Loftily Hypocritical

Here's the Canadian Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) taking the Government of Canada to task for not exerting itself on behalf of dual-citizenship Canadians who venture where they should not, and as a result get into trouble they're unable to extract themselves from. A Canadian passport is a legal recognition that the holder has the right to be respected as a citizen of a free and Democratic country. A quaint concept which, when travelling in countries other than free and Democratic isn't worth much.

Which does not mean that Canada will not do all that it can diplomatically to help its citizens in any country they find themselves in. But diplomatic assistance is just that; a concern to be useful and helpful, without having to act as a belligerent, attacking another country's laws and concerns. It's worth asking why people, particularly those who originate from countries whose record on human rights concerns are low on the scale of social justice, would return there.

But they do, for various reasons; to visit with extended family, to pursue business interests, or simply to return to their place of birth as a matter of interest. Ownership of a Canadian passport is no guarantee of immunity from the law, justice or prosecution by another country. People must be aware that when they're travelling abroad and hold dual citizenship a hostile government can easily overlook that Canadian passport and invoke prior citizenship.

The issues of civil liberties, human rights and due process are not exactly universally respected. Someone like Abousfian Abdelrazik, who voluntarily undertook to travel to Sudan, a country well known for its abhorrent brutality toward many of its citizens - invoking thoughts of Darfur - should, logically, have acted with caution. On the other hand, Mr. Abdelrazik was in hot water in Sudan before claiming refugee status in Canada.

As well, he aroused the suspicions of Western intelligence as a result of some of his connections. People do have a responsibility to make intelligent choices for themselves, and if, because of their lack of due diligence to their own safety, they get into hot water, they are still responsible; consular officials can do so much and no more. Government is not a baby-sitter, yanking their charges away from danger they have themselves precipitated.

Invoking the names of previous dual-citizenship Canadians like Maher Arar and Omar Khadr is rather absurd in the face of the global situation of Islamist jihad and the suspicion that fell and continues to, on various people because of their connections and backgrounds; errors will be made in some instances. The claim of Ihssan Gardee, executive director of CAIR-CAN that the Canadian government has been remiss in its duties to Canadians is sanctimonious claptrap.

National security does take precedence, when a government discerns, or feels with due reason, that there is a pressing danger. It would be shirking responsibility to the country as a whole and the population at large were the government and its agencies to give a free pass to every suspected person held in custody in another country, let alone one that is on a UN no-fly list. In the case of Bashir Makhtal, we have another instance of a dual-citizenship holder in deep trouble.

He chose to operate a trading business in the Horn of Africa, making him vulnerable to being implicated in social-political-militant restiveness in Ethiopia which had charged him with being involved in terrorism. And where, finally, he was convicted on charges of support for a separatist movement in Ethiopia, and a life sentence handed down. Canadian authorities are engaged on the diplomatic front and doing what they can.

People appear to have a habit of blundering into situations beyond their control. When due caution should advise them that they are looking for trouble. And then they turn to the government of which they are a citizen and plead: please intervene and handle this for me. It can't always be done.

And sometimes when it is done, as when former Prime Minister Jean Chretien intervened in Pakistan with then-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, during a personal visit to Pakistan, for then-incarcerated Ahmed Said Khadr - father of Guantanamo-held Omar - for his release, he succeeded. And then the world and Canada discovered Ahmed Said Khadr's true nature, as a fanatical Islamist dedicated to violent jihad.

CAIR-CAN fulminates and attacks and blames Canada and its government, but as an Muslim group handling public relations in North America, what's their commitment to ensuring that jihadists don't emanate from North America?