London Bridge terror attack raises risk of over-reaction

A marketplace bombing in Iraq is back-page news in the West. An attack in London that kills far fewer tops the newscasts. This is understandable. It is also what the terrorists want.

Canada's Liberal government is more circumspect. But the attacks in Britain are sure to strengthen the hand of those in the security services who want to keep the entire set of enhanced powers granted them by Stephen Harper's government—powers that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised to scale back.The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Opinion

BY THOMAS WALKOM

June 12, 2017

Terrorism is theatre. The point is not to overwhelm by sheer force of arms. It is to frighten and unnerve. If the terrorists are lucky, they will provoke their enemy into overreacting. Al Qaeda's great victory in 2001 came not from the deaths and damage of its 9/11 attacks. Rather it came from the ...

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