Who’s got more terrorists than Iraq?

Can you figure it out? Give up? Why, it’s Canada, of course!

Islamic terrorist cells continue to operate in Canada, according to a Bush administration report released yesterday that fingers a â€œliberalâ€ immigration system for allowing terrorists to infiltrate the country.

The harsh assessment of Canada reflects a view widespread on the U.S. political right, but one rarely given official sanction.

Largely prepared before the Conservative government took office in Ottawa, the report, entitled The Country Reports on Terrorism 2005, concludes that political tensions between the Bush administration and the then-Liberal government over Iraq and the Maher Arar affair disrupted vital information-sharing about terrorists.

â€œThe principal threat to the close U.S.-Canadian co-operative relationship remains the fallout from the Arar case that prompted the Canadian government to review and restrict information-sharing arrangements with the United States,â€ it says.

Who is Maher Arar? He was a Canadian citizen detained by the U.S. government, then shipped off to Syria to be held in a prison there, where he was forced to confess that he was a terrorist. Read his story here. And because of his treatment at the hands of the U.S. there seems to be some political fallout. Gee, wonder why.

From this source we learn that “the latest U.S. report takes the unprecedented step of naming â€œother known terrorists in Canadaâ€ and then lists five.” Wow. I’m telling you, Canada is teeming with terrorists just aching to come across the border to do us all in. Well, so much for them coming up through Mexico. Dammit, foiled again!

From the National Post we have this little tidbit.

In its annual Country Report on Terrorism, the State Department expressed growing concern about the presence of “numerous” terror plotters in the country, and said political fallout from the Maher Arar case continues to hamper information-sharing between Canadian and U.S. intelligence agencies.

“Terrorists have capitalized on liberal Canadian immigration and asylum policies to enjoy safe haven, raise funds, arrange logistical support and plan terrorist attacks,” the State Department said.

The U.S. noted “only one person” has been arrested under anti-terrorism legislation passed in Canada after terrorist attacks in the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001.

Holy shit, all of those 5 terrorists in Canada and they’ve only arrested one in 5 1/2 years. Could it be that Canada doesn’t really have as many terrorists as the report suggests? Could it be that Canada isn’t too interested in pandering to U.S. interests by throwing thousands into prison under the label “terrorist”?

The State Department’s harsh language on Canada contrasted with its statements in the report of Iraq, which it said was “not currently a terrorist safe haven” despite the continued attacks carried out by al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi and other groups in the country.

While praising Canada for playing “an important counterterrorism leadership role worldwide” — specifically through its military presence in Afghanistan — the State Department said the Arar case had cast a chill over relations between the countries’ intelligence agencies.

Arar, an Ottawa engineer and Canadian citizen, was detained by U.S. authorities in September 2002 during a stopover in New York on a flight from Tunisia to Canada.

The U.S. says the RCMP gave them information suggesting Arar was a security risk. The ensuing controversy led to restrictions on intelligence sharing that still hamper the “free flow” of information about terror suspects, the U.S. said.

Canada is a safe haven for terrorists but Iraq’s not? What the hell are the guys at the State Department smoking? I’m thinking this has a lot to do with the fact that Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s not twisting himself into a pretzel to kiss Bush’s ass and he hasn’t translated “The Star Spangled Banner” into French yet.

The solution of course would be to allow Bush to just have Canada. Then he’d fix that damned liberal immigration policy that’s allowing so many terrorists to live safely in Canada while busily sending cheap prescription drugs to American elderly folk. Just handing the king the keys to that country would save us a lot of money from having to bomb them for being the terrorist sympathizers they are or, worse yet, building a fence along the north border too.

Honestly, I thought I had seen all the idiocy this administration had to dish out. I thought they couldn’t get more asinine. I was, once again, wrong. What’s next? Adding O’ Canada to the Axis of Evil (and taking off North Korea, because the Chinese are our friends)? Are we going to ban hockey now?

I dream of a time when I can get through an entire day without my own government making me shake my head in wonder and shame.

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