9/11 Comments begin at 4:00 mark.
CTV reports:
Ottawa was rushing to defend its border security on Tuesday amid a diplomatic scuffle with the U.S., which erupted after Washington's homeland security chief suggested that the 9-11 terrorists entered the U.S. through Canada.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano made the comments during a media interview earlier this week, much to the chagrin of Canadians on both sides of the border.
In recent years, Ottawa has invested a great deal of effort into dispelling perceptions among Americans that Canada's border is an easy entry point for terrorists planning attacks on U.S. soil.
"Unfortunately, misconceptions arise on something as fundamental as where the 9-11 terrorists came from," said Michael Wilson, Canada's ambassador in Washington.
"As the 9-11 commission reported in 2004, all of the 9-11 terrorists arrived in the United States from outside North America. They flew to major U.S. airports. They entered the U.S. with documents issued by the United States government and no 9-11 terrorists came from Canada."
Later, Napolitano's staff attempted to tamp down the controversy by blaming the comments on a simple misunderstanding, said Wilson, who was the keynote speaker at the Border Trade Alliance meeting in Washington Tuesday.
"Her comment from her people is that she misunderstood," Wilson said, adding that he was planning a personal meeting with Napolitano in the near future.
The furor began when Napolitano was asked to clarify statements she had made about equal treatment for the Mexican and Canadian borders, despite the fact that a flood of illegal immigrants and a massive drug war are two serious issues on the southern border.
"Yes, Canada is not Mexico, it doesn't have a drug war going on, it didn't have 6,000 homicides that were drug-related last year," she said.
"Nonetheless, to the extent that terrorists have come into our country or suspected or known terrorists have entered our country across a border, it's been across the Canadian border. There are real issues there."
When asked if she was referring to the 9-11 terrorists, Napolitano added: "Not just those but others as well."
However, Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan downplayed the comments and said that Napolitano is well aware that Canada was not the source of the 9-11 terrorists.
"We spoke about it back in March, and we were sharing a chuckle at the fact that the urban myth does circulate," he told CTV's Power Play.
"Ms. Napolitano understood quite clearly, then and now, that none of the September 11 terrorists came through Canada, as the 9-11 Commission found."
Full CTV News Video
All who were left scratching their heads when Obama chose this obedient toady to head Homeland Security now can get a handle on it: a serious choice, focused upon real terrorist threats (not imaginary, partisan ones i.e. the TEA parties)- like, say, a Rudolph Giuliani, wouldn’t have been a willing collaborator in such a sham report trashing US vets.
ReplyDeleteNapolitano’s qualifications for this job were simply being a liberal Obama sycophant… certainly not any skills, insight, or ability.
Her statements on the Canadian border illustrate how incompetent and puzzled she is- Neopolitano completely lacks the credentials to be in-charge of protecting our country from the likes of Al Qaida.
Trouble is, the narcissist Obama needs to be surrounded by mindless drones to confirm his omnipotence and pollyanna world view. Such appointments as Napolitano and Panetta to vital national security jobs are a show of weakness that will surely encourage terrorists and myriad other rogue characters who see America as their enemy… no matter how often Obama tries to surrender.
And anyone who expected Barack to place the nation’s practical defense interests above those of his own political security and radical agenda hasn’t really looked at how he got this far in the first place.
http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com/
Seriously, where do they get people like that crazy woman. How does one become a U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary? I'm guessing they were just walking around DC and pointed at random people asking if they want the job and this woman took it. Unbelievable...
ReplyDeletetake care, Elli
Unbelievable...and if they did cross (which they didn't).
ReplyDeleteIt was the American border that let them cross into the states.
So,maybe the should be taking a serious look at THEIR own border personal.
What a sad pitiful bunch of misfits the have running that beautiful country.