Extending Human Rights to Jihadis Dedicated to Koranic Jihad Counselling to Mass Murder

"The question here is not actual prejudice, which in these kinds of circumstances is impossible to gauge, but prejudice to the due administration of justice flowing from the denial of a jury selection method which was in law properly invoked."
"[The jury selection process allows defendants to make decisions whether prospective jurors may be questioned on impartiality]."
"It was an error of law for the trial judge to refuse to exercise a discretion based on a view that a remedy not sought by Jaser would have better achieved his ends." 
"Here, one jury was selected for both appellants. In the circumstances of this case, as the jury was not properly constituted for Jaser, it cannot be considered to have been properly constituted for Esseghaier."
Ontario Court of Appeal

"The decision might be a bit hard for some people to get through, because there's a lot of technical language."

"But the bottom line is the fair jury selection process is a hallmark of Canadian justice. Mr. Jaser has been in jail since 2013, and still hasn't had a trial in front of a jury that was chosen legally, so we think this is the right result."

Megan Savard, one of Jaser's lawyers

"Fair jury selection is especially important in cases with saturation-level publicity and it can be hard to find impartial jurors in a highly publicized case like this one."

"So it is important to use the jury selection procedure created by Parliament. Jury selection is one of the few things that a defendant gets to choose around mode of trial and the courts are always protective of it."

Frank Addario, one of Jaser's lawyers

The Ontario Court of Appeal has ordered a new trial for Raed Jaser, left, and Chiheb Esseghaier. The men were found guilty on terror-related charges in connection with a plot to derail a passenger train. (John Mantha/Chris Young/The Canadian Press)

Found guilty at trial of terrorism in connection with a plot they decided upon out of many discussed between the two men -- to derail a Via Rail passenger train between Canada and the United States -- Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier have been the beneficiaries of the Ontario Court of Appeal finding the jury that had convicted them in 2015 had not been properly selected. It was the lawyers for Raed Jaser who had challenged the legality of the jury makeup, but his victory in being granted a new trial has been extended to his fellow jihadist Chiheb Esseghaier.

During the trial that convicted him of terrorism charges, Esseghaier scorned the Canadian justice system. It was only under Sharia law that Koranic justice could be meted out. And since the Koran extols the virtues of jihad and exhorts its faithful to embrace jihad, the man held that he was fully justified in plotting a terrorist attack with the co-defendant for the purpose of avenging Muslims in countries that the West had identified as harbouring threats to the West through a series of deadly attacks.

The trial that saw these men being found guilty on eight terror-related charges between them saw them sentenced to life in prison. Life in prison in Canada is nothing like a sentence of life imprisonment; these two would-be slaughterers of innocent life under Canadian law would have the opportunity of appearing before a parole board in 2023, a decade after they were arrested, eight years after being found guilty of terrorism, to plead for parole accelerating the opportunity of becoming free men to roam the streets of Toronto and Montreal to resume their psychotic fantasies of vengeance.

Accused Chiheb Esseghaier (L) and Accused Raed Jaser sit in the University Avenue courthouse in Toronto on Jan. 29, 2015. Sketch by Pam Davies / Toronto Sun/ Postmedia Network

Following their convictions on terrorism charges, through the lawyers representing their interests both challenged their convictions, Esseghaier continuing to represent himself after firing his court-appointed lawyers. According to the legal finding of the Ontario Court of Appeal recently brought down, the trial judge had erred in denying Jaser the method of jury selection he had stated was his preference, that prospective members of the jury be questioned on their impartiality.

Given that the news media were loud, front and centre for months on end about this case and the two  jihadis' actions and plots and the testimony of a undercover FBI agent who had convinced them that he was willing to aid and finance their plot as a sympathetic-to-the-cause fellow Muslim, no one could possibly among the general public, fail to have consumed the news where it was made clear that the case against the two was fairly ironclad, as terrorists.

The sham that questioning would result in, to elicit from each juror a self-professed capacity to remain neutral irrespective of having been aware of the details of the case through daily reportage, was dismissed out of hand by the presiding judge. He decided against having the jury pool appointing 'triers' who would question the other jurors as to their capacity to wipe their minds clean of impressions of guilt, to view the accused neutrally, to arrive at an opinion as to guilt or innocence.

The trial judge responded to Jaser's request for the jury to be chosen by rotating triers with the intention of excluding any jurors who professed an incapacity to be neutral when sitting in judgement at trial by stating he was not prepared to grant the request since the issue could be solved by the use of static triers, an alternative he imposed, and now rejected by the Court of Appeal, which has ordered new trials for both convicted terrorists.

A screen grab from court exhibit surveillance video of September 2012 for train bridge terror plot released Feb. 9, 2015. Court Exhibit

With the presentation of the same evidence that had been used in the original trial it is difficult to see what can be achieved in new trials other than taxpayer expense in a situation that can only logically result in a like finding of guilt on the part of both men. The recording where they discuss terror plots to be carried out to retaliate for military actions Canada took part in, in Muslim countries, the photographs showing the two examining the likeliest site they would use to derail a train full of people over an overpass for maximum carnage, will all be re-presented.

This represents yet another instance where Western justice bends over backward in an energetic, guilt-ridden, good-faith response to deadly jihadist violence against its own civilian communities to ensure that those who dedicate themselves to the annihilation of innocent lives are still deserving of 'justice' untrammelled by any vestige of due punishment accomplished by sidestepping the fine points of the law. 

The situation is right in line with 'progressive' values that punctiliously avoid identifying Islam with violence, Muslims with terrorism, profiling and common sense observations that terrorism in today's world is invariably linked to the grim pathology of Islamist ideology of conquest. This is uncivil, and wildly unacceptable to draw conclusions from reality to identify Muslims with terrorism. And so subterfuges and delicate maneuvering is undertaken to avoid giving offence while at the same time practising limp defence. 

Obsequious and nerve-rattling conciliation that only results in the Muslim world responding with contempt, recognizing the weakness of the tolerance that the West sees as its strength and the world of Islam identifies as fear and weak-willed responses from a non-Muslim world community ripe for conquest.

