A couple of items all over the media this weekend.
Canadian arrests foil terror plot
Police foiled a homegrown terrorist attack in Canada by arresting 17 suspects, apparently inspired by al Qaeda, who obtained three times the amount of explosives used in the Oklahoma City bombing, officials said yesterday….
3 tons of Ammonium Nitrate – that’s fertilizer for a LOT of corn fields, or for a big batch of ANFO (ammonium nitrate-fuel oil) explosive sludge.
“These individuals were allegedly intent on committing acts of terrorism against their own country and their own people,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said. “As we have said on many occasions, Canada is not immune to the threat of terrorism.”
This statement shows a healthy dose of reality. The previous Martin (Liberal Party) would have no doubt blamed this on the Bush administration somehow.
Meanwhile, across the pond in the UK:
A raid on an East London house where anti-terrorism police shot and wounded a man was prompted by fears that a suspect had built a bomb designed to release a cloud of toxic chemicals, police said yesterday.
The situation is apparently far from resolved:
Police Fear Bomb Has Been Moved
Anti-terrorist police hunting for a suspected chemical-based bomb after a raid on a house in east London fear that the device may have been moved and could still be used. Two days after a man was shot as armed officers stormed the house in Lansdown Road, Forest Gate, a search has failed to yield any evidence of a bomb….
Police and MI5, whose intelligence led to the operation, are still working on the basis that the tip was reliable and that a device exists that could release poisonous gas on detonation.
Sort of reminds the Chief of the first few hours of a “24” season: terrs busted just a BIT too late to snag the weaponry in one fell swoop! Tune in next week so see how Jack Bauer saves the day!