Posted by Larry Hoover on June 8, 2006, at 11:32:59 [reposted on June 12, 2006, at 6:27:39 | original URL]
In reply to Re: Canadian Terrorists.... » Larry Hoover, posted by Jay on June 7, 2006, at 19:52:26
> But I refuse to let the Conservatives use this as a tool to make a "Canadian Patriot Act" and turn Afghanistan into Iraq.
They're in a minority government. They can't do anything, without the Liberals and NDP going along with it.
> But...the logic must stand. Thinking about doing something does in no way carry the weight of actually carrying it out.
What logic is that? They didn't get charged with thinking about it. They got charged with conspiracy to commit. They had mens rea, thinking they were obtaining the key ingredient for a bomb. That the police supplied them with bags of something else is not relevent. It's no different than when they seize heroin, and substitute dextrose powder, and observe the criminal activities without leaving the public at risk that the real stuff can make it to the streets.
> Especially when your *means* of doing so are next to nothing.
If they had actually gotten that chemical, they had the means. That's what they're charged with doing. Having the means, to the best of their knowledge. They shopped for, purchased, and took delivery of bags that were labelled with a specific product name. They didn't call the shipper up, and say, "Hey, we didn't order ammonium nitrate. We ordered sodium chloride." Maybe it was salt that they got, but it's irrelevent to mens rea. Guilty mind. They thought they got the real deal. You mark my words, they have tape recordings affirming that they thought they had the means to carry out their plan. Wait until the trial, and remember this specific detail. They were taped. I guarantee that they were.
It's only the second such charge ever, in Canada. It's hardly a mis-used law, this section of the Criminal Code of Canada. There ought not to be a person unaware of that law, let alone a conspirator group of 17 or 20 educated men.
> Politicians, of all stripes, like to use fear and rhetoric in overblown ways to scare their constituents into doing what, eventually, they ever want. The media is almost as guilty, as it sells "good copy".
What am I being scared into doing? I saw my government step up and show anybody who's got the slightest inkling of trying something similar......don't even go there. Ya know? This is not a high school prank. We're talking about the equivalent of dozens of cases of dynamite. Hundreds of sticks. And they had built a detonator. And they had targets, on paper. Written down.
> Maybe they shouldn't have told of their "Canadian Domination" plans while running through the goldfish ponds and playing paintball to the 15 or so farmers who not only reported them last winter, but told them to get a life! Musta been the pizza...lol..
>
> JayI'm sorry dude, but these guys should have known better.
Talking, blowing off steam over a beer, is way way different than this. This wasn't paintball any more. They were inept terrorists, no doubt. But they were terrorists, under the law of Canada. They knew that. They tried to conceal themselves. Ineptly.
Criminal masterminds? No. Criminals? Looks like. They'll get their day in court. On our dime, Jay. We're paying for both ends, for this one.
I just read about one such mastermind, yesterday. A court officer had sent out a Notice to Appear at Trial, to some dude up on fairly minor criminal charges. The letter was returned, marked, "I don't live here any more."
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:655822
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20060610/msgs/655827.html