Search: “afghanistan”

We all remember when the Taliban blew up two huge Buddha statues in Bamyan, Afghanistan back in March 2001.  These religious objects, almost 1500 years old, were reduced to rubble when the extremists gleefully dynamited them and bragged about their act of demolition.  At the time, their crime made headlines around the world and was, […]

I just read in the Ottawa Citizen that the brother of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Alexandre, has called on the Liberal government not to deport alleged Algerian terrorist Mohamed Harkat back to his native land. Recall that Mr. Harkat was subject to a National Security Certificate and found to be inadmissible to Canada under the […]

The CSIS Director and RCMP Commissioner both appeared at a House of Commons public safety committee recently and provided Canadians with some useful information on the nature of the terrorist threat we face (story here).  Both agencies understandably work in secret – that is the only way they can do their jobs – but the […]

The new Liberal government in Canada has been talking about terrorism quite a bit lately.  We now have a decision on what Trudeau’s policy on Islamic State (IS) will be as well as a renewed – and much needed – emphasis on countering radicalisation in this country. And the Defence Minister, Harjit “bad-ass” Sajjan, has […]

I am fairly certain that many people are getting sick and tired of hearing about terrorism.  IS this.  AQ that.  Some guys called Boko Haram.  The Taliban.  Etc.  Etc. Etc.  The so-called war on terror (a terrible description as I have said before) has been going on for 15 years or so.  When will it […]

There is  a lot of debate here in Canada on what we should do about IS.  The Trudeau government made a promise during the 2015 federal election campaign that if elected it would rescind the mission of Canadian CF-18s which are part of the international airstrikes on IS.  Mr. Trudeau had dismissively labelled the decision […]

We’ve had a tough time coming up with a name for our fight against terrorism. Leaving aside the ill-considered “crusade” that was used right after 9/11 (who the hell thought that was a good idea?), we have cycled through the Global war on Terror (GWOT) to the Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism (GSAVE) – what […]

I bet some of you are wondering why this blog post is being written, in light of the title.  Surely, you are probably saying, there is no contest.  Iran meddles in the affairs of other countries, supports terrorist groups like Hamas and Hizballah and is trying to acquire nuclear weapons.  And then there is that […]

“Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.”  According to Google, this famous phrase was uttered either by Anglo-Irish statesman Edmund Burke or former Minnesota governor and ex-WWF wrestler Jesse Ventura.  I’ll go with Burke. What is more disconcerting is when we forget our history that happened, say, 4 years ago.  Remember the […]

Whenever a terrorist attack happens and innocent lives are lost we get a typical litany of accusations.  The attackers were evil. Their act was heinous.  They are inhuman.  Sometimes the terrorists are called cowards. Contrast this with how the terrorists refer to themselves.  Mujahideen.  Jaysh al Islam (Army of Islam).  Ansar Muhammad (companions of the […]