The appeal in the case centres on the way the first trial's jury was selected. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

Misreading Jihadis

"As with many attacks in Europe over the last several years the suspect was already known to security and police. He had served a sentence and been convicted of unspecified crimes in both France and Germany, according to reports. In 2016 he was 'flagged by anti-terrorist services', France 24 reported. 'He had been reported by the General Directorate for Internal Security'. The intelligence agency had even visited him in prison and taken account of his 'religious proselytism'. Yet, even with this long rap sheet and being monitored by security forces, he carried out an armed robbery on Tuesday before the attack. During a search of his apartment grenades were found which leads to questions about how a man who was well known for violent proclivities and apparently religious extremism was able to acquire his arsenal."
"The attack took place within one kilometer of the European Parliament, which has taken the attack in stride. Antonio Tajani, the president of the parliament, tweeted the parliament would not be intimidated. 'Let us move on', he wrote. But residents and others may want more answers."
Seth Frantzman, Middle East Forum

Strasbourg shooting: Three dead, several injured in attack at Christmas market

"You create almost by definition a generation of orphans [by separating children of terrorists from their parents]. At the same time, you don't want to create a second generation of terrorists." 
"No country has a perfect solution to this. The reality of the situation is that these people [Muslim Canadians who chose to travel to Syria to answer the Islamic State call to jihad] abandoned the democratic advantages of Canada -- went to another part of the world voluntarily to engage in the most insidious acts of terrorism."
Public Safety Minister, Ralph Goodale, Ottawa

Canadian intelligence services has released its annual report on the terrorist threat to Canada. The report states in essence that the setbacks faced by Islamic State in  Syria and Iraq has not resulted, as generally anticipated, in an influx of Canadian jihadists returning in masses. Many, according to the report, are no longer in possession of valid travel documents, they find themselves on a no-fly list, or they fear on return that they will be arrested in Canada.

No fear there; most who have returned have faced no repercussions and are walking the streets as free of the possibility of arrest as any Canadian returning after a long sojourn abroad to study or to work in another country. That they are terrorists in spirit in law and in fact, hasn't resulted in Canadian intelligence and law agencies sequestering them for the safety of other Canadians whom they may pass on the street. Authorities appear to assume that they've left their volatile, violent jihadist temperament abroad.

The report theorizes further that many among those who left Canada for the more promising fields of exercising jihad may have decided to remain where they are with the attitude that their job has not been fulfilled and Islam enjoins them to remain faithful to jihad and to Islamic State's noble endeavours. Perhaps the vision of 72 nubile virgins awaiting their ascent to Paradise drives them forward. Others still are assumed to have been captured as the scourges to humanity they are, or have died and are happily ensconced on high.

The general public in Canada -- at least the more aware among them -- are restively concerned, querying the government of Justin Trudeau's Liberals what their plan is and how they're engaged in containing any potential threats from those 'foreign fighters' who have returned to Canada. The previous Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper had instituted legislation to remove citizenship of such invidious civilizational threats, but this assaulted the 'progressive' sensibilities of the succeeding Liberal government.

Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham march in Raqqah, Syria. (The Associated Press / Militant Website)

Roughly 190 people connected to Canada are thought to have engaged in terrorist actions abroad, with another sixty having returned to Canada. Those involved in various countries engaging in jihad would have been involved in front-line fighting, training, logistical support, fundraising or studying at Islamofascist-influenced schools. What a swaggering swath they would cut in the Canadian Muslim community where imams regularly urge the pious in Friday mosque prayers to jihad.

"A relatively small number" of those 60 people have returned from Turkey, Iraq or Syria, according to the report, otherwise short on details. Sixty people can do a lot of damage if they put their acquired skills, faith in jihad and mind on Paradise to it. The opposition Conservatives in Parliament press the government for a response on ensuring the safety of Canadians, stressing their concern with the Liberals seemingly welcoming returnees with open arms, at the very least no burden of suspicion much less accounting for their terrorism.

Canadians are assured by Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale that the nation's security and intelligence forces are hard at work negotiating with their international counterparts to investigate those Canadians who travelled abroad on a pledge to join Islamist terrorists; the priority he stresses, is to investigate their actions, collect evidence, then prosecute them under Canadian law. Canada must be sharing operational procedures with France, and from the above one can see just how effective they've been. 

ISIS fighter Muhammad Ali wanted to return to his Toronto home.  Canadian ISIS jihadi Muhammad Ali, 28, has been captured.TWITTER

"You’ll never kill the desire, nor the love the believers have for jihad and fighting to raise the word of Allah the highest."
"And that is why you will fail time and time again."
Mohammed Ali tweets about jihad. After he shared pictures of militants holding severed heads, Twitter suspended his account. (Abu Turaab / Twitter)

 
According to Families Against Violent Extremism, Kurdish authorities have detained Canadian terrorists in Syrian territory; nine families in all with over ten children among them. Some children who had been taken to Syria by their mothers, and others who were born there. The idea being to return the children to Canada, leaving their Islamofascist parents behind, a prospect that Minister Goodale shudders at. The deliberate orphaning of children to ensure the mould they've been fashioned in is broken.

It's obvious that Canadian authorities under this Liberal government feel confident that jihadi returnees can bear no evil intent in Canada, only in France, where their intelligence completely botches recognition of the obvious at the cost of three deaths and a dozen additionally injured with a resulting hunt on for an Islamist murderer who may take delight in eluding law enforcers whose modus operandi leaves much to be desired.

"French authorities have not released a motive behind the Strasbourg attack although counter-terrorism prosecutors have opened an investigation. They had also not released the suspect’s name or a photo by Wednesday morning, despite there being a major manhunt. The French deputy interior minister was quoted in Reuters saying it was not clear if the suspect was still in France. This will lead to many questions about how the man was able to obtain weapons and why he was able to elude police throughout the day Tuesday before the attack, despite being wanted for another crime."

"The problem for security services in many European countries still appears to be the gap between surveillance of members of the criminal-terrorist extremist nexus, and prosecuting perpetrators for crimes such as acquiring illegal firearms. In almost every incident the perpetrators are known and some have been involved in numerous serious crimes. Yet they have received short sentences and usually been able to go on to commit new crimes while acquiring weapons. There also appears to be a continuing issue involving coordinating between countries. If the suspect in Strasbourg was able to get to Germany, despite clashes with security forces, that will lead to questions about how quickly the Germans were alerted. The suspect in the Berlin Christmas market attack also was able to cross numerous borders before being tracked down in Italy. Why police did not release the photo, description or details about the perpetrator more than 12 hours after the incident was also unclear. Eventually these details will be explained, but the incident shows that despite deploying soldiers as part of the wide-ranging Sintinelle operation, there are issues relating to response time and when to interdict suspects during the process of monitoring them."

