RCMP Says Terror Plot Against Canadian Trains Thwarted 170
An anonymous reader writes "Two men were arrested in Canada, accused of conspiring to carry out an 'al-Qaeda supported' attack against a VIA passenger train in the Greater Toronto Area. The arrests were products of 'extensive' co-operation between Canadian and US intelligence agencies, who had been investigating the plot since August 2012." From this article, it's not clear whether any actual al-Qaeda support was forthcoming, or whether the accused plotters merely thought there was, by means of an FBI sting operation, as in the 2006 case in Florida.
Re:That title has quite a spin on it. (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't get extremists maybe that is a good thing: but you have a couple nut jobs that want to blow stuff up ... okay. So why can't they keep their mouths shut until they do? I can see if they got caught trying to get supplies or someone to help them but running off their mouths about their plans is just silly. Good thing they do but just saying dumb as door knobs. I agree though the Muslim community deserves to share the credit for their help as they definitely (and wrongly) get their share of the blame every time a problem comes up involving a Muslim.
Also I agree RCMP != FBI though I guess I kind of get the mistake since the RCMP is often compared as the Canadian version of the FBI. It is quite different though in that a lot of rural areas have the RCMP as their primary law enforcement so they do have federal powers but sometimes are doing local policing too.
Things That Make You Go "Hmmm..." (Score:5, Interesting)
1) They mention "Al Queda in Iran."
So...exactly how powerful is a Wahabbi Sunni sect in an iron-fisted Shiite country? Think they have the bandwidth to help idiots in Canada (not the US) do some questionable damage?
2) Coincidence [www.cbc.ca]?
Re:That title has quite a spin on it. (Score:5, Interesting)
Not every Muslim prays for "death to the infidels", not even if they attend the same mosque.
In fact, we can make this statement much stronger: There are about 1.2 billion Muslims in the world. There are estimated to be no more than about 10,000 Muslim terrorists in the world. So what you can actually say is that about 99.9% of Muslims do not in any way support terrorism (assuming that for every terrorist there about 1000 other people that support their actions). The Al Qaida types are a tiny minority.
To be clear, I'm talking about those that blow up civilians, not those that support what they see as wars against dictators and other oppressive powers, such as the people supporting the Syrian rebellion.
Re:Things That Make You Go "Hmmm..." (Score:4, Interesting)
Coincidence [www.cbc.ca]?
From the page:
Now the Conservative government has a majority and can reinstate the measures on its own, but the Liberals say they will support the bill. The NDP opposes the bill and is questioning the timing of the government suddenly moving the bill into an emergency-like debate, accusing it of "being asleep since December."
At least there is one major party in Canadian Parliament that's concerned about personal rights and liberties.
Such behaviour should be rewarded.
Personal opinion and disclosure:
I came to Canada since 2000 and tried to be "politically aware" even before I got the citizenship. I never aimed to benefit any single political party but rather aspired to get people to think critically about the parties and candidates, as well as establish dialogs with elected representatives in my riding to try to sway them toward the "personal rights and liberties" side. Unfortunately I have grown so disappointed with both the Liberal and Conservative parties and their candidates (on both the federal and provincial levels) that I now advocate voting for any candidate unaffiliated with those two (independents, NDP, Green, Pirate, hell - even Rhino [wikipedia.org]).