# Terrorists Target Toronto **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 3, 2006, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-target-toronto/359325 "2006-06-03T23:10:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-target-toronto/359325/21 "2006-06-04T20:40:40Z")
[QUOTE=chrisk] Still… are you saying that you wouldn’t have any nervous symptoms after finding out that terrorists had been planning to bomb a dozen targets in _your_ home city?? [/QUOTE] Actually no, since it was found out in the context of them getting busted. Now I feel much more secure, since I’d always figured Toronto had some wannabe Islamic terrorists. As Mindfield points out, it came out today that their purcahse of the ammonium nitrate was in fact part of the sting. It seems these scumbags have been playing into the cops’ hands for some time now. I feel better than ever. Clearly, our guys have their shit together. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-target-toronto/359325/22 "2006-06-04T20:47:03Z")
What I found very strange is that much of the media reporting didn’t even mention a connection to al-Qaida, or that the terrorists were all muslim youth. In fact, the RCMP press conference made no mention of it, and described the men as coming from a ‘broad strata of society’. It seemed like they were going out of their way to downplay the islamist angle to this, and really baffles me. It seems to be a rather important point. One of the scariest tidbits I heard about this was that a defendent’s father works for Atomic Energy Canada. I wonder if they were planning to hit a reactor or storage facility? ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-target-toronto/359325/23 "2006-06-04T20:54:34Z")
[QUOTE=Sam Stone] What I found very strange is that much of the media reporting didn’t even mention a connection to al-Qaida, or that the terrorists were all muslim youth. In fact, the RCMP press conference made no mention of it, and described the men as coming from a ‘broad strata of society’. [/QUOTE] I don’t really know what you’re talking about here. The very first article I read about this [yesterday](http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/06/03/1612980-sun.html) called them possibly “home-grown Al-Qaeda” as did the [second](http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/06/03/terror-suspects.html) and I’ve seen it mentioned in nearly every other article since, plus there’s the fact that the names released of the 12 adults were very clearly Middle Eastern in nature. Then there’s the fact that anyone can call themselves Al-Qaeda and they’re Al-Qaeda. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-target-toronto/359325/24 "2006-06-04T21:20:46Z")
The first article I read was the [Reuters](http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2006-06-03T152340Z_01_N02209271_RTRUKOC_0_US-CRIME-ARRESTS.xml&src=rss&rpc=22) dispatch. You will note that in the Reuters piece there is absolutely nothing that would tell you who the terrorists were, what their affiliation was, or who they might be connected to. For all I could tell, it was a bunch of abortion clinic bombers or something. Then there’s the syndicated piece from the [New York Times](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003038340_canada04.html), which seems to go out of its way to downplay the whole al-Qaida, islamist angle. This is how they were described: > [@](#): > > The 17 men were mainly of South Asian descent and most were in their teens or early 20s. One was 30 years old and the oldest was 43, police officials said. None had any known affiliation with al-Qaida. > > “They represent the broad strata of our society,” McDonell said. “Some are students, some are employed, some are unemployed.” You basically have to read between the lines to understand the nature of these guys. You have to look at their names, read articles to find out they all demanded Korans and that one of them ran a radical Islamist bookstore, before you can understand the ideology behind this. The article completely buries it. Really, given the importance of knowing the exact nature of what we’re facing, don’t you think the bloody headlines should say, “Islamist terror plot smashed”? Or ‘al-Qaida type group caught planning terror attacks’? It seems to me to be rather important. I’m actually glad to read the links you posted, as they make this information much more explicit. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-target-toronto/359325/25 "2006-06-04T22:05:12Z")
CBC: ACCUSED ‘INSPIRED BY AL-QAEDA,’ SAY POLICE [http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/06/03/suspects060603.html](http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/06/03/suspects060603.html) > [@](#): > > “For various reasons, they appear to have become adherents of a violent ideology inspired by al-Qaeda,” said Luc Portelance, Assistant Director of Operations for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). > > “Any movement that has the ability to turn people against their fellow citizens is obviously something CSIS is very concerned about,” said Portelance, although officials stressed there’s no direct link between those charged and the militant group. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-target-toronto/359325/26 "2006-06-05T02:05:31Z")
[QUOTE=Sam Stone] What I found very strange is that much of the media reporting didn’t even mention a connection to al-Qaida, or that the terrorists were all muslim youth. In fact, the RCMP press conference made no mention of it, and described the men as coming from a ‘broad strata of society’. [/QUOTE] Every major newspaper in Toronto, and every single media outlet I’ve seen the story on, specifically said the terrorists were “inspired by al-Qaida.” I’ve heard and read that phrase so many times it’s become a running joke here, because it sounds like a credit in a movie credit roll. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-target-toronto/359325/27 "2006-06-05T02:11:56Z")
**Sam Stone** you’ll find Canadian media tends not to mention religious/ethnic backgrounds except where it’s extremely relevant, namely in finding a suspect. Since these guys have already been captured, it’s seen as not that important, and the media don’t want to aggravate the inevitable backlash against muslims. One mosque has already been vandalized. The fact that they’re radical muslim isn’t that important. It ascribes some motivation, but then again, any would-be terrorist has the same motivation. And we know that your average, run-of-the-mill Muslim has as much in common with these guys as you do with a foaming-at-the-mouth Fred Phelps. What’s really important about these guys is they had NO ties to any other terrorist group. They’re all first or second generation Canadians. They’re a bunch of Timothy McVeighs and Unabombers. That is what’s really fucking scary. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-target-toronto/359325/28 "2006-06-05T02:50:23Z")
[QUOTE=Barbarian] **Sam Stone** you’ll find Canadian media tends not to mention religious/ethnic backgrounds except where it’s extremely relevant, namely in finding a suspect. [/QUOTE] But Sam cited two non-Canadian sources. The Canadian papers seem to be identifying them as Muslims. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-target-toronto/359325/29 "2006-06-05T13:47:29Z")
And those articles were either written by Canadian journalists, or based on material written by Canadian journalists. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorists-target-toronto/359325.md?page=1)