Arar mistake a costly one (& other eds from up north)

[struggle4progress]

Arar mistake a costly one

By Lee Prokaska
The Hamilton Spectator
(Jan 27, 2007)

... This situation -- in which Canadian officials essentially conspired with U.S. officials to send a Canadian citizen to a foreign torture chamber -- should never have occurred. It should never occur again, and not just because it is costing taxpayers more than $12 million. It should never occur again because it is just plain wrong ...

U.S. officials are wrong to keep Arar on the security watch, particularly without revealing why he remains under suspicion. Our federal officials, including Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, are absolutely right to object to the further persecution of a Canadian citizen. It is not "presumptuous," as U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins maintains.

It is the right of the sovereign United States to decide who may enter their country and who may not. But the American position is ironic, given the infringement on Canadian sovereignty -- sending a Canadian citizen to Syria. Taking Arar off the no-fly list would imply the U.S. was mistaken about him in the first place. At least in Canada, we admit our mistakes, no matter how much they cost.

http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1169851811330&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1112188062581

Wilkins needs reality check

Randy Burton, The StarPhoenix
Published: Saturday, January 27, 2007

... U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins simply can't understand why Canada would want his country to take Maher Arar off its "no-fly" list that effectively prevents him from entering the US ...

With all due respect to the ambassador, that's not quite the question the Canadian government is asking. What we want to know is why the Bush administration continues to exclude a person who has been proven to represent no threat to U.S. security interests.

If the U.S. has any evidence to suggest otherwise, then surely they can share it. If not, then what is the basis for his continued exclusion? ...

The Bush administration appears to believe it has a right to railroad our citizens to Third-World prisons and it owes no one any explanations ...

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/columnists/story.html?id=3f28c6c9-e4a3-4f12-94b4-8e762729f403

Arar illustrates perils of terror watch lists

By BRUCE CHEADLE

... In an era of burgeoning terror watch lists - including proposals for a Canadian-made no-fly list - the danger of tarring innocent individuals remains high. Just ask Maher Arar, who endured slurs from anonymous government sources and outspoken opposition MPs during and after his year-long ordeal languishing in a Syrian prison ...

An example of the mess: the wife of a Republican senator is continually hassled at airports because her name, Catherine Stevens, is similar to 1970s folk singer Cat Stevens. Cat Stevens, who changed his name to Yusuf Islam more than a quarter century ago, is on the U.S. no-fly list ...

Canada is currently working on its own version of the no-fly list.

Regulations were quietly published in October and the public was given 75 days to respond ...

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/War_Terror/2007/01/26/3453737-cp.html

Temper, temper, Mr. Ambassador

... “It’s a little presumptuous of (Day) to say who the United States can and cannot allow into our country,” the ambassador huffed. “Canadian officials would rightly never tolerate any American official dictating to them who they may or may not allow into their country.” ...

Suppose Canadian authorities seized an American citizen at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. Suppose said citizen was not sent back to the United States, but spirited away to another country, one with a dubious human-rights record. Suppose said citizen suffered torture in that country.

This would, rightly, never be tolerated by the Americans.

So why should it be tolerated by us?

http://www.hfxnews.ca/index.cfm?sid=6955&sc=90