愛污传媒

A militant Saudi group is calling for attacks on all oil suppliers to the United States, listing Canada among its targets.

In a message posted on its website, the al Qaeda Organization says Canada's oil and natural gas facilities should be attacked in order to "choke the U.S. economy."

"It is necessary to hit oil interests in all regions which serve the United States not just in the Middle East. The goal is to cut its supplies or reduce them through any means," reads the posting on the organization's Arabian Peninsula e-magazine.

"We should strike petroleum interests in all areas which supply the United States ... like Canada."

Mexico and Venezuela are the other western nations singled out in the group's call to arms.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service says it's aware of the posting, but will not comment on whether they consider it a legitimate threat.

Canada is the main supplier of both oil and natural gas to the U.S., with a bulk of the share coming from Alberta.

Alberta reaction

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach expressed confidence in Canada's intelligence officials to investigate the threat and take appropriate action.

"I have great confidence in the ability to track the conversations, track the kind of threats and respond immediately," he said.

Mel Knight, Alberta's energy minister, said the province's official threat level is still rated as low.

He told the Canadian Press that Alberta has a "very, very solid" plan to protect its energy facilities from terrorist threats.

Knight said the government and its key energy regulator have identified all critical infrastructures such as pipelines, refineries, oil sands mines and power plants. But should a serious threat surface, he said, installations would be immediately shut down.

While foreign affairs expert Eric Margolis said the threat is cause for some concern, he said this particular organization has proven "quite ineffective and inefficient" in its attempts to take out oil facilities in the past.

"This group has adopted the name of al Qaeda but it's not part of al Qaeda," Margolis told 愛污传媒net in an interview.

The organization was behind the failed February 2006 suicide attack on the world's largest oil processing plant at Abqaiq in Saudi Arabia.

"A lot of its members have been killed or arrested by the Saudi government. Their attack last year on a major oil refinery was a fiasco," Margolis said. "Threats coming from them cannot be taken too seriously."

Further, Margolis said oil and gas installations pose a formidable challenge for terrorists to knock out. They cover enormous amounts of ground and the type of damage these groups could inflict would be minimal and easily repaired, he said. Margolis cited unsuccessful attempts by Iran and Iraq to destroy one another's main oil terminals during the Iran-Iraq war.

Still, experts say a successful attack against Canadian supplies that disrupt the U.S. oil and gas industry would put a significant dent in the economy.

"And clearly, economic targets are high priority for Osama bin Laden. The head of al Qaeda has said that the only way to really strike at an American power and drive it out of the Mideast, which is his objective, is to strike at America economically," said Margolis

"It's done very well so far. The U.S. bill for the so-called war on terrorism is closing in on US $700 billion. Oil is obviously the next step."

Anti-terror measures

The threat comes as two of Canada's most controversial terror measures -- which the Tories have been pushing to renew -- are set to expire.

Criminal Code measures passed by the Liberal government in the days following the Sept. 11 attacks will fall off the books by Friday. The measures gave police the power to detain a suspect they believe is about to commit a terrorist act, and to hold closed investigative hearings of witnesses in connection with suspected plots.

Critics said the measures infringed on civil liberties, and the Liberals attached a sunset clause requiring the laws to be renewed by Parliament every three years.

But with the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois against the measures, the laws will expire.

Harper said today's threat should remind us of why the government "is trying to renew the provisions of the anti-terrorism act designed to protect the safety and security of Canadians."

"This was passed originally with bipartisan support," Harper said Wednesday during question period.

"I would urge all members not to play partisan politics with national security. You know, I understand the leader of the Liberal party may have a difficulty supporting our measures, but at least he maybe can rally the strength of leadership to support his own legislation," he said.

Former CSIS director Reid Morden told CTV's Mike Duffy Live that he believes the prime minister is taking a "responsible" position on the terror provisions.

He said he believes it's a matter of when, not if, Canada will come under attack by terrorists, and "partly as a result of our own activist foreign policy ... and particularly our very aggressive role in Afghanistan."

"The fact that something hasn't happened, I think, is simply a testament that the security forces that we have, primarily the RCMP and CSIS, are indeed doing their job."