US blasts Canada on terrorism

From the Globe and Mail :
"Washington — Islamic terrorist cells continue to operate in Canada, according to a Bush administration report released yesterday that fingers a “liberal” immigration system for allowing terrorists to infiltrate the country.
“The principal threat to the close U.S.-Canadian co-operative relationship remains the fallout from the Arar case that prompted the Canadian government to review and restrict information-sharing arrangements with the United States,” it says.
“The Arar case underscores a greater concern for the United States: the presence in Canada of numerous suspected terrorists and terrorist supporters,” the report pointedly notes."

The Arar case. Maher Arar was the Syrian born Canadian citizen with a Canadian passport who was kidnapped by the US and sent to Syria - with Canadian government complicity - to be tortured for 10 months before being released.

And on what grounds was he kidnapped by the CIA and delivered to Syria?

"The Syrians believed that Arar might be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Why? Because a cousin of his mother's had been, nine years earlier, long after Arar moved to Canada. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police reported that the lease on Arar's apartment had been witnessed by a Syrian- born Canadian who was believed to know an Egyptian Canadian whose brother was allegedly mentioned in an al Qaeda document."

That was it. That was what they had on him.
He knew some guy who was believed to know a guy whose brother might have been mentioned by bad guys.
And we were all ashamed for Canada's part in it.

I'll bet the Canadian government is really going to give them shit for having the temerity to bring up Arar as an example of terrorism. Let's keep reading :

"Foreign Affairs spokesman Rodney Moore said, “Canada's new government believes in maintaining a vigorous counterintelligence program to safeguard our national security.”
“The 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,” he added."

So I guess we can now look forward to an uptick in new government-sponsored terrorism.
First they came for the...
You know the rest.