Thursday, June 24, 2010

Brothers in Arms Without Borders OR One Big, Unhappy Ummah

With the last two of the Toronto 18 having had their day in court (both were found guilty), the Toronto Star offers a thumbnail sketch of each and every member of this rogue's gallery. What immediately strikes you--aside from the cutesy nic each one has been given (the Gun Runner, the Student Farmer, etc.), as if they're characters in some HBO servies or Quentin Tarantino film--is that they came from so many different places; from countries you'd expect them to come from--Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan, Somalia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and Iraq--but also from unexpected places--Fiji and the West Indies.

The common denominator of this "broad strata" (a police official's risible description of the 18 when they were first arrested and authorities professed to be baffled re what might have bound the "disparate" group together) is that each and every one of them came to Canada and, while here, succumbed to the siren call of jihad.

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