04Dec03-CP-Arar case may be repeated: Cellucci
'We will reserve the right to act unilaterally,' U.S. ambassador says
OTTAWA (CP) - The United States can't guarantee there won't be a repeat of the Maher Arar deportation case, the American ambassador said today.
Paul Cellucci, commenting after speaking to a conference on Canada-U.S relations, said that the United States respects the Canadian passport, but reserves the right to act unilaterally when it sees a need to protect its security.
His remarks came a week after Paul Martin, the incoming prime minister, spoke strongly about the need to respect Canadian passports to prevent a recurrence of the incident in which Arar was arrested in New York and deported to his Syrian birthplace, rather than to Canada.
Arar, a Canadian citizen, spent a year in a Syrian jail, where he says he was tortured. He was released without charges in October.
The Americans said he was an Al Qaeda terrorist suspect, although he was never charged with a crime in any country.
Martin took issue with the American action and said it might threaten security co-operation.
"I believe that what happened was simply unacceptable and that, if in fact we're going to have the kinds of exchanges of information which are so important in terms of the security of North America, that there is going to have to be an understanding that, in fact, the Canadian passport will be respected and that fundamental rights will be respected," he said.
Cellucci said the United States will protect itself.
"We certainly respect the Canadian passport and we will continue to respect the Canadian passport, but we will do what we have to do to protect the security of the people of the United States," he said.
If that means acting unilaterally, so be it, he added.
"The president has no more solemn obligation than to protect the safety of the people of the United States. We will reserve the right to act unilaterally in very rare cases."
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