Jump to content
Kyle86

Terrorism In Canada?

Recommended Posts

Canada is a target because...

 

a) we're white

b) mostly Christian

c) next to the U.S.

 

And there's not a whole lot we can do about it. Thinking that simply not doing anything to piss anyone off will prevent terrorist attacks is flawed. Trying to get terrorists to like us is a bad idea.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Osama Bin Laden himself mentioned in an interview in 2002 that Canada was one of the nations Al-Qaeda has targeted. The others he specificly mentioned were "Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Canada and Australia".

 

And he said that those nations are targets because?

 

Canada is a target because...

 

a) we're white

b) mostly Christian

c) next to the U.S.

 

And there's not a whole lot we can do about it. Thinking that simply not doing anything to piss anyone off will prevent terrorist attacks is flawed. Trying to get terrorists to like us is a bad idea.

 

Do you think that 9/11 happened because the US is full of Christians, or did it happen as retribution against perceived injustices committed by the US against the muslim world?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The star recently had an excellent piece by Linda Diebel:

Here

"A good spectacle ... theatrical atmosphere ... like 24 ... an awards show."

 

Reviews for a Mirvish production, right? Maybe a Hollywood blockbuster or fast-paced new action series on Fox?

 

Wrong. It's how several lawyers and security experts describe the sombre, indeed frightening, events which transpired in the GTA over the past weekend.

 

At a news conference Saturday, a dozen of the highest-ranking police officers in the province gathered to announce that an alleged terrorist cell had been shut down before it could explode a truck bomb three times more powerful than the device used in Oklahoma City. They were circumspect about Operation O-Sage, arguing time constraints in the preparation of evidence as well as police procedure.

 

The anti-terrorism task force was careful about the wording of its news release, saying that the group "took steps to acquire" the three tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a popular fertilizer used to make bombs. As well, they laid out selected evidence for the photographers and TV crews, showing only "sample" bags of ammonium nitrate.

 

Meanwhile, under massive police security which included sharpshooters on nearby roofs and tactical squad officers with submachine-guns, suspects were brought in leg irons to the provincial courthouse in Brampton. There, in Room 101, Justice of the Peace John Farnum postponed bail hearings until tomorrow morning.

 

For the experts contacted by the Star, these events were as much about creating an image for the public as about charging the individuals. And it's an image, they argue, that could hurt the right of the accused

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to agree 100% with Moonlight_Graham on this one... maybe it's an Ottawa thing? haha.

 

Anyways, as a student of political science, I'm used to hearing the anti-Bush stuff in every single class I've taken in University... and now I'm hearing it about the arrests in Toronto. People are saying the conservative government will use this as fuel to join the war in Iraq, that martial law will take over the streets, and neo-cons will come to power in Canada... it's all ridiculous.

 

Canada has values, and needs to protect them. I'm not saying Iraq was just, but as for Afghanistan, joining the fight against KNOWN terrorist groups in a country and helping to restore democracy to a peaceful nation is something we should be a part of.

 

I know it's become cliche since Bush has been spewing this for the last 5 years, but our values ARE under attack...and running away from Afghanistan because 17 people wanted to blow up something in Ontario is insane. It's like giving in to a hostage-taker's demands... it only fuels this kind of behaviour, because they know it has an impact.

 

Support the troops.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We all know there are terrorists in Afghanistan. The problem is that they may not be distinguishable from ordinary Afghans who train with paramilitary groups to fight occupiers with kalashnikovs and guerilla tactics. Remember what country this is. This is Afghanistan we're talking about. When you think of countries that have been used as spaces on a chess board by the great powers, Afghanistan is the country that should come to mind. Resisting occupation has become part of Pashtu culture. When General Rick Hillier talks about the "terrorists" we're fighting, he doesn't just mean those who use terror tactics against civilians. "Terrorist" has become the term used to describe the guerillas we are fighting. What our soldiers are doing over there is conquering the country for the Karzai government, itself a puppet of US interests.

