Turkey has offered to help Canada repatriate Islamic State (IS) fighters who are currently held in Syria, along with their families. Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) views Turkey as “a better option than Iraq” to partner with, “where foreign ISIS members could face death sentences”; while Jessica Davis, a former Canadian Security Intelligence Service analyst, recognized that returning IS fighters has its own challenges, but in her view “it had to be done”. Davis reasoned:
I think leaving them overseas is much more problematic from a threat perspective. There’s a possibility of being released, of being reintegrated into ISIS forces. All of those things just make it worse.
In a rather troubling demonstration of just how serious the dilemma is in exploring ways to repatriate returning Islamic State jihadists into Western nations, Iraq justified handing down death sentences to British Islamic State jihadists as a “bid to protect Britain.” According to judge Abdul Sattar Beraqdar, spokesman for the Supreme Judicial Council:
The punishment, as much as it seems strong, will affect the security of your country….I am sure there are hundreds of people in Britain at this moment thinking of committing similar crimes.”
Should Islamic State fighters indeed return to Canada, the country’s current leadership has shown no reason to be trusted with the responsibility of public safety. Some reasons why:
- Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, threw out a welcome mat to Islamic State jihadists, while stating — according to Canadian Baptist minister Steve Long — that “evangelical Christians were the worst part of Canadian society.”
- Trudeau “pledged taxpayer funds” last year to “de-radicalize” IS jihadists, and declared that they could become “an extraordinarily powerful voice.” De-radicalization programs have been tried and failed. While reasons for such overwhelming failure are still being studied, it is obvious, or at least should be, that for any reform program to work, there must be a strong will on behalf of the participant. Jihadists are fueled by religious zeal. They are engaged in a religiously sanctioned war against ‘disbelieving’ Western nations. Take for example the words of the soon-to-be released American Taliban Fighter John Walker Lindh: “we are in prison due to our beliefs and the practice of our religion, not for committing any crime.”
- Breitbart Leaked documents from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service which showed “that the intelligence service is far more concerned with Islamic terrorism behind closed doors than the left-wing Trudeau government will admit in public.”
- It emerged in 2017 that dozens of jihadis were walking free in Canada, yet authorities won’t charge them.
- Trudeau has a reputation of being soft, if not ‘kind’, to jihadists. He paid out jihadist Omar Khadr 10.5 million dollars for shoddy treatment in Gitmo; Trudeau made up silly excuses and said he also felt the frustration of Canadians when questioned about it.
- Trudeau met privately with Joshua Boyle, a suspicious former Taliban captive who is also now up on 15 criminal charges. One wonders why.
- Trudeau also accused the Conservative party of “Islamophobia” for merely inquiring about the threat to Canadians posed by jihad terror.
- Member of Parliament Omar Alghabra represented Canada at the 44th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Since when is Canada an OIC state? The thought now of Canada teaming up with the likes of Turkey to “repatriate ISIS members” is daunting. “The Liberal government has said it would be difficult to get the Canadians out of Syria because they could be arrested and charged by authorities in neighbouring Turkey and Iraq.” Much could go very wrong in partnering with Turkey.
Unless a government can be fully trusted to protect public interests first, Islamic State jihadists should not be allowed back into Western nations. They are enemy combatants, many of whom are already walking free in Canada and elsewhere. The current threat is bad enough already as the Islamic State has long found successes in infiltrating refugee streams. Under the current government, Canada ascribes to open doors, and boasted about ‘leading the charge’ in the UN Global Migration Pact.
Seven months ago Global News reported on an opposition Conservative government motion tabled in the House of Commons which “called on the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to put forward a plan within 45 days for bringing to justice those who fought with ISIS.” Member of Parliament Michelle Rempel– who introduced the motion– argued that “the government should acknowledge that anyone who traveled abroad to take part in terrorism or genocide should face legal consequences.” Rempel continued….
