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Terror Plots and Canadian Cops
June 03, 2006 - 12:38 p.m.

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There was a major anti-terrorism bust in the GTA yesterday...over a dozen kids (teens to early 20's) were rounded up. It seems they were conducting terrorist "training" sessions (after which they went to Tim Horton's - how very Canadian) making propaganda videos and planning to attack targets in Toronto and Ottawa, among others. Included in their arsenal was 5 tonnes of fertilizer of the kind used in the Oklahoma City bombing. (How do you hide that in a city?) They were inspired by actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and provoked to violence by what they saw as racial profiling.

Now let's figure out that one...they're sick of people assuming that they're terrorists because of ethnicity and religion, so they become terrorists to combat it? The logic of youth meets the logic of fundamentalism, with some help from a self-fulfilling prophecy by the police.

Anyhow, the raid made news outside of Canada, which raises the real humour of the situation for me. Here's the picture that the Toronto Star carried...

It's a Canadian cop, probably RCMP, dressed for action. And here's how CNN.com chose to depict the officers who took part in the raid...

That's right. When the Mounties go to arrest terrorists, they dress in parade reds. "This is the RCMP! Put your hands in the air or I'll politely ask you again!"

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