - Deano
Two things that are now coming out in the news reports:
1). These are "home-grown" plotters - not immigrants but rather the offspring of immigrants - Canadian citizens - mostly teens and young men, radicalized by the recent events in the Middle east. It is still unclear whether they had any active ties to Al Quaeda but they certainly seem to have embraced the ideological path. They appear similar to the UK bombers (i.e home-grown, not imported)
The second point is the "terrorist camps". My understanding from the coverage is that it was not a "camp" but that the group met at a rural location. Details as yet are still sketchy but the coining of it as a terrorist training camp seems a bit of a reach.
What is not in dispute is that the groups had collected 3 tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertilizer - enough for three Oklahoma City-size truck bombs...
Being familiar with the lcoation being targeted I can tell you it would have definately caused severe loss of life if an attack had occurred - the lcoation is near a major sports venue, is a bit tourist area and attached to an always busy convention centre.
25 - Deano
sorry that should be "big" not "bit" tourist area...