Canadian terrorism probe widens
Is it too late? Last week, appearing before a Canadian national security Senate committee, the deputy director of operations for CSIS, Jack Hooper, said that Canada was seeing the same sort of spiraling Islamic fundamentalism that resulted in the July 7, 2005, London subway bombings. His statement sent shock waves through the country. But Toronto Mayor David Miller says his city is still "incredibly safe," despite last week's raids. Miller said he will talk to Toronto's tourism officials to continue to make "strong efforts" to overcome the negative publicity from the arrests.
Here in the United States, the FBI is continuing to investigate exactly what links two Georgia men — who were arrested this spring — may have had to the Canadian plot. According to the FBI, the men traveled to Toronto last March and met with at least three of the Canadian suspects.
FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko says the bureau has worked closely with Canadian police since the arrest of the Georgia men, who allegedly discussed strategic locations in the United States such as oil refineries and military bases that might make tempting terrorist targets. But at this point, there is no indication that there was anything but talk, says an FBI official.
"The concern is more the fact that this could happen here, that you could have a group of people who could form a model like this," says this official. "They're not connected to al Qaeda or a known terrorist group, but they could be a sympathizer or a fence-jumper."
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