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Cold Terror: How Canada Nurtures And Exports Terrorism Around The World

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HOW CANADA NURTURES AND EXPORTS TERRORISM AROUND THE WORLD

This critically acclaimed book exposes how Canada became home to many of the world's deadliest terrorist organizations. Canada's lax laws and lack of vigilance have put its neighbors and the world community at risk. Award-winning journalist Stewart Bell draws on classified intelligence documents, front-line accounts, exclusive interviews with senior counterterrorism officials and the victims of terrorist attacks, and terrorists themselves, to provide incontestable evidence that Canada is an important base activity for terrorist groups.

Acclaim for Cold

"Canadians will be madder than hell after they read Stewart Bell's shocking account of how the Canadian government has allowed Sikh, Tamil and Islamic terrorists to come into our home and turn it into a safe house for international terror... Stewart Bell's clarion call for action needs to be heeded before the ticking Canadian terrorist time bomb blows up closer to home."
— The Globe and Mail

"Stewart Bell makes clear... that Canada's political leadership has a history of ineptitude, naivete, and outright irresponsibility with regard to international terrorism that stretches back to the 1980's. [He] has done an enormous service."
— Christian Science Monitor

"A devastating indictment of Canada's failure to deal seriously with terrorists on our soil."
— Martin Collacott, Canada's former ambassador to Syria and Lebanon, High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and Counter-Terrorism Coordinator

"Cold Terror will shock the conscience of a nation...This book is not just an exposé it is and urgent call to action."
— David Frum, author of The Right The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2004

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Stewart Bell

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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Profile Image for Dark Passport.
42 reviews4 followers
November 29, 2025
Cold Terror was written and published in the aftermath of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. It was a time when many countries were in shock, especially close allies of the American government. Anyone willing to attack the most powerful country in the world on its own soil would just as quickly go after other Western nations. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies throughout the world kicked into the highest gear. Everyone was on edge, including Canada. Reading this book, now more than 20 years since its original date of publication, one can feel the fear and anxiety that gripped the globe. People had been killed, a war had begun, and everyone was wondering if their own neighbors were plotting the next 9/11.

We now know there hasn’t been another attack on the same scale as September 11th in the United States or Canada. Thus the question, debated to this day among counterterrorism experts: Why? The investigative journalism work by Stewart Bell provides some answers while at other times it sets up more questions. Did law enforcement do its job? Are we finally sharing information across agency and country boundaries to the point of effectively thwarting such attacks? Or do we simply continue to get lucky?

To those who study 9/11 and its ongoing ripple effects that still shake us to this day, Cold Terror sheds light on the often-overlooked response by the Canadian government. It may be difficult for some to look past the author’s obvious political bias. But to those who can, this is truly an eye-opening account of how Canada arguably became a breeding ground and safe haven for terrorists. The reader will almost certainly close the back cover wondering what, if anything, has changed in the counterterrorism world over the past two decades.
Profile Image for Toni Osborne.
1,606 reviews53 followers
January 9, 2010
I encourage every citizen of Western countries, especially Canadians to read "Cold Terror". Mr Bell one of Canada's leading reporters on national security and terrorism has courageously presented evidence in this acclaimed book, exposing events taken from classified intelligence documents, front line accounts and interviews to inform Canadians about terrorists living in their country.

In his book he recounts many incidents that happened around the world involving Canadian terrorists: the most talked about are: the 1985 Air India bombing, the 1991 assassination of Indian prime Minister Gandhi, the 1993 World trade Centre bombing, the 1993 assassination of Sri Lankan President Premadasa, the 1995 attack at the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad and the killing of tourists in Egypt in 1997and the truck explosion that killed 100 in Sri Lanka the same year, the Bali night club bombing in 2002 and the 2003 attack in Riyadh.

The book doesn't stop there it also provides examples of terrorists taking advantage of the liberal immigration and refugee policies to enter Canada, most of us will remember the better known: such as the Canadian leader of the Tamil Tiger Mr Suresh, Issa Mohammed who took part in the assault of an El Al airliner in Athens in 1998, Essam Marzouk responsible for the training of the bombers of the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and Ahmed Ressam who was caught at the Port of Angeles border trying to get into the US with a carload of explosives determined to blow up the L.A. airport

In one chapter, the author went to great length recalling multiple incidents credited to the Khadr clan. Describing how Ahmed Khadr exploited to its maximum his Canadian citizenship and the CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) to support the Al-Qaeda jihad.

Another chapter was dedicated to the Jabarah brothers, two young men that were brought up and educated in St.Catharine's Ont and responsible for the Bali bombing and other exploits. All this helps to confirm Mr Bell's opinion that Canada is a safe heaven for terrorists, not only by phony refugees but also by landed immigrants and worse by citizens.

According to Mr Bell, CSIS and the RCMP were reasonably effective at monitoring the activities of the terrorists groups but lacked support from Canadian politicians who refused to acknowledge the magnitude and the seriousness of their threat to the world.

After reading this book, if you are not mad and frustrated by the complacency of the government representatives I would be very surprised. Hopefully the views of the Canadian Leaders have changed since the publication of this book in 2005...

This is one impressive and chilling account that reads like a high octane thriller.
4 reviews
September 29, 2010
This book gives a detailed account of how Canada is helping the international terrorist organizations like LTTE, Babbar Khalsa, Hezbollah, in setting up their bases for planning and organizing terrorist plots all around the world and also how inadequate the Policies and politicians of Canada are lacking the credible laws and regulations to constrict them and eliminate them in the first place.It shows how Canada has become a safe haven for some of the most wanted men in the criminal/terrorist world. Very informative book, and gives you an bird's eye account of how the far-west is responsible for some of the heinous crimes in the human history.
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