From Terror To The Mundane

Ahmed: "I'm not a fan of vinegar ... The Prophet, may peace rest upon him, liked vinegar a lot."

Alleged Co-Conspirator: "He did? Really?"

A: "Yes, it was one of his favourites. The first time I found that out I felt bad. I was like, what, I don't like something the Prophet, may peace rest upon him, liked? Do you like vinegar?"

Alleged CC: "If there is a limit, yeah, praise be to Allah, because they use it in pickles a lot in Iran."

A: "Pickles?"

Alleged CC: "Yeah, pickle."

A court sketch of Misbahuddin Ahmed shows him during a court appearance in Ottawa on Aug. 27, 2010, on charges related to what the RCMP say was a domestic terrorist plot. ((Sarah Wallace/CBC) )

Comedy sketch? Sounds like it. Who knew the Prophet Mohammed liked vinegar? As a cleansing agent? It does have some astonishing properties. Who knew from vinegar back in the Sixth Century, anyway? A similar process, to be sure, is used in producing wine. And clearly, the Prophet had no use for wine, considering it a stealth agent to capture the soul of the user, turning him/her to ugly ways such as not giving praise to Allah.

The Prophet himself is highly praised, as his name, Mohammed demands. And Muslim parents, eager to garner praise in the name of their own sons, have made it the most popular boys' name in Britain. As it slowly turns into an Islamic state. Which wouldn't be so bad, actually, if somehow Muslims could be weaned off jihad. Which would mean, in effect, eviscerating one of the most fundamental values in Islam.

And it is that fundamental value that Misbahuddin Ahmed -- in the second week of a trial in an Ottawa court on terrorism charges -- was exploring with an unnamed co-conspirator when he was being surreptitiously taped by RCMP anti-terrorist officers in 2010. Their concern with the Prophet's penchant for vinegar did not rule out their concern for committing themselves to learning from exposure to exploits of jihad.

From vinegar they turned to an audio recording of Osama bin Laden condemning the Pakistani leadership, co-operating with the "infidels", when it pledged itself to the global battle against terrorism. Of course this was Pakistan's veneer pledge, acceptable to its Western allies, and particularly the United States whose billions in annual military support Pakistan very much appreciated. Likely at that time bin Laden was not yet in his Abbottabad compound.

The while Pakistan's military and its secret intelligence service remained committed to the first order in precedence of a faithful Muslim; jihad. Well infiltrated by al-Qaeda operatives, and faithful to the urgency of protecting the Taliban, Pakistan played its double game, raking in financial support from the United States and arming Islamist cells to conduct violent atrocities in India and in Afghanistan.

The two Ottawa-based conspirators entertained and informed themselves by viewing a detailed "how to make a bomb out of bottled gas" video. After which the video and its careful instructions became an introspective topic of conversation between the two. Presumably details revolving about, how, why, when and where...?

A senior undercover officer with the RCMP's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET), described, during the trial, how he and fellow officers had taken great care to replace 56 circuit boards in the co-conspirator's apartment, with replicas wired to appear as though they were functional. They would not, however, have worked, used in the detonation of an improvised explosive device.

The former diagnostic imagining technician at The Ottawa Hospital, Misbahuddin Ahmed, has pleaded not guilty to the three terrorism related offences with which he has been charged: conspiring with two others to facilitate a terrorist activity; participating in the activities of a terrorist group; and possessing an explosive device.

Federal Crown prosecutor Jason Wakely charges that Ahmed was one of three Islamist conspirators focused on committing "violent Jihad" in Canada and abroad. Seven more weeks of testimony and denial to go.