The border for dummies
National Post editorial board

National Post
Published: Wednesday, April 22, 2009


Can someone please tell us how U. S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano got her job? She appears to be about as knowledgeable about border issues as a late-night radio call-in yahoo.

In an interview broadcast Monday on the CBC, Ms. Napolitano attempted to justify her call for stricter border security on the premise that "suspected or known terrorists" have entered the U. S. across the Canadian border, including the perpetrators of the 9/11 attack.

All the 9/11 terrorists, of course, entered the United States directly from overseas. The notion that some arrived via Canada is a myth that briefly popped up in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, and was then quickly debunked.

Informed of her error, Ms. Napolitano blustered: "I can't talk to that. I can talk about the future. And here's the future. The future is we have borders."

Just what does that mean, exactly?

Just a few weeks ago, Ms. Napolitano equated Canada's border to Mexico's, suggesting they deserved the same treatment. Mexico is engulfed in a drug war that left more than 5,000 dead last year, and which is spawning a spillover kidnapping epidemic in Arizona. So many Mexicans enter the United States illegally that a multi-billion-dollar barrier has been built from Texas to California to keep them out.

In Canada, on the other hand, the main problem is congestion resulting from cross-border trade. Not quite the same thing, is it?

U.S. security boss clarifies comments about border
Updated Wed. Apr. 22 2009 1:22 PM ET

CTV.ca News

The U.S. Homeland Security chief has clarified earlier remarks that suggested the 9-11 terrorists entered the U.S. through Canada.

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 a release Tuesday night following the interview, she called Canada a "close ally and an important partner" and said she was simply misunderstood.

"I know that the September 11th hijackers did not come through Canada to the United States," she said in the statement.

"There are other instances, however, when suspected terrorists have attempted to enter our country from Canada to the United States. Some of these are well-known to the public -- such as the Millennium Bomber -- while others are not due to security reasons."

Ottawa rushed to defend its border security on Tuesday amid the diplomatic scuffle that broke out over Napolitano's earlier remarks.

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."

Wilson, who was the keynote speaker at the Border Trade Alliance meeting in Washington on Tuesday, said Napolitano's staff attempted to tamp down the controversy by blaming the comments on a simple misunderstanding.

"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."

Still, that positive outlook wasn't shared by other Canadian officials.

On Tuesday afternoon, RCMP Commissioner William Elliot expressed frustration with the comments during an interview on CTV's Power Play.

"I was somewhat surprised and disappointed," he said, adding he hopes the misconception has been cleared up.

"I understand and am happy to hear that she has issued a statement acknowledging that that didn't happen."

But Thomas d'Aquino, president of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, decried Napolitano's comments on Tuesday.

"I am a longstanding friend and ally of the United States, but sometimes failures in our two-way dialogue cause me to shake my head in sadness and dismay," he said in a press release.

"The claim that some of the 9/11 terrorists entered the United States from Canada is, quite simply, a myth - an urban legend that began with a handful of erroneous media reports in the days following the terrorist strikes."

With files from The Canadian Press

"And here's the future. The future is we have borders."

An idiotic and epic fail solution to the borders is to build a wall, a very big wall, along the largest unprotected border on the planet, across hundreds of rivers, roads, water channels, canyons, valleys, hills, and the great lakes.

ShumaGorath wrote:

An idiotic and epic fail solution to the borders is to build a wall, a very big wall, along the largest unprotected border on the planet, across hundreds of rivers, roads, water channels, canyons, valleys, hills, and the great lakes.

I fixed your quote for you.

- Human wrote:^ win.

Sad story. I have a lot of hope for the US right now but appointing people like this to key positions isn't going to help.

Mattlov wrote:"500 million Americans would lose their jobs every month."

ShumaGorath wrote:

An idiotic and epic fail solution to the borders is to build a wall, a very big wall, along the largest unprotected border on the planet, across hundreds of rivers, roads, water channels, canyons, valleys, hills, and the great lakes.

I fixed your quote for you.