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| Great White North |
| State Department charges terrorist plotters still active in Canada |
| 2006-04-30 |
| The Bush administration on Friday said Canada has become a "safe haven" for Islamic terrorists who exploit lax immigration laws and weak counterterrorism enforcement to raise money and plan attacks. In its annual Country Report on Terrorism, the State Department expressed growing concern about the presence of "numerous" terror plotters in the country, and said political fallout from the Maher Arar case continues to hamper information-sharing between Canadian and U.S. intelligence agencies. "Terrorists have capitalized on liberal Canadian immigration and asylum policies to enjoy safe haven, raise funds, arrange logistical support and plan terrorist attacks," the State Department said. The U.S. noted "only one person" has been arrested under anti-terrorism legislation passed in Canada after terrorist attacks in the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001. A spokeswoman for Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said Canadian officials were still reviewing the U.S. report and would not comment on its specifics. "What I can tell you is that Canada's new government believes in maintaining a vigorous counter-intelligence program to safeguard our nation's security," said Day's communications director Melisa Leclerc. "This government does not tolerate inappropriate activities and will restore our reputation as a leader and dependable partner in defending freedom and democracy in the world." The State Department's harsh language on Canada contrasted with its statements in the report of Iraq, which it said was "not currently a terrorist safe haven" despite the continued attacks carried out by al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi and other groups in the country. While praising Canada for playing "an important counterterrorism leadership role worldwide" -- specifically through its military presence in Afghanistan -- the State Department said the Arar case had cast a chill over relations between the countries' intelligence agencies. Arar, an Ottawa engineer and Canadian citizen, was detained by U.S. authorities in September 2002 during a stopover in New York on a flight from Tunisia to Canada. Suspected of terrorism ties, he was sent to Syria under a policy called "extraordinary rendition." A federal inquiry into Arar's detention found he had been tortured while in Syrian custody. The U.S. says the RCMP gave them information suggesting Arar was a security risk. The ensuing controversy led to restrictions on intelligence sharing that still hamper the "free flow" of information about terror suspects, the U.S. said. "The principal threat to the close U.S.-Canadian co-operative relationship remains the fallout from the Arar case," the report states. "The Arar case underscores a greater concern for the United States: the presence in Canada of numerous suspected terrorists and terror supporters." Last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation accused two Muslim youths from Georgia of traveling to Toronto in 2005 to plot attacks against American military bases and oil refineries. The arrests were part of an ongoing FBI investigation into Islamic terror cells in Canada, the agency said. The State Department cited the presence of five other terror suspects -- Mohamed Harkat, Mohamed Mahjoub, Mahmoud Jaballah and Hassan Almrei and Adil Charkaoui -- as further evidence of an ongoing Canadian problem with Islamic extremists. Harkat, Mahjoub, Jaballah and Almrei are being held on security certificates in the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre, dubbed "Guantanamo North" by human-rights activists. Charkaoui is free on bail. Harkat, Charkaoui and Almrei -- who allegedly have ties to al-Qaeda -- are challenging the government's use of the security certificates to indefinitely hold terror suspects. The Bush administration report called Iran the world's biggest state sponsor of terrorism, saying the country's Ministry of Intelligence and Security has had direct involvement in the planning and support of terrorist attacks. While the U.S. said it has had substantial success disrupting the financing and leadership network of al-Qaeda, the group remains the country's single greatest threat, the report said. "Our collective international efforts have harmed al-Qaeda. Its core leadership no longer has effective global command and control of its networks," said State Department special co-ordinator for counterterrorism Henry Crumpton. But remaining at-large and through occasional public statements, al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri "symbolize resistance to the international community, demonstrate they retain the capability to influence events and inspire actual and potential terrorists," Crumpton said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 Somebody at State doesn't like that there's now a Conservative government up north? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-04-30 20:10 |