Terror Arrests in Canada

News that 17 Canadians have been arrested for alleged homegrown terrorism stinks. It seems possible that the arrests were timed by Canada’s conservative prime minister to boost the GOPs polling. And the case appears to center on evidence originating with the Royal Canadian Mounties.

The suspects include 12 men and five boys. Initial reports are sketchy, but we know that the police provided the group with three tons of ammonium nitrate (several times more than that used at Oklahoma City) and then arrested them. News accounts include the fact that “some of the younger members forged letters about a bogus school trip to give to their parents so they could attend” training in a local field.

The Mounties say that they had to act fast before the group attacked, but the group couldn’t attack until they got the fertilizer from the same Mounties. More facts should be forthcoming, and then we will see if the case involved people who were going to be a danger no matter what, or whether the suspects were, on the other hand, facilitated in doing something worse than that for which they were initially inclined.