Seth Frantzman, Middle East Forum

When Loving a Son Becomes a Criminal Act

"We have to be serious about the fact these people [Britons who chose to travel abroad to support or fight alongside the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] are a serious danger to us, and unfortunately the only way of dealing with them will be, in almost every case, to kill them."
British International Development Minister Rory Stewart

"Tell my mom I'm sorry. Tell my dad I'm sorry. Tell them if I ever get out of this place I'm going to try to be a better person."
"I want to come back to Canada."
"Please get me out of this place [Kurdish-run prison]. I don't mind if you put me in prison, just get me out of here as soon as possible."
"ISIS took my wife [and son] from me, I have more reason to hate them than anyone."
Jack Letts, 22, British-Canadian Muslim convert, ISIL supporter

Jack Letts went to Syria and Iraq in 2014. He is now in a jail in northern Syria. (Facebook)

"No one would tell us anything about what the hell was going on, despite police saying this was going to be a two-way communication. We said, 'Do you have information, any intel, anything on him [their son Jack] you can share with us?"
"And they said, 'No, we know nothing about him actually. No information other than the fact that he went there' [to Syria].
"That's not parents in denial, who don't want to believe this. We did our homework and we tried to understand the context and whenever Jack was online we grilled him and tried to figure out what was going on ... we did try, we weren't living in a bubble."
John Letts, British-Canadian citizen, Britain

"Why Canadian government don’t want help [their] citizen abroad?"
"When they give you passport of Canada, it says for example $25 fee for [consular] help abroad. But how come they collect millions of dollars and do nothing!?"
"[The case should become] public and big, otherwise you have to wait till American[s] decide."
"He is criminal but he is human [irrespective of charges laid against Letts by the Kurds when they liberated Raqqa and took prisoners there]."
Kurdish official, YPG’s WhatsApp account

This young man who at 16 converted to Islam and conceived a fascination with Islamic State, escaped Raqqa and is currently being held in a prison in Syria operated by the Kurdish YPG who are not known to be cruel and punishing, despite the now-22-year-old claiming he is being tortured there. It is far more likely that he considers prison in Syria to represent a kind of torture he is unprepared to countenance for himself.

He chose of his own free will to travel to Syria in 2014, one among many Western Muslims who found that the Islamic State message of jihad and a caliphate was personally appealing. The Kurds who maintain the prisons that former ISIL members of Western sourcing are kept in would far prefer to be rid of them and are more than willing to release them to their home countries. The trouble is, those home countries appear to have little interest in repatriating those who found jihad irresistible.

Canada, like European nations whose nationals chose to join ISIL appears unprepared to welcome them back, in effect either prosecuting and incarcerating them or allowing them to return to maintain surveillance in the hopes they don't plan to bring their jihadi weapons-training and conflict skills to bear on their return home. It is a dilemma, for there isn't enough intelligence personnel and police to maintain vigilance over the intentions and activities of such returnees. The idea seems to be to leave them where they've landed.

The Kurds operating the prison in Qamishli, near the border with Turkey, would far prefer to rid themselves of the burden these people represent among whom are also women and children. "A dead terrorist can't cause any harm to Britain", stated British Defense Minister Gavin Williamson. a statement leading some to theorize that Britain would actually authorize the killing of these ISIL members rather than accept their presence through a return from Syria.

Jack Letts, when 18, travelled to Jordan to visit a friend from Oxford. His parents expected his return but he decided to go on to Kuwait for an Arabic course with his friend, to last three months. The parents supported this plan and presumably paid for the travel and their son's maintenance. He was a college drop-out and worked for a while with Oxfam, finding himself attracted to helping refugees in the Middle East, according to his parents. There was a sudden call from their son announcing that he had arrived in Syria.

No one has any idea how this man fascinated with the Middle East and living in the ISIL-occupied (caliphate-capital) city of Raqqa spent his two years there, but he was dubbed Jihadi Jack by the British media. the ISIL-supporting rants on his Facebook accounts were not of his hand and mind, he assured his parents. Someone had hijacked his account. The photo of him holding up the one-finger ISIL salute in Syria was a misunderstanding.

When he communicated again with his parents he asked for money to help him 'escape' Islamic State. His parents attempted on two occasions to send money to their son in Syria, and failed on both occasions; the money transfers were intercepted by government agents since it was illegal to 'finance' a terrorist group. A charge was later brought against the parents in 2016 of "making property or money available to another person, knowing or having reasonable cause to suspect it would or might be used for the purposes of terrorism".

Kill Or Cosset? 

"After the humiliating defeat of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, thousands of European jihadists are set to return home; Western governments seem eager to roll out the red-carpet for them as if they were heroes, rather than turncoats. The UK has launched a program for homecoming jihadists to help them find jobs and live a "normal" life; Sweden plans to give ISIS fighters housing, employment, education and financial support, reports Gatestone's Khadija Khan."
Nina Rosenwald, President, Gatestone Institute

"It's clunky [parallel investigations carried out by Canada's federal police and intelligence agencies, CSIS and the RCMP] and it makes me worry about our nimbleness were we confronted with a fast-moving, competent adversary."
"Clearly we struggle in bringing intelligence agencies to bear in supplying evidence."
"Such specialized expertise [employing specialized terrorism prosecutors] was an Air India inquiry recommendation."
Craig Forcese, professor, national security law, University of Ottawa 

An Isis militant appearing in a propaganda video at a Russian base in the Syrian city of Palmyra on 13 December

Canada's Liberal government is smarting under the accusation by Parliament's official opposition public safety critics that the governing Liberals are weak on national security. The snarling response from the public safety Minister Ralph Goodale was that "Anyone that needs to be under surveillance is indeed under surveillance". Under, he emphasizes "very careful investigation". On the other  hand, this is not where the Liberal government's heart is, it doesn't quite reflect its 'sunny ways' nor the trusting naivete of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Lead a committed Islamist jihadist, irrespective of the experience he's had abroad as a fighting member of al-Qaeda or Islamic State, Boko Haram, Al Shabaab or the Taliban to a reasonable debate over the peaceful nature of 'true' Islam, or expose them to the gentrifying civility of regarding others worshipping a religion other than Islam as equals in a pluralistic society best suited to reflect concerns with equality and human rights, and they will without doubt acquiesce in the warm request to surrender violence and become pacified.

