December 1, 2003
To my mind it is bizarre how we as a nation have this hole in reality through which we like to stick our heads. Walking around like that makes for a pretty rosy picture, so long as you do not pull your head back through into reality. This penchant is evident in nearly all we do and are: a Prime Minister who has damaged the nation almost beyond repair, institutions such as our gun registry and health care system that are expensive jokes as well as a conceit that Canada makes a difference in the world.
Perhaps the most serious and unforgivable delusion we enjoy is that we do not harbour terrorists. The recent release of Abdurahman Khadr from the American detention camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and his subsequent press conference at his lawyer’s office in Toronto attests to this position. For Khadr to claim with a straight face that attendance at an Al-Queda terrorist training camp in Afghanistan was a "normal" thing is an outright lie. For his lawyer, Rocco Galati to state "that does not mean that my client is a terrorist" is a stretch of both his and our credibility. I wonder if he also believes in the tooth fairy. Khadr’s claim that attendance at this training camp was normal, somehow on par with joining the Boy Scouts, was quickly dispelled by several local youths in Kabul, Afghanistan. They set the record straight in pointing out that the camps were largely for foreign (i.e. non-Afghan) nationals, which begs the question why would foreign nationals need Al-Queda training in killing in Afghanistan, if not to send them into the world on terrorist operations?
Then there is the case of Abdurahman’s father, Ahmed Said Khadr, the so-called Canadian "charity worker" who was saved from a Pakistani prison or firing squad by our very own Prime Minister Chretien, after Khadr was nabbed in Pakistan plotting terrorist escapades. How bizarre is that? Our Prime Minister, who has repeatedly claimed that there are no terrorists in Canada, personally intervened with a foreign nation to rescue one. After this, Khadr then went on to plan a number of major operations against western targets on behalf of Al-Queda and is now on U.S.A.’s most wanted list.
With the Khadrs the term "all in the family" really applies, as 17-year-old Omar Khadr, son of Abdul Said, was captured by American troops in Afghanistan, after he killed an American soldier with a hand grenade, while playing dead. This Canadian born youth presumably also underwent training in Afghanistan, as it’s a sure bet he didn’t learn the effective use of hand grenades here in Canada.
Then there's Ahmed Ressam, the North African Immigrant convicted by U.S. authorities of conspiring to bomb Los Angeles Airport in December of 1999. How can we as a nation make a claim that there are no terrorists in Canada, when the RCMP identified Ressam as a suspected Islamic terrorist as early as 1995? All the while Ressam was living off Canada’s largesse in Montreal and plotting the killing of local Jews and the bombing of synagogues.
Other terrorist organizations that thrive in Canada are the Tamil Tigers. These guys are arguably the most vicious and most violent of the world’s terrorists. Yet they seem to operate in Canada with impunity. Some weeks ago we read in the media that plans to deport a number of these specimens were foiled by legal maneuvering. Does this mean we will never be rid of them?
Currently a trial is going on in Vancouver over the Air India bombings, which is one of the most heinous terrorist acts in the history of this nation. The aircraft that was blown up originated in Canada, where a bomb was loaded onto the plane. Sikh extremists were responsible for this crime, yet it remains to be seen whether anyone will really be punished for the loss of over 300 innocent lives. Again, where are the immigration authorities?
It took some really heavy international pressure for the Government of Canada to finally declare Hamas a terrorist organization and outlaw it in Canada. The IRA acts with impunity in Canada, raising money to purchase weapons to kill British soldiers.
Our unwillingness to avoid dealing with this problem is costing innocent lives. In our delusion that Canada is a "nice" place and all Canadians are "nice", we are facilitating crimes against humanity. There is no room for terrorists in Canada and the government of Canada should make this fact known and act on it. Anything less is unacceptable. As Mark Steyn wrote in the London Telegraph on December 2 …"terrorism is a beast that has to be killed, not patted and fed."