"Lone Wolf" Jihadis

"Do I see bombs going off in western states? I am not sure. But you will certainly see more of what you saw in Ottawa. That is, individuals carrying out attacks with hand weapons and knives."
"Tactics are changing from the spectacular -- such as huge bombings -- to those that aren't. It is individuals acting alone that are scaring the hell out of governments. It is these unknown, sudden attacks that send them into a complete panic."
"One terrorist attack galvanizes others to try to do the same thing."
Tobias Feakin, Australian Strategic Policy Institute 

Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, the suspected gunman in Wednesday's Ottawa shootings, had a criminal record in B.C. and Quebec. (Twitter)

And most certainly when in October Canada's capital was suddenly the scene of an Islamist-jihad-inspired attack where a Canadian Muslim convert murdered Reservist Cpl. Nathan Cirillo as he stood guard at the National Memorial beside the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier -- following on a similar act in Quebec a week earlier that cost Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent his life in another jihadist attack by another Canadian Muslim convert -- where the Ottawa attacker went on to invade Parliament and threaten Members of Parliament, the world sat up in notice.

World leaders contacted Canada's Prime Minister, and one of those world leaders was Australia's Tony Abbott, commiserating over the unexpected tragic violence, with the full knowledge that Australia could be next. It took a month to happen, but Australia was indeed next on the roster. Australia had, in fact, put out an intelligence alert internally and extended it to its Western counterparts of potential imminent jihadist attacks at embassies and other symbols of government.

The site for the Sydney attack was carefully chosen, in the heart of a busy upscale shopping district, and hard by the seat of regional government and the financial district. The message was clear enough, emblazoned in white Arabic lettering on the black background of an Islamic flag that some of the hostages were forced to place on the front window of the Lindt Chocolat Cafe, surrounded by New South Wales Police: There is no God but God and Mohammed is His Messenger

A injured hostage is carried to an ambulance after shots were fired during a cafe siege at Martin Place in the central business district of Sydney, Australia, Dec. 16, 2014.   Rob Griffith/AP Photo

The Ottawa attacks were in fact widely celebrated in the world of Islamist jihad just as they were condemned in the West. The Islamic State of Syria and Al-Sham considered those Ottawa attacks and the Sydney one following as their very own success stories. The dramatic videos that each spawned will be used by the Islamic State as a tool of positive recruitment to their 'cause' simply because what is considered a horror by many is seen as a reinforcement of a divine mission by others dedicated to jihad.

And the perils posed in the West by 'lone wolf' terrorists have now earned their credentials with the reality that a highly motivated fanatic dedicated to the premise of jihad leading to a new world order, minimally armed and barely prepared to mount an atrocity is still capable of shutting down government in the panic that ensues when his malice and intentions are made abundantly clear by the terror that follows in the wake of innocent corpses.

And the follow-up of earnest forgivers who will be quite explicit in explaining their undying belief that the attacks are symbolic of mental illness in society with the unbalanced psyches of those who seek martyrdom despoiling the image of a religion dedicated to peace, threatening moderation and acceptance of cultural ideologies and religious fanaticism meant to benefit society, if only we took the trouble to understand them.