The Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP had been watching the would-be bombers for months and say they made sure the bombs were 鈥渋nert,鈥� so they couldn鈥檛 explode.
It will be months before we learn how much work and planning and sleepless nights went into the operation. To try to ensure a conviction, the police wanted to see the bombs being planted. 鈥淚nert鈥� or not, it must have been a gut-wrenching decision to let the plot go that far.
While all of us can be grateful to the security agencies for preventing what was intended to be a devastating attack, it is chilling to think the bombs were planted not by foreign enemies or international terrorists, but allegedly by British Columbians.
The bomb-makers packed the pressure cookers with explosives and rusty nails. You don鈥檛 put rusty nails in a bomb unless you intend to kill and maim people.
RCMP Assistant Commissioner Wayne Rideout said the aim of the plot was to 鈥渃reate maximum impact and harm to Canadian citizens at the sa国际传媒 legislature on a national holiday.鈥�
The police talked of al-Qaida-inspired ideology and self-radicalization, but it doesn鈥檛 appear this was part of a larger terrorist network. It seems more likely to be a couple of people who turned to violence for reasons that we hope will come out in court.
Horrifying as organized terrorism is, 鈥渉omegrown鈥� and 鈥渟elf-radicalized鈥� terrorists are frightening because they seem so hard to detect. Like the Boston bombers, they are usually invisible until they strike.
The Conference Board of sa国际传媒 has warned that such groups, organized from the bottom up, are connecting within sa国际传媒, without links to foreign terrorists. The board calls them 鈥渙ne of the most significant threats that we face today.鈥�
It appears that in this case, CSIS alerted the RCMP in February, and police say the bomb-making was under their control throughout, so the public was not in danger.
Although police say the bombers were inspired by al-Qaida, we don鈥檛 know their specific ideology, if any. We don鈥檛 know what they hoped to gain by detonating their devices.
The conventional wisdom is that terrorists want to sow fear and suspicion, to push democratic societies into overturning their cherished freedoms in a desperate search for security, to force benign governments to become authoritarian.
By this process, the terrorists hope to achieve their political ends.
But for many of the people who plant the bombs and pull the triggers, political ideology is an excuse. It鈥檚 a marginally acceptable rationale for doing what they want, which is to feel powerful and important by killing people.
Regardless of the motivation of the conspirators in this case, Premier Christy Clark and others were right to strike the now-familiar notes in the face of terrorism.
Clark said: 鈥淲e will not let them win. We will not let them strike fear into our hearts. These public spaces belong to us the people and we鈥檙e going to keep them.鈥�
Following up on those brave words will be as hard for British Columbians as it has been for every people afflicted by terrorism. The brave words of George W. Bush were followed by full-body scans in airports, the Patriot Act and incremental assaults on freedom.
Legislature Speaker Linda Reid is expected to review security at the legislature, as she should.
It will take courage to live up to Clark鈥檚 words, to keep the doors open.
