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Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Muslim extremists dominate rogues gallery of terrorist entities; radical Buddhists get a mention
Minister of Public Safety, Peter Van Loan, announced on Friday the release of the updated Criminal Code list of terrorist entities following a two-year review.
This enemies list is more than an inventory of curious bad guys. Under the Criminal Code it is a criminal offence to knowingly do business with any of the entities listed, and the court can at any time order that the assets of these entities be seized or forfeited. In addition, it is a crime to knowingly participate in any activity of a listed entity that would enhance its ability to carry out a terrorist act. While membership in these organizations is, according to the law, not a crime by itself, virtually any activity beyond simply being a card-carrying member of the Vanguards of Conquest, for instance (catchy name), will likely land you in trouble. In fact, when the Tamil Tigers made the list in 2006, the Liberals had to stop showing up at their fundraising galas.
It’s been said and often repeated that “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter,” but you won’t find much mention of freedom from the groups listed below. If there is a Popular Islamic Front for Civil Liberties, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad for Free Trade or a Vanguards of the Non-Aggression Principle, I missed it. It’s mostly a collection of religious extremists, leftists and violent nationalists looking to overthrow their oppressive rulers so they can meed out the oppression themselves.
The list reads like a who’s-who of Muslim extremists, who make up 70% of the list, with a smattering of other radicals to complete the rogues gallery.
But it’s within the smattering...among the exceptions, that the most interesting rogues are found. The Aum Shinrikyo, for instance, are Buddhist extremists in Japan bent on bringing about Armageddon. It’s like a weird mix of Charles Manson, Sylvia Plath and those nihilists from the Big Lebowski – a kama-kozi cocktail for mass murder.
And then there's the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a right-wing terrorist answer to FARC in Colombia. You can almost see these guys in their wrinkle-resistant khakis, button-down shirts and MEC accessories tramping through the jungle, fuelled by cocaine, complaining about the market distorting effect of labour unions and Columbian tariffs on sugar.
But I shouldn't make light of this list. There is nothing but bad guys below the fold.
Muslim extremists
Abu Nidal Organization (ANO) – Socialist Muslim extremists bent on the destruction of Israel
Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) – Muslim extremists who seek a separate Muslim state in Mindanao, Philippines
Al Jihad (AJ) – Muslim extremist who want to overthrow the Egyptian government and replace it with an Islamic state
Al Qaida – Sunni Muslim extremists who want to overthrow all secular governments in Islamic countries
Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade (AAMB) -- Palestinian Muslims extremists working to establish an independent and sovereign Palestinian state
Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (AGAI) -- Egyptian Muslim extremists who want to overthrow the current Egyptian government and replace it with an Islamic state
Al-Ittihad Al-Islam (AIAI) – Muslim extremists who work in Somalia and Ethiopia to promote theocratic rule
Ansar al-Islam (AI) – Muslim extremists who work in Kurdistan to promote Islamic rule
Armed Islamic Group (GIA) -- Sunni Muslim extremists based in Algeria
Asbat Al-Ansar ("The League of Partisans") -- Lebanon-based Sunni Muslim extremists
Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) – Muslim extremist who want to overthrow the secular Afghani administration
Hamas (Harakat Al-Muqawama Al-Islamiya) ("Islamic Resistance Movement") – Sunni Muslim extremists who want an Islamic Palestinian state in the region occupied by Israel
Harakat ul-Mudjahidin (HuM) -- Pakistan-based extremist Kashmiri Islamic organization seeking Pakistani rule for the Indian territory of Kashmir
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Faction of the Hezb-e Islami, Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) – Muslim extremists who want to overthrow secular Afghani administration
Hizballah – Muslim extremists who want an Islamic state in Lebanon
Islamic Army of Aden (IAA) – Muslim extremists who want to overthrow the Yemeni government and create an Islamist theocracy
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) – Muslim extremists whose primary goal is to overthrow the government of Uzbekistan
Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) – Muslim extremists based in Pakistan
Jemaah Islamiyyah (JI) – Muslim extremists dedicated to the establishment of an Islamic state in Southeast Asia incorporating Indonesia, Malaysia, the southern Philippines, Singapore and Brunei
Vanguards of Conquest (VOC) – Muslim extremists based in Egypt whose objective is an Islamic state
Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) – Muslim extremists whose objective is the destruction of the state of Israel
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) -- Muslim extremists whose objective is the destruction of the state of Israel
