Canada Election Issue - Maher Arar

[maplesyrup]

This situation seems to be unraveling for the Martin Liberals.

Maybe now we are beginning to see why they have refused to hold an inquiry.

Apparently today the RCMP have raided the office and the home of a reporter Juliet O'Neill, from the Ottawa Citizen newspaper, and that criminal charges are pending.

Are we turning into a police state in Canada?

[udawg]

If there was some sort of conspiracy or whatever, surrounding the Arar case, why would Martin bother hiding it? The issue began long before he took office. If there was some inconsistencies in the handling of the case, he should be exposing them, not covering them up.

Which leads me to believe that the RCMP did this of their own accord, without leadership any higher than their own. They, unlike Martin, could have something to lose if a story comes out. (Assuming there was wrongdoing of some sort.)

[maplesyrup]

That's the perception problem.

Martin has been part of our current Liberal government for years and years.

Martin said he was going to get to the bottom of it.

Is this what he meant?

[udawg]

Was he in a position, however, to be involved in this? Yes, he was high up in the party for years, but is it even possible for him to have the proverbial blood on his hands? Finance minister, then hoofed out of cabinet...powerful at times, yes, but not concerning foreign affairs.

[maplesyrup]

If there is nothing to hide, why didn't Martin initiate a public inquiry?

That is how one gets to the truth.

This is a very serious issue for Canadians.

The Federal Liberals have been in power since 1993.

The optics don't look very good right now.

[SirRiff]

martin is somehow at fault? he was not even welcome in the PMs office during the time. serously, that kind of thinking is just desperate.

there is only one problem here, we have no official canadian policy as to how we are going to interact with the US when they go on crazy terrorist witchhunts. especially when its one of our citizens are the entire "evidence" is just some vauge whim. even syria let him go after they found nothing of substance against him.

canada needs to either concede that the threat to the US by terrorists trumps alot of our sovereign pride and we will have to give up power, or that in spite of the perceived threat we as a nation need to maintain our dignity especially when its the health and well being of canadians at stake.

i vote for the latter. dont give up our guys to the US, but at the same time put some real muscle in our response to terrorism and border security. then at least we can handle these cases ourselves, and the US can trust us not to be soft with dangerous men.

[maplesyrup]

SirRiff....why I said Martin is because the buck stops here. He's in charge, is the prime minister, and has the power.

Martin has blocked an inquiry. Why?

Martin said he was going to getto the bottom of it.

The next thing you know we have this police raid today.

There was nothing wrong with our relationship with the Americans. All this hoopla is pure Martin spin.

Now Martin is running around changing our foreign policy, changing our defence policy, star wars, etc., with no mandate at all from the Canadian people.

Let's have an election before we start atoning for our sins by not having sent troops to Iraq with the Americans.

I agree with you, let's get our own act together securitywise.

[Morgan]

maplesyrup, I agree with you. I believe Martin is spinning this case and blocking the inquiry because he does not want to offend or embaress voters within the Muslim community. According to a National Post article Dec.30/03 which I posted within the US-Canada relations topic, Martin had been extensively briefed on the Arar case, so he knows he dealing with a can of worms - even though Arar the individual is responsible for his own actions, I'll bet Martin does not want to take any chances so near the election that the Muslim community might feel embaressed if all of Arar's dirty laundry were made public, especially since Arar has become a cause celebre.No one wants their heroes shown to have clay feet. You can read much more of the article on the other thread. It looks like Arar may be a bad boy wannabe.

This guy is not a virgin," said a senior Canadian intelligence source, speaking on background. "There is more than meets the eye here."

Officials say Paul Martin, the Prime Minister, has been extensively briefed on Mr. Arar's activities abroad and in Canada, suggesting this is why Ottawa backed off holding a full-scale public inquiry into his arrest and deportation by American authorities.Officials say U.S. agencies have an extensive dossier on him that raises serious questions."If the Americans were ever to declassify the stuff, there would be some hair standing on end," the senior source said.

With regards to the Star Wars stuff, I think it's solidarity posturing with the USA that has more to do with quid pro quo-getting permission to bid on contracts in Iraq as a sub-contractor. I doubt Canada will be expected to pony up $ to the Star Wars project. I think it's basically verbal support.

I think the USA is fine with Canada. The Americans are too busy focusing on the upcoming election. After Saddam was captured and now that the Iraqi people are sort of, kind of co-operating with one another to form a gov't by June, I think the events leading up to Iraq are pretty much a blurred memory. No dog house stuff. Heck if Bush is still talking to Chiraq after what he did, Chretien's bad mouthing was like a small mosquito bite.

Martin is hustling & bustling to make it look like he's planning to make a big changes in foreign policy. Big show, no substance. What's to change, except to behave politely with foreign leaders, eh?

[maplesyrup]

Morgan....I agree with you that Martin knows exactly what is what about the Arar case, but I doubt very much that Maher Arar, or the Muslim community, is involved in some wrong doing.

I rather doubt that Maher would be suing US Attorney General John Ashcroft if he had done something wrong himself.

And today we had the police raids on Janet O'Neill's office at the Ottawa Citizen and her home.

And this evening on the CBS 60 Minutes show apparently US officials again reiterated that they got their info on Maher from Canada's police forces.

All very intriguing.

[Boydfish]

Yawn. Another Ontario/Quebec issue attempting to be made out as a "national" issue.

This story isn't even page Q52 fodder on this side of the Rockies.

[Goldie]

Am I wrong when I state that Paul Martin included Bill Graham in his cabinet in the very same portfolio in which the later boasted that the Americans where at fault.

I was actually stunned and delighted when I saw PM had retained the services of this lamo. No one should think for a second that the parallel government that existed from August to December was unaware of the Arar file.

I believe PM is currently sweatin' with the oldies and sought to stifle any more damaging leaks before the good ship (Liberian flagged) cruise to power starts to resemble the Titanic.

I stated some time ago in a long since erased thread about the pathetic attempt to blame the Americans for this sad treatment of a citizen of Canada. I'm also hoping William Sampson surfaces around April.

In the meantime I'll be busily making sure Stockwell Day, Bill Grahams worst nightmare, fends off the two challengers in his riding.

[Morgan]

maplesyrup,

That Maher is suing the Attorney General is inconsequential actually. Ashcroft gets served with papers probably several times a week. I wouldn't assume Maher is innocent. If you read the Dec.30/03 Nat'l Post article, Maher's activities and old pals are worrisome.

Canadian and U.S. intelligence officials are "100% sure" that a Syrian-born Canadian who was imprisoned for a year in Damascus trained at the same al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan as Ahmed Ressam, the former Montrealer convicted of planning a terrorist attack.

The US was under no obligation to let him visit their country, especially after the Canadians had tipped them off that they had a dossier on him.

Maher was a dual national. And since the Canadian authorities were in a dither about what to do with him, the Americans shipped him off to his birth country.

I'm sorry but I can't work up a whole lot of outrage about Maher. His shady pals and his being at an Al Queda training camp, really don't cause me to have too much empathy for him. For goodness sake, this guy's pals were planning to blow up the Parliament bldgs. Give me a break.

And to compare him to Sampson is a stretch, too. I saw Maher's picture in Macleans shortly after he returned from Syria, and he looked the picture of health. He certainly didn't look like he had done without meals while he was in Syria. Very strange for a person who was ill-treated. Were there any reports of Maher seeing a medical examiner about his torture related injuries? No, didn't think so, and you better believe if such evidence existed, Maher's lawyer would have made a big toodoo.

In some ways I kind of feel sorry for Martin because he's between a rock and a hard place with this guy. The truth will not set Martin free. yuk, yuk