I haven’t written much about the recent arrests in the terrorist bomb plot for three reasons:
(1) Our security services — the RCMP, CSIS and local police — responded to the situation exactly as they should have, and exactly as they have been trained to respond. After two years of investigation, we have 17 arrests, no deaths, and no destruction of Canadian icons or buildings.
There have been numerous reactions on both the right and left flank of the political spectrum — to say nothing of half-baked, loud-mouthed American ignoramuses — about these home-grown wannabe-terrorists…and my response to them is “what more do you want?” You live in a protected society, and you are safe. Get over yourselves and get on with your lives.
(2) The details of what these al-Qaeda-wannabes wanted to achieve (storm Parliament & take hostages; behead the Prime Minister; take over the CBC; blow up CSIS headquarters; etc…) make for an audacious scheme. But…have you read about these men? They don’t seem like the most cunning or devious of criminals. Some of them are barely out of high school! I’m willing to bet these tools were more likely to die mixing together 3 tonnes of fertilizer in their parents’ basement before getting within 100 metres of Parliament Hill…
(3) Last night, a report on CBC’s The National detailed the over-reaction of many “tolerant” European countries to the threat of fundamentalist Islamic terrorism: assimilation, assimilation, assimilation! Let’s be radical! Force them to watch videos of topless women and men kissing. Ban head scarves. Sign documents pledging to uphold the values that make people “British”, “Dutch” or “French”.
But Canada already has a social contract that binds us all together — newcomers AND life-long citizens…
…it’s called the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and it grants us all the tools necessary to create a functioning tolerant, peaceful, and accommodating multicultural style. Our system isn’t broken — it’s always adapting to new situations. Living our values will always be better than simply dictating them from on high…and that’s the genius behind the document that the late Pierre Trudeau laboured so long to give to us. Live the vision…and terrorism will never win.
We are well protected. We are safe. Our multicultural society STILL works, despite twisted, individual abberations. So endeth today’s rant.
