You're trying to be cool...

August 27, 2010 9:00 AM

Earlier this week, the Mounties arrested Khurram Sher along with two other Ottawa men and charged them with terrorism related offences. This is where it gets complicated…

According to The Globe and Mail, Dr. Sher auditioned for the show on a dare. He was born and raised in Montreal and is not, as he says in the video, a recent immigrant to Canada. A fourth man has been arrested. The four are alleged to have been building bombs for terrorist purposes.

posted by Brodiggitty (39 comments total)

He must be a terrorist . . . he bombed.
posted by Outlawyr at 9:13 AM on August 27, 2010 [4 favorites]

Also from the Globe + Mail.

The terrorism arrests’ unlikely suspects

The question for Canada is how to protect against a threat that cannot be stereotyped, or fought by profiling based on age, appearance or education. The answer is not to become less open. It is vital that those who would kill their fellow Canadians with improvised bombs, or support terrorism abroad, are not sheltered or ignored by anyone in the Muslim community who might become aware of the dangers they pose. An informant played a key role in exposing the Toronto 18 plot, involving planned bomb attacks in crowded areas. Canada has not been successfully attacked after 9/11. Good security intelligence depends in part on co-operation from the community. Openness and an easygoing spirit of tolerance are protective.
posted by philip-random at 9:14 AM on August 27, 2010 [3 favorites]

Both actions were clearly cries for attention.
posted by Chinese Jet Pilot at 9:18 AM on August 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

This guy's no terrorist; he's a Kaufman-esque performance artist. Sure, he might eventually have blown up a building or two, but it wouldn't have been terrorism—it would have been a commentary on terrorism.
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:21 AM on August 27, 2010

The biggest threat to my country is (at this time, anyway) my countrymen. I'm glad the CBC has closed comments to all articles on this topic because I don't need further reminders of that fact right now.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 9:21 AM on August 27, 2010 [10 favorites]

You which other failed artist became a ... oh, forget it.
posted by chavenet at 9:23 AM on August 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

Those are some suave moves he incorporates into his audition. I would not have thought to pair the Robot or the Moonwalk with "Complicated."
posted by Dr. Zira at 9:26 AM on August 27, 2010

I'm glad the CBC has closed comments to all articles on this topic because I don't need further reminders of that fact right now.

Yeah, the Globe has done that, too. I sometimes accidentally read past the bottom of an article that even mentions the word "muslim" or "immigrant." The comments there make me want a stiff drink - at 8:30 in the morning.
posted by generichuman at 9:26 AM on August 27, 2010

BREAKING: Canadian PM forms elite stealth strike force to root out terror in Canadian hinterland
posted by gompa at 9:28 AM on August 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

So does this mean that Al Qaeda is at least indirectly responsible for getting rid of 'Canadian Idol'? If so, then for once I am glad that the terrorists won.


(The bombing plots, no so much...)
posted by spoobnooble at 9:29 AM on August 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

Obviously I don't have any information on what evidence the mounties have, but I have a really hard time buying into these guys as terrorists. I have very little faith in our government and police. After seeing the Harper government's approach to the Omar Khadr situation and the G20, they're going to have to do a lot to convince me this isn't some calculated political BS aimed at riling up the Conservatives' base. Just look at the comments under philip-random's linked article, it's sad.
posted by Kirk Grim at 9:30 AM on August 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

The biggest threat to my country is (at this time, anyway) my countrymen. I'm glad the CBC has closed comments to all articles on this topic because I don't need further reminders of that fact right now.

Ugh, yes. I hate accidentally scrolling down past the last line of the article and seeing the comments—even if you don't read them you can catch a glimpse of a "LIEberal" or an "islamofascist" and immediately know what the discussion is about. :(

My Globe and CBC experiences are much better since I found CommentBlocker. No more scrolling accidents! But probably there will still be vague nightmares about comments sometimes, like the word "LIEberal" will scroll across my mind's eye as I sleep, and I'll wake up in a cold sweat feeling anxious without knowing why, and then it will pass.
posted by bewilderbeast at 9:36 AM on August 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

Related?
posted by thirteenkiller at 9:37 AM on August 27, 2010

The most damning piece of evidence I've heard mentioned is that hey found 50 circuit boards they claim are specifically designed for IEDs. While I have my doubts that there is a manufacturing plant out there that builds circuit boards with the sole purpose of being components in IEDs, these are 50 circuit boards they found at the home of a guy who studied to be an electrical engineer.
posted by Kirk Grim at 9:43 AM on August 27, 2010 [4 favorites]

The biggest threat to my country is (at this time, anyway) my countrymen. I'm glad the CBC has closed comments to all articles on this topic because I don't need further reminders of that fact right now.

