Posted on 11/21/2003 4:55:00 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
OTTAWA (CP) - Attacks like the bombing of the British consulate in Istanbul on Thursday could take place in Canada as terrorists target coalition partners in the war on Iraq, an RCMP intelligence report suggests.
The newly released assessment of extremist threats warns that although Canada is not a member of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, terrorists might strike at participants with assets on Canadian soil - an obvious reference to embassies and consulates. The war in Iraq is "likely to result in retaliatory terrorist attacks against the coalition countries and their interests," the RCMP report says. "Coalition interests in Canada could (therefore) be at risk of attack."
A copy of the April report, Strategic Assessment of the Nature and Extent of Criminal Extremism / Terrorism in Canada, was obtained Thursday by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
The document examines the terrorist organizations and other extremists that most preoccupied the Mounties in 2002, particularly Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka, the Algerian Armed Islamic Group, militant Muslim sect Jamaat ul Fuqra, and Lebanese group Hezbollah, which aims to destroy Israel and liberate all Palestinian territories.
The report's disclosure follows the explosion of suicide truck bombs in Turkey that killed more than two dozen people at the British consulate and a London-based bank - attacks some were quick to blame on al-Qaida.
Although there is a "great ideological divide" between al-Qaida and the now-deposed secular regime of Iraq's Saddam Hussein, "Islamic extremists apparently perceive the war in Iraq as part of the larger conflict between the West and the Muslim world," the RCMP says.
"Iraq's support of the Palestinians could also provide the basis for anti-Western attacks by Islamic and secular Palestinian terrorists."
The report also reiterates RCMP warnings that Canada's role in ousting the Taliban from Afghanistan and subsequent peacekeeping efforts could provoke a backlash from extremists.
"The Taliban and its allied terrorist and guerrilla factions are regrouping and escalating (their) efforts against the new Afghani government and its foreign supporters."
The Mounties note the "Canadian contribution to the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan can be expected to provoke violence against Canadians in Afghanistan, and possible attacks in Canada."
The latest evidence of such retaliatory plots came this week with the discovery of rockets aimed at Canadian troops in Kabul.
The report also says:
- Numerous investigations of al-Qaida have been undertaken across Canada.
- An attack in Canada by Hezbollah "would not be in the best interests of the organization" at this time.
- There is no evidence terrorist organizations have successfully engaged in cyberterrorism, the use of computers to attack critical facilities such as power and water networks.
- There are "no known cases" of terrorists acquiring the fissile material required to make nuclear weapons.
- Left-wing extremists in Canada opposed to the war in Iraq have been involved in "few incidences of violence and very little property damage."
The document examines the terrorist organizations and other extremists that most preoccupied the Mounties in 2002, particularly Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka, the Algerian Armed Islamic Group, militant Muslim sect Jamaat ul Fuqra, and Lebanese group Hezbollah, which aims to destroy Israel and liberate all Palestinian territories.
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Insipid. Canada "is" a member of the "U.S.-led coalition" in Afghanistan.
That's enough reason for the jihadis to go off on Canada.
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