 

mself084, the neocons are in power in Canada. Stephen Harper is an unrepentant Calgary-school neoconservative who supported the war in Iraq and supports the idea of the so-called "national security state." Canadas values are under attack, but not from Afghanistan.

Edited by Bizud
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We all know there are terrorists in Afghanistan. The problem is that they may not be distinguishable from ordinary Afghans who train with paramilitary groups to fight occupiers with kalashnikovs and guerilla tactics. Remember what country this is. This is Afghanistan we're talking about. When you think of countries that have been used as spaces on a chess board by the great powers, Afghanistan is the country that should come to mind. Resisting occupation has become part of Pashtu culture. When General Rick Hillier talks about the "terrorists" we're fighting, he doesn't just mean those who use terror tactics against civilians. "Terrorist" has become the term used to describe the guerillas we are fighting. What our soldiers are doing over there is conquering the country for the Karzai government, itself a puppet of US interests.

 

mself084, the neocons are in power in Canada. Stephen Harper is an unrepentant Calgary-school neoconservative who supported the war in Iraq and supports the idea of the so-called "national security state." Canadas values are under attack, but not from Afghanistan.

So you advocate us returning to the theiving lying liberal goverment of the days of yore?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why do people think the Afghan mission is a "just" one to begin with? 60% of the Karzai government are ex-Taliban members, there only "ex" members because Karzai rounded up some folks and decided they'd be good to govern. In fact, a member of the Karzai government used mass rape as a means of terrorizing his enemies in local disputes. Women's rights in that nation have not gotten better, in fact they've gotten worse. All this is in Human Rights Watch, all well documented. We are supporting terrorists, and in fact, horrible people who are now simply client states. Karzai the man, is also an ex-employee of Unical, he was rather high up in fact. Gee.. Big oil in with the Bushes, big oil in with the Karzai's... These are not simply coincidences.

Edited by supercanuk
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We all know there are terrorists in Afghanistan.  The problem is that they may not be distinguishable from ordinary Afghans who train with paramilitary groups to fight occupiers with kalashnikovs and guerilla tactics.  Remember what country this is.  This is Afghanistan we're talking about.  When you think of countries that have been used as spaces on a chess board by the great powers, Afghanistan is the country that should come to mind.  Resisting occupation has become part of Pashtu culture.  When General Rick Hillier talks about the "terrorists" we're fighting, he doesn't just mean those who use terror tactics against civilians.  "Terrorist" has become the term used to describe the guerillas we are fighting.  What our soldiers are doing over there is conquering the country for the Karzai government, itself a puppet of US interests.

 

mself084, the neocons are in power in Canada.  Stephen Harper is an unrepentant Calgary-school neoconservative who supported the war in Iraq and supports the idea of the so-called "national security state."  Canadas values are under attack, but not from Afghanistan.

So you advocate us returning to the theiving lying liberal goverment of the days of yore?

I don't vote Liberal. Since I became aware of politics, around the time of the 1993 election, I have opposed the Liberals from the left. The sponsorship scandal, while not indicative of institutionalized corruption within the party per se (those responsible have been expelled), was the predictable consequence of Chretien's authoritarian, patriarchic, "I know best," power-centralizing tendencies (incidently, I see these tendencies in Stephen Harper too). The Liberals, as well as certain provincial governments, are responsible for the evaporation of the social safety net. They're reckless tax cutters, they took their time implimenting a child-care strategy, they did next to nothing to impliment the Kyoto protocol and they sent us to Afghanistan in the first place - But I'd take them in a heartbeat over this bunch. The Conservatives are simply wrong. On the war, on Kyoto, on child-care, and on fiscal matters, the Conservatives are far, far worse than the Liberals. Oh yeah, and did I mention the party is full of hateful bigoted troglodytes all too eager to roll back the clock on same-sex marriage and even abortion. Their "tough on crime" policies will do nothing to lower crime rates and will cost us a fortune.

 

Yeah, I miss the Liberals.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bizud - I think the idea that neo-cons run Canada is debatable at best. Even if they do (and I'm not arguing they do) occupy high positions in the Harper government, their influence is minimal because of the current minority government in power here in Ottawa. Any comparisons to Bush are mainly just fearmongering by the opposition, using the state of affairs in the US as a picture of what Canada will look like under the conservatives.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Canada is a target because...

