Al-kanadi: Too relaxed by half

by John Thompson

07/07/03

The one critical problem in dealing with terrorism is that success breeds complacency, and complacency breeds vulnerability. Success in coping with terrorism can also be a complete illusion for another reason — sometimes one country might not see a terrorist outrage for months (or longer) simply because the terrorists have had better things to do.

Either way, the public starts to chafe against the restrictions that increased security has placed on their normal lives. Eternal vigilance being too much for any human attention span, police and intelligence agencies start to relax their guard, and the politicians — bless ‘em — turn their attention to other matters. Then some outrage occurs and everyone starts running around wondering what the hell went wrong this time.

The sense of urgency in North America that followed hard on the September 11^th attacks is at a low ebb… which probably means we will receive another damaging blow and the cycle will begin anew.

The US turned its civil defences upside down in 2002 and has organized the Office of Homeland Security -- the biggest single re-organization of the US Federal Government in decades. However, this has been a major contributor to a massive federal deficit. State and municipal governments are faced with considerable new expenses to meet new federally-mandated readiness and security states, but have no real expectation of federal funding to help them achieve it.

Canada, by comparison is slightly better off — except in one important regard. Our police and security funding was at a low ebb before 9-11, and the RCMP and CSIS have been rejuvenated with major increases. The sense of urgency and purpose in the immediate aftermath of the destruction of the World Trade Centre have enabled a large number of necessary changes to be made, and seem to have engendered an enhanced spirit of cooperation between some of our lead agencies (without having a massive reorganization like the US is going through).

We have passed an impressive series of new laws, and the Smart Border Initiative with the United States will force some badly needed changes to our Immigration and Refugee laws (among other things).

However, in comparison to the United States, there is one critical advantage we lack — the political will to continue to do what must be done. None of our new laws have yet resulted in charges, which means they have not been tested in courts yet either. And success in our courts can only really be guaranteed if the will of our government (and of our citizens) is very clear.

What do we have instead?

Ahmad Said Kadr, a one-time Toronto resident -- was arrested for helping to facilitate an attack on the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad Pakistan in November 1995. The attack killed 17 people. Released by the Pakistani government after a personal appeal from Prime Minister Chretien, Kadr (known as Al Kanadi -- "The Canadian" -- in Al Qaeda circles) is believed to be among Osama Bin Laden’s closer associates.

After being released through Chretien’s intervention, Kadr returned to Canada before returning to Afghanistan and the al Qaeda circles there. One of Kadr’s sons was captured by Afghan Northern Alliance forces in Kabul in November 2001, and another one, who was only 16 years of age, was captured there in July 2002, after mortally wounding a US Army medic with a grenade.

In April, the PM also met with a lobby from the recently banned Sikh terrorist group, the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF). Two of his MPs, Herb Dhaliwal and David Kilgour had joined a lobby that was attempting to keep a Khalistan Commando Force member in Surrey BC from being repatriated to India to face capital charges for a 1993 terror bombing. The terrorist delegation also met with NDP MP Svend Robinson and Alliance MP Gurmant Grewal.

Canadians who hope for a change in this relaxed attitude towards terrorists have little to hope for with the planned ascension of Paul Martin — who is still known for having attended a major public event (along with his cabinet colleague Maria Mina) in 2000 with the main Canadian front for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Nor are Federal Liberals alone in being cozy with terrorists — all parties and all levels of government have behaved in a similar manner. In a society where our politicians are too naïve to refuse to deal with the emissaries of insurgent organizations, it might be too much to expect them to take security seriously… until the next time thousands of people get killed.

John Thompson is President of the Mackenzie Institute which studies political instability and terrorism. He can be reached at: institute@mackenzieinstitute.com

The Mackenzie Institute

The Institute was formed in 1986 to provide research and comment on such diverse subjects as terrorism, organized crime, political extremism, propaganda, conflict and other such matters. It does not shy away from controversy.

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