ANALYSIS - The Power Of Secrecy

The patent lack of sensitive national security content in any of the declassified passages set pundits seething in indignation and commentators across the spectrum seemed to agree that the government's actions not only breached public interest, but compromised its essential integrity. It is not hard to see what might have motivated the government to try to keep the passages in question classified. They are doubly damning in so far as they not only put the lie to the air of innocence maintained by the security services in relation to the fate of Arar, but also show that Canadian authorities were in much closer connection with the agency ultimately responsible for Arar's rendition than originally thought. Indeed, at least one senior CSIS operative strongly suspected very early on in the whole saga that Arar had been targeted under the American transport-to-torture rendition program led by the CIA. Moreover, such suspicions were conveyed to CSIS high command but were not subsequently shared with the agency's political masters. Furthermore, the declassified portions make it clear that the CIA itself directly contacted the RCMP for intelligence on Arar shortly before he was subject to rendition. Finally, the declassified passages show that the RCMP complied with the request for information immediately and in full–sans the mandatory caveats and qualifications intended to safeguard the use of such information. http://www.embassymag.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2007/august/15/deisman/ [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on August 16, 2007]

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