This is the purpose of the new Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence, in lock-step with the efforts at anti-radicalization of the Council of Canadian Imams. Who, presumably, are not the same imams who are preaching radicalization and jihad as an imperative in Islam for the faithful to engage in. As the combined forces of NATO, the United States, Russia and unfortunately, Iran, Hezbollah and Turkey supporting the limp efforts of the Iraqi and Syrian military sidelining temporarily their own sectarian-imposed violence have succeeded in shoving Islamic State out of its caliphate, European jihadi returnees have become a problem.

A man suspected of fighting for ISIS being held in Dibis, Iraq. As the caliphate disintegrates, its foreign jihadis are now seeking to return home. Photograph by Bram Janssen / AP

These Islamist heroes of Deobandist persuasion worshipping the Islam of the medieval era's conquesting brigades having tempered their steely resolve to destruction and slaughter in the fields of failed conquest in the east turn now to the option they feel entitled to as citizens of European and North American democracies. Where the social welfare systems and the kindly disposition of a different kind of justice system geared to Western sensibilities await their return with fond understanding of waywardness seeking forgiveness.

Despite Norway's forgiving attitude toward murderous malefactors it is a study by Thomas Hegghammer, a Norwegian academic that posits the recidivism rate of terrorists at one in nine, that those who do return to the countries that have given them and their families haven from conflict, poverty and oppression from their Muslim governments, having experienced the glories of jihad on return, represent more effective operators in terror than  those who practise jihad in situ without having had the practise abroad.

Syrian government soldiers captured by the Islamic State. The battles in Iraq and Syria are wars of annihilation where quarter is rarely given and where most prisoners of war are eventually killed. ISIS has also been vocal about genocidal intentions toward Shiite Muslims and Alawites.  The Middle East Quarterly

Deradicalization is the way the Government of Canada insists it must go, because it is, after all, the Liberal government. Not for them the practise of some countries like the French who ally themselves with their former colonies' militaries to hunt down and kill their own jihadi citizens. "Canada does not engage in death squads", huffed Minister Goodale righteously. While a former CSIS strategic analyst, Phil Gursky, states the working assumption for security agencies is "once a terrorist, always a terrorist". But those are just the experts, not the lawmakers.

Canada has options, other options than to hunt down and kill Canadians in Syria or Iraq, or Nigeria or Afghanistan, who have been misled to believe that Islam requires that they be killer-martyrs in support of Islamic domination of a unbelieving world. Criminal prosecution is open; a way to prove to these jihadis who have spurned Canadian values of democracy and civil equality there is punishment for psychopathy. So far two individuals have been charged over the years with leaving Canada to take part in a terrorist group, with three others charged in absentia.

The U.S., U.K., Australia, and even Norway have a much higher prosecution rate. The Public Prosecution Service of Canada will not proceed in the absence of a reasonable prospect of conviction. And that is hugely dependent on the quality of the evidence given them by Canada's security agencies. Craig Forcese points out that in the U.K. police and intelligence services work in tandem, while CSIS and the RCMP prefer to indulge in parallel investigations. And nor does Canada have the services as the U.K. does of specialized terrorism prosecution solicitors in the Crown Prosecution Service.

Above all, the current government in Canada is concerned that its Canadian Security Intelligence Service is in full compliance with the Charter of Rights. That comes first, not prosecuting those who break Canadian law in leaving the country to join a terrorist group. The thing of it is, there is a concern in this government that no agency of the government attempt to override the rights of any Canadian citizens, jihadis or not, under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Undercover Agent

"The look in Chiheb's eyes when he talked about killing infidels was something I'd never seen before in my life. It was a look of hatred and death."
"That isn't someone who isn't aware of what's happening, who's 'out there'. That's someone who's calculating to commit mass murder."
"You will never, ever hear me being the driving force behind any plot. I have been a sounding board and a comrade-in-arms, nothing more."
"There's 1.7 billion Muslims on the planet, and the only ones who seem to have a voice is al-Qaeda and ISIS."
"I believe in a strong vetting process. But ... I just don't know that we should be hiding from them [Islamists]."
"I think violence in the drug game is much more prevalent, and is much more likely to happen on a moment's notice, with no warning."
FBI agent Tamer Elnoury

The FBI have ensured Tamer El-Noury's true identity remains secret (file pic)

This is the voice of the man who was dispatched with a mission to gain the trust of a suspected Islamist and two of his jihadi colleagues, all three of whom had decided to make common cause with leading terrorist groups focusing on causing death and destruction both in the United States and Canada through plots they were assembling in the hopes of achieving success, reflected in the extent of the harm they might be able to manipulate through the careful planning of catastrophic incidents.

The FBI had alerted the Canadian RCMP national police force to the presence in Canada of a Tunisian-born man on a student visa to a Montreal university. Chiheb Esseghaier had made contact with Raed Jaser of Toronto for the two to work together on a destructive plot to kill as many people as possible, reflecting the malevolent violence they were determined to inflict on Western society. In an effort to get as close to the plotters as possible, Egyptian-born American FBI agent was tasked with gaining their confidence.

He proved to be successful through initiating a 'chance encounter', and in the due course of time as he portrayed himself as a wealthy Muslim prepared to finance terrorist operations in the West, he became a trusted confidante, recording conversations with the two and with a third jihadi, in the United States. Their discussions revolved around causing a Via passenger train from New York to Toronto to derail, with a massive loss of life.

Other plots involved a sniper killing Jews in Toronto, while Esseghaier flirted with the possibility of bombing Times Square in New York.

In the end, with the skilled confidence-building of the FBI agent working with the RCMP, the pair was arrested in Canada and charged with terrorism offences. Raed Jaser, a petty crook, claimed innocence of plotting to terrorism, he was only a drug addict hoping to pay for his habit through the generosity of the 'wealthy co-conspirator', which the FBI officer, Mr. Elnoury portrayed himself to be. During the ensuing trial, Esseghaier, recognized as the leader, left doubt that he was completely sane given his eccentric behaviour in court.

