An attack on Parliament Hill in the Canadian capital city of Ottawa left the city, and indeed the world, stunned, as a gunmen killed a Canadian soldier at the war memorial before being gunned down himself.
The soldier was an honor guard at the National War Memorial, and officials say his gun was ceremonial, and wasn’t even loaded. Canadian military officials have ordered troops in the Ottawa area to not go out wearing uniforms unless they’re on duty.
The big question mark over the incident remains reports of multiple shooters earlier in the day. Only the single attacker was ever caught, and people are awfully nervous about the prospect that the attack is not actually over.
They weren’t the only ones who were nervous, as the incident also sent NORAD into an alert posture, with more warplanes flying across North America on the prospect of having to respond to such an attack.
Ottawa, a city of almost 900,000 people, has seen only five murders all year, and terror attacks in Canada are virtually unheard of. Yet Canada’s foreign policy, and particularly its role in NATO’s overseas operations have meant resentment was building, and this sort of blowback was only a matter of time.
There doesn’t seem to be any real dispute that the attack was ideological in nature, and Canadian Premier Stephen Harper says the shooter, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, was known to Canadian authorities already, and designated a “high-risk traveler” who could not travel abroad.
That must inevitably draw comparison to Monday’s hit-and-run attack in Quebec by Martin Couture-Rouleau, who ran over a pair of Canadian soldiers and sped off. He was also being tracked as a potentially “radicalized” citizen of Canada.
The incidents both come as Canada’s parliament is moving forward with more draconian anti-terror laws, aiming to dramatically increase the power of security agencies.
Unfortunately for Canadians, the very same policies that are triggering this blowback are likely to only get worse in the wake of the attacks, as officials are already talking up granting even more power to the CSIS spy agency.
Evil breeds evil, dear politicians. Your time is over.
In short, "Do not use force to overcome evil."
Blowback
Nature ‘s justice, retribution to a society so indifferent, greed driven and criminal as to commit a gross manifest injustice.
For surely, this would never have happened if Canada had not joined Empire USA in a brutal imperialism known as The War On Terrorism.
For governments, nothing succeeds like failure. Again and again, in Canada, the US and elsewhere, security failures are used as an excuse to enlarge "anti-terrorist" forces, to increase the number and reach of "anti-terrorist" laws, to implement ever more intrusive surveillance, and to extract larger and larger budgets from fearful legislative bodies.
Wow, I guess the Canadian government and the US government too will have to trade in even more Liberty for Security now. Gotta be evermore vigilant, right?
See how this works?
If you give up liberty for security you will end up with neither liberty or security.
—— Benjamin Franklin
Just to be clear as a Canadian, I’m neither stunned nor surprised. It is embarrassing to watch the TV drama-queens and panicky politicians juice these incidents.
In neither case was any civilian killed. The only people killed where the soldiers and terrorists who wanted a piece of the action. I see them as flip of side of the same coin.
Don’t feed the state-religion by puppeting the corporate media emotionality around stupidty. We will get enough of that on the 100th anniversary of WWI this Nov. 11th.
Our Prime Minister is despised by everyone I know and was elected with only a little over a 1/3 of the voters – mostly oil-money and the Xian right.
Whenever you Americans are ready for the next revolution, let us know.
In some jurisdictions, such as the UK, Canada, and some Australian states, "adequate provocation" is a partial defence to a charge of murder, which, if accepted by the jury, would convert what would otherwise have been murder into manslaughter.
Finally putting my finger on another thing wrong with the 'terrorist' label (other wrongs include the absolute license it provides and the impossibility of running out of enemy). In an era where 'the terrorist' wasn't The Holy Enemy, 'adequate provocation' might've already been obvious. So manslaughter could've been a reasonable compromise in court. Call it 'terrorism,' though, and he's even an extra-speshul-murderer.
The important upshot then, too: With such a label available, government can't really provoke you enough such that your technically illegal reaction is viewed as natural and obvious. And that 'you' will eventually mean YOU (given the license it gives them).
The terrorist label is the ultimate immasculator. If only who he'd whacked was the appropriate politician rather than one of Canada's Ken Dolls. Jeez, stop guarding them.
There is, sadly, an even more sinister explanation.
Namely, that FBI or Canadian sting/entrapment operations can readily be allowed to go "live" similar to past Gladio or Phoenix false flag terrorism.
Such purposes such as diversion, sowing fear, gathering support for more policing would not be unwelcome by the US and the right-wing Canadian governments.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/canadian-terror-wave…
Exactly
And rather than examine the reasons for the attack, just as the USG has done, the Canadian government will double down and tighten their fists. It's so much easier to increase security (and restrain freedom, btw) than it is to perform a self-analysis and expose the governmental actions that brought about the attack.
The reasons for the 9/11 attacks by bin Laden were not to take away our freedoms (at least not by the attackers.)
The CBC is really pulling out all the stops. Hour after hour of regurgitating a handful of facts and replaying undecipherable audio. They are calling for an enhanced Department of Precrime. Canada already has a law that allows what is basically house arrest for any suspected Evildoer – no evidence or charges or conviction required – but haven't used it much. That will now change.
Yup, repression is always the answer. If a little doesn't work, more certainly will.
it is not Canada that is stunned it is Harper, Baird & co. tagging along behind the dog does not mean you will not get kicked
Civilians were not targeted. Only uniformed soldiers of Canada, which- as has been recounted in another article as well- has been in the thick of things in the Middle East for some 13 years now were attacked. That alone, by definition, rules out 'terrorism' as a motive for the attacks.
The violence is terrible, of course, but it might help to put things in perspective. Frankly, I'm surprised we don't have attacks going on continuously as retaliation for our nation's (US) actions overseas. The fact that we haven't had tremendous loss of life here in the US gives the lie to the 'threat' allegedly facing us. Then again, there wouldn't be ANY threat if we minded our own business.
Hmmm. The Harper regime wants even more power to spy on the population and dig Canadians even deeper into the mire of the Middle East.
Suddenly (and very conveniently), we have a rash of “terrorist” activity and our me-too Maximum Leader, puffs himself up as a “War Prime Minister” and vows no mercy on the “terrorists”.
Therefore, Herr Harper will minimize public resistance to war and further the loss of our freedom as well as “legalize” all the illegal mass surveillance that the government has almost certainly been conducting. He will use it to justify our aggressive intervention abroad in matters which are not our business. Herr Harper played with matches, started a fire and now will bravely put it out by pouring gasoline on the flames.
Does this tired old script sound familiar to anyone?
Here’s a useful detail: the shooter was businessman who appears to have fought in 2011 in Libya…..
Canada's immigration laws are even worse then America's or Britain's. If you are going to invite the world into your country, then you had better have a foreign policy just like Switzerland. Or accept these things.
Harper finally did lt himself and baird has put every Canadian in harms way.
Harpee & Beard did it big times no more glorius and free Canada will become a police state like big brother.
I wish they wouldn't pick on low-level soldiers, instead….
Our 'terrorist' – the resident of a men's shelter and possibly someone with mental issues to match a police blotter full of petty crimes had many opportunities to start a bloodbath in his last outing. He didn't. Aside from his first two shots, there is every likelihood that the rest of the damage was caused by the platoons of first responders who dropped him in a fusillade of shots, and made sure he was dead in a second blast.
Stunnned ? I'm NOT….What did you expect? Looks like Canada is chock full of 'puppet' ijuts also..