Almost five years into the war on terror, we still have yet to see Western governments take domestic threats seriously, and two editorials make excellent points in that regard today in response to the revelation of the Toronto terror cell this week. The Examiner talks about the "broad strata of delusion" in how security checks get conducted in the age of Islamist terror:

Here’s something to think about while standing in line at the airport. A Royal Canadian Mounted Police official described the 17 recently arrested members of an alleged terrorist cell as representing “the broad strata of our community.” The more we learn about these individuals, their recent activities and their alleged plans, the more the RCMP’s description looks like evidence of a dangerously common delusion among many Westerners, especially those in positions of authority where the demands of political correctness too often make it impossible to speak honestly about reality.

Canadian demographics clearly identify our northern neighbor’s population roots in Britain, France, Ireland and Germany. Canadians identifying themselves as immigrants from Middle Eastern and other nations with majority Muslim populations make up barely incidental percentages of the total. Canada is also a mostly secular nation, with Christianity being the dominant choice among those who identify with a religious faith. William, Jack (or Jacques) and Mary are typical and familiar names heard on the street.

The accused conspirators come mostly from places like the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Somalia. All have names common in Riyadh or Damascus like Saad, Abdul, Fahid and Mohammed. All are practicing Muslims. Most have been in Canada for only a few years. All sported traditional Muslim beards and requested Qurans when arrested. All but two are teens or in their early 20s.

The Investors Business Daily editorial, Sanctuaries of Terror, gets more specific about the sources of the Islamist impulse:

Time and time again, the mosque connection shows up in plots against Western targets. Yet authorities remain reluctant to do much about it. Why?

In fact, almost half the suspects in the Toronto terror plot worshiped at the same mosque. But Toronto police tried to dismiss any religious motivation. ...

No fewer than seven of the suspects prayed daily at a small Toronto-area mosque called Al-Rahman Islamic Center for Islamic Education. And the oldest suspect, 43-year-old Qayyum Abdul Jamal, often led prayers there.

Many are college-educated professionals, not career criminals. Religious, law-abiding. Under other circumstances, you might call them "church-going folk." Only, mosques aren't churches as we know them. Yes, most are used as places of worship by devout Muslims who wish none of us harm. But mosques are also used as fundraising centers for jihad, recruiting stations for jihadists, military planning headquarters and even weapons depots.

We continue to see an almost deliberate aversion from the truth about the nature of the terrorists every time we find disrupt their plans or arrest the plotters. The Canadians aren't alone in this; we see it in the US as well. IBD points out that mosques figured heavily into the efforts of the 9/11 terrorists, including one near the Pentagon, an ultimate target for one of their teams. The 1993 World Trade Center bombing also involved an imam, Omar Abdel Rahman (the "blind Sheikh"), currently serving a life sentence here in Minnesota for his part in the attack. In London, a raid on the Finsbury mosque associated with the July 7 bombings turned up stolen and forged passports and chemical warfare suits.

Another fact to keep in mind: eighty percent of mosques in the US, according to IBD, get their financing from the Wahhabist Saudis -- and we have over 1,200 of them.

We cannot win this war while we ignore the lines of communication from the enemy. We certainly cannot win any war if we remain afraid to name our enemy. Western governments want to pretend that our enemy is a tactic rather than a person, and so play a little dance when the tactic continually gets used by one particular strain of religious fanatics -- Islamists. This dance insults our intelligence, and it insults the intelligence of everyone else, our enemies included.

Our governments need to stop the charade of "broad stratas" and shaking down old Medal of Honor winners at airports in order to extend the delusion. The pattern of terrorist attacks show them to have almost exclusively committed by males, and young, radical Islamic males. Let's get serious about our security and the war and acknoweldge that Islamists declared war on us years ago, and that we will make sure our security protocols are geared to fight that war.

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The Examiner editorial board weighs into the controversial description of 17 Middle Eastern terrorists suspects arrested in Canada last week as coming from “the broad strata of our community.” [I]n the PC world — where no culture is any ... [Read More]

Tracked on June 9, 2006 10:47 AM