Watch List Dispute Highlights U.S.-Canadian Tensions

Arar says, and the Ottawa inquiry confirmed, that he was interrogated in Syria for almost a year and tortured. In October 2003, Arar was returned to Canada, where he has become a cause celebre and a potent symbol for critics of the Bush administration's practice of sending suspected terrorists to third countries that employ torture. Now, U.S. and Canadian officials find themselves in a standoff over whether Arar remains a threat and should be on the watch list. The dispute has shone a light on the deeply rooted suspicions each country has of the other when it comes to the gray and secretive world of intelligence. Despite having a wealth of potential terrorist targets, Canada has no foreign-intelligence service; information about outside threats comes from other governments. Indeed, the tips that first led Canadian officials to suspect that Arar had terrorist connections came from Syria. The Canadian inquiry found that Ottawa's handling of his case was deeply flawed and was based on false information. The Canadian government has agreed to pay Arar nearly $10 million in compensation and has asked that the Americans clear his name. The Bush administration has refused. This document is located at http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0207/022707nj1.htm [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on March 1, 2007]

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