Leahy: DHS and DoJ Are Stonewalling Arar Investigators

Via the Canadian Press:

WASHINGTON (CP) - U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy says U.S. investigators are getting stonewalled in internal reviews of the case of Canadian engineer Maher Arar.

In letters to the independent investigative arms of the Homeland Security and Justice departments, Leahy says he wants to know the status of any probes.

And he notes that a former Homeland official reported delays and obstruction in July 2004 in obtaining documents and interviewing officials about Arar.

Leahy, chair of the Senate judiciary committee and ranking Republican Arlen Specter also want the U.S. Government Accountability Office to conduct an inquiry into whether people like Arar can effectively challenge their presence on terrorist watch lists.

Leahy and Specter have been briefed by Justice officials on Arar this month but have complained they still have a lot more questions.

And who can forget Leahy's smackdown of Gonzales in January?



When Leahy was given that briefing in early February some commenters here and elsewhere thought Leahy had somehow caved to the Justice Department and falsely concluded that Leahy might have been convinced that Gonzales et al had some incriminating evidence about Mr Arar - assertions they were unable to prove, of course.

As I said in a previous post, this is far from being over. Meanwhile, our Conservative government has pulled back from applying pressure on the US government with MacKay simply agreeing to disagree with his US counterparts (ie. Condi) about the fact that Mr Arar is still on the US no-fly list. Mr Arar deserves much more than that from the Canadian government. If it wasn't for Leahy, joined by Republican senator Specter, this case would simply disappear into the ether.

Related: Leahy/Specter press release

On Arar: Agreeing to Disagree is Not Enough

Fact: Maher Arar is still on the US's no-fly list.

Fact: Foreign Affairs minister Peter MacKay doesn't seem to care.

"We agree to disagree at times," MacKay said. "It's clear Canada and the United States hold a different position on this issue.

Agreeing to disagree is not enough.

MacKay went on to praise the "tremendous unprecedented co-operation" between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico in areas of security.

How nice. Then why are these discussions secret? Canadians deserve to know what's being discussed and decided upon in our names.

Rice reiterated previous comments on the Arar affair, saying the United States respects Canada's decision on Arar, but makes its own security decisions based on "our own information."

So-called 'information' that continues to cast suspicion on Mr Arar even after he was cleared in Canada. MacKay should be demanding a thorough review of this situation. Even Stockwell Day, who said he's seen the so-called evidence the Americans are using against Mr Arar, has stated he saw nothing to indicate keeping Mr Arar on such a list. Instead, MacKay is playing footsies with Condi every chance he gets while selling out who knows what to the Bush administration.

We deserve transparency and Mr Arar deserves more than a wishy-washy foreign affairs minister whose main objective seems to be winning over the Bush administration.