History > 2008 > USA > Canada (I)

Man Guilty in Canada Terror Plot

September 26, 2008
The New York Times
By IAN AUSTEN

BRAMPTON, Ontario — A judge on Thursday found a youth suspect guilty in a plot to bomb Canadian government offices and attack the prime minister, in the first trial of a member of the so-called Toronto 18.

The judge said there was credible evidence of a terrorist plot aimed at targets in North America. But the judge said the man could not be convicted yet because of a technicality.

The judge’s 50-page ruling hinged on whether the information provided by a paid police informant was credible. The judge said that prosecutors did not have to prove that the suspects were capable of carrying out a terrorist attack or that there was a specific plan, only that they could be demonstrated to be a terrorist group.

Because the man on trial was 17 years old when arrested, he cannot be identified under Canadian law. The man, who was accused of participating in terrorist training, moved to Canada from Sri Lanka in 1994 and was raised a Hindu. He converted to Islam in high school and met many of his accused accomplices, including a man prosecutors depict as the ringleader, at a mosque in the Scarborough area of Toronto.

Ontario Superior Court Justice John Sproat rendered his verdict in Brampton, Ont., courtroom, saying evidence that a terrorist conspiracy existed was “overwhelming,” according to the Canadian Press.

The story that first emerged about the 18 men and teenagers, all Muslims, who were arrested in and around Toronto in June 2006, was deeply disturbing. Police officials and prosecutors told of plots to bomb government offices in Toronto and Ottawa as well as a nuclear power station, and of a planned attack on Parliament with the aim of capturing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and decapitating him.

But as the judge in this Toronto suburb prepared to release the verdict on Thursday, the so-called Toronto 18 took on a less sinister cast.

Charges were dropped this year against seven of the defendants. And evidence presented at the first trial suggests that the group was long on inflammatory talk about plots but short on the means and methods to carry them out, and that it may have been aided — and perhaps provoked — by paid police informants.

From the first terrifying charges outlined by prosecutors to the gritty, often comically deflated details that have emerged in court, the case of the Toronto 18 seems to fit a well-established pattern in terrorism prosecutions. Whether the result of trumped-up charges, conflicting demands of intelligence agencies or difficulties of trying cases where evidence is withheld by governments looking to protect their sources and methods, numerous terrorism trials in the United States and Europe have similarly foundered over the years.

This month, for example, a London jury dealt a blow to counterterrorism officials when it convicted three of eight defendants of conspiracy to commit murder but failed to reach verdicts on the more serious charge of a conspiracy to blow up seven airliners with liquid explosives.

Evidence presented in court made it clear that, at best, the man was a minor character in the group.

No matter how minor his role, though, the evidence presented in the case presents a broad picture of the months leading to the raids, which, the police said, were timed to prevent the group from acquiring fertilizer to create bombs. The evidence was so broad that a court order prevents the publication of the identities of other people described in it to avoid prejudicing later trials.

There was no evidence offered directly linking the defendant to the bomb plot or plans to storm Parliament. Instead, most of the case focused on his attendance at two camps that the police described as terrorist training sessions but that prosecution witnesses characterized as recreational or religious retreats. Both were videotaped by a paid police informant who was part of the group and who testified that he choreographed some of the scenes.

Video from a camp north of Toronto in December 2005 shows a car spinning around in a nearby, snow-covered parking lot. Prosecutors characterized that as special driver training but the defense, and many outsiders, said it was nothing more than “cutting doughnuts,” a favorite winter pastime of young Canadian motorists. Other video from the camp shows paintball fights, military clothing and members marching with a group flag.

Video from a second camp shows participants trying to ford a small stream by walking across logs (many of them fell in), sitting in a circle around two machetes (both apparently dull) and a book on the floor of a tent in what witnesses said was a bid to mimic online Islamic videos, and people jumping over a campfire.

Inexperienced at camping and not fond of the cold, the participants at the winter camp spent much of their time retreating to the heat of a nearby outlet of Tim Hortons, the ubiquitous Canadian coffee shop chain. Both camps provoked reports of suspicious activity to local police officers who, at one point, roused a group of campers who were sleeping in a van.

But a handgun was used for target practice at the winter camp. Wiretaps and evidence from two witnesses who were at the camp also show that inflammatory, if sometimes cryptic, remarks were made, particularly by the alleged ringleader, who regularly preached about the need for young Muslims to avenge attacks on their faith and its homelands.

But whether most of the campers knew anything about targets in Canada is, at best, unclear. Conversations about bombings and attacking Parliament appeared to involve only a small subset of the group. They showed little planning. When discussing the attack on Parliament, the group debated whether the prime minister was Mr. Harper or, as one suspect put it, “Paul — um what’s his name — Paul loser,” apparently a reference to Paul Martin, the Liberal whom Mr. Harper defeated.

One of the suspects suggested during the talk that the current defendant, who was not part of that conversation, should cut off Mr. Harper’s head because he was the only camper who had shown interest in cutting firewood.

