Shocking breaking news from suspect's lawyer Gary Batasar, that:
"My client's alleged to have been part of a plot to blow up Parliament Buildings in Canada, storm the CBC, take over the CBC, as well as, among other things, behead the prime minister," Batasar said.
More reports from CTV and National Post. H/T to Nealenews and Soccermom.
37 comments:
Scary stuff...I also saw something about taking MP's hostage and holding them until troops are withdrawn from Afghanistan.
Yeah, I saw that in another report. No wonder they're not talking about the whole situation in Question Period.
Wow,
Sheesh...not even I want to see Mr.Harper have his coconut removed!
Hell-lo Jo-anne.
Hel-lo, Om-arrrr....
Yeah, I was going to make some crack about the CBC, but thought twice considering the gravity of the circumstances.
Much as we have political differences, this is a situation when we should be standing together.
What did the CBC do that was so bad today?
Oh, you know - the CBC in general. Not my favourite. But no CBC-bashing from me today. Nope. Lips sealed.
this whole thing is really shocking.
When I wrote about the PM getting a SUV detail full of RCMP someone posted on my blog "what does the PM need a security detail for anyway?"
well, we have our answer and it's a scary one.
I have been saying all year that Canadians need to be prepared for this kind of threat in Canada. I hope this shows the public that Canada is not immune.
These people are blatant psychopaths and we need to hold them to the full account of the law. We also need to realise they aren't alone....
Riley, that is very ironic about that SUV discussion on your site.
What bothers me is that they are still saying there are more suspects under surveillance.
Check out sda for more discussion.
I had a sneaking suspicion threats were the catalyst to PM Harper getting the beefed up security and cars. Only, I thought it would be your usual nutcase-type threat, not some alleged jihadi. This makes it much more serious. Glad to see our PM is well protected.
Please, let's not give these guys bail!
I was thinking about why on earth the lawyer would publicize all that stuff... surely it's not helping his clients' image problems. Is he trying to ensure there can be an appeal on the basis that this stuff being publicized won't allow for a fair trial? And is he allowed to do that?
I think it is still "early days" in this.
Re the CBC, they would want to destroy or take over the mouthpiece of the government. Recall that this investigation has been in progress since before Stephen took office (the quote about beheading simply refers to "the prime minister").
These guys seem to be amateurs to some extent, that's why more arrests are to come as more ringleaders come to light.
The most shocking to me was the OPP with automatic weapons protecting their own station after these guys were taken in. They were probably expecting more trouble from others who have not been caught yet.
Tamara, I was thinking exactly the same thing.
L.S. - I didn't hear about that with the OPP. Do you have a link?
These guys are criminals and terrorists, no doubt, so don't let anything I'm about to say make you think I think otherwise in any way, shape or form (sensitive times and all...).
It strikes me though that they also aren't that bright, and probably had little chance of success. They were apparently traipsing around small town Northern Ontario in camouflage fatigues and firing off automatic weapons at night. I'm no fan of racial profiling, but I sure would have called the cops if these guys had shown up in my neighbourhood dressed in camouflage and firing off guns at night.
They apparently did a lot of communicating over the internet (real smart boys...) and then tried to buy THREE TONNES of ammonium nitrate (yeah, no one's gonna think THAT'S strange).
Now again, their stupidity doesn't mitigate the seriousness of what they are accused of doing, or make them any less guilty (presuming they are found guilty in a court of law), but I think it does explain perhaps why one of their lawyers would let out the "beheading the PM" story line.
I'd imagine the argument will go that these were a bunch of young punks who railled against authority, and made ridiculous claims about beheading people and blowing stuff up. In other words, that their bark was worse than their bite, and that these were a bunch of people who said some crazy things, and blew off steam going up North to fire off some guns, and basically act like obnoxious jerks. It's a silly argument, and falls apart right around the time they buy THREE TONNES of fertilizer, but still, the defence has got to argue something. Since it seems it might not be to hard to paint these guys as misfits, and pretty incompetent, I'd imagine lawyers will try to spin "incompetence" into "they didn't really mean it / weren't really going to do anything". It won't work, and I'd imagine there's plenty of evidence we haven't heard yet that will put the lie to it, but the lawyers involved haven't had much time to strategize with their clients either, so their defense strategy is probably pretty ad hoc. The "behead the PM" bit is shocking, but it also sounds like the kind of stupid, crazy thing someone would say in the heat of the moment, even if they had no intention of doing it, which will perhaps be the defence spin.
The whole thing is a reminder that our security services need to be vigilant, but I think the RCMP and CSIS (and other agencies) ARE pretty vigilant, so I don't think we need to overeact too much to the shocking allegations of the activities of these idiots. It's the guys we DON'T know about that worry me, but my confidence in the RCMP/CSIS et al. leads me to sleep pretty well at night.
Sorry, I only heard about it on the radio, I think. They mentioned "heavily armed" police, and they had cruisers parked to block the entrances.
