Terrorist threats in our midst indeed
The Globe and Mail is carrying a single-source story about Canada being chock-full of al Qaeda-trained terrorists. And the source – CSIS deputy director Jack Hooper – should know. His agency probably funds the worst of them.
In fact, based on past evidence, I bet the easiest, most cost effective way for CSIS to remove the terrorist threat would be to cut its payroll of agents provocateurs, informants and “sources.”
I give you:
- Grant Bristow. Former private detective who infiltrated the Heritage Front, a gang of Nazi skins. He bankrolled the group, got made into leadership and was second in command. But once he was outed, the group collapsed. Maybe if CSIS hadn’t funded him in the first place?
- John Farrell. As part of his efforts to spy on Canada’s letter carriers and postal clerks, he broke and entered, tampered with mail, stole lock box keys, etc etc. Again, the streets got safer once the CSIS dude was off them.
- Marc André Boivin. A CSIS informant sent to spy on a CSN strike against a hotel chain. But he was much more than a pair of eyes. He instigated and organized several bombings and was planning others when he was outed. Parliament later cleared CSIS of all wrong doing because Boivin wasn’t spying on unions per se but rather violent factions with in a union. Only trouble is – like the other two, he was the violent faction.
This would be funny if CSIS wasn’t responsible for writing the reports that give cause for security certificates, which allow the federal government to jail you indefinitely (or at least 41 months) without trial.
Shame too, on the Globe for going with such a rubbish story. The CBC carried a report (based on Hooper’s testimony before a Senate committee) but has yanked it from their web site, possibly out of embarassment.