You and US both. I wish there was a way to do the same IRL. Like "You are obviously an ignorant, bullheaded, nitwit and have thus lost your right to speak about these matters, as our intelligent debate will have to expend valuable time to address your nonsense. Adults are talking, shut up."

But then we got that whole First Amendment deal, so you take the good with the facepalm, I guess.
posted by Bathtub Bobsled at 9:43 AM on August 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

I liked his performance. The 'Idol' shows would be much more fun, and perhaps even watchable, if the contestants were smart people with a wicked sense of humor as opposed to a bunch of third-rate power-ballad belters.
posted by grounded at 9:54 AM on August 27, 2010

But then we got that whole First Amendment deal, so you take the good with the facepalm, I guess.

The First Amendment doesn't guarantee that internet comment boards need to exist.
posted by GuyZero at 9:55 AM on August 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

And in another (albeit minor) chapter in the long history of Royal Canadian Mounted Police stupidity and ass clownery (viz: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ad nauseam), the name of yesterday's efforts? "Operation Samosa".
posted by docgonzo at 9:55 AM on August 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

The fact that the person found with the 50 circuit boards had studied to be an electrical engineer may well mean that he had other uses for circuit boards, having nothing to do with building bombs. On the other hand, it may just be that as an electrical engineer, he has the expertise needed to build the triggers for bombs. Apparently these circuit boards are exactly what would be used to remotely trigger a bomb. Personally, I do not prejudge this case. The people who have been arrested may be exonerated, or they may be found to indeed have been plotting terrorist acts. We shall see what develops.
posted by grizzled at 9:59 AM on August 27, 2010

Apparently these circuit boards are exactly what would be used to remotely trigger a bomb

Possibly, I wouldn't know, but this is where I point out that the "I" in "IED" stands for improvised.
posted by Kirk Grim at 10:04 AM on August 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

Apparently these circuit boards are exactly what would be used to remotely trigger a bomb.

Danger lurks everywhere.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 10:12 AM on August 27, 2010

Alls I can say is, it's a good thing Sparkfun isn't run by Muslims. It's not the mountain of circuit boards that constitutes evidence, after all, it's the proximity of circuit boards to Muslims. I have a breadboard and a microcontroller sitting on my desk that I could easily rig to detonate something remotely. I haven't heard so much as a knock.
posted by klanawa at 10:16 AM on August 27, 2010

Glad I'm not the only one who smirked at the name Project Samosa. Oy.
posted by aclevername at 10:17 AM on August 27, 2010

Sorry, Operation Samosa.
posted by aclevername at 10:17 AM on August 27, 2010

"Let us leave good sense behind like a hideous husk and let us hurl ourselves, like fruit spiced with pride, into the immense mouth and breast of the world! Let us feed the unknown, not from despair, but simply to enrich the unfathomable reservoirs of the Absurd!"

-Marinetti
posted by clavdivs at 10:36 AM on August 27, 2010

The most damning piece of evidence I've heard mentioned is that hey found 50 circuit boards they claim are specifically designed for IEDs.

Yeah, I have a couple of those working my garage doors.
posted by Sys Rq at 10:42 AM on August 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yeah, the Globe has done that, too. I sometimes accidentally read past the bottom of an article that even mentions the word "muslim" or "immigrant." The comments there make me want a stiff drink - at 8:30 in the morning.

Yes, those Globe & Mail reader comments are generally appalling. Canada's most literary national newspaper.... and the comments are worse than YouTube's. Oh, Canada.
posted by orange swan at 11:00 AM on August 27, 2010

> Yes, those Globe & Mail reader comments are generally appalling. Canada's most literary national newspaper.... and the comments are worse than YouTube's. Oh, Canada.

Oh Lord, yes. I'm with Joe Clark on this one. When was the last time you read anything on a newspaper reader comment page that didn't, in Roger Ebert's words, make you want to "walk out...into the fresh air and look at the sky and buy an apple and sigh for our civilization"?
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:13 AM on August 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

Overheard in a room full of white skinned, deep thinking patriotic types:

"Ready. FIRE! Aim."
posted by philip-random at 11:48 AM on August 27, 2010

What all of this Chicken Little business has ended up doing is making everyone paying any attention completely ignore anything on the news related to terrorism.

