I read the news today oh boy...

Some interesting points that have emerged are that some of the accused have been under surveillance since 2004, and it seems the whole plot such as it was was rather thoroughly compromised.

Two of those charged have been resident in the Kingston Pen since last fall, when they each received a two-year sentence for gun-smuggling. So it's curious that they'd be included as conspirators in an ongoing plot.

It was also suggested that police agents were involved in purchasing the 3 tons of ammonium nitrate for the group. Pretty interesting tactic--suggesting, rightly or not, that police and CSIS felt they had the situation under control.

The only charges I've seen are "membership in a terrorist group" and "engaging in terrorist training". Not "conspiracy to commit" type charges, at least not yet.

Stephen Harper's comments have been typical of him. He likes to echo things GW Bush has said in the past, in this case "they hate our freedoms". Harper is apparently unaware that Bush's credibility, inasmuch as he ever had any, is way in the past too.

Somehow I'm not getting the impression that these alleged terrorists were masters of terror and guerilla fighting--more like a farm team of a farm team.

Having said that, though, I think that all in all I'm happy with how the police operation went, from the information provided thus far. It's the first time in this country that a "terrorist roundup" has not almost immediately turned into a bunch of smoke and mirrors, resulting in a few scared students with expired visas being deported amid embarrassing questions about what happened to the "bust of the century" that was promised.

Nobody got hurt, and there will be court cases to show us what it is really about. It's reasonable to expect our tolerant society will continue to be so--we're not freaking out with colour-coding our calendars and duct-taping our windows.

And I don't really believe the upcoming Supreme Court decision on security certificates is connected...these guys are facing charges, no "security certificates" are needed to keep them locked up.

It won't influence the Supreme Court anyway, they're a stubborn bunch.

W-O