by Judi McLeod
May 28, 2004
Terrorism is not on Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin’s radar screen. Federal election opponent Stephen Harper, portrayed by Martin in election ads as too pro-american, is.
"Canadians can feel very confident…there is no threat levelled against Canada," Martin told reporters, Wednesday.
"From all the evidence we have, neither of the two Canadians nor any of the others are in Canada nor have they been in Canada for a while. We don’t really know where they are," Martin said of the two Canadians on U.S. attorney-General John ashcroft’s 2004 Summer of Terror list.
If Martin doesn’t know the whereabouts of the pair on ashcroft’s most wanted list, he certainly knew the precise whereabouts of one ahmed Khadr. Khadr the so-called "humanitarian aid worker" was first arrested in Pakistan for allegedly being involved in a plot to blow up the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad. While he languished in a Pakistan jail, former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien intervened, putting pressure on then Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to have him set free. Khadr, 57, was killed last October in a skirmish with the Pakistani army near the Pakistan-afghanistan border.
When Chretien was setting Khadr free, Paul Martin, then Canada’s Finance Minister, said nothing.
When Khadr’s son, Karim returned to Canada with his mother and sister last april 9, Martin said plenty. Karim’s brother, abdurahman, back in Toronto after having been released from Guantanamo Bay, admitted on the public record that his family is an "al-Qaeda" family with close ties to Osama bin Laden.
"They are Canadian citizens and have a right to remain in Canada," said Martin in response to complaints from average Canadians, who wanted the government to strip the Khadrs of their Canadian citizenship.
The Khadr family members are not the only Canadian citizens rescued by Prime ministers or mobilized by Canadian citizenship papers.
There’s the late and unlamented Kuwait-Canadian abdulrahman Jabarah, who Saudi authorities said was part of an al-Qaeda cell responsible for suicide truck bombings in Riyadh that left 29 dead. His brother, Mohammed Mansour Jabarah plotted al-Qaeda suicide attacks in Manila and Singapore.
Martin is the not very different successor to Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who declared: "There are no terrorists in Canada."
Word from the Canadian Security and Intelligence (CSIS) states otherwise.
according to CSIS, there has been a rising trend in terrorist support activities in Canada. as the 1999 Special Senate Committee on Security and Intelligence (the Kelly Committee) stated, Canada is "primarily a venue of opportunity to support, plan or mount attacks elsewhere and as a conduit to the United States."
"In his testimony to the Congressional Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims on Jan. 26, 2000, Steven Emerson, widely recognized as america’s foremost independent expert on Islamic terrorism, presented this piece of information courtesy of Ward Elcock, the Director of CSIS: `With perhaps the singular exception of the United States, there are more international terrorist groups active (in Canada) than in any country in the world,’" said Linda Frum in the National Post.
Smug, anti-american, Canadian politicians who claim "there are no terrorists in Canada" are fooling no one but the masses.
Chretien and Martin come from the Liberal Party, the party that watered the Canadian armed Forces all the way down to marginal. They are in no position to forget that Uncle Sam is not only their country’s number one trading partner, but number one defense partner, too.
Meanwhile, abderraouf Jdey, the Tunisian-born Canadian who has appeared in an al-Qaeda martyrdom video and amer El-Maati, the Egyptian-Canadian believed to have trained in afghan terror camps on John ashcroft’s list of seven, are only the two Canadian terrorists ashcroft happens to know about.
"There are no terrorists in Canada" only if you happen to be Jean Chretien or Paul Martin.
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
Pursuant to Title 17 U.S.C. 107, other copyrighted work is provided for educational purposes, research, critical comment, or debate without profit or payment. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for your own purposes beyond the 'fair use' exception, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Views are those of authors and not necessarily those of Canada Free Press. Content is Copyright 1997-2018 the individual authors. Site Copyright 1997-2018 Canada Free Press.Com Privacy Statement