Posted on 07/30/2003 7:39:46 AM PDT by nypokerface
Solicitor General Wayne Easter did not discount the possibility yesterday that rogue elements within the RCMP passed intelligence to American authorities that led to the arrest and deportation of an Arab-Canadian to Syria for suspected links to al-Qaeda.
Mr. Easter said Prime Minister Jean Chrétien is taking seriously American assertions the RCMP tipped off U.S. authorities to arrest Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen, last September when he arrived at New York's Kennedy Airport en route to Canada.
Mr. Arar was carrying a Canadian passport when he was arrested and sent to a CIA debriefing station in Jordan before ending up in a Damascus prison.
The 32-year-old Ottawa engineer is being held in a secret location and denied access to his family and legal counsel.
"It is a serious matter and that is why the prime minister is taking on this case with his profile," Mr. Easter told CanWest News Service. "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."
Mr. Easter said he's aware the Americans claim the RCMP quietly asked the U.S. government to pick up Mr. Arar, whom U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci says was a target of a joint Canada-U.S. security investigation long before he was arrested in New York.
But Mr. Easter said senior Mounties insist there was no "official" decision to provide the U.S. with information that led to Mr. Arar being placed on a watch list used to screen passengers arriving at U.S. ports of entry.
"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 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 of 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."
Asked if the Canadian Security Intelligence Service also provided information on Mr. Arar to the U.S., Mr. Easter replied: "I can't get into talking what CSIS did or didn't on that particular matter."
However, U.S. authorities indicated yesterday an RCMP team in charge of the Arar investigation co-operated with the Americans to make certain the man 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," an 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 that Mr. Arar was well known to Canadian law enforcement agencies and "they wouldn't be happy to see him come back to Canada."
Mr. Easter did not discount Mr. Cellucci's statement, but said the situation has changed now that the prime minister has taken on the case to win the release of Mr. Arar.
"The fact of the matter is that whether we did or whether we didn't (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 citizen's family by doing what he is doing," he said. "He is pushing the case to ensure that Arar has the due process of law by Canadian standards."
Mr. Chrétien sent a personal envoy with a letter to Syrian President Bashar Assad yesterday asking that Mr. Arar either be charged and given legal counsel or freed and allowed to return to Canada.
Mr. Chrétien also wrote to Mr. Arar's wife, Monia Mazigh, promising to fight for his repatriation to Canada.
The Syrians have not responded to Mr. Chrétien's letter and they have 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.
Ms. Mazigh denies her husband has ties to al-Qaeda or any other terrorist group. She has expressed concern Canadian law enforcement agencies abused her husband's civil rights, although she has not filed a protest with the agencies that act as the public watchdog for the RCMP and CSIS.
Stockwell Day, the Canadian Alliance foreign affairs critic, has called for a parliamentary inquiry into Canada's handling of Mr. Arar's case, saying the government has sent conflicting signals about Mr. Arar's mysterious deportation.
Hey, if the Canadians really want this scum wandering loose in their country, maybe we should accommodate them. We'll get him back from the Syrians, bring him to Canada on a U.S. diplomatic passport, and walk him straight into Chretien's office for a photo-op.
Hint
Look for a Patriot. You know. Lover of freedom, guardian of people. Old fashioned,yes. Not the kind of man you would want in your PC government.
Are we to believe that President Assad is a more reliable ally in the war on terror than President Cretien? Is that the message?
One wonders if the Syrian jail is the equivalent of Berr Rabbits Briar Patch.
"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," The RCMP are cops doing their jobs. They are the guys who do the surveillance. They know the score."
Mr. Chrétien also wrote to Mr. Arar's wife, Monia Mazigh, promising to fight for his repatriation to Canada.
What can you say about a Government who’s law enforcement officers have to go around them to protect the citizens?
You Canadians have a lot of work to do up there. Don’t give up.
yea, his profile alright.
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