Islamic terrorism? Relax folks, we'll 'manage' it, says U of Ottawa prof

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Posted by Ian MacLeod on 07:14:27 2008/03/03

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Email Address: Our Privacy Statement 'The warning lights are all blinking red' Ian MacLeod, The Ottawa Citizen Published: Saturday, February 23, 2008 Like pieces of a puzzle, their snapshots and mugshots fit together and take form; Ahmed Ressam, Mohammed Jabarah, Ahmed Khadr, Momin Khawaja, Mohamed Harkat and other faces of Canada's convicted and accused terrorists. Stand back, and a bigger picture emerges, one of the slow, steady rise of Islamic radicalization in Canada over the past decade, from Vancouver to Trois-Rivières. In the background are three direct threats against the country by al-Qaeda, evidence of at least three jihadist organizations with members here and Canadian combat in Afghanistan. "The warning lights are all blinking red," says Tom Quiggin, left, an Ottawa security intelligence analyst and Canada's first court-approved expert on jihadism. View Larger Image TOP: Twelve men who have some connection with Canada and the global war on terror. For a list of names, see page B2. ABOVE: Security analyst Tom Quiggin, Canada's first court-approved expert on jihadism. Bruno Schlumberger, the Ottawa Citizen More pictures: < Prev | Next > var story_photos = new Array("http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/idl/otct/20080223/176355-55448.jpg","http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/idl/otct/20080223/176355-55504.jpg"); var story_photo_captions = new Array("TOP: Twelve men who have some connection with Canada and the global war on terror. For a list of names, see page B2. ABOVE: Security analyst Tom Quiggin, Canada's first court-approved expert on jihadism.","Paul Robinson believes the terror threat is overstated."); var story_photo_credits = new Array("Bruno Schlumberger, the Ottawa Citizen","Wayne Cuddington, the Ottawa Citizen"); var story_photo_ids = new Array("c55ec32d-fa30-4d04-a3a4-0d4974945098","b787966c-7b6c-4e47-981a-10d1621c2b7c"); var current_image = 0; var total_images = 2; function changeImage(n) { current_image = current_image + n; if (current_image = total_images) current_image = 0; document.getElementById("storyphoto").src = story_photos[current_image] + "?size=l"; document.getElementById("storyphoto").alt = story_photo_captions[current_image]; document.getElementById("storyphotocaption").innerHTML = story_photo_captions[current_image]; if (story_photo_credits[current_image].length 0) document.getElementById("storyphotocredit").innerHTML = "Photograph by : " + story_photo_credits[current_image]; else document.getElementById("storyphotocredit").innerHTML = ""; document.getElementById("largeimagelink").href = "javascript:void window.open('storyimage.html?id=bb0b1a96-a65b-4373-8e85-dce93f4fbc2d&img=' + story_photo_ids[current_image] + '&path=%2fottawacitizen%2fnews%2fobserver%2f', 'storyimage', 'width=760,height=550,location=no,menubar=yes,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes')"; } [ Sponsor Content ] Email to a friend Printer friendly Font: * * * * var addthis_pub = 'canada.com'; function textCounter(field,cntfield,maxlimit) { if (field.value.length maxlimit) // if too long...trim it! field.value = field.value.substring(0, maxlimit); // otherwise, update 'characters left' counter else { var divLabel = document.getElementById("divLabel"); divLabel.innerHTML = maxlimit - field.value.length + " characters remaining"; } } He compares the situation with the periods before the 1985 Air India bombing and the 2005 subway attacks in London, when danger signals either went unnoticed, underestimated or misunderstood. "We know that extremism is an issue in Canada, we know that there are people who advocate violence as a means of solving problems. If you have enough people advocating enough violence long enough, sooner or later you're going to get the problem." Any attack here will not be measured by lost lives and injuries alone, he says, pointing to the Netherlands and the 2004 murder of a Dutch filmmaker and critic of Islamist extremism. Theo van Gogh's slaying by a religious fanatic resulted in the burning of churches and mosques, changes in the law and a shift in the nature of Dutch politics, including the balance of power in their parliament. "All told, there was a major upheaval in the social cohesion of the country. The real damage these guys do is not the physical damage, it's the political damage they do." The solution is not to overreact, especially to what is really a very limited threat, says Paul Robinson, associate professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa. Perhaps radicalization is spreading, he says, and perhaps violence will result. But he is skeptical about the capacity of terrorists to inflict major damage. Take the post-9/11 death toll from Islamic terrorism in Britain, where the radicalization is far more advanced -- 55. "I do not see any particular reason why the outcome in Canada should be so much worse," says the former military intelligence officer in the British army and Canadian Forces. "Fundamentally, the ability of terrorists to harm Canadian society is extremely limited, as long as we don't over-react and do the damage to ourselves. Certainly, he says, terrorists have the capacity to kill, and if they get lucky as on 9/11, to kill a fairly large number of people. "But even 9/11 only affected directly a tiny, tiny fragment of U.S. society. The day after a terrorist attack, 99.9 per cent of Canadians would wake up as normal and get on with their lives. "Claims that we are engaged in an 'existential' struggle, that the future of western civilization is at stake, and so on, grotesquely overexaggerate the scope of what is a nasty, but altogether manageable, threat to our security." Their differing views on the domestic consequences posed by Islamic terrorism -- both agree nuclear terrorism against the West is so unlikely it can be dismissed -- raises a broader issue: Should the chief focus be on countering the causes of terrorism before it strikes or, on mitigating its effects afterward? Quiggin believes government should start inoculating the population now, a prophylactic against what he sees as an advancing and virulent pathogen that has mutated in recent years into a new, post-Iraq generation of jihadists he says are less political, less thoughtful and more willing to strike out at whatever the see as a potential target. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 next page Ads by Google #footernews01, #footernews02 {display:block;} #footernews03, #footernews04, #footernews05, #footernews06 {display:none;} #footer_news {display:block;} #footer_news .footer_news_wrapper {padding:5px 10px 0 15px;} #footer_news .footer_news_container {float:left;border:1px solid gray;width:700px;} .footer_news_col {float:left;width:230px;padding:8px 0 0 0;} /* #body .footer_news_col .mediumimageright {float:left;} */ #page .footer_news_col .contentbox h4 a {color:#333;} #page .footer_news_col .mediumimageright {float:left;} /* Story headline alignment */ #page .footer_news_col .contentbox h4 {float:right;width:140px;} #page .footer_news_col #videocontent_medium .contentbox h4 {float:none;width:auto;} #body .footer_news_col .contentbox {padding:0 5px 0 5px;} #body #footer .rule {display: block;} Inside the canada.com Network . 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Re: Islamic terrorism? Relax folks, we'll 'manage' it, says U of Ottawa prof - Al Gordon in Ottawa Citizen 07:22:11 2008/03/03 (0)

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