Posted on 10/21/2004 2:44:35 PM PDT by quidnunc
Alan Baker, Israel's ambassador to Canada, warns against dropping our guard in the fight on terrorism.
It is only a matter of time before terrorists exploit the openness and diversity of Canadian society and strike here, Israel's new ambassador to Canada warned yesterday.
Alan Baker said Canadians must realize additional restrictions on rights and freedoms are necessary to counter the relative ease with which terror groups can now infiltrate Canadian society and launch attacks here, against the United States or on Israeli and other foreign interests in Canada.
His comments to the Citizen's editorial board come as a parliamentary committee prepares to review a sweeping series of anti-terrorism laws enacted in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and which many legal and civil liberties experts believe already violate fundamental rules of law and democratic rights.
Mr. Baker is a lawyer and expert on the legal aspects of the fight against terrorism.
Mr. Baker said people must understand just how tempting Canada's open society is to terrorists.
"I very much fear that the openness of Canada might be interpreted by the various terrorist organizations as a sort of naivete that can be utilized and abused," he said. "If I've become familiar with the psyche of the way terrorist organizations function, I suspect that it's a matter of time before they will abuse this Canadian openness.
"Canada, being confident of its diversity and openness, might be allowing itself to be misled and abused. It worries me. …"
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at canada.com ...
Right you are.
We have many, many Muslims here.
A friend of mine worked in an elementary school in little Stoney Creek, Ontario. There were but two Jones or Smiths in the whole school. Every other name was Middle-Eastern.
On September 11th, after the attacks, the school kids went home for lunch. When they returned from being at home with their families, they were somewhat excited about the events of the morning. They knew it was Osama bin Laden. That was the first I heard of him...when these kids knew who had done this as soon as it happened.
I fear for Canada, but, sadly, we deserve whatever we get. We turned our backs on our best friends in their time of need. I believe we will pay for this.
Well said, headsonpikes.
The masses are so brainwashed up here by our government-run media, I feel there is little hope for things to change. I haven't listened to anything from the Canadian media for a long time. And of course, we can't have Fox News...to controversial (read conservative).
Hi drtom...
I am glad for the ways in which we did help. I saw an excellent show on how Americans were taken in (East coast) by very kind and loving Canadians. I am also proud of the men who went to Afghanistan to fight, and any other efforts we have made.
I think what bothers me is that we almost wanted to do it on the sly. To me, we did not stand firmly aligned with America by what we said, MAKING OUR FRIENDSHIP CLEAR TO THE WORLD. There were numerous things...not immediately tossing out an MP who says she hates those American b-------, announcing to the world that if Canada apprehended men trying to escape from the ME by boat, Canada would NOT turn them over to the US, as requested, openly declaring allegiance with the Europeans and not with America.
It was our government's attitude that bothered me. It was that of a fair-weather friend...not there when you need them. You know, when there are many people against you, it means an awful lot to have someone stand boldly by your side.
But thanks for being gracious toward us! Perhaps one day when we rid our country of these liberals, we can re-educate our population and get back on track. Let's keep a good thought!
No "we" didn't turn our backs. The libs did what they thought they had to do to look good. However, the US had FULL support of true Canadians and there are many examples. It urks me to think that the CBC capitalized off how true Canadians showed support and then spinned it to look like this is the way of all "Canadians". Soon after that, it was back to the "being Canadian is to not be American" liberal mantra.
On the initial push into Afghanistan, I believe the Canadian military was put there legitimatly. However, the redeployment of troops to Afghanistan was most certainly a way to get out of sending boots to Iraq. As for the Canadian Navy not handing over suspects to the US, I believe it was that they had to check with Ottawa first. Not a big difference, but facts are facts.
RE: Tronna
Or Edmonton-on-the-Lake, as I call it.
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