Canadian arrests foil terror plot

As reported here, the Canadian authorities, including the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, have rounded up 17 people suspected of plotting terrorist attacks against our neighbors to the north, seizing explosive material that equals three times the material used in the Oklahoma City bombing. These are the most people arrested under Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act, passed shortly after September 11th.

Of course, as soon as these men were rounded up - all of whom, by the way, have Muslim names - "Aly Hindy, an imam of an Islamic center that houses a school and a mosque and has been monitored by security agencies for years, said [that} ... "We are the ones always accused. Somebody fakes a document and they are an international terrorist forging documents for al Qaeda,"".

There might be a really good reason for that, Imam Hindy. It might be that the vast majority of terrorists operating in the world today are Muslims.

Kudos to Canadian authorities who acted to prevent a major terrorist attack in Canada. It's nice to know that people are awake north of the boder.

UPDATE: As reported here, a Toronto mosque was vandalized soon after the arrests were made, giving rise to fears in the Muslim community of a backlash against them.

"Mohammad Alam, the president Islamic Foundation of Toronto, said the incident may be the beginning of religiously motivated reprisals against the country's Muslim population, estimated at more than 600,000.

While he said he backed the government's efforts at stamping out terrorism, Alam noted that nothing has been proven thus far in the case, which has gripped the country.

"Like everybody knows, this is so far all allegation," Alam said. "To us, it doesn't matter what religion they belong to -- if they're a terrorist, they're a terrorist, they should be punished according to the law."

Tarek Fatah, spokesman for the Muslim Canadian Congress, said he felt "a mixture of shock and relief" following the arrests, which began late Friday. "It's too close to home," he said."

Too close to home, is right.