The mouse that roared ...

... or, "How the neo-con wankersphere made complete prats of themselves yet again."

It was a stunning victory in the War on Terror™. Stalwart and courageous American law enforcement officials broke up a dangerous terrorist plot to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge! Only ... it wasn't much of a plot -- a mentally unstable truck driver whose idea was to bring down the bridge with blowtorches.

Um ... right. In short, it's not much of a "victory" if you've been following the guy all along, is it? Can't really say there was much element of danger there, can you? But, by God, it makes for great copy and just super news conferences, don't it?

And now, we have the Canadian wankersphere, determined to make even bigger asses of themselves than they have until now, howling with glee over how a nefarious, home-grown terrorist plot has been nipped, I say, nipped in the bud and can you believe those dastardly evildoers had enough ammonium nitrate for three Oklahoma City bombings and ... and ... hang on ... what's this (emphasis added):

... what triggered the rapid wave of RCMP-led Toronto-area arrests was the Mounties' controlled delivery shortly before of three tonnes of ammonium nitrate in 25-kilogram bags — gardening fertilizer that, when mixed with fuel oil, can produce a lethal bomb of the type white supremacist Timothy McVeigh used in 1995 to destroy Oklahoma City's Alfred P. Murrah building, killing 168 people.

So, the swarthy evildoers got their ammonium nitrate from ... the RCMP??? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, man, that's priceless. I may never look at comedy the same way again. This seriously suggests that those boneheads had been under surveillance for quite some time, no? Why, yes, yes they had:

The ammonium nitrate was delivered. The targets were set. After two years of a stealthily assembled counterterrorism web of surveillance, wiretaps and informants, police were ready to swoop down.

Two years? The RCMP knew about this plot for two years? Which means that it never, in any meaningful way, represented an actual, you know, threat. And why just let all this drag on for two years before swooping down and nabbing everyone? Ah, here we go:

But long before the sensational details and spectacular arrests came the watching.

Ah. "Sensational." "Spectacular." 'Cuz it makes better news that way, that's why. Even if those poor schmucks never had a hope in hell of carrying out their plan, just give them enough rope (and ammonium nitrate, of course) and, sure, they'll hang themselves.

See, it's always more impressive if you broke up an evil terrorist plot to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge, without mentioning that it involved some mentally-unhinged dingbat who thought he could do it with blowtorches and never had even the remotest chance of pulling it off. Just like it's more impressive to break the news that you've crushed a Canadian terrorist ring that had been under surveillance for two years and whose chances for success were equally non-existent.

And is there any chance we'll find out whether these "terrorists" represented a legitimate threat, or whether they were the equivalent of poor Iyman Faris and his blowtorches? I'm guessing not:

The operation was so complex and tightly shrouded that everyone involved — including all the roughly 400 police officers who scooped up the 17 suspected Islamic extremists Friday and Saturday — had to sign the Official Secrets Act, pledging total discretion.

Over at Catnip's place, Catnip addresses the irritating whining from the Right: "IS ANY LEFT WING BLOGGER COMMENTING ON THIS STORY AT ALL?" Well, yes, but unlike the hyper-ventilating Blogging Tories, we on the Left have a habit of waiting a day or two until the facts start to shake out. That way, we can avoid making indescribable asses of ourselves.

I'm sure you know what I mean, right?

BY THE WAY, make sure you appreciate the creepy parallels between these two stories:

"The charges against Faris and al-Marri might well be true. Or partly true. Or totally false. We'll never know--because the entire process was sealed from public view."

"The operation was so complex and tightly shrouded that everyone involved — including all the roughly 400 police officers who scooped up the 17 suspected Islamic extremists Friday and Saturday — had to sign the Official Secrets Act, pledging total discretion."

The classics never go out of style, do they?