 

a) we're white

b) mostly Christian

c) next to the U.S.

 

And there's not a whole lot we can do about it. Thinking that simply not doing anything to piss anyone off will prevent terrorist attacks is flawed. Trying to get terrorists to like us is a bad idea.

exactly. thank you.

 

 

Bizud - I don't know as much about Afghanistan as you, i try to stay as informed as i can but i'm not 100% informed on this war, so maybe i should read more about it. But these very young men/teenagers who were arrested i'm sure aren't terribly informed either on all the issues, & likely have been brainwashed by their parents. They probably just think we are invading a Muslim country & killing Muslims, therefore they seek revenge. Hard to say their true motives until they go to court.

 

But in order to prevent terrorism, we must not bow down to the terrorists & try to please them & not piss them off as Ecnarf said. I think we must be respectful in the treatment of Muslims/Islamics and Muslim/Islamic nations in general. If we enter one of their countries to fight terror etc., try our best not kill innocent civilians etc. or be there without reason (ie: Iraq). Preventing terrorism also includes tighening up our lax immigration policy, and if we find terrorists already in our country they should be arrested or deported. If we can't find reason to arrest suspected terrorist or homegrown terrorist that had yet to commit crimes in Canada, then we should do exactly as the RCMP & CSIS did & monitor these people & arrest if we see them doing something suspicious.

 

mself084, the neocons are in power in Canada. Stephen Harper is an unrepentant Calgary-school neoconservative who supported the war in Iraq and supports the idea of the so-called "national security state." Canadas values are under attack, but not from Afghanistan.

 

Harper stated his support for the war in Iraq leading up to the war, but has also publically stated he no longer supports the war because of the false pretenses that it was based upon. I also supported the war in Iraq leading up the war (although at the time i thought Bush went in way to soon without giving diplomacy & inspections its proper chance), but i only supported the war because of the "facts" i was told my the U.S. & British gov't etc. that Iraq HAD wmd's, and were seeking means to create nuclear weapons. Now we know none of that was true, therefore i do not support the war & feel lied to by the Bush admin. I'm sure this is a similar reason why Harper (and most people) changed his opinion on the war from support to non-support.

 

The Liberals, as well as certain provincial governments, are responsible for the evaporation of the social safety net. They're reckless tax cutters, they took their time implimenting a child-care strategy, they did next to nothing to impliment the Kyoto protocol and they sent us to Afghanistan in the first place - But I'd take them in a heartbeat over this bunch. The Conservatives are simply wrong. On the war, on Kyoto, on child-care, and on fiscal matters, the Conservatives are far, far worse than the Liberals. Oh yeah, and did I mention the party is full of hateful bigoted troglodytes all too eager to roll back the clock on same-sex marriage and even abortion. Their "tough on crime" policies will do nothing to lower crime rates and will cost us a fortune.

 

-not sure what you mean by "the evaportation of the social safety net". We seem to have it extremely good here in Canada for those unwilling or unable to work etc. Unless you mean our health-care problem, which i do blame the Liberals a lot for.

-I like the conservatives a lot more than the Liberals of the last decade or so, but thats not saying much. I don't like they way they are controlling the journalists on the hill. I agree that they should have implemented Kyoto, but they say they have their "own plan"...so we'll see ;). Fiscally i don't mind what the Cons are doing so far. Chretien promised to rid the GST 14 years ago. Harper promised to drop it 2% & has already started fulfilling that promise.

-I think their stance on childcare is wonderful. Let parents have a choice. Let mothers stay home if they want, or let the grandparents babysit, or put their child in private day-care if they want. A national day-care program would be a joke. Any government-run program is likely to be highly ineffecient & wasteful, so i'd rather give the money to parents to spend on private day-care.

