The Lessons From Canada's Anti-Terror Success

This is a big story that occurred during my brief break from blogging.... The Canadian government arrested over a dozen people suspected of planning a string of terrorist attacks in that country. The exact details of their plot are still being figured out (some alleged plots include attacking high-profile targets in Ontario and an attack on the Prime Minister and Parliament), but the suspects are already being processed through Canada's legal system...

AFP: Canadian terrorist suspects appear in court

Fifteen Canadian terror suspects arrested over the weekend appeared in court under tight security, as details emerged about their alleged homegrown plot.

One defense lawyer told reporters outside the courthouse that his client was accused of plotting to behead Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The allegations of an Al-Qaeda-inspired plot to attack high-profile targets in Ontario, Canada's largest province, has rocked the country, and officials have signaled more arrests are coming...

What a stark contrast to the Orwellian way the U.S. has dealt with terrorism thus far.

While some aspects of the story seem a bit odd at first (beheading the Prime Minister?), Canada's success in uncovering this terror group is noteworthy. But what is most noteworthy to me how is Canada's success here disproves the myths that President Bush and his most ardent supporters have been spewing for the past few years. In order to uncover this plot, Canada didn't need to detain these men in military prisons without due process, did not need to set up secret prisons in foreign countries, did not need to torture at will, did not need to order wiretaps without warrants or legal oversight, did not need to collect the phone and internet records of its citizens, did not need to set up color-coded terror alert charts and other political tools meant to install fear in its citizens, did not need to consolidate power in one branch of government at the expense of others, and did not need to launch preemptive wars in countries not related to the terror threat.

They did it with the regular tools that they, and we, have always had at our disposal. Amazing, no?

It's almost as if the reason our President is doing those things has nothing to do with terrorism at all...

[Related blog post- Remedial NSA eavesdropping course (Glenn Greenwald)]