Death
and Terror in Ottawa
IPT News
October 22, 2014
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Two people, a
reserve soldier from Hamilton, Ontario and his apparent murderer, were killed Wednesday morning in an attack that started at
Canada's national War Memorial.
One gunman was shot and killed a short time later inside the nearby
Parliament building. It is not yet clear whether additional people were
involved in the attack. Video taken by a reporter for Canada's Globe and
Mail seems to capture a shootout inside the Parliament building that
led to the gunman's death.
Canadian authorities are saying very little. But the murder of
24-year-old Nathan Cirillo comes two days after another Canadian
soldier died near Montreal after being run down by a car driven by a recent convert to Islam.
CBS News reported late Wednesday afternoon that Canadian
officials informed American counterparts that the dead shooter is Michael
Zehaf-Bibeau, a Canadian native who was about 32 years old. A Twitter post claimed that the terrorist group ISIS released a
picture it claimed was Zehaf-Bibeau.
If Wednesday's attacker also proves to be a radical Islamist, it would
be at least the fourth attack by Muslim radicals in North America in recent
months.
Martin Couture-Rouleau, 25, was shot and killed after he rammed his car into two Canadian soldiers Monday. He
reportedly told a 911 operator he was acting in the name of Allah. A friend
told reporters that Rouleau had grown radical after
converting to Islam about a year ago and dreamed of dying as a martyr.
His passport was confiscated and he was among 90 suspected Islamic
radicals being monitored by Canadian authorities. During a news conference
Wednesday afternoon, officials declined to say whether the man shot and
killed in Parliament also was on that watch list.
Last week, before the two attacks, Canada raised its terror-threat level for the first time in
four years. A spokesman said the move was prompted by "an increase in
general chatter from radical Islamist organizations like (ISIS), Al Qaida,
Al Shabaab and others who pose a clear threat to Canadians." The
advisory from Canada's Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre (ITAC),
warned that "an individual or group within Canada or abroad has the
intent and capability to commit an act of terrorism. ITAC assesses that a
violent act of terrorism could occur."
But during Wednesday's news conference, officials said no additional
security was in place at the War Memorial or on Parliament Hill.
The United States also has seen recent killings by people who cited
Islamic ideology as their motivation.
Alton Nolen, a convert to Islam, beheaded a co-worker and attacked a
second person last month after being fired from his job at a food company.
While the murder has been cast as workplace violence, Nolen's social media
posts included a picture of Osama bin Laden and a beheading,
in addition to anti-Semitic and anti-American comments. "Sharia law is
coming," read one post, placed under a picture of the Pope.
Meanwhile, a Seattle man, Ali Muhammad Brown, repeatedly invoked his
Muslim faith while being interrogated by detectives in connection with four
murders from Washington to New Jersey. Each victim was shot repeatedly.
"My life is based on living in the cause of Allah," Brown
said. "Living in the cause of Allah. To live for Allah, to die for
Allah."
While some details of that interrogation have been described in court
papers, the Investigative Project on Terrorism obtained a copy of the full
one hour and 44 minute conversation.
Brown expressed disdain for gay people – two of his victims are believed
to have been gay – describing homosexuality as "completely against
nature" but stating the government allows "this evil to
fester."
He repeatedly invoked the idea that an Islamic Caliphate, or Islamic
rule, is the only way to restore order to American society. Brown also is
suspected in armed robberies in New Jersey. He told detectives he thought
about leaving America to "go to the land where God the almighty,
Allah, is established and implemented."
Muslims, Brown said, cannot practice their religion in America,
"because jihad is a part of our religion."
But Islamic law, governed by a Caliphate, can cure America of its social
ills, he said, citing brutal punishment for those caught breaking the law.
Prison doesn't work. In Islam, however, "you cut the hand in public
for everyone to see. You alleviate all your thieves right there ... You
behead someone right there in public, in the streets? You alleviate all the
problems like that."
Neither Brown nor Nolen have been charged with terrorism.
Eighteen months ago, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev placed homemade bombs at the Boston Marathon's finish line.
Tamerlan was killed in a later shootout with police. While hiding out from
police, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev wrote that the attack was retaliation for American
military action in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"When you attack one Muslim, you attack all Muslims," he
wrote.
Despite these first-hand explanations, Islamist groups and some advocates continue to argue that religion has nothing to do with terrorist violence.
This has happened before. In 2006, a group which became known as the
"Toronto 18" was arrested as it planned a series of terrorist
attacks against members of Parliament, the prime minister and the
Parliament itself. One member of the group reportedly was killed recently while fighting in Syria.
In the United States, Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan killed 13
people and wounded 32 more in a shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas. This
attack followed a series of Hasan's communications with Yemen-based
al-Qaida cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Though Awlaki would later be killed in a
U.S. drone strike, Hasan's attack has never been classified by the
government as a terrorist act. His victims have been denied
Purple Hearts.
When Pvt. Naser Jason Abdo was caught plotting a subsequent terror plot
targeting Fort Hood, he told his own mother that, "The reason is religion,
Mom."
"When bad things are happening" to Muslims, he said, "you
have to do something about it."
It's not yet clear whether Zehaf-Bibeau shared any ideology like that or
was motivated by entirely separate reasons. But the spike in self-directed
terror attacks is a cause for concern and a growing challenge for
intelligence and security officials in the Canada and the United States.
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