Toronto Terror Farce: Two Military Connections! June 8, 2006 Ron Saba As YayaCanada and Prison Planet have pointed out, Steven Chand, one of the alleged "Toronto Terror 17"  had been a member of the Royal Regiment of Canada, a reservist unit. Prison Planet also indicates that "From the evidence it is starting to appear that Chand was the kingpin for a government entrapment program that sought to manufacture a terrorist alert by creating a de facto terrorist cell." We now find out that there is indeed a second military connection to the "Toronto Terror Farce".  And just as is in the case of the false "Jewish Badge" hoax, it involves a military connection to Canada's media. To feed the media frenzy concerning the "Toronto Terror Farce", The Toronto Sun, Globe and Mail, the CBC, the Canadian Press and others kept on interviewing John C.Thompson of the secretive Mackenzie Institute in Toronto. Here are some choice Thompson quotes promoting fear and hysteria from over the past few days: From Monday's Toronto Sun article "Terrorism expert: There's more out there" One of the country's leading terrorism experts warned Canadians yesterday that terrorists still walk among us. John Thompson, president of the MacKenzie Institute in Toronto, wants Canadians to remain aware of the potential threat of terrorism that still exists despite Friday's raids. "There's more jihadists out there, and there will probably be more every year," Thompson warned yesterday. From Saturday's Globe and Mail article "Massive terror attack averted: RCMP" and from Saturday's Canadian Press Article "Major terror bust in Ontario": "John Thomson, a security specialist with the MacKenzie Institute, a Toronto-based think-tank, said the explosives seized by police would fuel up to three "truck bombs." "That's enough for a really, really big truck bomb. Probably two or three of them," said Mr. Thomson. "So when the police said they weren't focussed on the subway I believe them - you really can't use a truck bomb on a subway station. But if you're trying to collapse a building, a truck bomb is perfect for it," he said. Mr. Thomson said the list of possible targets for such terrorist measures is almost without limit in a large, urban centre like Toronto. But he added that terrorists usually pinpoint their targets before collecting their weapons. "How many tall office towers are there in Toronto? Or hospitals? Or schools? Or government buildings?" he said. "If they were acquiring explosives that means they probably already selected a target." From Monday's CBC report "More terror case arrests coming, officials say": Thompson said the quantity of fertilizer that was seized by authorities would have been perfect for an al-Qaeda-style attack, with multiple bombs set off within minutes of each other. "They could saturate the hospitals with mass casualties, cause more confusion and panic, and get the police looking in a dozen directions at once." A truck bomb downtown, he said, "would shatter all the windows in the four bank towers and basically clean off the sidewalk [within] about 100 metres, killing everyone in the open and then killing, wounding and blinding dozens of other people up in the bank towers. "Such an attack could result in the deaths of more than 1,000 people." As it turns out, John C. Thompson is ex-military too, as he himself discloses in his research paper titled "Other People's Wars: A Review of Overseas Terrorism in Canada": John C. Thompson has been with the Mackenzie Institute since 1990 and is currently its president.  Previously, he was with the Canadian Forces and the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies. But wait. There's more. According to an exchange between Thompson and ex-military man A. W. Cockerill, Thompson is reported to harbour negative feelings (to put it mildly) towards Arabs.  On his website Mr. Cockerill attributes the following views to Mr. Thompson: "The Arabs are uneducated; they live in poverty and have contributed nothing..." to civilization according to John C. Thompson, president of the Mackenzie Institute, in an address to an audience in Cobourg, Ontario, Wednesday evening, 8 October 2004. Mr. Thompson was the first speaker in the "Viewpoint 2004 - an evening series of four speakers" organized by the Victoria Hall Volunteers to raise funds for Victoria Hall, Cobourg's 19th Century heritage building. Mr. Cockerill also comments on Mr. Thompson's connection to the security apparatus in Israel: "In contrast, Mr. Thompson mentioned, not once but four times, his attendance at an 'Anti-terrorist Conference' held in Israel recently and, presumably, hosted by the State of Israel." I think it is appropriate to close by quoting Buffalo Springfield once again: There's something happening here What it is ain't exactly clear There's a man with a gun over there Telling me I got to beware ...Paranoia strikes deep Into your life it will creep It starts when you're always afraid You step out of line, the man come and take you away Ron Saba is Editor of Montreal Planet Magazine John Thompson photo borrowed from London Free Press Toronto "Terrorist" Arrests Main Page yayacanada