I did find an early report saying
"The suspects, whom one report said numbered 10, were being held at a Durham Regional Police station in Pickering, which late Friday night resembled a fortress under siege."
from
http://tinyurl.com/zjlbp
Thanks, L.S. Authorities are obviously very concerned about a threat still out there. The lawyers and families of the suspects have been critical of the "show" of heavy security, etc.
Considering the scope of threats and allegations, I think it is justified, and not a show at all.
Yes, I agree the beheading comment from their lawyer is likely trying to spin them as just kids.
Next they'll stop referring to three tonnes, because 3 tonnes is 6600 pounds, and at 66 pounds a bag, it is 100 bags of fertilizer.
Instead of three times as much fertilzer as you would use for the Oklahoma bombing, it's just 10 times what an avid gardener would have in their shed?
Then they'll claim they were just dope growers, with their plot up north, and the guns were just to scare off the animals or locals.
Authorities are definitely concerned. As the police said, they had all the pieces for a truck bomb, so they would have to be prepared in case there was more ingredients not found, and the remaining cell members mixed one up and tried to drive it into the station.
I heard there were snipers on the roof at the Brampton court house.
I just saw a piece on Global where they tested security. Rented a cube van and drove right up in front of CSIS, TSE and various other high profile locations. They parked the van for half an hour at each location with no problem and no questions asked.
Wonderful.
I agree with most of what Lord Kitchener's Own said.
This statement, though, is where I disagree with LKO. "It strikes me though that they also aren't that bright, and probably had little chance of success."
I won't venture a guess as to their intelligence. What I will guess is that they probably counted on Canadians' general sense of 'We're too nice for anyone to want to hurt us; no way could something like Madrid or Bali happen here.'
“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
John Philpot Curran
well, I hope I am forgiven - the gravity of the circumstances, to my mind, call out for humour.
How dare people think they can cloud our lives with their insanities? Smart or not, capable or not, fanatics are a marathon away from reality and I am not prepared to cede one inch of my life because of them.
Good for you, Chucker! That means I can poke fun at the CBC!
It's easy to see where they weren't too bright in hindsight. Why would they "take delivery" of three tonnes of fertilizer. With 15 people, each could buy 3 bags at a time, and in two trips each, they would have the 3 tonnes.
But thinking the enemy is not too bright is the same mistake they made. Figuring nobody would notice the "extreme camping" in Washago?
I drove from Cambridge, Ont to Montreal, PQ today.
Listened to CBC. I've been saving up a joke about the CBC since I passed Avenue Road on the 401.
Its like I need to find a water closet. Um, sorry for the image.
No problem, CC! I could use a good joke!
this is what I love about Canada, there was a threat on the PM and not one of you said good for them, if this happened in the states half of them would be saying well stop talking about shooting him and do it (except for Florida of course)
I remember when Chretien was in a crowd and a man walked up to him, so Chretien shoved him away by his face and you know what I'm proud of Chretien for that. You simply cannot walk up to a PM whenever you feel like it, and if the RCMP don't have the balls to push him away I'm glad the PM did...
That was a non-partisan statement and if you try to repeat my words I will have to vote against you!
wait a minute why would the terrorists go after CBC? Do they hate hockey night in Canada that much?
Sara, that was a very astute observation. That's what I love about Canada. We are free to openly debate (often with great passion), but at the end of the day, we all value the same principles of democracy and freedom.
With respect to the CBC, I would imagine that the extremists would view the CBC as a government mouthpiece of propaganda, which could have been the case in governments past.
lol! Hockey night in Canada. The mental picture of terrorists sitting around the T.V. watching hockey. Mmm.. Does not compute.
Well if they carried out a threat on the PM, that would make him a martyr, and then we'd never be able to beat the tories fair and square.
We're hoping that the other kind of head rolling, like what happened to good ole Chuck Guite today, will be seen as not the norm. "liberals are a party of peace. Don't judge them all based on the actions of a crazy one (who happened to be at a high post in the government)" oops.
I did like Jean Cretin defending himself from the guy in the crowd, and of course the famous carving defence from a prowler.
I've heard in the states some (half) the people are saying "somebody give Bush a blowjob so we can impeach him!"
"lol! Hockey night in Canada. The mental picture of terrorists sitting around the T.V. watching hockey. Mmm.. Does not compute."
Wasn't it today's SUn that had the cartoon of bearded guy with a rifle waterskiing in cottage country and yelling "death to america"?
who cares how bright they are?
I've seen dumb people fire weapons, and I bet dumb people could ram a truck full of fuel and fertilizer into the front steps of parliament.
Where there is a will, there's a way...
Take over the CBC????
Cripes their best providers of appologist propaganda??
This really is a bunch LOSERS that got nabbed by the CSIS weenies.
Can you SHOE BOMBER???
RE; the White Cube Van....It could have had BOMB painted on it! No Difference.
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