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC) -- Muslim extremists whose objective is the destruction of the state of Israel
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) -- Muslim extremists whose objective is the destruction of the state of Israel
Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC) -- Sunni Muslim extremists whose objective is an Islamic government in Algeria
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) – Sunni Muslim extremists based in Pakistan
Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) -- Pakistan-based Muslim extremists operating in the Indian states of Kashmir and Jammu
Non-Muslim religious extremists
Kahane Chai (KACH) – Righ-wing Israeli extremists who want to restore the biblical state of Israel by expanding the borders of Israel to include the occupied territories and parts of Jordan
Aum Shinrikyo – Buddhist extremists bent on bringing about Armageddon
Babbar Khalsa (BK) and Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) – A Sikh organization that aims to establish an independent Sikh state called Khalistan in the Indian state of Punjab
International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) -- Sikh extremists who want an independent Sikh nation called Khalistan
Political extremists (some have unifying religious beliefs, but their aims are primarily political)
Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC) -- A right-wing terrorist organization’s answer to FARC in Colombia
Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) – Leftist rebels in Columbia
Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) -- Basque terrorist group with the goal of creating an independent Basque state in parts of Spain and France
Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) – Columbian leftists
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) – Leftist Kurdish separatist terrorists
Shining Path – Communist guerrillas operating in Peru
World Tamil Movement – Sri Lankan terrorist separatists
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) -- Sri Lankan-based terrorist separatists
Mujahedin e Khalq (MEK) -- Formed in the 1960s, the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) is an Iranian terrorist organization that is currently based in Iraq with the aim of overthrowing the Iranian regime
Posted by Matthew Johnston on December 2, 2008 in Current Affairs | Permalink
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Comments
"Mujahedin e Khalq (MEK) -- Formed in the 1960s, the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) is an Iranian terrorist organization that is currently based in Iraq with the aim of overthrowing the Iranian regime"
Oh, the good old MEK. The pet Marxists of the Israeli Mossad and the Trotskyite neoconservative revolutionaries:
"The George W. Bush administration has long pushed the "laptop documents" – 1,000 pages of technical documents supposedly from a stolen Iranian laptop – as hard evidence of Iranian intentions to build a nuclear weapon. Now charges based on those documents pose the only remaining obstacles to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) declaring that Iran has resolved all unanswered questions about its nuclear program.
But those documents have long been regarded with great suspicion by US and foreign analysts. German officials have identified the source of the laptop documents in November 2004 as the Mujahideen e Khalq (MEK), which along with its political arm, the National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI), is listed by the US State Department as a terrorist organization.
[...]
Despite the fact that it was listed as a terrorist organization., the MEK was a favorite of neoconservatives in the Pentagon, who were proposing in 2003-2004 to use it as part of a policy to destabilize Iran. The United States is known to have used intelligence from the MEK on Iranian military questions for years. It was considered a credible source of intelligence on the Iranian nuclear program. after 2002, mainly because of its identification of the facility in Natanz as a nuclear site."
http://www.antiwar.com/porter/?articleid=12443
I think anyone who believes in human rights would prefer to see a different regime in power in Tehran, but working with terrorists like the MEK is beyond the pale and there must be better ways to win the heart and minds of sympathetic Iranians than imposing murderous sanctions and bombing them from 30,000 feet above as the American War Party advocates.
Posted by: Kalim Kassam | 2008-12-02 1:42:27 PM
I agree Kalim that working with terrorists for any reason is wrong and stupid, especially since history should have taught us that the same snake will later turn on you. The Americans made the same mistake in Afghanistan when the Soviets were fighting there. Need I say more...
Posted by: Alain | 2008-12-02 2:53:28 PM
Is it coincedence that an add for the Muslim Matrimonial Site is on the left side of the terrorist list? Gotta be.
We would be wise to keep an eye on the non-muslim list. The worst terrorist attack in Canadian history was carried out by sikhs, while the majority of actions were carried out by the FLQ.
Remember the FLQ? My older brother was living in Montreal during their letter-bomb campaign. They weren't playing around. As much as I hated Trudeau, he understood the real threat they presented.
Posted by: dp | 2008-12-02 5:54:34 PM
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