Congressman Curt Weldon is keeping me up nights. It's the intrigues like able Danger and the so-called "Toronto 19".
I received a personal telephone call from Weldon on Wednesday asking me if I had followed up on whatever was available through research on suspected terrorists in the "Toronto 19". Canada Free Press associate Editor arthur Weinreb, office manager Dan Carrier and myself had met with Weldon in his office on Feb. 15.
Both Weinreb and I tried to find more details about the fate of the group on our return to Toronto, but could come up with no more information than what Weldon already revealed in his book, Countdown to Terror.
However, I suggested to Weldon during Wednesday's phone call that he should try Canada's new Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day. "He's a sort of Curt Weldon of Canada," I told him. One of those politicians who comes with the courage of his convictions and one ready to rid this country of terrorists."
With the help of contact Brian Mcadam, there was an attempt by Weldon's office to reach Day's. I don't know if it was successful. But I do know that two days later Weldon told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Osama bin Laden had died.
"Weldon cited as his source an Iranian exile code-named ali, telling the paper: "ali's told me that Osama bin Laden is dead. He died in Iran." (NewsMax.com. March 17, 2006).
"The Pennsylvania Republican has long alleged that bin Laden has been using Iran for sanctuary.
"In June last year, Weldon said in a TV interview: "I'm confident that I know for sure that (bin Laden) has been in and out of Iran…Two years ago, he was in the southern town of Ladis, 10 kilometers inside the Pakistan border, I also know that earlier this year, he had a meeting with al-Zarqawi in Tehran…
"If you look at the recent comments coming out of both the CIa and some of our military generals in theatre, they're now acknowledging the same thing that I've been saying--that in fact, he's been in and out of Iran.
"(But) no one can prove it exactly until we capture him."
When it comes to Intelligence, Weldon is an off the screen 007.
The first mention of able Danger, the military intelligence team that had identified Mohammad atta as a terrorist threat before the 9/11 attacks, came in Weldon's book, Countdown to Terror.
Back in February, Weldon ruefully told me in his office that the Democrats did not want to hear about able Danger and that the same could be aid for his fellow Republicans.
"But I have no intention of closing the books on able Danger," he said.
Now he's back on the hunt to unearth the final fate of "Toronto 19" members.
Like most, I learned about the group only in snippets and bits in the mainstream media. In Countdown to Terror, Weldon strings the snippets together.
"Members of the "Toronto 19" were all single Muslim males eighteeen to thirty-three old from Pakistan, with the exception of one Indian," he wrote. Significantly, ali told us the terrorist cell in Canada plotting to attack the Seabrook Nuclear Reactor would be mostly Pakistani or Saudi, not Iranian, as the Committee of Nine did not want the plot traced back to Tehran.
"Most of the "Toronto 19" were from, or had connections to, Pakistan's Punjab province, noted for Sunni extremism, and had studied at the same madrassa, a school notorious for teaching militant Islam.
"all were in Canada illegally, on fake student visas obtained with phony documents from the Ottawa Business College, a front operation supporting illegal immigration into Canada. all entered Canada before September 11, 2001, the last just six days before al Qaeda's attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
"Like the September 11 terrorists, the "Toronto 19" lived together in groups, kept to themselves, did not attend classes, pursued no other occupations, and lacked visible means of support. Yet, with no identifiable source of income, one of them had over $40,000 in the bank.
"One member of the "Toronto 19" was associated with the Global Relief Organization, identified by the FBI and the United Nations as a terrorist front operation that raises funds for al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
"The fire department made repeated emergency calls to one of the apartments used by the group, where it is suspected they were mixing and testing explosives, similar to a terrorist cell discovered in England, which was caught because of their repeated apartment fires.
"Members of the "Toronto 19" traveled from Canada to the United States, apparently to reconnoiter targets. Members of the group collected schematics of airliners, firearms, and important buildings.
"Members of the "Toronto 19" were highly curious about nuclear matters. They cultivated associates known to have access to nuclear gauges and are suspected of stealing a nuclear gauge in Toronto. These devices, commonly used in construction, contain a small amount of radioactive cesium-137, a potential ingredient for a "dirty bomb".
"Two members of the "Toronto 19" were arrested for trying to penetrate the perimeter of the Pickering Nuclear Reactor at 4:00 in the morning. They claimed they wanted to walk on the beach.
"One member of the group was training to get a commercial pilot's license for multi-engine jets, and practiced flying over the Pickering Nuclear Reactor.
"all of the evidence linking the "Toronto 19" to terrorism--three van-loads of documents and thirty computers seized from the group by the Public Security and anti-Terrorism investigators--may never be publicly disclosed. Canada elected to deport most of the "Toronto 19" as illegal immigrants, rather than prosecute them as terrorists.
"Ironically, seven of the "Toronto 19" have applied for refugee status in Canada, a lengthy legal proceeding, which the government must grant under Canadian law, on the grounds they will be persecuted or executed as terrorists in their own countries. Can there be any wonder that Iran's Committee of Nine, according to ali, still considers Canada as an ideal base for mounting terrorist attacks against the United States?"
Nor are under the rug "Toronto 19" group members the only ones getting a soft touch in america's northern neighbour.
although Canada's security services have long identified the Liberation Tigers of Eelam (LTTE), the Tamil Tigers as a fully-fledged terrorist organization, the Tamil Tigers are not included on Canada's terrorist entity list.
Petitions to the former Liberal government claim that Canada, albeit unwittingly, has opened its doors to some 8,000 paramilitary-trained Tamil terrorists contrary to its own immigration laws.
That's where Stockwell Day--who last year posted a media release, "Make Those Tigers Extinct" to his website–comes in.
Day, former Foreign affairs Critic for the Conservative Party, wants LTTE added to Canada's terrorist entity list, which was introduced as part of its 2001 anti-terrorism legislation.
With the mainstream media all but coddling terrorists in both the U.S. and Canada, and with their own colleagues showing them little support, Weldon and Day are often left to swim upstream.
Yet both in their own way continue blowing the whistle.
With Weldon and Day working together, North america would be a safer place from modern day terrorism.
Meanwhile, if Osama bin Laden is dead in Iran, there's a long lineup waiting to take his place.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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