And there it is, near the bottom, almost as an aside:
he was paid
He was paid more than
$300,000.
That's near the bottom of
the article linked to in the left column, which describes, with great
earnestness, the authentic, real, god-awful truth about Islamic terrorists
operating in Toronto: that they really mean it, that they are serious,
that they are a real threat.
Frontline and the CBC,
which collaborated on the report, have a lot of credibility. Unlike
Fox, or even CBS or NBC or ABC, they tend to take a more measured and less
sensationalistic approach to stories about terrorist cells operating in
North America. (Though even CBS's "60 Minutes" recently ran a rather
odd piece on how terrorists are using the internet to train young jihadists.) But there it is, a long, detailed, well-researched
program (and website), detailing how the 17 young men were seriously
plotting to storm the Parliament buildings, take MPs hostage, and behead
them one by one until Canada withdrew it's armed forces from Afghanistan.
And then, way down the page, there is that one
little, embarrassing detail: the informant, Mubin Shaikh, whose revelations to CSIS (the Canadian Security Service) led to the arrests,
was paid more than
$300,000 for the information.
When the trial is held, Mubin Shaikh will be the star witness. Undoubtedly, he will have
to reveal the fact that he was a paid informant to the court. Then the
court will have to decide whether $300,000 is an incentive to exaggerate or
distort his information. They should also decide whether $300,000 is
an incentive for someone to incite. They should also consider the
question of "entrapment".
It is possible that CSIS has additional proof. We
won't know until the trial, of course. It is possible that the
additional proof wouldn't mean much if it wasn't put into "context" by
$300,000 worth of testimony. It is possible, if not likely-- I say it
is likely-- that the additional evidence CSIS will offer will have been
produced as a result of the activities and encouragement of Mubin Shaikh.
The question that should be asked is, would these young
men have committed a crime if they had never met Mubin Shaikh?
Perhaps you believe that the police are willing to pay
large sums of money to informants if their information clears suspects of
suspicion. Perhaps you live in Disneyland.
Mubin Shaikh was paid an initial $68,000 U.S. So,
suppose he reported back to CSIS that nothing was up. No reason to be
concerned. There's a couple of hot-heads, but they are just shooting
off their mouths. They are kids who, not unreasonably, are against the
war on Iraq because they believe it is motivated by the U.S. desire to
control oil supplies and support Zionism. They believe the U.S.
invaded Iraq. Oh yeah... Well, they believe the U.S. lied about
weapons of mass destruction so they could invade Iraq to steal its oil.
Okay-- it it illegal to believe that? It is if you are an Arab living
in North America or Europe.
Do you suppose Shaikh had any reason to believe he
would receive an additional $300,000 if he continued to report that there
was no serious terrorist plot?
I suspect that among the 17 youths that were arrested,
were a small number of relatively serious-minded extremists, who genuinely
hated decadent western culture, and dreamed of seeking revenge for the
perceived humiliation of the Moslem world at the hands of the Israelis and
Americans. (Shaikh is not going to propose the ridiculous to CSIS.)
But I suspect that for every ten youths like that, maybe one or two ever
actually end up doing something. Of that number, a smaller percentage
acquire the means and determination to actually do something effective.
I wonder if the infamous 3 tons of ammonia nitrate will
turn out to have been Shaikh's suggestion. Apparently, the RCMP ended
up "providing" the (fake) material.
There are several American cases that sound alarmingly
similar: a paid informant infiltrates a local youth group, encourages the
boys to talk "jihad", then reports on their conversations to Homeland
Security and they sweep them up. In most of those cases, there is no
evidence that any of the suspects ever took any steps to actually commit any
terrorist acts. In some cases, there was bravado and bragging
and macho posturing. The victims of this scam are threatened
with years in prison for very serious charges, but then agree to plead
guilty to a relatively minor charge, and then the government holds a parade
and awards medals to everyone.
The boys went up north and took training... from Mr.
Shaikh. They used paintball guns and pellet guns and, Mr. Shaikh
claims, some live ammunition.
Why does this all look so pathetic?
Why is it so offensive to me that reporter Linden McIntyre
of the CBC seemed to spend an inordinate proportion of his report on Mr.
Shaikh's civic-mindedness, and his concern for the Moslem community, and his
own spiritual journey from misspent youth to respected leader of the Moslem
community in Toronto... before telling us about the $300,000?
If Mr. Shaikh really was a man of integrity, why would he even have
accepted the money, knowing, as he must have, that a reasonable person would
question how much honesty $300,000 can buy?
