The Director of Canadas’ Spy Agency, CSIS, has made a very frank assessment of the Iraq War:
[The Iraq War’s] been an issue in terms of providing individuals more of an opportunity to learn new techniques and expertise in this. And more generally, it may serve as a motivation. It’s a serious concern
The CBC then reports: “Judd says the main terror threat facing Canada comes from radicalized Canadians. And he says CSIS has seen Iraq cause that radicalization in real cases.”
The CBC also quotes “intelligence expert Wesley Wark of the University of Toronto. “We’ve created in Iraq, as many experts now recognize, a virtual failed state where one didn’t exist before. A huge set of problems have been created there.””
The Senate Committee hearing to which he was testifying provided a live webcast of the proceedings. But unfortunately, it hasn’t been archived. I’ll search in the coming days for the transcript of the Directors words so that we can read them for ourselves.
The message is clear though… the Iraq war is a cause of concern for CSIS and for the safety of all Canadians.
Update
I’ve found a link to the Webcast… but it’s a live feed.. so it isn’t showing the original hearing, might be a good link to keep bookmarked though if you see something that you might be interested in.
Update 2
According to the Hansard site, Committee proceedings transcripts can take up to 15 days to appear on the web.