NaPo's Al Qaeda terror scoop, Part VI: Canadian Freeper picks up the story
The National Post's exclusive tip off from the "non-profit" SITE (Search for International Terrorist Entitities) Institute about a grave Al Qaeda threat to Canada (see items below) has now been picked up by the fanatically right-wing Canada Free Press. The Freep has added its own twist to the story making the farcical claim that "Thanks largely to Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jack Layton, al-Qaeda has chosen the Land of the Maple Leaf as its "priority target" for terrorism."

Nothing better demonstrates the character of NaPo's ridiculous story than that it has been taken up and preposterously elaborated by the ridiculous war-mongering Can. Freep.
Canadian Spectator

NaPo's Al Qaeda terror scoop, Part III: Vancouver Sun picks up the story
The Vancouver Sun, which like the National Post is controlled by CanWest Global, has now published the story first appearing in the National Post concerning a supposed Al Qaeda threat to Canada (see nex item but one).

The threat consists, according to the "non-profit" Search for International Terrorist Entities (SITE) Institute, in a statement by one Hossam Abdul Raouf, who the Institute describes as "a member of the Committee of Information and Strategy for al-Qaeda, and Editor-in-Chief of the “Vanguards of Kharasan” electronic periodical."

Except in a SITE Institute item about the source of the threat-to-Canada story, there appears to be no reference to Raouf on the Web. Likewise, the SITE Institute seems to be the only outfit to have made mention on the Web of the "Committee of Information and Strategy for al-Qaeda" to which Raouf supposedly belongs.

According to the SITE Institute, the threat to Canada was made by Raouf in the introduction to an article in the “Vanguards of Kharasan”. However, the SITE institute will not provide the text of Raouf's statement except to those subscribing to its "Intelligence service."

So the story that CanWest Global is trying to spread appears to be as follows.

Hossam Abdul Raouf, a person previously unknown, who is said to belong to an Al Qaeda committee, previously unknown, and to edit an electronic magazine that cannot be found on the Web, wrote an article some months ago, the text of which is unknown outside of Afghanistan except to subscribers to the SITE Institute's "intelligence service" (and they have a translation of only the introduction--which is the trouble with amateur sleuths, they have other things they just have to do, which leaves insufficient time for proper sleuthing), in which Mr. Raouf allegedly stated that "They [NATO forces in Afghanistan] will either be forced to withdraw ... or face an operation similar to New York, Madrid, London and their sisters, with the help of Allah."

Whether this statement was simply an assertion of Raouf's seemingly ill-informed opinion (see next item), or a threat Raouf was authorized to make on behalf of the supposedly deadly Al Qaeda organization, is unclear.

Three things, though, are clear.

First, if Raouf was trying to intimidate contributors to NATO's Afghan mission, he sure picked a dumb way of going about it. Indeed, his threat would never have been known to anyone beyond the presumably negligible readership of the electronic periodical "Vanguards of Kharasan" were it not for the efforts of the volunteers at the SITE Institute and CanWest Global's decision to commit a barrel of ink to the story.

Second, as noted below (next item), the implication that Al Qaeda was responsible for 911, 911 + 911 (Madrid bombings) and 7/7 (London bombings) is almost certainly false. So not only did the threat that is being so persistently broadcast by the CanWest Global organization emanate from a nonentity, but it is also nonsensical.

Third, CanWest Global seriously is a purveyor of preposterous pro-war propaganda. ...
Canadian Spectator

NaPo's Al Qaeda terror scoop, Part II: National Post's Al Qaeda threat story spreads overnight
The National Post's exclusive tip off (see next item) from the "non-profit" SITE (Search for International Terrorist Entitities) Institute about a grave Al Qaeda threat to Canada has spread a little overnight. CanWest Global, the owners of the Putz, now have the story on their Canada.com and Global National, Canada Web sites. The story has also been picked up by Turkish Press (based in Plymouth Michigan, "Content Partner" of the U.S. Government's Voice of America), News24 South Africa, and The News - International Pakistan.

The "warning" supposedly written by one Hossam Abdul Raouf, said to be a member of the al-Qaeda information and strategy committee, states in part:

"They [the Canadians] will either be forced to withdraw their forces [from Afghanistan] or face an operation similar to New York, Madrid, London and their sisters, with the help of Allah."

This makes little sense. 9/11 preceeded the Afghan war. It was not pay-back for Western military intervention in Afghanistan, so why would Al Qaeda cite 9/11 as an example of the cost of such intervention? As for Madrid and London, evidence from Western police or intelligence sources to indicate that there was an Al Qaeda connection is questionable. What seems more probable, in both cases, is that there was a connection with the local security services and here.

Altogether, it appears that the Pustule is engaged in another propaganda op. And so far, none of the major media organizations have taken the bait. ...
Google News Search

NaPo's Al Qaeda terror scoop, Part I: National Pustule has a scoop
OTTAWA - An al-Qaeda strategist has warned Canada to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan or face terrorist attacks similar to 9/11, Madrid and the London transit bombings. ...
NaPo

So far, a Google search yields no hits (other than the National Post) for reports on this Al Qaeda warning, which speaks of Canada's "fanatic adherence to Christianity." So the Pustule seems to have priviledged access to the story, which it attributes to the "non-profit" SITE (Search for International Terrorist Entities) Institute.

What's with this SITE outfit, anyway? Don't they think the CIA is up to the job of identifying terrorist "entities," and are in desperate need of assistance from a bunch of amateurs?

You won't find any reference to Canada's "fanatic adherence to Christianity" on the SITE institute site, so this must have been a private tip-off to the Pust. And if you're one of the great majority of North Americans (>84% of the U.S. population) who think Bush is lying about 9/11 or that the U.S. Government had foreknowledge of or complicity in the crime, then you might reasonably wonder if Canada is being set-up for an "inside job."

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