Terror arrests show Canada’s hard work

Re “Canada Confronts Its Shadows Within,” June 6

As a Canadian, this article disappoints me. It paints a picture of Canadians thinking they will never see terrorism; a nation with its head stuck in the ground. Why, then, did Canada pass tough antiterrorism laws in 2001? Why did we develop counterterrorism units that were able to arrest these terrorists?

The fact is that Canadians have long known they were targets of terrorism. Osama bin Laden named Canada as one of six nations that are targets. I am proud that we were able to foil this plot. The only thing that saddens me is the anti-Muslim retaliation on a Toronto mosque.

The article mentions that Canada did not join the war in Iraq. This is old news. Canada is fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. Canadians are neither naive nor cowards.

GARY BETTS

London, Canada

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Yeah, like we’re all really distraught over the weekend arrests of 17 alleged terrorists, eh? Wait a second -- aren’t our cops supposed to run these stings? You know, pay attention to what’s going on, dig around, connect the dots, infiltrate the bad guys, set them up and then haul them off to stand trial? That is part of the very essence of our peaceable self-image.

We hire these people, train them and then expect them to deal with threats before the terrorists knock down buildings. You guys should try that sometime. It just might improve your peaceable self-image.

ROBERT W. DRESSER

Parksville, Canada