Now that one of the Terror 18-cum 11 has told a judge that he’s prepared to plead guilty to one of three charges against him, we have all the evidence we need.
[rssbreak]
Our faith in the institutions charged with protecting us has been restored.
It wasn’t just a bunch of boobs from the ‘burbs with too much time on their hands responsible for concocting what police say was a plot to blow up buildings in downtown Toronto and lop off the PM’s head.
No. If Saad Khalid’s intention to plead guilty to participating in a terrorist plot last week proves anything, it’s that these boobs were serious about their intentions to wreak havoc on an innocent city.
But were they really?
The Globe’s Christie Blatchford could hardly contain her see-I-told-you-so glee in a piece claiming that Khalid’s plea proves once and for all the rightness of the state’s case against the 18 cum 11.
Curiously, the paper that broke the story, The Star, offered a more circumspect take on Khalid’s turn, pointing out that he did not cop to arguably the more serious charges against him ie: knowingly participating in a terrorist group, receiving training for the purpose of enhancing the ability of a terrorist group.
The judge presiding over the guilty plea last week pointed out that “no agreed statement of facts was entered or admitted,” which suggests a deal is in the works.
Why Khalid decided to come forward now is anybody’s guess. But after three years behind bars – he’s a young man, just 22, barely 19 when he was arrested – he wouldn’t be the first willing to cop a plea.
His lawyer Russell Silverstein hinted that the slim prospect of receiving a fair trial are what prompted the move, offering that “sometimes pleading guilty is the best way to ensure a just result.”
Can any jury be trusted to return a just verdict without prejudice in this case with all the negative attention the accused have gotten in the media? Better safe than sorry when deciding on these case, no? And if a few innocents have to go to jail, then so be it.
In that light, Khalid’s move is a prudent one.
Question is will he be forced to testify against his co-accused?
The cops main informant in the case, comes with some baggage, having been paid $4 million by the RCMP for his services. That kind of money can buy a lot of bad intent on the part of an informant eager to see the cash keep flowing.
It’s still unclear what role the informant played, if any, in the procuring of materials to make the bombs alleged in the plots at the centre of the police case.
If there’s any hint the informant was the one to set the plan in motion, then we have entrapment and a huge shadow is cast on the Crown’s evidence.
Khalid’s testimony, then, can provide valuable insurance for the Crown.
Contrary to Blatchford’s rah-rah reasoning that Khalid’s plea proves the veracity of the Crown’s case, looked at another way the dropping of charges against seven of the alleged plotters can suggest otherwise.
As one New York Times report so ably put it, “the group was long on inflammatory talk about plots but short on the means and methods to carry them out.”
That same New York Times article goes on to say that the case of the Toronto 18, “seems to fit a well-established pattern in terrorism prosecutions. Whether the result of trumped-up charges, conflicting demands of intelligence agencies or difficulties of trying cases where evidence is withheld by governments looking to protect their sources and methods, numerous terrorism trials in the United States and Europe have similarly foundered over the years.”
Does anybody still believe this group was serious about beheading the PM when tape entered in as eveidence in court clearly shows there was some confusion who the PM was?
“Paul – um what’s his name – Paul loser,” says one of the alleged conspirators.
I feel safer already.