In his closing arguments, the prosecutor, John Neander, cited the suspected ringleader’s repeated calls for the destruction of “Rome” as evidence that the defendant should have known the group planned attacks in Canada. (Although one witness testified that when some of the youths at the second camp complained about Canada, he reminded them about the quality of its roads, schools and health care system.)

Man Guilty in Canada Terror Plot, NYT, 26.9.2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/world/americas/26canada.html

US soldier who deserted over Iraq

is deported

Wednesday July 16, 2008
Guardian.co.uk
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington and agencies

Canada yesterday deported to the US the first American army deserter fleeing the Iraq war across the US-Canadian border.

Robin Long, 25, faces a possible court martial and jail, and even redeployment to Iraq.

He joined the army in 2003, after the invasion of Iraq, but became troubled by the war.

In 2005 he fled to Canada and applied for refugee status, because the US army wanted him to participate in what he called an "illegal war of aggression in Iraq."

On Monday, the Federal court of Canada Justice Anne Mactavish ruled that Long could not provide clear evidence that he would suffer irreparable harm if returned to the US.

The Canada border services agency confirmed Long's removal, but declined to give other details, citing privacy laws. Long's refugee claim had already been rejected and he could not appeal this latest court ruling.

Some 200 other US soldiers are in Canada, counting on its history of welcoming 50,000 Americans fleeing the Vietnam draft.

Last month, Canada's parliament urged the government to allow war resisters to remain.

However, opponents of granting refugee status to deserters argue that, unlike during the Vietnam war, the United States does not now have a military draft and members of its military are volunteers who know the potential risks.

US soldier who deserted over Iraq is deported, G, 16.7.2008, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/16/antiwar.iraq

U.S. Soldiers Lose Haven in Canada

July 13, 2008
The New York Times
By IAN AUSTEN

TORONTO — James Corey Glass, apprentice mortician and United States Army deserter, was keeping an unusually close eye on the text messages coming into his cellphone. He was hoping to hear that a court had blocked the Canadian government’s attempt to send him back to the United States.

On Wednesday afternoon, the message came: Mr. Glass, 25, could remain in Canada while he appealed his removal order by the country’s Immigration Department. It was a welcome reprieve, he said, but well short of a guarantee that he and other deserters could make Canada their new home.

The Canadian government’s effort to remove Mr. Glass contrasts with the warm reception given to deserters and draft avoiders from the United States during the war in Vietnam. And although the war in Iraq has very little support among Canadians, the situation of Mr. Glass and others who abandoned their military positions provokes a wide range of responses. For American soldiers seeking an escape, Canada is no longer a guaranteed haven.

“It’s quite clear that the current Canadian government does not want to annoy the U.S. government on this issue and will not give any ground,” said Michael Byers, a professor of politics and international law at the University of British Columbia.

During the Vietnam War, the Liberal prime minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, welcomed American deserters and draft dodgers, declaring that Canada “should be a refuge from militarism.” Americans who arrived were generally able to obtain legal immigrant status simply by applying at the border, or even after they entered Canada.

But while the current Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has not backed the Iraq war, it has shown little sympathy for American deserters. During a recent parliamentary debate, Laurie Hawn, a Conservative from Alberta, asked, “Why do they not fight it within their own legal system instead of being faux refugees in Canada?”

No American deserter of the Iraq war has been deported by the Canadian government, but that is not for lack of effort. Immigration authorities have ordered about nine deserters to leave Canada, leading to public battles in the courts.

Changes to immigration laws have made it far more difficult for deserters to remain in Canada. Deserters wanting at least temporary legal status must be declared refugees. But refugees in Canada must show that they have, as the government puts it, a “well-founded fear of being persecuted” for religious, racial or political reasons. Alternately, refugees may demonstrate that for them to be returned to their home country would put their lives at risk, or would subject them to torture or “cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.”

As for Mr. Glass, he said he was between low-paying factory jobs in Indiana when he joined the National Guard six years ago.

But he said he had one crucial question for the recruiters before he signed. “They told me I’m not going to fight a war on foreign shores,” Mr. Glass said.

Maj. Nathan Banks, a spokesman for the Army, said, “recruiters would never have made a comment of that sort.”

Not long after Mr. Glass joined, it became clear that he would not be exempt from overseas duty, he said. But he stayed with the Guard and was deployed to Iraq in 2005.

Six months into his 18-month tour, Mr. Glass, a sergeant, said he was sent home on a temporary stress leave. Immediately after returning to the United States, he went on the run, living in a tent in various states, he said. Like many of his counterparts in Canada, Mr. Glass eventually contacted Lee Zaslofsky, who deserted the United States Army for Toronto in 1970 and is now a national coordinator for the War Resisters Support Campaign, which houses and advocates for deserters. As he says he does with all callers, Mr. Zaslofsky, a naturalized Canadian citizen, told Mr. Glass that while he would be beyond the reach of the United States military in Canada, there were no guarantees he could stay in the country. Mr. Glass moved anyway.

