"Al Qanada"...
"Trevor Payne" wrote in message
news:c0rcks$4tp$1@news.eusc.inter.net...
> Canada "hospitable" to global terrorists and criminals, says U.S. report
>
> JIM BRONSKILL
> Canadian Press
>
> Sunday, February 15, 2004
>
> OTTAWA (CP) - Canada has been branded a "favored destination for
terrorists
> and international criminals" by the research arm of the U.S. Congress.
>
> Generous constitutional freedoms, weak law enforcement and lightly
patrolled
> borders have made the country an inviting place for dangerous extremists
to
> set up shop, says a new report by the Library of Congress in Washington.
> "Canada has played a significant role as a base for both transnational
> criminal activity and terrorist activity," the report says.
>
> The report, titled Nations Hospitable to Organized Crime and Terrorism,
was
> completed in October by the congressional library's federal research
> division under an arrangement with the Central Intelligence, Crime and
> Narcotics Center.
>
> The center, staffed by members of various U.S. intelligence agencies,
> analyses information about illicit drug trafficking.
>
> The authors drew on government studies, police and intelligence reports,
> media stories, academic articles and "personal communications with
regional
> experts."
>
> The report notes the recent co-operation between Canadian and U.S.
officials
> in fighting terrorism. It also acknowledges Canadian steps to toughen
> anti-terrorism and immigration laws, but casts doubt on whether they go
far
> enough, saying Canada's "liberal democratic identity" may limit adoption
of
> sterner measures.
>
> The Canadian government has expended great effort to try to dispel a
nagging
> image of the country - particularly in the eyes of some hawkish
Americans -
> as a terrorist haven.
>
> The congressional library report could undermine that effort since the
> document is intended for politicians, aides, lawyers, and other movers
and
> shakers on Capitol Hill.
>
> Representatives of the Canadian government and public interest groups
> quickly took issue with the report.
>
> "While we may have areas that we must continue to work on, every country
has
> areas that it must work on in the fight against terrorism," said Alex
> Swann, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan.
>
> "The issues that we have to deal with are pretty common ones globally."
>
> Janet Dench of the Canadian Council for Refugees questioned the quality
of
> the report's research, calling it one-sided and "laughably amateurish."
>
> She said its themes are "chilling" and "virtually totalitarian" given
the
> study's association of broad civil liberties with the cultivation of
> terrorism.
>
> Numerous other countries, including leading industrialized nations like
> Britain, France and Germany, are also critiqued in the 234-page report,
> along with the likes of Algeria, Indonesia and Russia.
>
> But only a handful of jurisdictions in the Western Hemisphere - Canada,
> Colombia, Mexico and the notorious tri-border region of Argentina,
Brazil
> and Paraguay - are the focus of attention.
>
> The report claims that terrorists and crime syndicates are increasingly
> using Canada as an operational base and transit country en route to the
> United States.
>
> "A generous social-welfare system, lax immigration laws, infrequent
> prosecutions, light sentencing, and long borders and coastlines offer
many
> points and methods of entry that facilitate movement to and from various
> countries, particularly to the United States," the report says.
>
> "These factors combine to make Canada a favored destination for
terrorists
> and international crime groups."
>
> The report highlights the case of Ahmed Ressam, the Algerian-born
Montrealer
> caught trying to slip across the border in 1999 to bomb Los Angeles
> International Airport. While planning the attack, Ressam supplemented
his
> welfare payments by stealing cash and credit cards.
>
> The authors note that until recently there has been no widespread
concern
> Canada could be the victim of a terrorist attack.
>
> "Sensitivity to civil liberties combined with this low threat perception
has
> made both the adoption and enforcement of tougher immigration laws and
> strong counter-terrorism measures more difficult."
>
> Roch Tasse of the Ottawa-based International Civil Liberties Monitoring
> Group said U.S. policies seem entirely geared toward policing,
protection
> and wariness of newcomers.
>
> "We should have a very serious second look before we succumb to U.S.
> pressure to harmonize in their direction," Tasse said.
>
> "Short of becoming a police state, we can hardly respond to what they
would
> expect of us."
>
> Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States,
Canada
> brought in new anti-terrorism laws, tightened screening of immigrants
and
> refugees and worked out an extensive border-control agreement with its
> neighbour.
>
> "However, enforcement will be the key," the report says. Success of the
laws
> "will depend in large part on whether a new balance between civil
liberties
> and security concerns will yield effective prevention."
>
> For instance, the report contends the new immigration law would not have
> prevented Ressam from using Canada as a planning base.
>
> Most of the criminal means by which terrorists raise funds, such as
fraud,
> theft and counterfeiting, still would not disqualify a person from
remaining
> in Canada, the authors argue.
>
> The report even takes issue with the name of the 2002 law - the
Immigration
> and Refugee Protection Act - saying it "serves as an indication of the
> prevailing concern for or priority placed upon civil liberties in
Canada."
>
>
>
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