Ayanle Hassan Ali is a 27-year-old Canadian conundrum. He is accused of walking into the armed forces recruiting office on north Yonge Street and stabbing two soldiers. He is said by his victims and others to have shouted that Allah made him do it. Conundrum? Ali is Canadian born, has no criminal record, is well-liked by those who know him and who are stunned by the idea that he might do such a thing. It is a situation to give authorities pause. Now it is learned that Ali was employed for four months by an unnamed third-party employer at Pearson airport and that during the four-month period in 2008-9 he had a restricted area identification card. It is not said exactly what that means but presumably he was allowed to go where others were not for security reasons. .
