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  • New book on terror

    National Post (Canada)
    March 8, 2004 Monday National Edition

    Canada makes terrorists feel at home, book says: Cold Terror shows
    how we became a haven before 9/11

    by Mary Vallis


    An Armenian immigrant who participated in Canada's first major
    terrorist incident 22 years ago lives in Toronto and plays guitar in
    a band, according to a new book probing the country's terrorist ties.

    Cold Terror: How Canada Nurtures and Exports Terrorism Around the
    World explores how Canada has evolved into an internationally
    renowned hub of global terrorism. Written by National Post reporter
    Stewart Bell, the book contains exclusive interviews with victims of
    terrorist attacks, senior intelligence officials and terrorists
    themselves.

    In September, 2003, at a nondescript coffee shop in Toronto's Little
    Italy, Mr. Bell met with Haig Gharakhanian, one of three Armenians
    convicted of plotting to kill a Turkish diplomat in Ottawa. The man
    was nervous because his band's CD was about to be released, and he
    had just met with CSIS to get clearance for his Canadian citizenship,
    but spoke with Mr. Bell anyway.

    "As we were speaking, the lead singer of his band comes in and sits
    down," Mr. Bell recalled. "You could just see this guy's eyes
    widening as he listens to the guy who's been his guitar player and
    roommate for years explaining his involvement in terrorism."

    Mr. Gharakhanian, who was just 17 years old when he participated in
    the attack, spent nine months in prison for his role in the 1982
    shooting of Kani Gungor. The diplomat was left paralyzed. Mr.
    Gharakhanian, who had Iranian citizenship, helped scout out the
    target and delivered a letter to the United Press International's Los
    Angeles office in which the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation
    of Armenia (ASALA) claimed responsibility for the attack.

    After he was released on parole, Mr. Gharakhanian applied for refugee
    status and successfully fought a deportation order. Mr. Bell uses his
    case as one example that illustrates how Canada's generous
    immigration policy has fuelled the country's links to terrorism.

    "He got a very light sentence. He was not deported because the
    immigration judges felt sorry for him, and now he's about to become a
    citizen," Mr. Bell said of Mr. Gharakhanian. "That was our beginning.
    We treated a guy who was basically a terrorist sympathetically, and
    that set the stage for everything that's followed... We still see
    examples of that every day."

    Mr. Bell's book, released today, chronicles how Canada became a haven
    for some of the world's most powerful terrorist organizations. It
    also features newly uncovered pieces of an internal CSIS report
    written in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks.

    The report shows that as Jean Chretien stood up in the House of
    Commons and proclaimed Canada free of terrorists planning attacks,
    CSIS had concluded al-Qaeda had operatives in Canada and could list
    them by name.

    Mr. Bell argues Canadian politicians do not pay enough attention to
    warnings from security and intelligence officials. Politicians have
    not taken a strong stand against terrorism in part because they fear
    they will alienate some of their core voter support -- namely
    interest groups who promise to deliver ethnic voting blocks.

    Illustrating his point, Mr. Bell refers to an interview he conducted
    with the president of the Montreal chapter of the World Tamil
    Movement, which has been identified as a front for the Tamil Tigers.
    The man explained how a Liberal party candidate attended one of the
    group's events, and how he directed "all of the Sri Lankan votes" in
    Montreal to the Liberals during the last federal election.

    Mr. Bell explains how acknowledging this country's ties to terrorism
    defies the image many Canadians have of their homeland.

    "Canadians like to think of themselves as benevolent world citizens,
    peacekeepers in blue berets who bring kindness and calm to troubled
    lands," he writes.

    "The cold truth is that, since the early 1980s, Canada has become a
    source country of international terrorism. Former prime minister Jean
    Chretien used to boast that the United Nations Human Development
    Index showed Canada was the best country in the world in which to
    live. In the past two decades, it also became the best country in the
    world for terrorists to make their home.

    "Canada has provided a haven, money, propaganda, weapons and foot
    soldiers to the globe's deadliest religious, ethnic and political
    extremist movements, murderous organizations that have brought their
    wars with them, turning this country into a base for international
    terror."

    Mr. Bell warns Canada is vulnerable to another major attack on its
    own soil. "Canada is itself a terror target and has put itself at
    greater risk by being nice to terrorists," he writes. "Terrorists who
    feel comfortable enough to raise money and forge passports will not
    hesitate to stage attacks here as well."

    GRAPHIC: Black & White Photo: Bruno Sclumberger, Ottawa Citizen; In
    Ottawa in 1982, Turkish diplomat Kani Gungor was shot and left
    paralyzed in Canada's first major international terrorist attack. An
    Armenian convicted in the ambush has won Canadian citizenship.
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