Canada Attacked

Last week, our friends north of the border suffered an assault on their liberty and way of life when as-yet unknown gunmen killed a Canadian soldier and attacked the Parliament building in Ottawa.  I had to leave right after the preliminary reports were coming out so I'm not sure if any more is known about the attack.  For my purposes, it's enough to know that Canada was attacked.

First, my condolences go out to the family of the serviceman killed today, the other serviceman killed earlier in the week and his companion who was injured, their families and the nation of Canada.  This is intolerable and must be avenged.

Second, I call on my country to stand up and defend Canada, not only our best neighbor but also one of our closest allies.  Canada has always been there for us, so now it's our turn.

Third, the United States better see this for what it is.

This is an attack on a soft target.  Canada, based on some of the reports by Canadian news outlets that I was able to hear today, called the country complacent.  Given how easily the armed intruder was able to gain access to the Parliament building today, I'd have to agree.  It would seem that Canada thought that nothing of the sort of thing that happened to us on 9/11 would ever happen to it. Unfortunately, for them and for us, they were wrong.

Reports have now surfaced that the murderer was a radicalized Muslim, native of Canada.  This seems to be what we can expect in the near future, sort of a welcoming committee for extremists from the Middle East who eventually will arrive here.  We've seen the same in our own country, with attacks in New York City, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Texas already.  Eventually, however, we'll see foreigners attempting more attacks here.

More troubling for me is the nature of the threat on the northern border.  For obvious and compelling reasons, our focus has been on the porous southern border.  It's been the scene of infiltrations and attempted infiltrations over the years -- let's not forget the infamous Zimmerman telegram that encouraged an invasion there during World War I -- with the active and violent participation of the drug cartels.  Islamofascist terrorists can easily blend in with Latins seeking a better life within our borders.  Yet the northern border presents a different kind of threat.

Longer and more porous than the southern border, terrorist elements can cross the border in hundreds of unpopulated and undefended locations.  To be sure, Islamofascists don't blend in as well with the local population as they could on the southern border, but especially in Minnesota, there is a population that would aid them to covertly infiltrate the country and hide them as they plot and carry out their missions.  With most of our attention diverted to airports and the southern border, the increased activity along the northern frontier is worrisome.

I mourn the losses Canada suffered last week and hope that for both their and our benefit they'll be more vigilant now.  But the attacks should serve as a wake-up call to us to focus more attention along what was once the longest undefended border on earth, not because of the threat from Canadians, but because of the threat that the porous border presents to those who would all too readily utilize it.

(c) 2014 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles