What happens when a "democratic country" (that is one that never takes popular votes on issues, just routinely decides who gets to "drink at the trough"), plays along with a country without morals on its southern border AND

has a budget surplus that is aggressively desired by its military and "intelligence" community"?

Well, obviously you get turf wars (RCMP versus CSIS) and many people who vote feeling that they are being taken for a ride - a ride that is destroying their way of life. Here is what happened when 3 -- count 'em - 3 men were exposed to hell on earth due to CSIS trying to appear - ahem - anti-terrorist.

(And take my word on this .... this little story aint' over yet ...

no matter how much Canada's little minority government

would wish it would GO AWAY while they get on with

suspending the Articles of Confederation ...

Intelligence watchdog raps CSIS

over policy on

human rights abuses

Jim Bronskill, Canadian Press

Published: Friday, October 27, 2006

OTTAWA (CP) - The watchdog over CSIS recommends the spy agency make it official policy to consider a country's human rights record and possible security abuses before handing over information.

Though the Security Intelligence Review Committee doesn't name names, it appears the recommendation clearly stems from three high-profile cases of Arab-Canadians, all related to the Maher Arar affair, who were imprisoned and interrogated in Syria about alleged terrorist links.

"SIRC believes that CSIS's policy framework should reflect the challenges of dealing with countries suspected of human rights violations," says the review committee's annual report tabled Thursday in Parliament.

The committee's examination of CSIS's information exchanges with seven foreign agencies for the period January 2002 through December 2004 found the intelligence service had complied with the law and existing policy.

However, it noted some concerns, concluding that:

-Information CSIS provided to a foreign agency could have contributed to the agency's decision to detain a Canadian citizen, who was a CSIS target, upon arrival in that country.

-CSIS received and used information from a foreign agency that "may have been obtained under duress."

-Questions submitted by CSIS to the same agency via a third party may have been used in interrogating a Canadian citizen "in a manner that violated his human rights" - a diplomatic way of saying torture.

CSIS told the committee that in most cases it will not know whether information originated from an abuse of human rights, but, if suspected, the service has to balance that against the need to protect Canadians.

The review committee said while the service must deal with some agencies that engage in questionable practices, it should amend information-sharing policy "to include consideration of the human rights record of the country and possible abuses by its security or intelligence agencies."

CSIS spokeswoman Barbara Campion said Thursday that as a result of an earlier committee review of Arar's case, the service had already taken action on a similar recommendation.

"We'll take another look at our policies and see if they need any more updating or reviewing," she added.

For reasons of national security, the review committee is circumspect about the individuals and agencies it scrutinizes in the course of keeping an eye on CSIS.
However, it is evident the review of foreign exchanges zeroes in on three cases linked to the Arar affair.

It is difficult to pinpoint which or how many of these individuals - Abdullah Almalki of Ottawa, Toronto truck driver Ahmad El Maati and Toronto-area geologist Muayyed Nureddin - the committee's findings directly concern.
However, the report could prompt new questions about CSIS's role in the cases when the spy agency's director, Jim Judd, appears before a Commons committee next Tuesday.

Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian, was detained in New York in September 2002 and soon after deported by U.S. authorities - winding up in a grave-like Damascus cell where he was tortured into giving false confessions.

A commission of inquiry led by Justice Dennis O'Connor found information passed by the RCMP to U.S. authorities very likely led to Arar's ordeal.
O'Connor also concluded CSIS "did not do an adequate reliability assessment" as to whether details Arar gave Syrian Military Intelligence behind bars were the product of torture.

O'Connor recommended the RCMP and CSIS review their policies governing how they supply information to foreign governments, such as Syria, with questionable human rights records.

Arar came under RCMP scrutiny in Ottawa in October 2001 through his contact with Almalki, a prime target of an anti-terrorism investigation dubbed Project A-O Canada.

O'Connor said the cases of Almalki, El Maati and Nureddin, all three of whom were also imprisoned in Damascus, raised troubling questions about the role of Canadian officials.

He recommended the cases be reviewed through an independent and credible process. The government has said it will look into the cases.
© The Canadian Press 2006