- i don't agree the Cons are "hateful bigoted troglodytes", they simply have more tradional, Christian social values. I do not agree with them on the gay-marriage issue for sure. But unlike the Liberals, at least they stand for something & aren't afraid to say it. And when they promise something, they seem to back it up with action.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm pretty sure the reason Harper "changed his mind" about Iraq is that he went from being leader of a far-right neoconservative party to a leader of a supposedly "centre-right" party that claims to be moderate, and is now trying to win over centrist voters to win a majority in the next election. I don't believe for a second that Stephen Harper's real political beliefs have changed since he was Canadian Alliance leader. He's a warhawk.

 

-not sure what you mean by "the evaportation of the social safety net". We seem to have it extremely good here in Canada for those unwilling or unable to work etc. Unless you mean our health-care problem, which i do blame the Liberals a lot for.

 

http://www.torontoalliance.ca/MISWAA_Report.pdf

 

That's a report detailing how the social safety net is in worse condition than many people think. For example, in 1990, 80% of workers who lost their jobs were elligible for EI. Today not even half of those who lose their jobs are elligible for EI, even though we all pay into it. This is not that big a deal when the economy is strong and jobs are everywhere, but if a big recession comes we are going to have a major crisis in this country.

 

-I think their stance on childcare is wonderful. Let parents have a choice. Let mothers stay home if they want, or let the grandparents babysit, or put their child in private day-care if they want. A national day-care program would be a joke. Any government-run program is likely to be highly ineffecient & wasteful, so i'd rather give the money to parents to spend on private day-care.

 

"Choice" in child-care is a lie. The money being given to parents is not enough to pay for private day-care. 100 measly bucks a month, and taxable at that. That means that a stay at home parent keeps the whole thing, and a single working parent gets much less. Single working parents are the people who need a day-care program the most. Not everybody has someone they can turn to to look after their kids while they work. The result is that many can't work, they have to stay home and care for the kids while collecting welfare. I agree that parents should have choice in child-care - let's at least increase the child tax benefit to give parents money tax-free so all can enjoy it equally. We also have to create actual affordable day-care spaces in the first place, and the Conservatives won't do that. As for any government-run program being wasteful, Quebec's child-care program is a perfect model for the rest of the country to follow.

 

- i don't agree the Cons are "hateful bigoted troglodytes", they simply have more tradional, Christian social values. I do not agree with them on the gay-marriage issue for sure. But unlike the Liberals, at least they stand for something & aren't afraid to say it. And when they promise something, they seem to back it up with action.

 

Many Christian social values are hateful and bigoted.

Edited by Bizud
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, I was kinda annoyed at the border this morning because of this whole situation.

 

It seems that the US customs has been informed to heighten the inspections and so I was held up at the border (in the nexus, pre-cleared lane which i paid money to get) and told to shut off my car, pop my trunk and hand them my ID.

 

My issue with this is, I have already been cleared through Customs and I am only supposed to be pulled over for a random secondary inspection. Plus, why are they even on heigthened awareness? Because Canada actually caught some terrorists BEFORE they obtained explosives and blew anything up? It makes no sense. We seem to be doing a fine job in this "war against terror". So, there shouldn't be delays because the Canadians did an awesome job.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyone who thinks the Conservatives are not a problem because a minority government in place is wrong. All the parties are taking a step back right now and might support stuff they wouldn't have previously. All of them are trying to rebuild their parties too, so it's not like this is over. The Tories also could get a majority at some point in the near future too.

 

I was watching CNN recently, and I found it interesting that one of the Americans thought that "if terrorism is in Canada than it's in America" almost like we're the same as the States. Why is it so hard for some of the US citizens to understand our national identity is different from theirs is beyond my comprehension.

Edited by Matt
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know what that had to do with closed-mindedness, but the Conservatives have been effectively able to govern as though they had a majority, because on just about every initiative one of the parties supports them even if they don't want to, because nobody wants another election.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyone who thinks the Conservatives are not a problem because a minority government in place is wrong.

Typical left wing closed mind.

That's funny because I'm a right winger, not a far-right winger, but a right winger all the same. I simply feel that the Americans are a little too involved in our business.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.