FBI agent Tamer Elnoury [an assumed 'cover' name], decided he would write a book, explaining in detail the circumstances and issues that made up his part of the investigation. Above all, he set out to dispute and put to rest the insistence by some that Esseghaier was not in possession of his full mental faculties so he wrote "American Radical" focusing for the most part on the Via case for which Esseghaier and Jaser were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to commit murder.

60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley and FBI-undercover operative "Tamer Elnoury" at the 9/11 Memorial, formerly known as ground zero    CBS News

Agent Elnoury, while through his persona as a fellow agent for terrorism, helped to rout out the presence of terrorists intent on slaughtering innocent people, was also concerned that their actions and intentions were giving Islam a bad name. As a devout Muslim he hoped that by writing his book he would help lead the public to regard these jihadis' actions as aberrant, unreflective of true Islam. What he overlooks in his zeal to redeem Islam is that it is not only al-Qaeda and ISIS, as he insists, that actively engage in violent jihad against the West.

There are numerous other, regional and far-flung groups in the Middle East, Asia and North Africa also engaged in mass slaughter in the name of Islam, not to mention the wide net thrown throughout the world by the Muslim Brotherhood; by groups nourished by Wahhabi Islam in Saudi Arabia, exporting their brand through the funding of madrassas in Africa, Europe and North America, and the Iranian-trained Shiite terrorist groups, all of which like the Taliban, Boko Haram, Hezbollah and Al Shabaab, wreak havoc throughout the world.

If they are not busily engaged in performing the work of the faithful extolled in the Koran and the Hadiths to engage in jihad, what is it that their odious jihad represents other than Islam?

On Guard for Islamic State's Lone Wolves

"Even lone wolves give off vapour trails that are potentially discoverable by security agencies."
Wesley Wark, visiting professor, national security specialist, University of Ottawa

"In Canada, we don't criminalize thought."
"Do we really want the state to get into trying to change people's minds?'
Christian Leuprecht, security expert, professor, Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario

"If we've gotten to this point where we're talking knives and cars ... they are virtually unstoppable."
"This may be an era where we have to expect these things are going to happen, which is not defeatist, it's realist."
Phil Gursky, analyst, head, Borealis Threat and Risks Consulting

"He [Const.Mike Chernyk] was in a struggle for his life, holding on to his gun with one hand and blocking the knife with his other."
"Details of the criminal flight from Wayne Gretzky Drive to Jasper Avenue are sobering. The truck drove left of centre on several occasions, nearly T-boned at least one vehicle and attempted to run over civilians who were crossing at a crosswalk on Jasper Avenue."
"As a result, a tactical manoeuvre was authorized and successfully executed causing the vehicle to roll on its side."
"We have no reason to believe there is any threat to our city, but we encourage citizens to be vigilant and to report any unusual or suspicious activities to the police complaint line."
Police Chief Rod Knecht, Edmonton, Alberta

The suspect remains in custody, and terror charges are pending, police said. (CBC)

A 30-year-old refugee claimant who has lived in Canada for several years, a Somalian national who had been under police radar several years back as a result of a complaint that he had been openly espousing radical Islamist jihad, had dedicated himself to a lone-wolf attack this past Saturday in Edmonton. Possibly in response to an article posted on an Islamic State-linked website titled "Knights of Lone Jihad", as a how-to guide for prospective recruits.

He used the now-classic instruments of lone-wolf attacks, a vehicle and a knife. It hasn't been the first time a member of a Canadian security force would be attacked in an instance of vehicular homicide, a previous notorious instance in Quebec took the life of a member of Canada's military. In this case, the vehicle rammed through a temporary barricade to directly hit a constable on duty in front of a sports stadium. Two onlookers initially ran to the aid of the fallen policeman, then hurriedly left the scene when the driver of the vehicle exited, carrying a large knife to repeatedly stab Constable Chernyk.

Hours later, after escaping the original scene, the driver now in a rented U-Haul truck, ran down four pedestrians in the downtown Edmonton area. One victim suffered a fractured skull, another a brain bleed, but all four will survive their rendezvous with terrorism. The suspect was found to have had an Islamic State flag in his vehicle. Abdullahi Hasan Sharif was stopped by police some six hours after the original attack, and extensive questioning was undertaken.

What is known is that in 2015 a questioning session had taken place when members of the RCMP integrated National Security Enforcement Team had interrogated him after a complaint, for "espousing extremist ideology". The investigation was inconclusive and it was deemed that insufficient evidence was extracted, to lay charges or to obtain a peace bond, leading to his later release.

"He would rant. It was very incoherent. He would just bounce from idea to idea, tangent to tangent, just about what he believed in and he definitely had genocidal beliefs, you could say."
"He had major issues with polytheists. He said they need to die. That sort of thing. I only had a handful of conversations with him about it; those only occurred when there were just two of us in the work room."
Unnamed co-worker

A description of the suspect had been circulated to police throughout the city once registration information had been extracted from his abandoned vehicle at the scene of the first attack. That led to a security net over north-central Edmonton while police initiated a manhunt. Hours later two police pulled a man in a U-Haul truck over where one of the officers recognized the name on the driver's licence matched the name of the suspect. The driver revved the engine and raced off, and a high-speed police chase ensued.

Which was when the vehicle, while fleeing police, deliberately ran down pedestrians. Leading the police to then engage a tactic resulting in the vehicle rolling over on its side. Police were able to break the windshield and throw a stun grenade at the driver, but he resisted until a Taser temporarily disabled him, and he was removed in handcuffs. "No shots were fired. In fact, no shots were fired anywhere in this entire incident", pointed out Chief Knecht.

A report out of Britain's United Services Institute outlined that the number of lone-wolf terrorist attacks in Europe saw a steady rise between 2000 and 2014 of which 38 percent were seen to be religiously-motivated, while 24 percent were the result of far-right ideology. "[It's ideal for the one] who wants to participate in al-Jihad without costing him the hardship of travelling ... or wants to pursue al-Jihad in secrecy alone ... while he pursues his everyday life in a natural way", suggested Daniel Alati, an expert on counter-terrorism at Ryerson University, Toronto.