A big difference between the current round of deserters and those during the Vietnam War appears to be scale. No precise data exist, but Victor Levant, who wrote “Quiet Complicity: Canadian Involvement in the Vietnam War,” estimated that about 20,000 Americans came to Canada to escape the Vietnam-era draft and 12,000 others in the armed forces deserted and entered Canada. Mr. Zaslofsky said he believed that no more than 200 American deserters from the Iraq war were now in Canada.

While the government does not publish figures, it appears that only about 50 deserters have made refugee applications, with the rest living illegally in Canada.

Exactly what Mr. Glass and others face if they return to the United States is unclear. Major Banks, the Army spokesman, said Mr. Glass had been given “an other-than-honorable discharge” from the California National Guard, but remained a member of the Army Reserve. He declined to say what, if anything, would happen to Mr. Glass if he returned to the United States.

Mr. Glass, however, said he had been advised by a lawyer in the Army’s legal unit, and by an American military law specialist he had hired, that the discharge did not mean that he would avoid desertion charges, which could bring the equivalent of a felony conviction and a prison sentence. “They said it doesn’t change anything,” Mr. Glass said, referring to his lawyers. His Canadian lawyer agreed. The deserters have support among opposition members of Parliament, who have passed a motion asking the government to give deserters and their families legal immigrant status. The measure, however, is not binding, and the Conservatives have ignored it.

Bob Rae, a Liberal member of Parliament, acknowledged that the response of the Canadian public to the deserters’ cause was muted compared with its reaction during the Vietnam War, partly because the current newcomers are volunteers, not conscripts. But, he argued, the public favors giving American deserters special consideration.

“As a country which concluded that the Iraq conflict was not justified under international law, we have to take a position,” Mr. Rae said.

Karen Shadd, a spokeswoman for the Immigration Department, said that no special deals were planned.

“Creating a special and unique channel would undermine the fairness of the system,” she said.

The results under the current system have generally been discouraging for people like Mr. Glass, including a refusal by the Supreme Court of Canada to hear appeals from two deserters.

But deserters have won judgments as well. On July 4, a ordered a refugee board to reconsider the application of Joshua Key, an Army private who said he had witnessed many abuses by American forces in Iraq.

As for Mr. Glass, he said he would return if ultimately ordered.

“I’m going to obey Canadian laws,” Mr. Glass said. “I’m not going to break any laws here.”

But what he would do in the United States is unclear. “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

U.S. Soldiers Lose Haven in Canada, NYT, 13.7.2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/world/americas/13canada.html

Canada Gov't

May Extend Afghan Mission

February 6, 2008
Filed at 2:20 p.m. ET
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The New York Times

TORONTO (AP) -- Canada's minority Conservative government said Wednesday it will ask Parliament to extend the country's combat mission in Afghanistan, and indicated it might be willing to put itself on the line to make sure the unpopular measure passes.

The government motion will be based on recent recommendations by an independent panel saying that Canada should continue its mission only if another NATO country musters 1,000 troops for Afghanistan's dangerous south.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government is under pressure to withdraw its 2,500 troops from Kandahar province, the former Taliban stronghold, after the deaths of 78 Canadian soldiers and a diplomat. The mission is set to expire in 2009 without an extension by Canadian lawmakers.

The refusal of some major European allies to send significant number of troops to Afghanistan's southern front lines has opened a rift within NATO. Troops from Canada, Britain, the Netherlands and the United States have borne the brunt of a resurgence of Taliban violence in the region, with support from Denmark, Romania, Estonia and non-NATO nation Australia.

Germany said Wednesday it will send about 200 troops to serve in a quick reaction force in northern Afghanistan at NATO's request, but the defense minister flatly rejected sending soldiers to the volatile south.

Canadian opposition parties have threatened to bring down Harper's minority government if he does not end the increasingly unpopular combat mission.

Carolyn Stewart Olsen, a spokeswoman for Harper emphasized that Harper has called the Afghan issue a matter of grave importance, and opposition Liberal leader Stephane Dion said Harper has told him he would put the measure to a confidence vote.

The two other opposition parties in Parliament have said they will bring down Harper's minority government if he does not end the combat mission, but they cannot do that without the support of the Liberals.

Parliament's vote on the mission will take place in March if NATO produces the additional troops, the spokeswoman said.

Germany's mandate in Afghanistan, which is granted by parliament on an annual basis, will be up for renewal again in October.

Germany currently has roughly 3,300 troops in relatively calm northern Afghanistan as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force. German officials, facing public skepticism over the prospect of being drawn deeper into fighting in Afghanistan, want to maintain their focus on the north, Jung said.

''I think it would be a very big mistake if we would transfer our responsibility from the north to the south,'' Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung told reporters.

Although Jung insisted the 200 troops would be based along with Germany's other troops the north, it would be available for support missions elsewhere in Afghanistan.

------

Associated Press Writer Melissa Eddy in Berlin

contributed to this report.

Canada Gov't May Extend Afghan Mission, NYT, 6.2.2008, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Canada-Afghanistan.html