'Rome' Wasn't Burnt in a Day

A court room where three of the Toronto 18, including the alleged ringleader, are being tried screened a flick today: I like to think of it as Meatballs IV, Jihad Summer. It features Mubin Shaikh who, unbeknownst to the others, was actually snitching on them to police, and it was Shaikh who was in court to translate the confounding jihad-speak for infidels who appear not to have even a glancing acquaintance with the most basic holy war lingo. From the Ceeb:

..."This is Rome. This is the one empire that has never been defeated. It's like a many-headed monster. You cut off one head and another grows," [ringleader] Ahmad tells the recruits.

Shaikh, who attended the camp, testified that the reference to Rome was a general reference to the West, more particularly to the United States.

"The concept of Rome being the West is a common understanding in Islamic terminology," he said. "[When] we're talking about the fall of Rome we're not talking about Rome, Italy."...

Thanks for clearing that up, Mubin. Though it's painfully clear to me what the Rome talk was about, but for your explanation the assembled might have been left to scratch their collective heads, trying for the life of them to figure out what the heck the city of Fellini had to do with plans to destroy urban infrastucture in Canada.