Canada, al-Qaeda, and False Assumptions

You know and have heard all the denials that are coming out of “official Canada” that attempt to soothe the fears of Canadians about a potential al-Qaeda attack, like the one that hit London.

Via Western Standard, the most disgusting denial comes from Toronto Transit Commission councilor Howard Moscoe, who, in addition to claiming that the Liberal government’s refusal to participate in Iraq shields Canada, also claims the terrorists couldn’t find Toronto (though Nat Post this morning documents suspicious activity in Toronto’s Union Station).

The most common-sensical response to the “they won’t hurt us because we weren’t in Iraq” claim comes from Kate at Small Dead Animals, who reminds us that the Madrid bombings were being planned nearly one year before even 9/11:

“One of the most sobering pieces of information to come out of the investigation of the March 11th bombings is that the planning for the attacks may have begun nearly a year before 9/11. In October, 2000, several of the suspects met in Istanbul with Amer Azizi, who had taken the nom de guerre Othman Al Andalusi-Othman of Al Andalus. Azizi later gave the conspirators permission to act in the name of Al Qaeda, although it is unclear whether he authorized money or other assistance- or, indeed, whether Al Qaeda had much support to offer. In June, Italian police released a surveillance tape of one of the alleged planners of the train bombings, an Egyptian housepainter named Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, who said that the operation ‘took me two and a half years.’ Ahmed had served as an explosives expert in the Egyptian Army. It appears that some kind of attack would have happened even if Spain had not joined the Coalition- or if the invasion of Iraq had never occurred.”

Then she contrasts her Saskatchewan bumpkiness with the “sophistication” of those urban liberals who control Canada’s media:

This was one of the major news stories to occur that year. Now, if a gawdamned nobody artist in Saskatchewan knows this, why doesn’t the CBC?

Meanwhile, our hearts go out to the people of London. Stephen Hayward at No Left Turns provides us with a statement from Churchill on why the attacks cannot hurt London:

“London is like a pre-historic monster into whose armoured hide showers of arrows may be shot in vain”

UPDATE: Joe Knippenberg provides lots of links and analysis on the London bombings.