The Accordion City Terror Arrests

In case you hadn’t heard, let me give you the cut-and-paste of the big story in Accordion City this weekend:

In the largest anti-terrorism operation ever undertaken in Canada, more than 400 police officers conducted a series of raids in southern Ontario on June 2-3, 2006, and arrested 17 suspects.

Police arrested the group for buying ammonium nitrate, which becomes an explosive when mixed with fuel. The men had bought triple the amount used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people, and allegedly planned to bomb the Toronto Stock Exchange and Ottawa’s Parliament buildings, according to newspaper reports.

Ten of the 12 adults arrested were from Toronto or its suburbs, and the others were from Kingston, Ontario. There also were five youths arrested. A bail hearing will be held tomorrow in a Toronto-area court, the Toronto Star said.

The accused were “inspired” by Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist network, police have said. They have no known connection to the U.S. or to al-Qaeda, and are charged with crimes including contributing to the activity of a terrorist group and making property available for terrorist purposes.

I expect that this will be a hot topic of discussion for the next little while (this blog included), so I thought I’d present you with some links I quickly dug up on the story:

• From the local blogosphere:
  • James Bow
  • Bound by Gravity: here and here
  • Robert Mclelland’s My Blahg: here, here, here and here
  • Relapsed Catholic
  • Stephen taylor
  • Ghost of a Flea
  • Girl on the Right
  • Angry in the Great White North
  • Andrew Coyne
  • David Janes
  • The Canadian Blog exchange has a page of related posts
• From the CBC:
  • More arrests expected in alleged bomb plot
  • Islam Not Violent, Toronto Muslims Say
  • Theories Surface About What Led to Ontario Arrests
  • Accused ‘inspired by al-Qaeda,’ say police
  • Anti-terrorism Sweep
  • Photo Gallery
• From Dose:
  • Suspects Targeted Ottawa
  • T.O. Mosque vandalized
• From the Globe and Mail:
  • More suspects may be arrested, RCMP say
  • A gathering of familiar faces at Brampton courthouse
  • Raids prove that Canada not soft on terror, Day says
  • Photo gallery
  • Editorial: Perspective, Please (subscription required)
• From the Montreal Gazette: Let’s keep calm in reaction to Toronto terror arrests
• From the National Post:
  • More terror arrests expected, top lawmakers say
  • After escaping war in Somalia, terror suspects grew up in Toronto
  • Transport minister says transit systems protected against terrorist attacks
  • U.S. praises Canada for terror bust
  • Frightened rural Ontario residents describe ‘terror-training camp’
  • Muslim leaders divided over existence of extremism in their communities
• The Toronto Star’s page of articles related to the arrests (gathered in one nice place so I don’t have to make a giant list of links)

I’d write what I think, but I’d like a little more time to digest — that, and the interesting changes at work (about which I’ll write too) are keeping me busy.

Got something to say? Let yourself be heard in the comments!