U.S. blasts Canada on terrorism [DIV id=author] [P class=byline]and WASHINGTON
[P class=source]From Saturday's Globe and Mail
[DIV id=article style="FONT-SIZE: 100%"] [!-- dateline --]Washington[!-- /dateline --] — Islamic terrorist cells continue to operate in Canada, according to a Bush administration report released yesterday that fingers a "liberal" immigration system for allowing terrorists to infiltrate the country.
The harsh assessment of Canada reflects a view widespread on the U.S. political right, but one rarely given official sanction.
Largely prepared before the Conservative government took office in Ottawa, the report, entitled The Country Reports on Terrorism 2005, concludes that political tensions between the Bush administration and the then-Liberal government over Iraq and the Maher Arar affair disrupted vital information-sharing about terrorists.
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"The principal threat to the close U.S.-Canadian co-operative relationship remains the fallout from the Arar case that prompted the Canadian government to review and restrict information-sharing arrangements with the United States," it says.
The exhaustive report, prepared by the U.S. State Department, makes clear that terrorist units are currently deployed in Canada and the United States, although the wording is cumbersome.
"With the exception of the United States and Canada, there are no known operational cells of Islamic terrorists in the hemisphere," it says.
Then, in language much tougher than in any previous report — Canada was once lauded as a model partner in the war against terrorism — it says terrorists have exploited the "liberal Canadian immigration and asylum policies to enjoy safe haven, raise funds, arrange logistical support and plan terrorist attacks."
"The Arar case underscores a greater concern for the United States: the presence in Canada of numerous suspected terrorists and terrorist supporters," the report pointedly notes.
State Department spokesman Noel Clay could offer no explanation for the shift in tone on Canada. "We stand by what's in the report," he said.
Although Canadian co-operation with President George W. Bush's global war on terrorism still received generally high marks, the current report is tougher in tone and suggests that Canada's once-staunch position has grown soft.
The 2001 report, for example, included nary a negative word about Canada.
"Overall anti-terrorism co-operation with Canada is excellent, and stands as a model of how the U.S. and another nation can work together on terrorism issues," the report says.
In Ottawa, there was no response from ministerial offices — either Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, who was in Washington last week touting close Canada-U.S. anti-terrorism co-operation, or Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay. However, the government seemed stung by the report and keen to distance itself from the Liberals.
Foreign Affairs spokesman Rodney Moore said, "Canada's new government believes in maintaining a vigorous counterintelligence program to safeguard our national security."
"The government does not tolerate inappropriate activities and will restore our reputation as a leader and dependable partner in defending freedom and democracy in the world," he added.
The latest U.S. report takes the unprecedented step of naming "other known terrorists in Canada" and then lists five. It doesn't mention that all but one have been detained, without charge, for years on controversial Canadian security certificates.
The other is free but under surveillance and tight reporting conditions.
The report also notes that "Canada is also home to the Khadr terrorist family."
On the plus side, the report lauds Canada for playing "an important counterterrorism leadership role worldwide, often in partnership with the United States."
It also notes that Canadian troops were deployed to Afghanistan.
"Although Canada chose not to join Operation Iraqi Freedom," it has helped with police training, pledged reconstruction funds and "led international monitoring of all three rounds of Iraqi elections," it says.
The 292-page report makes grim reading.
"Overall, we are still in the first phase of a potentially long war," it says, adding that violent extremist groups had rapidly morphed under the intense pressure of U.S.-led military attacks and international crackdowns."
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