Author: Phil Gurski

In the wake of the Omar Khadr $10.5 million payout furour another potential point of divisiveness among Canadians has hit the proverbial fan.  There are reports coming out of Iraq, yet to be confirmed, that two Canadian women have been captured in the rubble that is now Mosul and that they had been part of […]

Ever since Michelle Shephard of the Toronto Star broke the news of a $35 million lawsuit by 5 CSIS employees I have agonised over what to write and even whether to write about this issue.  I turned down several requests for interviews from major Canadian TV networks and a few radio stations since I did […]

In November 2015 my eldest daughter and I were in northern France at a B&B near Beaumont-Hamel, the site of a day of infamy a century ago. On July 1, 1916 members of the Newfoundland Regiment went ‘over the top’ in the first action in what we know as the Battle of the Somme, a […]

Oh no, you are probably saying!  Please, dear God, not another column on Omar Khadr!  Make it stop! Sorry, dear readers, but I feel compelled to address an issue that seems to have been overlooked in the polarising saga of the son of one of Canada’s most infamous terrorists.  That issue is not whether he […]

As I have stated on many occasions, the threat to Canada from Islamist extremist groups represents by far the single greatest priority for our security services – CSIS, the RCMP and provincial and municipal police forces.  We have seen around a dozen plots, both foiled and successful, since 9/11, the most recent one being the […]

Yesterday’s Canada Day 150 was a bit of a wash, if you consider the weather. I don’t know what it was like outside of the nation’s capital but it rained most of the day here in Ottawa.  That did not dampen the spirits of those that braved the elements from what I saw, however, when […]

We all know that hindsight is 20-20 – or at least we think it always is.  There is no question that having the best information possible is better than not having it and that usually more information is better than less.  If we knew then we what we know now we would certainly have made […]

I suppose I have to explain the title for this blog.  I recall reading a book by English author H.E. Bates called Fair stood the wind for France back in high school about a British pilot that crash lands in Nazi-occupied France in WWII and ends up falling in love with the daughter of a […]

I am currently attending a very interesting conference in Tunisia entitled ‘International Panel on Exiting Violence’ as part of a multinational group looking at all kinds of issues surrounding terrorism and violent radicalisation.  Among the presentations I listened to was one in which the speaker talked about conflicts and how to ensure, to the extent […]

There is indeed good news coming out of western Iraq and eastern Syria these days.  When is the last time anyone said that?  Islamic State (IS), a truly barbaric terrorist group if there ever was one, is on the outs.  It is about to lose Mosul and maybe even Raqqa and, according to recent reports, […]