Canada is a VERY tolerant country. Unlike the United States, we are not a “melting pot”. In Canada, your ethicity comes first. ex. I am a Greek Canadian, not a Canadian Greek.
But The Buzz at Canoe.ca points out a quote from the Aly Hindy that has visions of Johnny Cochrane flashing before my eyes.
Aly Hindy, an imam at the Salaheddin Islamic Centre in east-end Toronto, said the centre’s mosque had been monitored by security agencies for years. He said Muslims were once again being falsely accused.
“It’s not terrorism. It could be some criminal activity with a few guys, that’s all,” said Hindy.
“We are the ones always accused.”
(bolded emphasis mine)
Brent Colbert reminds us of a quote Aly Hindy made back in July. (note the followup comment to Brent’s post that mentions Hindy is a close friend of the Khadr family.)
He also demanded that the police and intelligence agencies stop “terrorizing Muslim Canadians” and chillingly suggested that he couldn’t “guarantee what is going to happen. Our young people we can’t control.”
Indeed, Mr. Hindy. You can NOT control your youth. This is why we have the RCMP, CSIS and four police divisions jumping when a threat alert occurs. This is why we have lists of anyone buying ammonium nitrate. This is why we have border guards, sniffer dogs, and anti-terrorism divisions in all major western countries.
RCMP assisstant commissioner Mike McDonell put the three tonnes of ammonium nitrate found in perspective:
“If I can put this in context for you, the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people was completed with only one tonne of ammonium nitrate.”
For the record? If the 17 arrested were Greeks, and if some were cousins of mine, I would be the first to say “lock them up and throw away the key”.
ADDENDUM: By the above article, my main argument, which may be a bit vague is that it doesn’t matter what the accused background is. Nor does it matter what their religion is. Nor the colour of their skin. The fact remains that the authorities feel they had enough intelligence, information and facts to move on the individuals. And until due process is complete, they are accused of some very nasty crimes, but still innocent until proven guilty.
But if you saw the cell phone, 8D batteries, barbecue element, and assorted guns, knives, etc from today’s Ottawa Sun, you might already be disqualified as a juror. It was pretty damning evidence.