The press that has surrounded the trial of a member of the Toronto-18 has been atrocious. This terror-cell that was preparing for a major attack against Toronto has been likened to a group of teens lost in harmless fantasy, their prosecutors have been framed as villains and a website has gone up in their honor claiming all “have been or are currently being deprived of their basic human rights.”

The largest daily, the Toronto Star, has made a daily ritual of lambasting the crown while framing the admitted member of a Jihadi cell as a naïve child captured in the sinister adult world of the War on Terror. Here we are putting terrorists on trial, in an OPEN civilian court, with all the rights & freedoms afforded to Canadian citizens – yet event his is insufficient, even this is not cushy enough for the likes of our major media outlets.

Throughout the entire trial, the first trial for one of the Toronto-18, the Star has made it’s antagonism quite clear.

On June 2nd, Staff Reporter Isabel Teotonio exclaimed:

It’s been two years since members of the “Toronto 18″ were arrested in a dramatic sweep of homes across the GTA, but today prosecutors and lawyers are still arguing whether they’re dealing with a band of committed terrorists or a “hapless F-Troop.”
When police descended on quiet residential streets on this day in 2006, news rippled around the world that an Al Qaeda-inspired terror cell had been busted.
But as the case is plucked apart strand by strand in a Brampton courthouse, some say a less menacing picture is emerging of the 14 adults and four youths who were arrested.
Just last week court heard again that some of the accused were, essentially, a bunch of incompetent guys who were primarily misled by a delusional megalomaniac.

Note that transition, favored by this particular brand of reporter – the inscrutable “some say”… As in who, the accused’s family? The local branch of Al-Qaeda Toronto? The Communist Party protesters that coincidentally handed out pamphlets near the courthouse the same day?

In other news, “the Large Hadron collider will allow studying of subatomic particles, however some say atoms are a fallacy and prefer the physics model that establishes a universe made up of tiny marshmallows”

Of course, the Toronto Star is a “serious daily in a Major North American Metropolis” (so they tell me), so in fairness, they did represent the “other side”. Whether or not it was given “equal time” or represented the seriousness of the crimes I’ll let YOU decide

“Still, members of the Toronto 18 stand accused of attending a jihadist training camp in December 2005, ordering fertilizer to build truck bombs, constructing a remote-control detonator and scouting a safe house to practise military drills and store weapons.”

That’s it… That slight, itty-bitty little detail… That sub-paragraph is the only attention that was given to the fact that the Toronto-18, hapless and stupid as they may be, were planning to launch a massive attack upon the multicultural melting pot that is the GTA. Those are the only words that keep this article from being an expose of how Canada’s security apparatus has wrongly arrested & locked up a bunch of teens lost in a harmless fantasy.

But then she goes on:

At the camp, participants are alleged to have dressed in camouflage gear, played war games with paintball guns and fired a 9-mm handgun at a can of Pringles potato chips tied to a tree.
A video shot there shows one of the adults exhorting the others to wage battle in the new empire of “Rome.”
But, in court documents, one defence lawyer contends the only chilling image associated with the group is that of a “hapless F-Troop,” lacking proper gear and venturing off into the woods near Orillia in the dead of winter where they were forced to march around and slept in cars to stay warm.
Much of the time they were trekking off to Tim Hortons, he writes, dismissing the speech on Rome as little more than “compelling theatre.”

Throughout the past two weeks we were given a picture of an overzealous crown preying upon a naïve teenager. We were told that the case lacked credibility, that the terror laws were a danger to innocents and that even the Crown’s “Star Witness” made it clear he though the accused should not be convicted.

Thank G*d for judges who do not read the Star; who realize the very real carnage an attack by an ‘innocent child’ can have on individuals, families & the economy. This week the first member of the Toronto-18 was convicted. This was a huge relief to those of us who must live among the many Canadian’s still trapped in their Sept 10 outlook. But of course, Colin Perkel (in the Toronto Star) lamented:

A landmark finding of guilt against a terror suspect that flew in the face of evidence from the prosecution’s key witness raises questions about Canada’s fledgling anti-terrorism law and its implications for civil liberties, several observers said today.

