# Terrorists See Canada As Perfect Destination......



## FGH_Recce_DJ (12 Jul 2005)

Would-be terrorists see Canada as perfect destination, ex-FBI agent says


    TORONTO (CP) - The perception of Canada as an immigrant-friendly place with myriad ethnic backgrounds makes it a perfect destination for would-be terrorists, a former FBI agent said Tuesday at an international conference on disaster management. 

Ty Fairman, who has interviewed several of the world's most notorious terrorists, said Muslim radicals looking to travel to the western world look at settling in Ontario because of the high concentration of Muslims already living there. 

Sixty-one per cent of the country's estimated 750,000 Muslims reside in the province, Fairman said, and five per cent of those live in Toronto - the most of any city in North America. 

Fairman, who helped conduct raids of al-Qaida safe houses in Afghanistan and Pakistan, said training manuals compiled by the infamous terrorist network outline how aspiring insurgents can best infiltrate western nations. 

"One of their main missions, as far as expansion, is to travel to places undetected, unnoticed, go to places with lenient immigration laws," Fairman told more than 500 delegates in Tuesday's keynote speech. 

"Hmm, ring a bell? Canada." 

The federal government swiftly rejected Tuesday any notion that the country's immigration policies are a draw for international terrorists. 

"Our immigration laws take into account the same issues and the same commitment to openness and immigration as the U.S. and the U.K.," said Alex Swann, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan. 

"There's no need to single Canada out in that regard." 

Since 2001, Canada has hired 45 immigration officials stationed overseas to detect people applying to enter Canada with fraudulent documents, Swann added. 

Jeffrey Reitz, a professor of ethnic and immigration studies at the University of Toronto, said the global perception of Canada as a place with lax immigration laws comes from the case of Montreal resident Ahmed Ressam, who was stopped at the border in 1999 with a trunkload of explosives to be used to blow up Los Angeles International Airport. 

"The interesting thing about it, of course, is that it is a success case in the sense that this person was apprehended, and he was apprehended before 9/11," Reitz said. 

"We don't have major terrorist or even minor terrorist incidents arising as a consequence of our (immigration) policy." 

Ressam, who was convicted in 2001, will be sentenced July 28. 

Fairman said Canada's involvement in Afghanistan also makes it a terrorist target. 

"You're in Afghanistan, and your military is doing a very good job," he said. "They are a great asset to the United States, that's why you're still on the list." 

Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden declared Canada a "legitimate target" for attacks in March 2004. Two months later, an internal RCMP risk assessment report noted that Canada was the only country left on his list that had yet to be attacked. 

The conference, which got underway Sunday, runs through Wednesday and boasts more than 1,500 delegates from more than 40 countries. 

Not that it is nice to think about, but if they did hit Canada, where and what do you think they would hit?


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## jmackenzie_15 (12 Jul 2005)

A capital city no doubt.That seems to be the trend.New York, Madrid, London for example.

Toronto, Ottawa.... and as a wildcard, I'll say Vancouver or Halifax.

Regardless, its just more of the same ive been hearing and trying to explain to people the last few years.It's just a matter of time
and too many people are ignorant to the danger.


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## Roy Harding (12 Jul 2005)

"A capital city no doubt.That seems to be the trend.New York, Madrid, London for example." jmackenzie_15

New York isn't the capital of anything.  Albany, NY is the capital of New York State.


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## jmackenzie_15 (12 Jul 2005)

When you think of the united states you dont think of new york?

I meant cities of significance or defining cities of the country.


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## Roy Harding (12 Jul 2005)

Then that's what you should have said.

I take it you mean "major" cities??


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## I_am_John_Galt (12 Jul 2005)

FGH_Recce_DJ said:
			
		

> The federal government swiftly rejected Tuesday any notion that the country's immigration policies are a draw for international terrorists.
> 
> "Our immigration laws take into account the same issues and the same commitment to openness and immigration *as the U.S. and the U.K.*," said Alex Swann, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan.
> 
> "There's no need to single Canada out in that regard."



Oh, well then: I guess we are just as immune to terrorist attacks as they are.

I feel safer already.


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## jmackenzie_15 (12 Jul 2005)

No kidding.

I'm going to toronto in a few weeks, It would be just my luck to get blown up on a subway.
I've accepted that an attack is an inevitability.
The RCMP and CSIS can't be everywhere at once.


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## Scoobie Newbie (12 Jul 2005)

I suppose Detroit would be ideal too wouldn't it.   It does have the highest Muslim population outside of Muslim countries doesn't it?
Or is it the Detroit has the largest Muslim populationin North America?


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## Fishbone Jones (12 Jul 2005)

Mich. Has Largest U.S. Muslim Population 
Michigan has the second-largest Arab community outside the Middle East, after Paris. About 300,000 people of Arab descent live in southeast Michigan, including significant numbers of Iraqi, Lebanese, Yemeni, and Palestinian Americans. Almost two-thirds of the population were born in the United States, and 40 percent of those born outside of the country have moved here since 1980, according to data from the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) Web site,<www.accesscommunity.org>, and the Detroit News. 

http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/40/2/13-b


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## Gunnerlove (12 Jul 2005)

If I wanted to live in fear of everything I would move south of the 49th until then I will live my life secure in the knowledge that I have a better chance of winning the lottery than coming anywhere close to being killed or wounded by a terrorist.

