Paul Weinberg

TORONTO – Washington’s preemptive war, in which Muslims are picked up, labeled Islamic terrorists, and then sent to a foreign state where under torture they confess wrongly to membership in al-Qaeda, is at the heart of what happened to an innocent Canadian citizen, Maher Arar, says Maureen Webb, an Ottawa lawyer and author of the … Continue reading “Could Arar Blunder Happen Again?”

So far, only a trickle of U.S. soldiers are heading north to Canada to avoid serving in the U.S. military campaign in Iraq. It is still relatively early in the conflict, which has not reached the level of the equally controversial U.S. military involvement in Vietnam three decades ago, says John Hagan, a professor of … Continue reading “For Reluctant GIs, Canada Remains the Great White Hope”

TORONTO – Ottawa’s tendency to take contradictory or ambiguous political positions on sensitive issues will be put to the test in the current debate over the U.S. request that its northern neighbor endorse its controversial ballistic missile defense (BMD) program. If it signs on to Washington’s project, Canada will have difficulty maintaining credible diplomatic opposition … Continue reading “Canada Tiptoeing Around Weapons in Space”

TORONTO – How to shed light on one Canadian’s nightmare experience in a jail in Syria and the secretive U.S.-inspired, extralegal global system of interrogation and torture that put him there are challenges facing one judge here, who must also confront "national security" barriers put up by Ottawa. The circumstances surrounding the treatment of Maher … Continue reading “Canada May Seal Details of Arar Torture”

TORONTO – Fears are rising among groups that lobby for the Palestinian cause that Canada might be abandoning its traditional middle-of-the-road position on the Israeli-Palestine conflict. Ottawa could squander an opportunity to play a constructive role in resurrecting the Middle East peace process if the ruling Liberal government abandons that evenhanded stance for a pro-Israel … Continue reading “Groups Fear Canada Tilting to Israel”

TORONTO – The growing use of international treaties to bypass the will of national parliaments, by bodies waging the so-called "war on terrorism," increasingly threatens civil liberties and freedom of the media, warn privacy advocates. When U.S. officials – reportedly the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), though the agency denied it Tuesday – last week … Continue reading “Global Agreements Threaten Media, Privacy”

TORONTO – In the novel 1984, George Orwell depicts a world where powerful and secretive authorities – “Big Brother” – scrutinize the intimate details of citizens’ personal lives. That fiction may be closer to reality than most people think. Earlier this month, for instance, CNN reported that police officers across the United States are carrying … Continue reading “‘Homeland Security’ Beyond US Borders”