Every week there's a new report of OMG TERRORIST THREAT all over CNN based on someone with a Lite Brite and a television remote control. Gasp! And then inevitably it turns out that the poor person was buying the Lite Brite for a commercial art project and the remote control didn't even work.

So if the end result was supposed to be that whenever I hear news about criminals of any type I roll my eyes and feel sorry for the bastard unlucky enough to have been caught with a butter knife and a bag of Miracle Gro, then good job governments and news organizations of the world!
posted by winna at 11:53 AM on August 27, 2010

On the bright side, winna, this seems to have taken the spotlight from CTV's constant OMFGTAMILREFUGEES!1!11!! coverage of the last couple of weeks.
posted by Kirk Grim at 11:58 AM on August 27, 2010 [2 favorites]

Metafilter: walk out...into the fresh air and look at the sky and buy an apple and sigh for our civilization.
posted by No Robots at 12:39 PM on August 27, 2010

Word, Kirk Grim, but they are connected. While comments were still turned on for articles on these new terrorism charges, there were endless re-iterations of "this is what happens when we open the door to our country" and "hey we just admitted 500 new terrorists last week".

This is why I get so annoyed when someone on MeFi says incredulously "I can't understand why anyone votes for the Conservatives" and perpetuates the myth that the unspoken voter is, of course, a left-leaning one. As if "tough" on immigrants, on crime, on "terror" weren't extremely effective methods of fear-mongering in this country.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 12:40 PM on August 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

Apparently these circuit boards are exactly what would be used to remotely trigger a bomb.

Which is what, receive signal -> close circuit? More specifically, receive radio/cell phone signal -> close circuit?

As Sys Rq suggests, they could be garage door openers, or RFID readers, or a have a host of other non-violent uses.

And fifty of them? You probably can't buy them except in bulk lots.

How do we distinguish a terrorist from a hobbyist from an entrepreneurial engineer? I mean other than the obvious: his name his Mohammad, and he prays five times a day to The Wrong God ™*?

* For the sarcasm impaired, yes, I know that Muslims pray to the same God as the Christians and the Jews pray to, I just wish more Christians and Jews realized that.
posted by orthogonality at 2:07 PM on August 27, 2010

Honestly, I bet they're guilty of planning terrorist acts. The scary thing for me is just how good the state apparatus is at identifying and neutralizing anyone identified as a potential threat. Look at the article, they had these guys wiretapped and profiled right from the start, and they broke into one guy's apartment to collect evidence and replace his circuit boards with duds. The group were pinned like butterflies to a board and didn't even know it, just like the "Toronto 18."

It's all very efficient, and it does seem to be catching potential terrorists before they can commit any heinous acts. But now that all these procedures are in place I wonder how easy it would be to use the same methods against other targets the government thinks of as threatening, and how difficult it would be to call them off if the police decide that decide that people under foreign influence or protesters are threatening enough to unleash the hounds.
posted by Kevin Street at 4:07 PM on August 27, 2010

Life [in Canada] imitates art [in the U.S.].
posted by pokermonk at 4:24 PM on August 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

My Globe and CBC experiences are much better since I found CommentBlocker.

My gf monitors local news stories and comments as part of her job, and she's consistently appalled by what people will write. However, she is also in the habit of scolding vicious commentors, and she's noticed that her comments always receive much higher approval ratings than the vicious ones. Ignoring the idiots makes it seem like they are in the majority, but the reaction to her comments shows that, at least here, they aren't.
posted by Jimmy Havok at 11:13 PM on August 27, 2010

I'm glad the CBC has closed comments to all articles on this topic...

Only Durn Bronzefist approved comments will be tolerated!!!

The mods have decreed I'm not allowed to say what I really think of you, and the simpletons who favorited your comment.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 3:55 AM on August 28, 2010

The most damning piece of evidence I've heard mentioned is that hey found 50 circuit boards they claim are specifically designed for IEDs.

Occasionally I worry about the narrative that could be built around the things found in my workshop. Various chemicals and tools used for metal work and pottery, boxes full of electronic components, equipment/supplies for hand loading ammunition and probably many other things that would be suspicious to an uncharitable eye.
I always take these kind of early reports with a grain of salt.
posted by Tenuki at 7:27 PM on September 1, 2010