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| Great White North |
| Sorry, No Terrorists Here |
| 2003-07-30 |
| Canadaâs Solicitor-General would not discount the possibility yesterday that rogue elements in the RCMP passed on intelligence information to U.S. authorities leading to the arrest and deportation of an Arab-Canadian to Syria over allegations of links to al-Qaeda. Wayne Easter said he is aware the Americans are claiming the RCMP quietly asked the U.S. government to pick up Maher Arar, whom Paul Cellucci, the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, says was the target of a joint Canada-U.S. security investigation long before he was arrested in New York last September. Mr. Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen, was arrested when he arrived at New Yorkâs John F. Kennedy International Airport en route to Canada. The 32-year-old Ottawa engineer was carrying a Canadian passport when he was detained and then sent to a CIA debriefing station in Jordan before ending up in a Damascus prison. He is being held in a secret location and denied access to his family and legal counsel. Mr. Easter said senior Mounties insist there was no "official" decision to provide the United States with information that led to Mr. Arar being placed on a watch list used to screen passengers arriving in that country. "The Americans had indicated that it was RCMP and it was the RCMP who indicated to me that there was no official discussions," he said. However, Mr. Easter did not rule out the possibility RCMP officers working the Arar case alerted U.S. law enforcement without the official approval of their superiors at RCMP headquarters. "I would hope that when an American authority is dealing with Canada that they only do it on the basis on official clearance," he said. "You could have a number of individuals claiming to speak on behalf of an agency and that is certainly not what we want, so the information that I have been provided with is that there was no official clearance or discussion on that issue with American authorities." "It is a serious matter and that is why the Prime Minister is taking on this case with his profile," Mr. Easter said. "He certainly speaks for the government and what we want to do is ensure that there is due process of the law for a Canadian citizen." Asked whether the Canadian Security Intelligence Service provided information on Mr. Arar to the United States, Mr. Easter said: "I canât get into talking what CSIS did or didnât on that particular matter." U.S. authorities indicated yesterday an RCMP team in charge of the Arar investigation co-operated with the United States to ensure Mr. Arar did not return to Canada. "There is a real disconnect between the Mounties on the street doing the investigations and sometimes the people at the top in terms of acknowledging the problem in Canada with sleeper cells," a U.S. official said. "From the American perspective, the RCMP is much better to work with than CSIS because CSIS is a political creature. The RCMP are cops doing their jobs. They are the guys who do the surveillance. They know the score." In April, Mr. Cellucci told a private audience Mr. Arar was well known to Canadian law enforcement agencies and "they wouldnât be happy to see him come back to Canada." Mr. Easter did not discount Mr. Cellucciâs statement but said the situation has changed now that the Prime Minister has intervened to win Mr. Ararâs release. Mr. Chrétien sent a personal envoy with a letter to Bashar Assad, the Syrian President, last week asking that Mr. Arar either be charged and given legal counsel or freed and allowed to return to Canada. "The fact of the matter is that whether we did or whether we didnât [want him back], we have a responsibility to a Canadian citizen and the Prime Minister is exercising that responsibility to a Canadian citizen and to a Canadian citizenâs family by doing what he is doing," Mr. Easter said. "He is pushing the case to ensure that Arar has the due process of law by Canadian standards." Syria has not responded to the Prime Ministerâs letter and has yet to lay terrorism-related charges against Mr. Arar, despite promising to do so in April when Canadian officials last saw Mr. Arar in prison. Mr. Chrétien has also written to Mr. Ararâs wife, Monia Mazigh, promising to fight for his repatriation to Canada. Ms. Mazigh denies her husband has ties to al-Qaeda or any terrorist group. She has expressed concern that Canadian law enforcement agencies abused her husbandâs civil rights, although she has not yet filed a protest with the agencies that act as the public watchdog for the RCMP and CSIS. |
| Posted by:john |
| #5 I actually voted for Cretin the first time. Not because I really agreed with his policies or anything, but I was disgusted by the PCâs âis this the face of a leader?â campaign. It was pretty disgusting. Then again, I was young, stupid and didnât know much about politics or the man himself and just about anyone seemed better than Kim Campbell. Look how it all turned out. Cretin has been a disaster from the get go and an absolute embarrassment. Youâre right, Rafael, in that there is simply no alternative and just the way the system is in Canada virtually guarantees that the Liberals will be elected time and time again. I like the Alliance, but they just donât resonate with voters in the East, who are much more left-wing. Wish the Right could just unify and make a united stance just to get those bastard Liberals out of office. |
| Posted by: SL 2003-7-30 9:12:09 PM |
| #4 When Mounties turn rogue... I expect that anyone losing their job due to this will find work in the U.S.A., perhaps with the New York City Police Department. PM Cretin just plain gets on my nerves. |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-7-30 7:58:28 PM |
| #3 Amen SL. Chretien is treated like a god because he won several elections in a row. But in reality there was no alternative to Chretien in the east, and Ontario consistantly kept forming the federal government. In fact the last federal election had the lowest voter turn-out ever, to illustrate this. I never voted for him; never liked him from the beginning. He can't go away fast enough. Unfortunately, I have my doubts about Martin as well, but we'll see... |
| Posted by: Rafael 2003-7-30 7:22:39 PM |
| #2 Actually, CSIS has a good working relationship with US intelligence agencies and theyâre pretty highly regarded for their work. My father had a problem with a former Pakistani employee and reported him to the Canadian authorities. CSIS contacted him back and asked him a series of questions about the guy. The agent also said that they are watching a lot of these people and they do acknowledge that it is a problem and even a threat within Canada, but they arenât supposed to discuss it publicly for âsensitivity reasonsâ (i.e. they donât want to offend anyone). The main problem with Canada is the people in charge who either seriously donât have a clue, are outright delusional or donât want to do anything about the situation just so they can spite the US. Chretien is a vestige of the old Trudeau leadership, and we all know what he really thought of the US. Point is, they know what's really going on, but are saying the opposite for a variety of stupid reasons. I hope things change when Paul Martin takes over, but I donât really like him either. Itâs a shame that John Manley bowed out of the race because he really took this threat seriously. Still, anyone (except for Sheila Copps) would be better than the buffoon in charge of Canada right now. |
| Posted by: SL 2003-7-30 5:54:14 PM |
| #1 fred? header help |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-7-30 4:29:11 PM |