Heavily armed police tactical officers approaching the apartment building afternoon that was home to Abdulahi Hasan Sharif, the man CBC has identified as being the suspect in Saturday's attacks in Edmonton. (Travis McEwan/CBC)

Jihadi Functionaries For Profit

"They're been online, they've seen things, they've stepped up their game."
"I think these guys are common thugs, there's nothing Islamist about it."
Zachary Abuza, National War College expert

"We're being ransomed for each for one billion pesos."
"I appeal to the Canadian prime minister and the people of Canada, please pay this ransom as soon as possible or our lives are in great danger."
John Ridsdel, abducted Canadian national

"I'm a Canadian citizen. I'm being held hostage by Abu Sayyaf for one billion pesos."
"These people are serious and very treacherous. Take them seriously. Help us, get us out of here."
Robert Hall, abducted Canadian national

The Abu Sayyaf terrorist group released a video demanding over $100-million for the release of four hostages kidnapped from a resort in the southern Philippines in September. SITE Intelligence Group

The video released by the Abu Sayyaf terrorists show the two Canadians, Robert Hall and John Dissel, along with Marties Flor, Hall's girlfriend and Norwegian Kajartan Sekkingstad, all of whom had been taken off their boats moored on the resort dock where they were vacationing, in a lightning night-time raid. The two Canadian men live in the Philippines because they like the relaxed lifestyle and enjoy their lives there. Or at least they did, until they became the object of a ransom effort.

Like all Muslim criminal gangs, it has become fashionable to state their alliance with Islamic State, to give themselves an air of jihadist gravitas, and the Abu Sayyaf group operating in the Philippines is no different. Many Islamist groups throughout Asia and Africa depend on ransoms to support their activities, as long as they happen to abduct nationals of certain countries known to respond to blackmail in rescue of those holding their passports. Canada is not one of them.

The video, released on Tuesday, with threats that the four hostages would be killed without a ransom, was in the hands of the SITE Intelligence Group. Black-clad men with an ISIS flag in background evidence, stand around the hostages, one of whom appears to be threatening first Robert Hall, then John Ridsdel, with a long knife, as though in preparation for a beheading. Stage-managing these videos is serious business for the jihadists.

A masked gunman appearing behind the two Canadians stated "they will be killed by Abu Sayyaf", should the demanded ransom not be received. The National War College expert on southeast Asian politics and security has his doubts whether the group really is affiliated with ISIL. He classifies them simply as a criminal Islamist gang finding the ISIL imagery useful in their game of profiteering from abductions of westerners.

The Abu Sayyaf group appears on the list of terrorist entities held by Public Safety Canada which acknowledges that the armed Islamist group is primarily interested in using the fear of terrorism for profit, engaged in kidnap-for-ransom as a "particularly favoured tactic". Needless to say, irregardless of whether or not the group really is associated with ISIL, the lives of the four people will be forfeit if ransom is not received.

"Canadian officials are in close contact with Filipino authorities and have been pursuing all appropriate channels to seek further information", advised Nicolas Doire, a spokesman with the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs in response to the video's release.

It is not only the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as a terrorist group that is capable of atrocities. Realistically speaking, even some Islamist regimes routinely mete out atrocities as capital punishment through hanging, beheading, crucifixion, beating and applying the concept of an 'eye-for-an-eye', gouging out eyes, lopping off arms, hands, legs in state punishment for crimes that Sharia law enumerates. Saudi Arabia and Iran particularly come to mind.

Islamic State jihadis behead Kurdish fighters in a new gruesome revenge video (Photo: video screenshot)

Terrorism By Threat of Islamist Atrocities

"If just a handful of mujahedeen fighters could bring Kenya to a complete standstill for nearly a week, then imagine what a dedicated mujahedeen in the West could do to the American or Jewish-owned shopping centers across the world."
"What if such an attack was to occur in the Mall of America in Minnesota, or the West Edmonton Mall in Canada, or in London’s Oxford Street, or any of the hundred or so Jewish-owned Westfield shopping centers dotted right across the western world?"
Al-Shabaab spokesman, YouTube video, Somalia

The terrorist , who has a strong English accent, gave GPS co-ordinates for two London shopping centres 

"The most recent threat by al-Shabaab against malls, and more specifically against Jewish-owned institutions around the world, is another indication that global jihadi groups are increasingly focusing on Jews and Jewish institutions as a way to rally support for their cause."
Dr. Joshua Gleis, president, Gleis Security Consulting 


"And we know that the three largest concentrations of Somali communities in Canada are in Edmonton, Ottawa and Toronto. We also know that we have some Somali youth who appear to have disappeared from Edmonton and joined up with al-Shabaab."
"They're in competition with ISIS and with al-Qaeda for air time. And I think the primary purpose here is for them to get air time in the media, to show that they, too, are a group that requires attention by the West and that they, too, need to be taken seriously, as to their particular demands."
Christian Leuprecht, security expert, Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Queen's University

"The Jews are spread out throughout the world, and the Jews’ properties are spread everywhere. In light of this, the Muslims must attack the Jews and their properties in every place, and they must pray for their brothers in Gaza."
Ali Dhere, spokesman, al-Shabaab, Barawa mosque, Somalia, July 2014

Al-Shabaab must be feeling ignored. All attention has been focused on the Islamic State in Syria, Iraq and Libya, on Boko Haram in Nigeria, ignoring the Somali terror group's own exploits in terrorism. So they have issued notice to the world that they too are actively and continuously engaged in the Islamist business of violence and mayhem. Having caught international headlines back in 2013, they are clearly pining for a refocus. What they managed to pull off in killing 63 and wounding 175 at Kenya's Westgate Mall, they now threaten to repeat internationally.

The unifying principle being the Islamist focus on Jews, and the Jewish owners of places where great numbers of people tend to congregate. And nowhere do large numbers of people come together more frequently and loyally than in shopping districts, and more particularly modern versions of the traditional old bazaars where people brought their wares and shoppers chose from among those that most appealed to their need to acquire food and durable goods. That the owners of some of the largest malls happen to be Jews from Iran, and Iran is the sponsor of terrorists can be lost on no one.

