No complacency in war on terrorism

Toronto Sun ^ | September 7, 2003 | Bob MacDonald

[rickmichaels]

This week marks the second anniversary of one of the sneakiest, deadliest and most ruthless acts of terrorism in the history of mankind.

On Sept. 11, 2001, 19 Arabs connected to the fanatical Muslim al-Qaida terrorist network headed by Osama bin Laden hijacked four American passenger jets.

The result was horrific attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington. More than 3,000 innocent people were murdered, including 25 Canadians.

For most of the world, it was an act of the most vile kind, despite the fact that the fundamentalist Muslim terrorists referred to themselves as "martyrs."

Soon after, first-term U.S. President George W. Bush declared: "We're at war."

He has never withdrawn or watered down that statement.

In other words, no matter how many bleeding hearts in Canada and other parts of the world would like it to go away, the war against these fanatical religious-driven terrorists must be fought and won. The alternative is to live in continual fear of more attacks -- and be led by gutless governments that constantly try to appease the terrorists.

Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Australian Prime Minister John Howard are three of the free world's leaders who understand the situation. They have gone directly after the terrorists and those who back them.

Unfortunately, as in the years of appeasing Germany's Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, too many leaders try to downplay and sidestep the threat -- often for their own advantage.

In Canada, we have Liberal PM Jean Chretien, still clinging to power in his third term of a majority government.

Following the 9/11 carnage, Chretien even denied there were any terrorists in Canada. He did this despite repeated reports to him and his government from their own intelligence agency, the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service(CSIS). The reports told him there were at least 50 terrorist groups in Canada, including al-Qaida cells.

One al-Qaida cell based in Montreal plotted to blow up Canadian targets and attempted an attack against a U.S. target.

The latter was led by Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian who entered Canada as a refugee claimant and managed to stay despite being ordered deported. He even left the country and returned from terrorist training at bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan.

Ressam was only caught on Dec. 14, 1999 when U.S. border police nabbed him trying to enter from British Columbia with a car loaded with explosives. He was on his way to blow up the passenger terminal at Los Angeles airport.

Since his conviction, Ressam has attempted to reduce his possible 140-year sentence by outlining how extensive al-Qaida "sleeper" cells are in Canada and the U.S.

However, for too long we have witnessed the lack of stomach by the Liberal government to go after the terrorists. One of the stumbling blocks has been that party's longstanding and successful pursuit of "the immigrant vote."

It's no accident that Canada has about 36,000 illegals on the loose in this country -- people who have been ordered deported but are still here. Apparently, they "can't be found." Many have criminal records. Others may be terrorists.

No wonder some provincial leaders, such as Ontario's Premier Ernie Eves and cabinet minister Bob Runciman, have deplored the weakness of Canada's security and immigration systems. That's one reason why they want Ontario to have more say and control in such matters -- and more coordinated operations with the U.S.

For instance, whether or not a suspected terrorist cell in Toronto of mostly Pakistani Muslims proves to be such, most of the 21 so far detained apparently were using false and fraudulent documents to be in the country.

And on Friday, the FBI issued a world alert for four men they suspect may be planning a terrorist attack to mark the 9/11 anniversary. One is Canadian Abderraouf Jdey, 38, a former refugee claimant from Tunisia whose whereabouts are unknown. A video found in an al-Qaida headquarters in Afghanistan showed him making a "martyr's pledge" -- vowing to die in attacks against "infidels" -- non-Muslims.

Jdey's last known address was a Montreal apartment.

Yes, Canadians -- and especially our leaders -- have no cause to be complacent in the war against terrorism. The terrorists are far from complacent. In fact, they're fanatics.