I am more concerned about drunk drivers, house fires and icy steps.


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## FormerHorseGuard (12 Jul 2005)

I hate to say  it, but is not where they are going to hit in Canada,  does have to be a big deal, all it has to be is something small and and dirty  to fix and repair. Soner or later Canada is going to get some payback for our actions over seas.  they could hit us overseas, in country it will not matter what  the target is, when it happens to Canadians in or out of Canada, they  will get the headlines they seek and it will be a lasting thing.

it is a matter of when and where


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## Fishbone Jones (12 Jul 2005)

Gunnerlove said:
			
		

> If I wanted to live in fear of everything I would move south of the 49th until then I will live my life secure in the knowledge that I have a better chance of winning the lottery than coming anywhere close to being killed or wounded by a terrorist.



I guess that screws us that live in Canada along the 42nd parallel, you guys way up north worry to much.


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## FGH_Recce_DJ (12 Jul 2005)

Yeah Former Horse Guard i think your right, its just when and where, i feel sorry for the boys moving from Julien to Kandahar now. :-\


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## Scoobie Newbie (12 Jul 2005)

Gunnerlove where does that put you roughly?


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## Jordan411 (12 Jul 2005)

That was some good information recceguy...even more scary that I live in Windsor and haven't heard anything about the high Muslim population in Michigan since the invasion of Iraq.   Don't forget the most important border crossing for Canada/USA. If our Ambassador bridge got taken down I would hate to think of the consequences for Southern Ontario and the rest of Canada. 

BTW, tonight was the All-Star game over in Detroit and an absolutely gorgeous B2 Stealth Bomber flew over my area and banked to the right while I was jogging. I had a good view of it when it flew right over downtown Detroit ;D


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## Fishbone Jones (12 Jul 2005)

CFL said:
			
		

> Gunnerlove where does that put you roughly?



Puts him above North Dakota and me on the same latitude as Northern California and Rome, Italy. ;D



			
				Jordan411 said:
			
		

> If our Ambassador bridge got taken down I would hate to think of the consequences for Southern Ontario and the rest of Canada.



It is THE major CanUSA border crossing. It would effectivley halt just about all the industrial trade between the two countries.


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## Gunnerlove (13 Jul 2005)

Puts me in BC which might explain why am more concerned about Asia than the Middle East, call me crazy.  

Sorry I forgot about half of the country lets just chalk it up to Eastern alienation.


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## Kunu (13 Jul 2005)

> Sixty-one per cent of the country's estimated 750,000 Muslims reside in the province, Fairman said, and five per cent of those live in Toronto - the most of any city in North America.



There's a factual error here.  750 000 * 0.61 * 0.05 = 22875, which underestimates the number of Muslims living in Toronto.  According to this site, five per cent of Toronto's total population is Muslim, which yields a more believable (from my experiences) number of 2 500 000 * 0.05 = 125 000.

http://soundvision.com/info/muslims/muslimsincanada.asp


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## Britney Spears (13 Jul 2005)

You can't compare the "Muslim" population of North America to that of, say, France or Germany. Many of our imigrants are from places like Turkey, Indonesia or Malaysia, which are not particularly known for their radicalism. Most that are from the ME or South Asia are very much secular and cosmopolitan in their world views. Contrast this to the European countries which have that pesky problem of porous borders, being accessible by land and for a long time, had "Guest worker" programs which actively recruited poor, destitute young men from the middle east and N Africa to fill menial jobs (Wow, THAT was a great idea), and you can see why the Muslim populations in Western Europe are generally much more militant, and how AQ was able to move through Germany pretty much at will.


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## Scoobie Newbie (13 Jul 2005)

I hope your right Brit


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## I_am_John_Galt (13 Jul 2005)

From PravdaMaclean's:



> *How safe are we?*
> _Canada is the only nation on an al-Qaeda list of targets that has not yet been attacked. And we're woefully unprepared._
> JOHN GEDDES and CHARLIE GILLIS with Andrew Potter in Montreal
> 
> ...


 http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/canada/article.jsp?content=20050718_109096_109096


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## Britney Spears (13 Jul 2005)

CFL said:
			
		

> I hope your right Brit



Well I'm pretty sure I am, as far as the demographic makeup of the Muslim populations in N America and Europe(Germany, with it's guest worker program, and France, with it's traditionally large population of North African immigrants from the former colonies) are concerned. If I have time I'll go dig up some statsCan charts to make sure.

Of course that's just one factor amongst many. I'm not making any predictions on the likelyhood of an attack in Canada.


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## Spr.Earl (17 Jul 2005)

As to stats in the U.K. the Muslim pop. is about 10% to 15% of the population.


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