National Post

Friday, November 01, 2002

Last December, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Ottawa passed a law requiring government officials to create an authoritative list of banned terrorist organizations. The result was a joke: It took the government seven months to create the list, and it contained only seven groups. Hamas was left off, as was Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Basque terrorist group ETA, the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka and the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. So too was Hezbollah, which is arguably the most dangerous terrorist outfit in the world.

At the time we blamed the glaring omissions on political correctness. In a July editorial, we noted: "All seven of the cited groups are either directly affiliated with al-Qaeda, or share Osama bin Laden's apocalyptic creed. The ETA, the Tamil Tigers and the groups that target Israel, on the other hand, have concrete revanchist or nationalist agendas -- and thus qualify, in certain circles, as 'freedom fighters.' "

The events of the past few weeks show that our explanation was incomplete: It is not just political correctness but also ignorance and indifference that guide Canada's anti-terrorism policies.

At last month's Francophonie summit in Beirut, Jean Chrétien found himself on the same guest list as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. But the PM saw no reason to treat the man -- whose group has killed about 370 Americans -- as anything other than a run-of-the-mill dignitary. When asked if he had a problem with Nasrallah's presence, the PM signalled he really had no idea who the guy was -- and that he didn't particularly care in any event. "You know, we were in a country. So they invite people," he told reporters. "We're civilized. You know, I'm not asking passports and CVs of anybody. So I look at them and if they shake hand I shake hand."

This week, the National Post's Stewart Bell reported on the fruits of Canada's see-no-evil approach to Hezbollah. According to documents obtained from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Hezbollah has used Canadian banks to launder its funds -- applying the proceeds toward equipment and weapons. Hezbollah is parking its operatives here, too. This week, the Israeli government released details on Fauzi Ayub, a captured Canadian citizen who, the Israelis allege, travelled to Hebron to set up Hezbollah safe houses and arms caches.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham continues to justify Canada's policy of permitting Hezbollah's "non-military" arms to raise funds in this country. "We don't believe it would be appropriate to label as terrorists innocent doctors, teachers and other people who are seeking to do charitable and other good works in their communities," said Mr. Graham yesterday.

This is an absurd rationale. It is not just Hezbollah's military arm but its entire political, social and propaganda apparatus that is oriented toward the destruction of Israel and the disruption of the Israeli/Palestinian peace process. Nasrallah and his Iranian paymasters control everything, and it is naive to think that funds, equipment and personnel are not intermingled.

All this shows it is wrong to dismiss Mr. Chrétien's Beirut comments as a mere gaffe. Nothing better captures the half-hearted character of our government's campaign against terrorism than a Prime Minister who doesn't know, or care about, keeping company with one of the world's elite terrorists.

In France, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Argentina and the other countries that have been targeted by Hezbollah, the battle against terror is serious business. Lives hang in the balance, and Canada is putting those lives at greater risk by refusing to name Hezbollah a terrorist group or completely shut down the organization's fundraising efforts in this country. This is a matter that affects Canadians too: Just as many Australians were killed in last month's Bali bombing, so too might scores of our citizens be lost in the next blast. That Ottawa seems ready to wait for that blast before getting serious about shutting down terrorists is inexcusable.

Geoscience Australia said the quake was centered under the Indian Ocean about 200 km (125 miles) southwest of the North Sumatran capital of Medan.

A resident in Medan, 1,450 km (900 miles) northwest of the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, said he felt the tremor for at least a minute and traffic was halted momentarily.

"Things were moving for at least one minute but there is no damage to houses here," the resident, who did not wish to be identified, said.

Leonard said the epicenter of the quake appeared to be about 60 km (40 miles) underground, which may have been too deep to produce a tsunami.

Officials from Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics office said the quake measured 5.5 on the Richter scale and that damage was likely even though early reports had not indicated this.

Undang Kaban, a Medan-based official for the meteorology office, said the impact of quake was felt most intensely in the coastal town of Tapaktuan in the south of Aceh province.

"The highest MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) reading was 5-6 and that was in Tapaktuan," Kaban told Reuters from Medan.

"Based on my experience, a reading of that magnitude would mean that damage is likely though we haven't heard any reports of damage yet," he said.

Officials in Tapaktuan, around 160 km from Medan, could not be immediately reached.

Kaban said the quake struck around 8.30 a.m. (0130 GMT).

The U.S. Geological Survey estimated the quake's depth at 33 km (20 miles).

-- Anonymous, November 02, 2002