Al Qaeda website urges attacks on Canada

CTV.ca ^ | March 31, 2004 | CTV.ca News Staff

[FairOpinion]

Canada has been named again in a chilling new call to arms from al Qaeda. A posting found this week on an al Qaeda website places Canada fifth on a target list.

The website is believed to be published by senior al Qaeda figure, Saif al-Adel. It calls on followers to attack Canadians and other westerners at home and abroad.

Experts warn it could be only a matter of time before Canada is hit. Several other countries named on the list -- such as Spain and Australia -- have already been attacked. Terror experts warn that Canadians have a false sense of security.

"We're a target. We're very clearly in its crosshairs," says John Thompson of the Mackenzie Institute.

Terror experts warn there appears to be an escalating strategy to strike "softer" targets of the West.

"I think Canadians should take it very seriously," says American terror watchdog Rita Katz. "Especially considering the fact that the manuals they are using are the ones they use to communicate to al Qaeda throughout the world."

In Ottawa, Public Security Minister Anne McLellan downplayed any threat.

"We are a named country, that is very clear. That is not new. Osama bin Laden named us. We know that we are a named country and we act accordingly," she told reporters in Ottawa.

But a new report suggests Canada wouldn't react very well at all. A Senate committee found that if Canada is hit with a terrorist attack or major natural disaster, its frontline workers won't be equipped to deal with it.

The committee found:

There is still no national plan to deal with biological attacks Few police forces are equipped with the proper protective gear Police, firefighters and ambulance forces in most communities are all on different communications systems. The report also found problems at our national agency responsible for co-ordinating emergencies, the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness. The office's phone system when down during the power blackout in Ontario last August. As well, half of Canada's communities didn't know what the agency was. Of those that did, half questioned its usefulness. Red tape and bureaucratic hassles are hampering their potential effectiveness, said the committee, which studied the issue for more than two years. Canadians "should be damned mad about it," said Colin Kenny, chairman of the Senate committee on national security and defence, at an Ottawa news conference.

"Canadians are entitled to reasonable service when an emergency hits, and entitled to have their officials plan in advance and have the right equipment there and available," Kenny said.

Kenny was particularly scornful of OCIPEP, saying it can do everything but respond to an emergency.

The committee said the federal government should take on the responsibility of not only strengthening its own emergency systems but helping out the provinces with theirs.

The Senate report comes on the heels of a report from Auditor General Sheila Fraser who said gaps in security measures could leave the country vulnerable to a terrorist strike.

[FairOpinion]

I guess rolling over for the terrorists, hoping they will leave you alone, doesn't work, after all...

[FairOpinion]

The formatting of this paragraph got messed up:

"The committee found:

There is still no national plan to deal with biological attacks

Few police forces are equipped with the proper protective gear

Police, firefighters and ambulance forces in most communities are all on different communications systems.

The report also found problems at our national agency responsible for co-ordinating emergencies, the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness.

The office's phone system when down during the power blackout in Ontario last August.

As well, half of Canada's communities didn't know what the agency was. Of those that did, half questioned its usefulness.

Red tape and bureaucratic hassles are hampering their potential effectiveness, said the committee, which studied the issue for more than two years."

[Squantos]

Hosers eh !.........Al Quadian's after Canadians now ?

Gheeeesh..........Stay Safe !

[goldstategop]

And guess what our Liberal friends up North did to Canada's military? Al Qaeda is taking notice...

[wiseone]

canadian voters prove that canada is the only country to have more sheep than new zealand!

an attack on ottawa would be a good target,the sooner the better,so voters will be motivated to kick out the corrupt anti-american liberal multiculturalists who have flooded canada with 300,000 immigrants per year.

[LisaMalia]

Not Canada! This is the country that "booed" the 8th grade girl carrying an American flag off the stage in her diversity oriented Canadian school today.

I would think terrorists would be embracing them, not targeting them. Imagine that! Maybe other countries will soon see that it doesn't do them any good to pander to terrorists.

Their HATERED knows no bounds.