Legal experts and civil-rights advocates warned that innocent people might get swept up by the law, which casts a wide net and has an unusually low threshold for conviction.
“You could have somebody tarred with the brush of being a terrorist when their involvement was really quite marginal in activities that could result in something very serious,” said [B.C. lawyer Robert Diab]
“The intention (of the law) is good but the question is whether we’ve got it right. I don’t think we do.”
The legislation criminalizes involvement in what is clearly a terrorist conspiracy.
On Thursday, Ontario Superior Court Justice John Sproat delivered the country’s first guilty finding under the legislation, concluding the young accused had actively participated in a group bent on wanton bloodshed in Canada.
The ruling came despite sworn testimony from the star prosecution witness the judge found credible and reliable, paid RCMP informant Mubin Shaikh.
Shaikh was adamant the plot leaders deliberately kept the accused in the dark about their murderous intentions, and the youth – a bit player at best – had no idea he was involved in a terrorist conspiracy.
“That’s a worrying question that people have.”

It doesn’t worry this person!

“Star Witness” Mubin Shaikh

Sure, Mubin Shaikh may have had second thoughts about acting as a paid mole & informant. To many in his (Muslim) community he is a betrayer, a man who sided with “them”. There is no doubt that since his face appeared throughout Canada, that he has had to endure some hostility within his community.

Furthermore, Shaikh acted as part of this group. He went on the outings and interacted with the accused individuals over a prolonged period. This was not a trained spy or police officer thus there was no separation between his true persona and that of his paid part. It is not surprising that Shaikh formed bonds and developed sympathy for the accused. It was this sympathy, combined with a realization that his actions would cement the fate of another human being that likely lead to his courtroom shenanigans.

What people like the Star’s editorial board do not realize is that the evidence presented by Shaikh himself, combined with videos and recordings gathered from surveillance, were sufficient to nullify any evidence regarding the man’s lack of sophistication. The young man may have not have been the brightest nor most mature individual however there is no doubt that he knowingly joined, participated in and contributed to a terrorist organization.

• There is video footage of the men receiving instruction on the use of handguns, sniper tactics and camouflage
• As they prepared to “camp” in Orillia, they were told to steal camping gear for the trip.
• At this camp and others they were taught to use a 9mm gun, a rifle and practiced camouflage techniques.
• The leaders of the camp repeatedly stressed secrecy, including reprimanding the camp attendees for heading out of the woods in military fatigues.
• There were several sermons on Jihad given at the camp.
• An elder at the camp compared the Canadian countryside to Chechnya. Several times the leaders called for victory over “Rome”, believed to be a reference to Canada
• Around the campfire, the leader stated to the boys “We’re not officially al-Qaeda, but we share their principles and methods
• They were taped throughout the camping trip, told that the footage would aid in recruitment.
• Another video was made that mimicked the Jihadi beheading videos made famous by Al Qaeda in Iraq
• Through wiretaps & surveillance police asserted they planned to detonate truck bombs in 2 specific locations within Southern Ontario. There were also plans to storm buildings including the CBC and the Canadian Parliament.

Remember “Misguided Baby-face” John Walker Lindh? – born & raised in upper middle class America, gifted student, bright future… Left it all to join the repressive Taliban regime and wage Jihad.

Let’s be straight about this – there is no refuting that this was an active terror cell. Some may say they were an incompetent terror cell, some may argue they were too disorganized, too mentally ill-equipped to conduct a massive terror operation – but does that equate to innocence? Ted Bundy was charming, did that make him any less lethal to his myriad of unfortunate victims? There are plenty of men on death row with IQ’s below the national median, should we free them? What does youth, innocence or sophistication have to do with ones propensity for violence? And since when do such personality traits factor into ones guilt or innocence?

NOT EXACTLY THE STEREOTYPICAL MASS MURDERER

- BUT JUST AS LETHAL -

The judge in this case made the correct decision, a conclusion reached through the examination of evidence rather than through feelings & first impressions. Not all terrorists are heavily bearded, uni-browed scoundrels with wide eyes & permanent scowls. There is no such things as a “common suicide bomber” for they come from all types of families, from every socioeconomic level, of every age group, and all types of levels of devotion. We’ve had everyone, from intelligent doctors to children with down-syndrome being used as human bombs against (real) innocents.

The families of the accused need to offer gratitude to the police, for had they not acted, it is extremely likely that their loved ones would have committed horrendous acts. Had this been allowed to occur, the families would have lost their loved ones anyway, but they would then have to carry the burden of producing a serial killer; their family names would be forever shamed, linked to an atrocity against innocents.

Canada and the world scored a victory by convicting and throwing this man in prison – even if our largest daily won’t acknowledge the fact.

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