A lengthy propaganda video where al-Shabaab congratulated itself on its daring exploits in mass slaughter contained a message for the West that large shopping malls owned by Jewish interests were in their cross-hairs, consolidating the earlier evidence that attacks on Jewish targets are anything but random, as suggested by President Obama's interpretation of the Paris Kosher supermarket attack and the Belgian synagogue attack. Kenya's Westgate Mall atrocity was merely the beginning, they promise in a more extensively ambitious blueprint for Islamist vengeance on Jewish interests.

Malls in the U.S. and Canada were identified as well as two in Paris. The Mall of America, one of the named prospective targets is owned by an Iranian-Jewish family, just as the West Edmonton Mall is, and both Minneapolis where the Mall of America is located, and Edmonton, have large Somali immigrant populations. CNN has noted that al-Shabaab has succeeded in recruiting to their jihadi cause from among the Minneapolis Somalis. 

"This latest statement from al-Shabaab reflects the new phase we've evolved to in the global terrorist threat, in that you have groups such as al-Shabaab and ISIL publicly calling for independent actors in their homelands to carry out attacks", noted U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, advising people planning to go to the mall to be particularly careful. Al-Shabaab will note that advice with particular satisfaction.


As for Edmonton; Staff Sergeant Brent Meyer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police stated that "there is no evidence at this time of any specific or imminent threat to Canadians. West Edmonton Mall has implemented extra security precautions; some may be noticeable to guests, and others won’t be".


In 2012, Kenyan sup­port­ers of al-Shabaab pub­lished a pre­dom­i­nantly Swahili-language online       ter­rorist mag­a­zine, Gaidi Mtaani ["Terrorism Street"] fea­turing arti­cles describing Jews as "the worst enemy of Islam". The magazine wrote of "the Zionist with their American partners" conducting "crusade" in Somalia. The Kenyan president came under special fire for having travelled to Israel to urge Israel's cooperation in counterterrorism efforts, according to the Jewish group the Anti-Defamation League.

CBC

"This was a very general comment ... it wasn’t a specific threat. [Edmonton police have a] very good working relationship [with the mall]."
"I would dare say they [West Edmonton Mall] have one of the best systems that I’ve seen."
Brian Simpson, deputy chief, Edmonton Police Service

And, needless to add, through the threat of Islamist jihadists giving due warning of their intentions, a good part of their plan to terrorize has been accomplished, whether or not an actual attack takes place. Prospective shoppers at all these shopping arenas, popular as they are, will now think carefully before they risk life and limb to venture out to these places in particular. Striking an economic blow against the national economy and Jewish-owned enterprises in particular.

Grounding the ISIS Advance

"As a movement, the SRF (Syrian Revolutionary Front) is effectively finished. Nusra has driven them out of their strongholds of Idlib and Hama."
"One of the conditions for giving Hawrakat Hazm weapons was that they did not work with Jabhat al-Nusra. The Western bolstering of these groups posed a threat to them."
Aymen al-Tammimi, Syrian analyst

Islamist Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra members pose on a tank in northern Idlib province   (Reuters)

The fears that Afghanistan redux would become a reality have now been realized. That reality has surfaced as many predicted it would. In the sectarian-based conflicts between Shiite and Sunni throughout the Middle East, the ground is forever shifting, primitive enmity roiling and boiling beneath the surface like an unruly volcano threatening to blow its top. The totalitarian rule of dictators within the Middle East managed to keep a lid on that volcano.

Their removal in the guise of freeing up Middle Eastern countries from the talons of merciless murderers has resulted in the freeing up of ancient animosities to surface and roil and incite the tamped-down hatreds to morph into bloodletting that even managed to surmount that of their previous dictators. Of course there's the example of Syrian President al-Bashar who remains in competition with the terrorists he warned the critical international community aghast at his unremitting violence against his own people, for which is capable of committing the worst atrocities.

They've arrived at a stalemate, it would seem, the regime's dreadful record of committing unspeakable acts against his own population as an Alawite Shiite leader compelled to tamp down an insurrection from among his majority Sunni population continues to offend the onlooking world with his ingenious inventiveness wreaking vengeance, whether delivered by chemical agent, barrel bombs, starvation and privation or insufferable torture leading to death.

In contrast, the militias that assembled out of the Sunni Syrian population representing tribal opposition to his rule have remained relatively unbesmirched by gruesome atrocities. Crimes at that level were left to the invading Islamist hordes that descended from all points of the Islamist compass. But none with the unrelenting cruelty of the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham. Perhaps Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda's Syrian arm, comes close.

In the event, the weapons that the United States reluctantly released to two rebel militias, Harakat Hazm and the Syrian Revolutionary Front, that the Americans held high hopes would help form a ground force that could be relied upon to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham are now out of contention. Instead, the heavy weapons that the U.S.-led coalition have placed in their possession have been surrendered to Al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamists.

Storming villages that Harakat Hazm controlled in northern Idlib province, Jabhat al-Nusra came into possession of Grad rockets and Tow anti-tank missiles. A day earlier al-Nusra had captured Deir Sinbal, headquarters of the SRF's leader, Jamal Marouf. Their surrender brought with it the reward of the American-provided stockpile of armaments. And so in one fell swoop as it were, the Western effort to aid moderate rebel factions has fallen into disarray.

The humiliation of Harakat Hazm surrendering their positions in Idlib to Jabhat al-Nusra "without firing a shot", along with some of their fighters defecting to the jihadists might serve as yet another lesson in the realities of the Middle East. Nothing is guaranteed to happen as logic and hope might suppose. Loyalties are shifting and never to be trusted. Jabhat al-Nusra, it seems, spurned by ISIS as a partner in its caliphate, is now determined to create a rival caliphate of its own.

How it will differ from ISIS is in the final manner of its disposition of those it conquers. Where the Islamic State doesn't blink a conscience-laden eye at murderous mass purges of those it considers un-Islamist enough to suit them, or of other religions, al-Nusra may be more forgiving in building its extended core of loyalist dependents. Islamic State sees great utility in removing all threats against its conquering spread.

