In light of Justice O'Connor's report, which concluded that the RCMP passed along erroneous and damaging intelligence to the U.S. about Maher Arar,RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli should resign or be fired. Justice O'Connor found that it is very likely that the RCMP's erroneous intelligence about Mr. Arar led to his apprehension by the U.S. and deportation to Syria where he was tortured.
When Mr. Arar was eventually released the RCMP tried to hide the extent of its early involvement in the Arar case from senior federal officials, in order to head off a judicial inquiry. Certain RCMP officials leaked misleading information about Mr. Arar to the media to paint him in a bad light and cast doubt upon his story, thereby compounding their original bungling. Reporters like Juliet O'Neil of the Ottawa Citizen fell for the bait.
It is now clear that Mr.Arar has suffered greatly as a result of the RCMP's inappropriate provision of inaccurate allegations to the U.S. While Commissioner Zaccardelli may not have been personally involved in the original cock-up or the subsequent cover-up, nonetheless he is accountable for the actions of his employees and for not clearing up the mess once it became clear what they had done. Therefore, he should do the honourable thing and resign. If not, the government should fire him. And they should ensure that those who actually participated in the transmission of false information to the U.S. and subsequently covered it up are brought to justice.
In a democracy the police are not above the law.
2006/09/20
Zaccardelli should resign or be fired
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
So far the government has been too busy blaming the Liberals to act responsibly on behalf of Canada. There's no doubt the Liberals screwed up on this matter. Harper will screw up in a bigger way if he doesn't shake up those in the RCMP who passed the false info to the U.S. and participated in the cover-up. If he doesn't act decisively on this matter he will demonstrate that he is no better than tose he replaced.
In light of the Opposition's (Harper) comments and slurs heaped upon Arar which were used to inflate and outright lie about Arar's danger to peace, order and good government of Canada, I believe that Harper as head of Canada and in light of his statements and those of his party, must send a sincere apology to Arar.
Also, the head of the RCMP needs to resign; if only to give Harper's law and order stance more credibility.
As for the Liberals screwing up, wasn't it the Liberals who wanted and demanded Arar home?
Harper may like to do business behind the curtain, but there is no way that the Liberals can be blamed for Arar's situation once the Liberals knew what had befallen an innocent Canadian.
Spin it all you want. Harper as PM will have to apologize to Arar, and fire the head of the RCMP and assorted minions regarding this affair.
Appeasement is not an option here.
I agree, anonymous.
Post a Comment