U.S. Ambassador Offers No Apologies For Arar

He denies any terrorist activity and says he was tortured into false confessions in Damascus - only to be released without charge after a year in jail and returned to Canada. Wilkins, who took up his post in Ottawa about two months ago, seemed puzzled when asked whether he or his government had any regrets about the affair. "You talking about regrets by the United States?" he said. "The United States made that decision (to deport Arar) based on the facts it had, in the best interests of the people of the United States, and we stand behind it." The ambassador went on to describe the action as an example of the hard-nosed approach that has governed U.S. anti-terrorist policy since the 9-11 attacks four years ago. "The thing is that tough decisions have to be made every day now in this new environment we're in," he said. "When you make decisions at the border or inside your country you don't get second chances. You've got to be right all the time in terror, because if you make the wrong choice an act of terrorism occurs." Ottawa and Washington signed an agreement last year - known as the Monterey Accord - that promised closer and higher-level consultation in future cases involving Canadians detained in the United States. But the deal did not give Canada an absolute veto over the deportation of its citizens to third countries. Wilkins appeared unfamiliar with the details of the accord but maintained that the general rule is still, as it has always been, to "look at each case on its merits." The ambassador, a former speaker of the South Carolina legislature and a close political ally of President George W. Bush, was also at a loss to explain why American authorities refused to participate in a public inquiry in Canada into the Arar affair. "I honestly don't know the answer to that," said Wilkins. "Were they asked? I don't know." The inquiry, headed by Justice Dennis O'Connor, tried to get Paul Cellucci, who preceded Wilkins as ambassador, to testify. He turned down the request, as did other U.S. officials. Cellucci and Colin Powell, then the U.S. secretary of state, maintained when Arar was first deported that Canadian officials had acquiesced in the decision. The Americans later backtracked and said they had acted unilaterally. Nevertheless, a key question at the inquiry has been the extent to which Canadian police and security officers collaborated with their counterparts south of the border. The RCMP, which had Arar under surveillance before his arrest in New York, has admitted sharing information about him with U.S. officials. But the Mounties, along with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, deny they had anything to do with his removal to Syria. They say they expected him to be sent home to Canada after questioning. Instead, after 13 days in detention, he was spirited on a specially chartered jet to Jordan, and from there to Damascus where he faced further interrogation. The U.S. action has been described as unacceptable and "duplicitous" by Barbara McIsaac, the head of the federal government's legal team at the Arar inquiry. Testimony at the hearings has shown the RCMP never had any hard evidence against Arar. He had come to their attention only because he had casual contacts with others targeted in an anti-terrorist investigation. His lawyers have asked O'Connor to clear Arar's name and urge Prime Minister Paul Martin's government to offer financial compensation for his ordeal. They say that, whether or not Canada collaborated in sending him to Syria, the government didn't do enough to win his speedy release once he was there. http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2005/09/18/pf-1222673.html [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on September 20, 2005]

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