To date this government under Justin Trudeau has failed to take action, and Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives are calling on the Prime Minister to immediately table a plan to serve justice to anyone who left our country to fight with this terrorist organization.
As an alternative to a death sentence as advised by Iraqi judge Abdul Sattar Beraqdar, Jihadists should be tried and prosecuted in a separate international court, one that fully understands the nature of the Islamic jihad against the West. Unfortunately, this institution does not exist; and jihadists should be kept in separate institutions away from Western civilization since they spread salafi ideology in regular jails and they continue their jihad war once released. Gitmo, which was shut down by Obama, is a model of a good start. Donald Trump reversed the policy of the Obama Administration last year and signed an executive order to keep Gitmo open. Trump reasoned….
“Terrorists who do things like place bombs in civilian hospitals are evil,” Trump said. “When possible, we have no choice but to annihilate them. When necessary, we must be able to detain and question them. But we must be clear: terrorists are not merely criminals. They are unlawful enemy combatants. And when captured overseas, they should be treated like the terrorists they are…..In the past, we have foolishly released hundreds of dangerous terrorists, only to meet them again on the battlefield – including the Isis leader, al-Baghdadi.”
At the turn of the new year, Trump’s move to re-open Gitmo was branded–there’s that word again– “Islamophobic“.
Canadians should be in uproar over Trudeau’s sprawling out the welcome mat to Islamic State militants, his reckless immigration policy, dismissal of the global war on terror, and new efforts to repatriate Islamic State fighters, using the help of Turkey.
“Turkey willing to help Canada repatriate ISIS members held in Syria, official says”, by Stewart Bell, Global News, May 21, 2019:
Turkey is open to allowing captured Canadian ISIS members to transit through the country so they can return to Canada for prosecution, a Turkish official said in an interview.
The official told Global News that Turkey was willing to co-operate with the RCMP to repatriate the dozens of Canadians caught by U.S.-backed Kurdish forces during the collapse of ISIS.
“I think we would be positive to that,” said the official. Due to the sensitivity of the issue, the official and a colleague spoke on the condition they would not be identified.
They said Turkey would not deal directly with the Kurdish forces holding the Canadians in Syria but said if the RCMP or Canadian Armed Forces brought them to the border, they would be allowed through.
“With some imagination, I suppose a way could be found,” the official said.
The RCMP has been exploring options for bringing the roughly 30 Canadians held by the Syrian Democratic Forces back to Canada. Turkey is considered the preferred route.
The Liberal government has said it would be difficult to get the Canadians out of Syria because they could be arrested and charged by authorities in neighbouring Turkey and Iraq.
But in a national security podcast released Friday, two experts said Canada’s current policy of inaction was not a lasting solution and the government needed to find a way to get them home.
“There needs to be something done about these Canadians that are abroad,” said Leah West, a former Department of Justice lawyer and now a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto faculty of law.
Speaking on A Podcast Called Intrepid, she told hosts Stephanie Carvin and Craig Forcese that countries needed to work out a collective solution, “because leaving them in the hands of the Kurds is not sustainable.”
Jessica Davis, a former Canadian Security Intelligence Service analyst and now president of Insight Threat Intelligence, said while returning them to Canada had its own challenges, it had to be done.
“I think leaving them overseas is much more problematic from a threat perspective. There’s a possibility of being released, of being reintegrated into ISIS forces. All of those things just make it worse,” she said.
While the RCMP has been looking into transiting the Canadians through Turkey, it wants to ensure Turkish authorities would not question the detainees or search their electronic devices.
Doing so could taint their prosecution in Canada. Upon their arrival in Canada, the RCMP intends to lay charges when possible or seek peace bonds to restrict their actions.
The RCMP sees Turkey as a better option than Iraq, where foreign ISIS members could face death sentences. An RCMP delegation visited Turkey in March, and officials from the two NATO allies held recent security consultations.
One complication is who would hand the detainees over to Turkish authorities……