“I was not motivated by a hate for Canada. I am not a lunatic who is hell-bent on the destruction of western civilization.”
All right. But are you a thoughtful, devout mujahid who is hell-bent on the destruction of western civilization?
“‘Toronto 18’ member guilty in bomb plot made ‘huge mistake,'” by Trevor Pritchard for the Canadian Press, August 26 (thanks to Block Ness):
BRAMPTON — The Mississauga man who took part in a conspiracy to blow up prominent landmarks in Toronto’s downtown told court yesterday he made “a huge mistake” as his lawyer asked for a two-year prison term for his client.
Saad Khalid, 23, told a Brampton courtroom he accepted responsibility for his role in the domestic terror plot to detonate bombs outside the Toronto Stock Exchange and CSIS headquarters, as well as an unnamed Ontario military base, in 2006.
“NOT A LUNATIC”
Khalid said he wanted people to know his true motives: his “disagreement” with Canada’s foreign policy, specifically Afghanistan.
“I was not motivated by a hate for Canada,” Khalid read from a prepared speech. “I am not a lunatic who is hell-bent on the destruction of western civilization.”
Khalid was arrested in June 2006 while unloading what he and fellow alleged conspirators believed was two tonnes of ammonium nitrate, according to an uncontested statement of facts entered earlier.
One of the members of the so-called Toronto 18, Khalid pleaded guilty in May to one count of participating in a terror plot with the intention of causing an explosion….