TORONTO, March 7 /CNW/ - "Despite warnings from security agencies, and despite media coverage of Canadians mixed up with terrorist groups...many Canadians seem unaware of the extent to which their country has become both a source of and a haven for international terrorists," writes TIME Canada editor Michael Elliott in his introduction to TIME's exclusive publishing of excerpts from Stewart Bell's new book Cold Terror: How Canada Nurtures and Exports Terrorism Around The World (John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd., March, 2004 release). The excerpts appear in the March 15th, 2004 Canadian Edition of TIME Magazine (on newsstands this week) and demonstrate Canada's vulnerability "'to infiltration by international terrorist networks'".
Here are some excerpts from Bell's book.
"Ahmed Ressam . . . . After months of training, Ressam returned to his base, a country that was harboring every major international terrorist organization on the planet, a country where terrorists were building bombs; raising money for weapons; plotting; recruiting; and then going out into the world to spread terror.
"That country is Canada.
"There are a good many Canadian-based terrorists like Ressam out there in the world. "You can find them in Scarborough and Peshawar, Vancouver and Cairo, Montreal and Beirut.
[. . . . ] Canada has become a source country of international terrorism. Former prime minister Jean Chretien used to boast that the United Nations Human Development Index showed Canada was the best country in the world in which to live. During the past two decades, it also became the best country in the world for terrorists to make their home. Canada has provided a haven, money, propaganda, weapons and foot soldiers to the globe's deadliest religious, ethnic and political extremist movements."
In addition, there is this: Time's Tim McGirk interviewed Abdurahman Khadr's sister Zaynab in Islamabad, Pakistan from whom he learned:
" 'Abdurahman won't be one of us. Not anymore.' "
McGirk's investigative piece traces the recent history of the Khadr family and in so doing raises serious questions about Zaynab's denial."
[. . . .] Bin Laden was a guest of honor at Zaynab's wedding to a Yemeni Islamic fighter; Zaynab was a schoolmate of al-Zawahiri's daughter, and for a while, before Sept. 11, 2001, the families all lived together in the same Arab compound in Jalalabad. Ahmed Said's wife, Maha Elsamnah, a Palestinian-Canadian, was friendly with two of bin Laden's four wives. '
Anti-American, anti-Israel Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish has won the nomination in the newly created riding of Mississauga-Erindale by a slim margin.
[. . . . ] She also attacked National Post reporter Stewart Bell after he received an award for investigative journalism from B'nai Brith's Institute for International Affairs. Bell has raised ire in certain circles for his exposes on the activities of terrorist groups both internationally and here in Canada.
Why was she on one trip to the Palestinian territories on a "trip funded by Mississauga's Palestine House"? That does not pass my personal sniff test for a Canadian MP.
Jewish community members are shaken, but not surprised, following the arrest of a Canadian citizen in Israel.
Jamal Akkal, 23, was detained by the Israel Security Agency on November 1. He is accused of training with Hamas in order to assassinate a senior Israeli official in the United States, and target leaders of the American and Canadian Jewish communities.
Akkal, originally from Nuseirat in Gaza, has lived in Windsor, Ontario since 1999 and holds Canadian citizenship.
[. . . .] “We have been working with the OPP anti-terrorism unit for quite some time, and we’re not naïve to think there isn’t something happening in Windsor.”
According to the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO), Akkal admitted to meeting with Ahmed Wahabe, a senior Hamas terrorist from Nuseirat. Wahabe told Akkal that he had been recruited to Hamas and asked Akkal if he could assist in Canada.
Among Akkal’s alleged assignments was the assassination of a senior Israeli official who was to visit the US.
Akkal was also allegedly asked to attack members of the US and Canadian Jewish communities, either by shooting or by bombing their homes and/or cars.
The GPO reports that Wahabe told Akkal to raise funds in Canadian mosques, ostensibly for the families of suicide bombers, which he would actually use for purchasing a weapon and financing his expenses in monitoring his prospective targets and in perpetrating the attacks.
[. . . .] He notes that while Canadian politicians are expressing concern about Akkal’s treatment in Israel, they’ve largely been silent on the threat of terrorism in Canada.
[. . . .] “This is of particular concern given the horrific terrorist attacks that have been carried out just recently in Turkey, Morocco, Kenya and Tunisia, and the increase in harassment, assault and vandalism related to the Middle East conflict that we have documented here in Canada.”
[. . . .] Kessler believes that it was just a matter of time before something like this happened. He recently returned from Israel where he met with the head of the anti-terrorism unit. “Apparently Israel has had three international conferences on counter-terrorism,” says Kessler, “and Canada hasn’t been at one of them.”
