Charlatan

As many of you should by now know, the GTA was party to its first arrest of "terrorists" since the FLQ crisis of the early 70s.

All of the talk today in the media was about the sentencing and the aftermath...

I have to say that I was pleased to hear a number of Imams on CBC Radio today denouncing the activities of those involved and calling for the community to investigate the Mosque at which many of the members of the group were members.

I will say however, that I found the presentation by the various police services to be a bit over the top. I am not denouncing the actions they took in terms of the arrests (although I do have some general questions about the sting involving the fertilizer that were not answered) rather I am shaking my head at the massive PR stunt they pulled with the bags of fertilizer and the language that talked in generalities. It just felt like they were laying it on a little thick and whenever that happens, I begin to wonder what they are trying to do.

Are they:
a) giving us a show of force and pizzaz so we can feel safer
b) making noise so the US admin can see that we, in fact, are doing "something"
c) letting us know that like Kiefer Sutherland on 24, they too can do what it takes and do it super-sized
d) over compensating for something that we don't know yet...

Somehow I suspect it is a bit of everything.

At present, the information we have presented can leave no doubt that they were "terrorists" and yet, we don't really have all that much information. How fair is it that they have already been painted with a very large brush and we don't even know what is under the paint?

Part of me (a very large part of me actually) wants to believe that this just as it seems, but another part of me is just plain skeptical.

__________________
"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke