Report: Canadian jihadis were planning two attacks (Update: One allegedly wanted to behead Harper) (Update: Planned to storm Parliament, bomb dams and the CBC)

One was the truck bomb, the other was an old-fashioned shoot-’em-up. Odd that we haven’t seen more of the latter. Granted, it’s not highlight-reel material the way planes crashing into skyscrapers are, but that hasn’t stopped Iraqi terrorists. And amassing guns and ammo is cheaper and harder to detect than trafficking in explosives.

This at least explains why the Canadians were practicing their marksmanship at that terror camp. NaPo has a scoop about that, too, in fact:

The commandos of Joint Task Force-2 (JTF-2), Canada’s elite special forces unit, were put on standby a short flight away from where suspected terrorists were conducting ”training camps” at an isolated site north of Toronto, sources told the National Post.

A ”troop” of about 25 of the unit’s highly trained assaulters, part of JTF-2′s counter-terrorism unit, were at a nearby military base with their helicopters ready to swoop down should police decide they were needed, said a military source.

The fact that they had special forces standing by months ago to respond to these people means this case is probably a bit more solid than the one in London right now. The suspects are in court today for a bail hearing at which prosecutors will have to outline the facts, so there’ll be plenty of new details in a few hours. In the meantime, Rachel Marsden is having fun mocking Canadian naivete and the boss is scrutinizing the affidavit of an FBI agent that was filed as part of the case against one of the Toronto jihadis’ American acquaintances. According to the affidavit,

Agents found, concealed in the lining of SADEQUEE’s lone suitcase, two CD-ROMs. One CD contained encrypted files that FBI technical experts remain unable to decode. The other CD contained an apparent bootleg copy of a hard-core ############ film.

A twelve-letter adjective between the words “hard-core” and “film.” What could it be?

Meanwhile, in London, the Muslim Council of Britain follows the playbook by responding to the terror raid with an oblique threat of violence.

Update: One of the lawyers for the jihadis criticized Stephen Harper for being “happy” about the arrests … right after admitting that his client is accused of wanting to behead Harper.

He also accused cops of “instilling fear” in the public by arresting suspected terrorists.

Meanwhile, outside the courthouse, the race card is played.

Update: WaPo has details of the charges.

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