OTTAWA—Michael Zehaf-Bibeau spoke quickly but calmly, recording his last thoughts on a hastily shot cellphone video, declaring himself part of the mujahedeen out to retaliate for Canada’s military missions in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Alone in his Toyota Corolla parked near the downtown Ottawa police station, the 32-year-old said, “Canada’s officially become one of our enemies,” so he was now “aiming to hit some soldiers just to show that you’re not even safe in your own land.”

Within minutes, he drove several blocks to the National War Memorial and jumped out. Armed with an old hunting rifle and a long knife tied to his wrist, he fired on two ceremonial guards, killing the unarmed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo before storming Parliament Hill in an attack that pushed terrorism to the top of Ottawa’s agenda.

Zehaf-Bibeau’s final message was heard publicly Friday for the first time, released at a special meeting of the Commons public safety committee at MPs’ request and the urging of Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney’s office.

Blaney said later it was “shocking and disgusting” and motivated him “more than ever” to push through a sweeping new anti-terror law, though he declined to point out exactly to how it would have prevented Zehaf-Bibeau’s attack.

However, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson, who has added 600 more Mounties to national security investigations and seconded 60 more municipal officers to help since the attack, was more circumspect.

Paulson welcomed tougher new “peace bond” provisions that would make it easier to restrict the liberty of suspects. He had harsh words for the justice system, which he suggested was dragging its feet in the face of a new and quickly evolving threat.

But Paulson admitted current laws against terrorism would have been enough to charge Zehaf-Bibeau had the warning signs that he was turning to violence been reported to the RCMP.

Slain in a shootout with security guards and police in the Hall of Honour, Zehaf-Bibeau fit the Criminal Code’s definition of terrorist, said Paulson.

Paulson’s comments shone new light on the man whose mother said he acted in despair and not on behalf of “some grand ideology or for a political motive.”

Autopsy tests found no drugs or alcohol in his body when he died, and if Zehef-Bibeau had mental health problems, the RCMP says there is no evidence that drove him to violence. Rather, Paulson described him as “lucid and purposeful” on the day he attacked.

Paulson said Zehaf-Bibeau applied for—and was refused—a Canadian passport in Vancouver last August. He boarded a Greyhound bus on Sept. 23 to Ottawa, and went to the Libyan embassy hoping to renew an old passport to which he was entitled because his father was Libyan. That, too, was delayed, Paulson said, because the embassy advised him it needed to check discrepancies in his identification records.

It was not clear if the RCMP was specifically advised of Zehaf-Bibeau’s passport difficulties, although sources have told the Star he was very low on CSIS’ radar. Paulson said there is a “standing task force” of several federal agencies that share information in the case of so-called high-risk travellers.

But his case didn’t raise any red flags.

Furthermore, Zehaf-Bibeau was not alone. Living out west, in B.C. and Alberta, in recent years he’d had “contacts” with influential individuals whom the RCMP continues to investigate.

One missing piece to Zehaf-Bibeau’s story is where he acquired the Winchester .30-30 calibre rifle. “The source of that gun is of tremendous interest to us,” Paulson said, asking for the public’s help in determining where it came from.

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Paulson said Zehaf-Bibeau’s radicalization to violence was “a slow burn” and that “people close to him, both friends, people he ran across, ought to have taken it upon themselves to say this is getting to a point where we ought to do something.”

Sitting in the same room in Centre Block where Conservative MPs had cowered and Prime Minister Stephen Harper took cover in a closet on the morning of the Oct. 22 attack, MPs on all sides said they found the screening a chilling, disturbing reminder of what had been a terrifying day.

It happened just two days after Martin Couture-Rouleau ran down two soldiers outside a veterans services office in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., killing Warrant officer Patrice Vincent.

After the screening, the Liberal critic Wayne Easter agreed with Conservatives that it made a strong case in favour of Bill C-51, the proposed new anti-terror law.

The NDP insisted it showed the opposite — that current laws were enough, and the real issue is one of police resources. However, public safety critic Randall Garrison did modify the party’s stance, telling the CBC there is no longer any use in debating whether Zehaf-Bibeau was a “terrorist” or not.

“We’ve seen evidence today” and the RCMP commissioner made a clear statement, said Garrison. “I don’t think this is a matter for debate at this point.”

Zehaf-Bibeau mentions Harper in his video and Ottawa’s decision to join the U.S.-led coalition striking the Islamic State in Iraq.

“To those who are involved and listen to this movie, this is in retaliation for Afghanistan and because Harper wants to send his troops to Iraq,” the video clip begins.

Paulson said 18 seconds from the video were edited out and not shown Friday — 13 seconds from the beginning and five from the end.

“I am satisfied that there are reasonable and sound operational reasons for these edits and you will no doubt want to understand these reasons, too. Unfortunately, for the very same reasons we have edited the video, I cannot explain to you at this point why we have done so,” he said.

Zehaf-Bibeau’s motives have been dissected in the aftermath of his crimes and his attack is often cited by leaders worldwide as an example of the threat posed by the Islamic State, which controls parts of Iraq and northern Syria and has called for attacks on western targets.

While there is no evidence that he had a formal connection to the group or its members, he appears to share the same grievances.

Security services have warned that this threat of westerners acting independently, inspired by online propaganda, is as pressing a concern as well-organized attacks co-ordinated by the Islamic State or Al Qaeda and its affiliates.

Paulson told the committee that the RCMP was not concerned “what kind of a terrorist Zehaf-Bibeau was, or if he was a particularly intelligent, sophisticated, influential or personally disciplined terrorist.”

The investigation he said is focusing on: “What was he doing and why was he doing it.”