Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Never mind

Remember all the scary visuals and exciting uproar and all-night vigils and breathless reporting when our very own home grown terrorist cell was arrested? Remember the 400 heavily armed police raiding dozens of homes? Remember the worldwide coverage?
Now, two years later, well, never mind:
. . . the federal government is now admitting that it never had a serious case against almost half of the men and youths charged two years ago. . . . Back in June 2006, the overriding sentiment in government and media was that a dangerous attack had been narrowly avoided. The allegations – that Canadian Muslim extremists were planning to behead Prime Minister Stephen Harper, seize MPs and blow up the CBC – seemed unbelievable. But in a post-9/11 world, the unbelievable had, for many, a ring of truth. . .
Jamal . . . may indeed be a critic of Canadian foreign policy. But it seems that he is not a terrorist ideologue. . . . The alleged terror training camp turned out to be a hapless adventure in the rain, one where participants spent much of their time in a local doughnut shop and where the ammunition for target practice was apparently provided by one of two paid RCMP informers. As for the alleged plot to behead Harper, it was apparently derailed because the plotters didn't know how to get to Parliament Hill. Nor, it seems (according to material released by the Crown), were they exactly sure who the Prime Minister was. . .
I think I'm finally beginning to understand the phrase, "there's no 'there' there."

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