[albertabound]

What are you talking about, we have had troops in Afghanistan and warships in the Gulf since day one. The boys that came home in bodybags sure as hell did not rollover. The fact we are not in Iraq does not mean we are not in the fight. Now is not the time to post nonsense. School is still out on whether Iraq posed a threat as a terrorist nation.Saddam needed to be taken out as a despot and a tyrant but without clear evidence of WMD's and an Al Quieda connection was he a terrorist?

[vbmoneyspender]

You Canadians still don't get it. What idiots and that includes you pal.

[truth_seeker]

"In Ottawa, Public Security Minister Anne McLellan downplayed any threat."

They KNOW if the chips are down, the US will provide the national defense FOR them.

I doubt al Qaeda is really targeting Canada, insofar as it is essentially a sanctuary for them, provided they remain in sleep mode.

If they come out of sleep mode, the northern cousins will ask for our help.

[goldstategop]

They've been brainwashed up in the Great White North in multiculturalism, and sensitivity and about how the UN will protect Canada from the Big Bad Wolf waiting outside the door. Plus many Canadians think the United States is a more worrisome danger to their survival than Al Qaeda! Go figure.

[glasseye]

This may be rude....but here goes....

Why buy the expensive gear when you know just to your southern border you have an endless supply of whatever you may need, and the 'richest country in the world' would never ever fail to bail out our northern friends.

Arn't we bailing out Meico by solving the poverty problem there?

The socialists in Canada are doing what all good socialists do......looking for a free ride.

[Bullish]

Terrorists sure do like stabbing their friends in the back.

[csvset]

I'll specualte that the only reason Canada hasn't been attacked yet; is that the Islamic wackos are using it as a base of operations for their sleeper cells' attacks against the US in the future.

[albertabound]

Don't get what pal explain what I don't get. That this idiot sees a difference between the war on terrorism and Bin Laden and the Iraqi invasion? Just for the record, I and many other Canucks backed the Iraq attack and still believe we should have been there. That however does not change the facts. School is still out and a great many do not connect the two without clear evidence. If you have some evidence, show me and I will be the first to apologise.

[CedarDave]

In Ottawa, Public Security Minister Anne McLellan downplayed any threat.

Time to pull your head out of the sand, lady. If something happens to our north in your province, guess who will get the boot.

[noutopia]

You shouldn't have to worry,your strong military will take care of the terrorists in your country Eh.

[sweetjane]

A preemptive Canadian strike: No way, wait until they decimate a major city in Canada. Then Canada will have hearings similar to our 9/11 hearings. Shoulda coulda woulda...

[albertabound]

I don't hear anyone up here asking you to bail us out, in fact when has America ever bailed us out of anything ... show me.We don't flood your borders with immigrants and suck off your welfare system, we are doing our bit in Afghanistan and if you don't like it,tough shit.

[vbmoneyspender]

The facts are that Hussein was regularly firing missiles at our pilots. That made Hussein's Baathists one of only two groups in the world (the other being Al Qaeda) that were regularly attacking Americans over the past decade. And that doesn't even take into account the sanctuary Hussein gave to Ramzi Youssef after he participated in the attack in 93 on the WTC, plus the aid Hussein was giving Ansar al Islam, which is and was an Al Qaeda affiliated organization, plus the aid that Hussein gave to al Zarqawi after he was injured in Afghanistan, plus the sanctuary that was given to Abu Nidal, etc, etc, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc. ,etc.

I have just had a bellyful of you Canadians talking about there being no justification for us going into Iraq. I know it is standard operating procedure for you folks to stand by and suck your thumbs when Canadians are murdered overseas like that Canadian recently was in Iran, but that is not standard operating procedure for the Bush administration.

[MNJohnnie]

guess rolling over for the terrorists, hoping they will leave you alone, doesn't work, after all...


Nope appeasement never works. But the Hysteric American Haters of the Candian Left will STILL blame us for this saying "well if you Yanks hadn't invaded Iraq you wouldn't of got the Islamic Terrorist all mad at us". The Hysteric Left world wide still doesn't get it. IT IS YOUR VALUES the Islamic Terrorists hate. Equal Rights, Rule of Law, Religious Toleration, Diversity etc etc etc. All the things the Hysteric Left CLAIMS to stand for is what the Islamic Terrorists loath. No matter how much pro terrorist propaganda or happy thoughts the Hysteric Left spews forth, the Islamic Terrorists will STILL want to kill them.