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Politics : America Under Siege: The End of Innocence -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Captain Jack who wrote (9993)	11/7/2001 10:03:27 AM
From: DeplorableIrredeemableRedneck	Respond to of 27666

MP bashes American 'ignorance' U.S. legislators often don't travel: Montreal Liberal Sheldon Alberts National Post nationalpost.com OTTAWA - A Quebec Liberal MP yesterday claimed American politicians think Canada is a terrorist haven because the majority of them are ignorant and uneducated about the country, and rarely travel outside the United States. The remarks by Marlene Jennings, a member of the Commons foreign affairs committee, came as Jean Chrétien, the Prime Minister, said some Americans are pointing fingers of blame at Canada because they cannot accept that the 19 terrorists who staged the Sept. 11 attacks were in the United States legally at the time. Ms. Jennings told the foreign affairs committee she believes Canadian efforts to tighten border security and pass anti-terrorism legislation may be in vain because the United States already considers Canada a security threat. "I think there are a significant number of legislators, because of their ignorance -- and I don't mean that in a pejorative sense -- but because of their ignorance of the facts, do, in fact, see us as being a threat to their security," she said. "They have bought into [rumours], have not educated themselves, have not travelled outside of the United States." Ms. Jennings, MP for the Montreal riding of Notre-Dame-de-Grace-Lachine, serves as parliamentary secretary to Maria Minna, the minister responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency. "When you see a significant, a majority of legislators there actually don't have an American passport, have never had an American passport, it is worrisome," she said. Following a meeting of Cabinet yesterday, Mr. Chrétien said some U.S. politicians remain in denial about the breakdown in security in their own country and are, therefore, blaming Canada. "The 19 terrorists ... they were on the soil of America in a very legal way. They were not coming from Canada. They had come from Europe and so on," Mr. Chrétien said. John Manley, the Foreign Affairs Minister, this week told a group of American foreign policy experts that inaccurate reports by American media outlets has created an urban mythology that at least two of the Sept. 11 terrorists entered the country from Canada. But yesterday, in response to Ms. Jennings's remarks, Mr. Manley appealed for Canadians to understand the depth of insecurity and anxiety that Americans feel. "I don't know how parliamentarians here would respond if anthrax were detected in these [Parliament] buildings. You have got to understand how vulnerable people feel not knowing if the atmosphere that they are breathing has somehow been infiltrated by a deadly substance," he said. Mr. Manley said Canada's concerns about being unfairly targeted for blame in the United States must be balanced by the realization that both countries have a vested interest in improving their security systems. "There are legitimate reasons for us both to look at safety at our borders. We have reasons, too," he said.