Our Muslim enemies within

Yesterday, in "Harper's Islamic chickens come home to roost" Walt speculated [Do you speculate often? Ed.] that the gunman who shot a Canadian soldier -- a reservist, the poor bugger -- would turn out to be "yet another Islamic terrorist, whether homegrown or imported, perhaps as a refugee or asylum-seeker under Canada's notoriously lax immigration laws."

Meet Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, now the late Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, thanks to the deadly aim of the Sergeant-at-Arms of Canada's House of Commons. Here's what we know about him. His father was Bulgasem Zehaf, an immigrant (or possibly refugee) from Libya or elsewhere in North Africa. His mother is Susan Bibeau, who just happens to be Deputy Chairthingy of the Immigration Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada! Any suggestion that Ms Bibeau somehow facilitated the admission to Canada of Mr. Zehaf is, of course, completely unfounded.

The elder Zehaf wasn't anywhere around yesterday. Perhaps he is still in Libya, where he went to fight in the unpleasantness of 2011. Who he fought for is unknown, but it probably wasn't our side. Ms Bibeau was not returning e-mails yesterday, and staff in her office declined to comment.

According to the Globe and Mail, Mr. Zehaf-Bibeau grew up in the Montréal area, where his mother still lives, and, like his dad, spent some time in Libya. His friend Dave Bathurst told the G&M that Michael came back to western Canada where he worked occasionally as a miner and labourer.

Mr. Bathurst said he met Mr. Zehaf-Bibeau in a Burnaby, B.C., mosque about three years ago. In the interview, Mr. Bathurst said his friend frequently talked about the presence in the world of Shaytan -- an Arabic term for devils and demons. He last saw Mr. Zehaf-Bibeau six weeks ago, praying in a Vancouver-area mosque, when he told his friend he wanted to go to the Middle East soon, to study Arabic and learn about Islam.

Apparently the Mounties got wind of this, for Mr. Zehaf-Bibeau was unable to get a passport from Canadian officials, who have been taking measures to prevent Muslim Canucks from joining Islamic extremists overseas. Walt suggests (again) that it might have been better to let him go. Certainly it would have been better for Corporal Nathan Cirillo, RIP.

Walt's score on this prediction: 1.000. Lifetime pct: .951.