So many possibilities . . . for courts to hash out

[struggle4progress]

Jun. 4, 2006. 01:00 AM
THOMAS WALKOM
NATIONAL COLUMNIST

Suppose, just suppose, that one or more of the 17 charged yesterday with terrorism is innocent ..

In short, we don't know much yet about what these men and boys were trying to do. We don't know if this series of arrests, called Operation O-Sage by the Mounties, pre-empted the kind of actions that in the United Kingdom led to last year's bombing of the London subway by otherwise unremarkable young Britons ..

Another <possibility> is that this is a reprise of the infamous 2003 Project Thread fiasco, in which RCMP and immigration officials accused 23 Muslims of terrorism only to acknowledge later that at most the men were guilty of minor immigration fraud ..

Take it all with a grain of salt. We know that police arrested people. We know they seized some materials — all legal — that can be used to make explosives. So far, we don't know much else.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1149371435812&call_pageid=968332188492

[dufrenne]

1. yep

read that in my paper today...also read the counterpoint by rosi dimanno...I tend to agree with that one. Living in Toronto, when it comes to those arrested, I don't give them the benefit of the doubt.

[struggle4progress]

2. .. At a news conference yesterday morning, the RCMP displayed a sample ..

.. of ammonium nitrate and a crude cell phone detonator they say was seized in the massive police sweep when the 17 were taken into custody. However, they made no mention of the police force's involvement in the sale ..

RCMP behind bomb material
Jun. 4, 2006. 07:57 AM
MICHELLE SHEPHARD AND ISABEL TEOTONIO
STAFF REPORTERS
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1149371435834&call_pageid=1149329604487&col=1149329604479

[dufrenne]

3. I understand

the presumption of innocence in the law, but when judging the issue personally, as you are doing, why give them the same presumption? Whether the police sell drugs, bomb-making materials or whatever, the point is that unless their is evidence of entrapment, those individuals bought the materials. This was an investigation that has been in the works since Paul Martin, if not Chretien's time. I see no reason from what I've read to assume it's not kosher. I won't assume it's BS for the sake of being cynical.

[struggle4progress]

4. But RCMP & CSIS have racked up a bit of a history by now ...

RCMP raids reporter's offices over Arar case
Updated Thu. Jan. 22 2004 6:36 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff

Searching for evidence in connection with an alleged leak of confidential information in the Maher Arar case, the RCMP turned its attention to a veteran journalist in Ottawa on Wednesday.

Ten Mounties searched Ottawa Citizen reporter Juliet O'Neill's house for more than five hours Wednesday morning. Another search warrant was executed on her office at the paper's city hall bureau ..

In November, O'Neill wrote a story on the Arar case, which centres around the Ottawa man deported by the United States and subsequently tortured during a year-long detention in Syria.

O'Neill's lawyer, Richard Dearden, would say his client plans to fight, especially since charges could mean a possible 14-year jail sentence .. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20040122/arar_sues040121?s_name=&no_ads=


How Liberal Canada Defied Reason to Terrorize Its Citizens
By MAHBOOB A. KHAWAJA, Ph. D

Editors' Note: On March 29, Canadian police raided the Ottawa home of Mahboob Khawaja, arrested his son based on an indictment from Britain and asked Saudi police to detain Khawaja, who was teaching in Saudi Arabia. No bomb-making materials were discovered in the search. Khawaja was released two weeks later by Saudi police. Here is his account of these startling events. http://www.counterpunch.org/khawaja06232004.html

Aftermath: Complicity of Liberal Canada to Terrorize Citizens
By Mahboob A. Khawaja, Ph.D. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article8444.htm


Evidence Grows That Canada Aided in Having Terrorism Suspects Interrogated in Syria
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
Published: September 17, 2005

OTTAWA, Sept. 14 - A judicial inquiry here is turning up evidence that Canadian police and intelligence agencies solicited and used information that was obtained from at least four Canadian citizens under torture by foreign intelligence agencies ..

On Jan. 22, 2002, the Mounties searched Mr. Maati's home in Toronto and seized his trucking travel log books, computer and other personal records. Three days later, the Syrians transferred Mr. Maati to Egypt, where, he said, he was tortured for the next two years ..

In an interview in his house on the outskirts of Ottawa, Mr. Almalki, who Canadian officials thought was the leader of the suspected Qaeda cell, said he went to Syria in May 2002 to visit his ailing grandmother but was seized at the airport. In two years of countless torture sessions, he said, he was repeatedly asked about phone calls he made from Canada, his friends in Canada and how he conducted his Canadian-based business ..

Mr. Almalki and Mr. Maati say they never worked for Al Qaeda or sympathized with the group. Neither has been charged with a crime, although the Canadian investigation of both of them was never officially closed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/17/international/americas/17canada.html?ei=5090&en=5bc32186f3dc7593&ex=1284609600&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all


Canada's prisoners of secret evidence
CBC News Online | May 29, 2006

.. None of those arrested under security certificates has been charged. The government is permitted to detain non-citizens without charges and to withhold evidence if the government believes that it could threaten national security. The prisoners and even their own lawyers are not permitted to see the evidence against them ..

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/realitycheck/20060529gray.html

[dufrenne]

5. yes, yes

I know the stories...but frankly, it's not enough to give those arrested the benefit of the doubt. I'm perfectly willing to say I'm wrong if the charges lead nowhere, but to make an assumption that these arrests are part of some random, malicious police op. is something I'm not willing to do. It is conceivable to me that Islam extremists would want to attack this city. It's perfectly within the realm of possibility considering our presence in Afghanistan, our closeness (if not at least geographically to the US), and our general identification as a Western country. My opinion? These guys, if found guilty, should be strung up in Nathan Phillips Square...