Masri said officials with Canada's foreign affairs department told her last night that two RCMP officers would accompany Kahil, 38, home on a private Air Transat flight, which was scheduled to arrive back in Toronto at 2:30 this morning.
What's not clear is why a passenger list was given by the airline to American authorities, since U.S. legislation enacted after 9/11 requires airlines to provide passenger lists only if a flight is destined for the U.S.
The U.S. "no-fly list" has been frequently criticized for cases of mistaken identity. Innocent passengers have been snared because of similarities to names on the list or because names have been misspelled. Among those who have been barred in the United States are veteran Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy, John Lewis, a Democratic congressman from Georgia, and the son of Canadian Senator Colin Kenny, who has chaired the Canadian Senate's security committee.
"The name Sami Kahil is like saying Joe Blow or John Smith. They've got the wrong guy," his exasperated wife said.
But the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said yesterday there was no question that Kahil's name should have appeared on the list. "This is an excellent example of the information sharing that we need with good allies," said spokesperson Brian Doyle.
"I can assure you that if your name is on a U.S. no-fly list, it is not put there in any willy-nilly fashion. This is not a case of mistaken identity."
Masri said her husband, a shoe store owner, had travelled to the U.S. without incident many times since the U.S. expanded its watch list after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Born in Lebanon, Kahil has lived in Canada for more than 20 years and travels on his Canadian passport.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1136589011746&call_pageid=968332188854
[Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on January 9, 2006]
Note: http://www.thestar.com/...
Mississauga Man Detained
Posted on Sunday, January 08 at 13:06 by jensonjContributed By
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Dave Ruston
Hey! American airspace, no! Not the one between their ears! The air space where terrorists take to the sky and reign terror down on ol’ peace lovin US of A.! is sacrosanct as is cyber space!
Why right now, at this very minute while type fifteen thousand eight hundred and seventy-three American police agencies are focused in on my computer,I sub mit to Vive le Canada , you know? That “Mar-can” hatin’ baitin’ leftie commie simp-a-thighs-in … well you get the ideer.
Those ‘sleeper cells” have taken on the behaviours of Rip van Winkle or maybe Sleeping Beauty and once they awaken, because up till now they haven’t well kiddies iot aint gonna be pretty
and know i won't sign in no point to
Stay out of our airspace then... You have 2 choices, Atlantic or Pacific.
Wow, America sure is safe!
Maybe every tourist should do as mr regressive thought proposes - everyone just avoid America. Don't buy their stuff, don't use their money and just plain old ignore them. Finally a good idea from the Bush cultists.
what the security service did do before 3000+ people were killed on 9/11 was be less than vigilent. they would be remiss if they didn't at least attempt to rectify the situation.
and a shoe store owner from mississauga couldn't possibly be a terrorist or have terrorist connections? i'm not saying he is, it's probably a mistake, but is far-fetched to alot of people? that shows the amount of naievete and ignorance about these things.
That is why I proposed it Miss. “new word”.
>>>Don't buy their stuff, don't use their money<<<
Well there goes our economy! Without Miss. Progressives “hand woven hemp based product” and “wind chime” income flooding into our coffers we are going to be broke any minute! Kiss the GDP that is bigger then the next 8 combined goodbye!
>>> just plain old ignore them.<<<
You couldn’t ignore us if your life depended on it! LOL Prove me wrong! I beg you…
go there<br />
read the comments your countrymen make<br />
<br />
<p>---<br>Your mantra has been your opinions are stifled due to their contrary nature, when they are actually stifled for being without perceivable foundation
Thanks for bringing up the side issue of "cyber space" I suppose you would prefer to have an international body over see this revolutionary AMERICAN invention. Hmmm......let's see folks like the freedom loving Chinese (read any news stories regarding them and the internet lately, fool?). Arab/Mooooslims, African dictators, oh yeah, Canadian's old buddy Fidel.......shall I go on? I don't think so.
Why don't you fools just dig yourselves into one hole at a time instead of layering your weak arguments one atop another?
No if you will excuse me, I and the rest of Team-America have to pull an all-nighter plotting the enslavement of the entire world.
Uncle Sugar
Heh... No wonder.
This guy from Canada has absolutely no legal recourse. They can have him detained, and god forbid if he actually landed in the USA, render him to Pakistan for interrogation.
The US government has now legitimized the use of force against it's people without ANY LEGAL RECOURSE. Now, all they have to do is increase this now legal behaviour, and they will have a totalitarian state.
Am I the only one noticing this??
<br />
<a href="http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060116/kahil_nofly_terrorist_060116/20060116?hub=TopStories">http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060116/kahil_nofly_terrorist_060116/20060116?hub=TopStories</a><br />
<br />
And we shall quote a tad now (eh)...<br />
<br />
* "Cdn on no-fly list ex-Hezbollah member: report<br />
Updated Mon. Jan. 16 2006 8:25 AM ET<br />
<br />
CTV.ca News Staff<br />
<br />
A Lebanese Canadian who was denied entry to Mexico after his name appeared on an American no-fly list originally came to Canada using a false French passport and had previously been a member of a Middle East terrorist group, the Toronto Star reports.<br />
<br />
Sami Kahil, 38, who was twice denied refugee status, says his background, including "forced" membership in the terrorist organization Hezbollah still doesn't explain why the U.S government put his name on a no-fly list. <br />
<br />
Kahil has been working to clear his name since Jan. 7, when he was returned to Toronto under RCMP escort on a private jet after being denied entry to Mexico where he planned to have a family vacation. His wife and two children came home earlier.<br />
<br />
Canadian officials deemed his past explanations suspect and rejected his application for refugee status on Feb. 28, 1991.<br />
<br />
"It is inconceivable to the panel that someone who claims to fear the Hezbollah would consistently return to the area under their control and work for them," the refugee board wrote in its decision to reject him. <br />
<br />
However, Kahil, from Mississauga, Ont., dismissed his past associations.<br />
<br />
While living with his parents in Basta, West Beirut, when he was in his early 20s, Kahil claimed Hezbollah -- a pro-Iranian terrorist organization with global links -- came to his home...<br />
<br />
Kahil said he worked for the group without pay, in a non-combat role, filling sandbags and transporting ammunition.<br />
<br />
In October 1989, he said, his uncle helped him to flee Lebanon for West Germany; from where he flew to Pearson International Airport on Feb. 1, 1990 on a false French passport.<br />
<br />
Kahil says he was eventually sponsored by his Kuwaiti-born Canadian wife, whom he married in 1993.<br />
<br />
American officials insist there's no mistake and defend the no-fly list's accuracy.<br />
<br />
"This is not a case of mistaken identity," U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Brian Doyle told the Star. "I can assure you that if your name is on a U.S. no-fly list, it is not put there in any willy-nilly fashion."<br />
<br />
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And the TRUTH strikes yet again (eh). Duh. Can-uhhh-duh. Go ahead and put oot yet MORE hateful, bigoted, spasmodic, anti-American hate propaganda there "vivelewehateanyandallpeopleofAmericannationalorigin.ca"....yeah, by all means there "tolerant" ones...do so yet again (eh)...
yaaaaAAWWn....damn...havin' a hard time stayin' awake after that all nighter planning the enslavement and subjugation of enlightened, progressive VanHoover, TorontHo, and the rest of polite, peaceful, Canada...gotta go get that evil mind ray machine back up and running again now....they just don't make 'em the way the used to (eh)...oh, but for a MOMENT of sleep...*sigh*...no rest for the *wicked* though...