Al-Nusra captured Deir Sinbel and also controls most of the other towns and villages in the Jabal al-Zawiya area. (File photo: AFP)

Those whom it considers were disloyal to brutal Islamism in the past by contesting al-Qaeda in collaboration with U.S. troops, and those whom they feel might present as a challenge to their supremacy in the present and the future, are immediately rounded up and killed. Loyalty must be seen to be practised; where it does not exist or where it wavers, those expressing doubts are simply dispatched to an early reconciliation with their maker.

All the caution that the U.S. initially displayed in its reluctance to arm the 'moderate' Syrian rebels that the international experts claimed had led to their gradual emasculation by the invading Islamist militias was lifted at the unspeakable atrocities committed by Islamic State, including the jeering beheading of four Western hostages. Now, where to turn, to disable and defeat the Islamists?

Look to their neighbours, fearful of their advance and their conquest of enlarging their territory in constructing an ever-greater caliphate? Suppose that Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt or Turkey combined would feel obliged to protect their own geography by massing troops to the defence of their own borders? For their part, those noble and fearful Islamic entities patiently await what they feel is the inevitable: America back in action -- on the ground.

Gifted: Social Media

"They definitely have an electronic army behind them."
Ray Kafity, vice-president, FireEye for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa

"It's hard to wage a war with ideas online. When we talk about monitoring or controlling social media it is like trying to control air, and this of course is hard."
Abdulaziz Al-Mulhem, spokesman, Saudi Ministry of Information and Culture

"The most important thing is to be there.And that's something that I really do encourage governments to do, not to leave the space but to enter the space."
Elizabeth Linder, Facebook

The Isil post encourages would-be attackers to target Times Square in New York Photo: Alamy

Hard to believe, the power and prestige and contactability inherent in social media. The very idea that everyone has to have an on-line presence, to personally engage themselves with a site like Facebook so that anyone interested can look them up, assess their presence, establish contact -- or not -- and buy into the culture of social-visibility without which life is not complete, is hard enough to understand for anyone with an ounce of brains and commonsense. But that businesses, corporations, government entities, and now terror groups also indulge is mind-boggling.

But in a celebrity-obsessed, entitled-me ingrained culture, that appears to be a natural accommodation or resignation to what's popular and which social-contract expectations are to be met. If you're not on Facebook, why then you simply don't exist. Countries like Saudi Arabia and other Gulf State and Middle Eastern countries have yet to clue in to that little factoid made urgently important because of the influence it has on the public consumption of ideas and presence.

Evidently, its wrongwrongwrong to shut oneself out of the experience. I Facebook therefore I am. Well, it seems to work for Islamist terrorists. Through Twitter and Facebook and other social media sites without which contact no self-respecting individual can now afford to exist, propaganda is circulated and recruits to such important causes as Islamist responses to 'Islamophobia', Jews and Crusaders would not be as hugely possible as is turning out to be.

Militants from the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) taking aim at captured Iraqi soldiers Photo: AP

Want to experience the thrill of witnessing a real, live beheading, and actually handling the results? Sign on, as pious Muslims determined to prove to Allah the Merciful that it wasn't only Prophet Mohammad who was capable of growing the worldwide ummah by violent conquest. It's the sole, reliable way to get the message across. Feel drawn to adventure with a soupcon of danger just to make the thrill all that more exciting come on down and we'll outfit you in this nifty black gear and train you in explosives-production and the art of sawing off heads.

Here's what doesn't appear to work: Saudi Arabia's council of religious scholars last week issued an Arabic statement through the state-operated news agency firmly denouncing terrorism, calling on citizens to support the fight against groups like the Islamic State and al-Qaeda. They're not the only religious authorities evidently who have committed in this way. Sunni Muslim authorities in Egypt have also issued similar government-backed statements. The kicker being, of course, that wealthy Sunnis in Egypt and Saudi Arabia have encouraged and funded these Islamists.

But does the message work? Are people hearing it and being convinced? Seems not. On the other hand, there's the Islamic State group with its slick media arm producing videos with interviews, graphics and jihadist hymns in the background, produced with Arabic and English subtitles. As entertainment it's unparallelled. Where else in quasi real-time can you see a beheading, an interview explaining its necessity, and an invitation to join the courageous Islamist jihadis awaiting your presence?

Connection: The use of the word 'geezer' in the translation of al-Adnani's description of John Kerry is yet more evidence of strong ties between Britain and Isis, according to an expert

Jihadis now tweet live from the field of combat, offering real-time updates and at the same time quipping knowledgeably with both detractors and supporters on line. They're beyond mere cool. Thousands of foreign fighters who have joined the Islamic State, drawn to it from cyberspace, have brought their Internet skills with them, and they're most helpful in the use of social media for fundraising.



This undated file image posted on Aug. 27, 2014, by the Raqqa Media Center of the Islamic State group, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, shows a fighter of the Islamic State group waving their flag from inside a captured government fighter jet following the battle for the Tabqa air base, in Raqqa. (AP Photo/Raqqa)

According to Fadi Salem, Dubai-based, and a researcher on Internet governance in the Arab world, the response of governments in the Middle East has been to "control, block and censor as much as possible", she pointed out. "Very few governments viewed this [social media] as an opportunity rather than a risk." Iraq's government, for example shut off access to the Internet when the ISIS group swept across the country's north and west, including Mosul

Despite blocking mobile messaging apps and social media platforms, Iraq's authorities had failed in their efforts, to block seven websites allied with or supportive of the Islamic State group, revealed a study by The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. As swiftly as old accounts are reported and removed, new ones crop up. Facebook claims to have 71 million active monthly users in the Middle East with youth between 15 and 29 making up 70% of users in the Arab region.

The U.S. State Department launched a "Think Again Turn Away" campaign on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter with Arabic and English video reflecting the style of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. The popularity of that effort pales in comparison to that of the Islamic State's videos with its images of mass shootings and beheadings succeeding in striking fear into the minds of those it targets and engaging the admiration of those it appeals to on the basis of its fighters' bravery and piety.

The 55-minute video Flames of War featuring images of exploding tanks and wounded American soldiers appears to be a runaway success. Idealizing the fanatical Islamists as "warriors", and appealing to the sensibilities of the adventurous and alienated youth in Islam's far-off reaches in Europe and North America. None of the videos rate the popularity of the beheadings of two American journalists and a British aid worker, however.

Just so very compelling, enticing the persuaded to go and join in the war games and to try to outdo one another in proudly fanciful atrocities.