At first, the Canadian government tried to skate by this new troubling reality. It refused to give unqualified support to the U.S. war on Iraq, but participated eagerly in its invasion of Afghanistan.
It passed draconian anti-terror laws but was loath to use them, preferring to hand over Canadian suspects (St. Catharines resident Mohamed Mansour Jabarah being the most notable example) to U.S. authorities to do with as they saw fit.
It didn't raise a peep when the U.S. imprisoned Canadian teenager Omar Khadr in its notorious Guantanamo Bay prison camp.
Finally, as Justice Dennis O'Connor's judicial inquiry concluded, while Canadian authorities didn't have any reason to arrest computer engineer Arar, they happily gave the U.S. information (much of it wrong) that helped convince the Americans to do just that.
The U.S. then promptly sent him to Syria to be tortured.
If it had not been for the chain of events that this unleashed, Canada might still be happily muddling along its inconsistent path.
But the Arar case made the contradictions of post-9/11 Canada-U.S. relations so clear that even Americanophile Stephen Harper has to acknowledge them.
"It has raised concerns," the Prime Minister said yesterday when asked at a news conference if, in light of the Arar matter, his government will be able to trust Washington.
That puts it mildly. Thanks to Arar, the two governments are fundamentally at loggerheads over how to handle security issues.
The U.S. administration insists it was right to send Arar to Syria to be tortured.
Ottawa, on the other hand, has concluded that what Canada and the U.S. did to Arar was unjustified to such an extent that it's willing to compensate him at a cost of more than $10.5 million.
But if we are so far apart on this case, what does this say about Canada-U.S. co-operation in other areas of the so-called war on terror?
More at:
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/175534
[Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on January 29, 2007]
Note: http://www.thestar.com/...
U.S. Security Trumps Freedom
Posted on Sunday, January 28 at 09:59 by jensonjContributed By
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Expect little from life and get more from it.
P.M. Harper
>>However, this government the government of Canada has every right to go to bat for one of its citizens when the government believes a Canadian is being unfairly treated by another country. <<
>>And to be clear, as Prime Minister, Minister Day has done so with my full support. <<
The United States of America's Government officials and its citizens don't give a dame what the Canadian Government thinks or its citizens!
The United States of America is inventing, re-inventing and redefining internationally recognized legal standards and laws for its own selfish purposes and protection. Washington has been negotiating bilateral agreements with other countries, insuring immunity of US nationals, Military personnel and political officials from prosecution. The Canadian Government is allowing foreign American law enforcement personnel, CIA, FBI, Security Service and the even NYPD, to set up offices across Canada as well as entering and leaving Canada without authorization or authority to do investigations and enforce U.S. law on Canadian soil.
The big question is what are the Prime Minister and the Government of Canada going to do to put a stop to these actions against Canadian citizens at home and abroad?
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Perception is two thirds of what we perceive reality to be.
Difficult decisions are a privilege of rank.
No more then they do about any other country in the world. Since the United States became a country, they have always interfered with other countries. There is no country untouched by American hands, one way or another.
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Expect little from life and get more from it.