Random thoughts on anti-terrorist operation in Toronto

Warning: I do not pretend that the following are the most important issues raised by the events. I hope they are, however, of some interest, because they have not, to the best of my knowledge, been raised by people more articulate and/or knowledgebale than I.

Random thought #1: No security certificates seem to have been needed to make the arrests. It looks like when there is a credible threat, the police has all the tools to make arrests and bring the suspects before judges, without using the certificates. So why does this aberration continue to exist? Here's an occasion for Mr. Harper to say that the Liberal government got something wrong... and be justified in saying it! But I'm not going to bet on him doing so.

Random thought #2: Speaking of Harper... He said the target of the alleged terrorist plot were Canadian values. Now isn't it extraordinary that the wannabe-terrorists would know what these are when so many law-abiding Canadians are still trying to figure it out? More seriously, this declaration is exactly the kind of truism the Right is getting us used to. Of course terrorists attack values... any terrorists do, whether Timothy McVeigh, the Red Brigades or Al-Qaeda. Yet the three don't do it for the same reasons and must probably be countered in very different ways. It would be interesting (and indeed necessary) for our leaders to be much more outspoken and forthcoming with the details, not just platitudes like "Al-Qaeda is evil" or "Saddam was a bad guy".