Frontier Justice
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CHAPTER 8: The Legend of Ahmed Ressam
1 Visceral shock and horror Peter Showler interview, October 8, 2008. Unless otherwise indicated, all subsequent Showler quotes are from this interview.
2 Boston newspapers reported that investigators “Seeking Trail of Terrorists Across Borders,” Boston Globe, September 13, 2001; Maggie Mulvihill, Cosmo Macero Jr. and Tom Farmer, “Terrorists’ Plot Planned for Months—Cops Swarm Hub Hotel in Search for Evidence,” Boston Herald, September 13, 2001.
3 “Foreign terrorists bent on wreaking havoc” Al Guart, “Canada Border a Terror Sieve,” New York Post, September 16, 2001. For more detailed discussions of the Canadian connection and the story’s persistence, see Doug Struck, “Canada Fights Myth It Was 9/11 Conduit,” Washington Post, April 9, 2005, and Jake Tapper, “Blame Canada,” Political Punch, ABC News, April 22, 2009, http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/04/blame-canada.html, last accessed May 23, 2009.
4 “Canada: A Club Med for world terrorists” Guelph Mercury, September 17, 2001, p. A5.
5 “We found him all the time holding his stomach” Quoted in Hal Bernton, Mike Carter, David Heath and James Neff, “The Terrorist Within, Chapter Two: The Fountainhead,” Seattle Times, June 23, 2002. This article is part of a comprehensive twenty-part series on Ressam available in its entirety at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/nation-world/terroristwithin/, last accessed December 11, 2008. This series, along with testimony Ressam gave at the trial of Mokhtar Haouari, forms the primary basis of my account of his time in Canada. For the relevant testimony, see United States v. Mokhtar Haouari, No. S4 00 Cr. 15 (S.D. N.Y.), July 3, 2001 (transcript pp. 531–85) and July 5, 2001 (transcript pp. 587–662). I have silently corrected very minor errors in the Times account.
6 “He was a handsome young man” Bernton et al., “The Terrorist Within, Chapter Three: Leaving Home,” Seattle Times, June 23, 2002.
7 Tightened its visa requirements Michael Collyer, FMO Research Guide: Algeria, Forced Migration Online, http://www.forcedmigration.org/guides/fm0023/. Last accessed December 10, 2008.
8 “improve my life in general” United States v. Mokhtar Haouari, July 3, 2001, transcript p. 536.
9 “Is this a fake?” Bernton et al., “The Terrorist Within, Chapter Four: Sneaking In,” Seattle Times, June 24, 2002.
10 “I was tortured with ribbons” Ahmed Ressam refugee claim form, English translation, available at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/nation-world/terroristwithin/chapter4.html, last accessed December 9, 2008.
11 Ressam tried to steal a security guard’s wallet “Terror Timeline: Ressam’s Sorry Montreal Record,” Gazette (Montreal), May 15, 2005.
12 “They’re not our top priority” Allan Thompson, “Man never regarded as a terrorist threat,” Toronto Star, December 21, 1999.
13 “I do not fear death” Quoted in Evan Kohlmann, “The Afghan-Bosnian Mujahideen Network in Europe,” p. 17, http://www.globalterroralert.com/specialreports.html, last accessed December 11, 2008.
14 “important brothers” Bernton et al., “The Terrorist Within: Joining Jihad,” Seattle Times, June 27, 2002.
15 “These are people with a lot of problems” Marc Sageman, Understanding Terror Networks (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004), p. 108.
16 They therefore put his name on a watch list Stewart Bell, “CSIS Watched Ressam for Years Before Arrest,” National Post, April 7, 2001, and “Ressam Trial Reveals Cracks in System,” National Post, April 9, 2001.
17 he was now a genuinely dangerous individual During this period Ressam and an associate discussed planting a bomb in Montreal in “a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood.” It is not clear how much care or planning they put into the idea: they had in mind the intersection of Laurier and Park avenues, which was not in a Jewish neighbourhood. See “RCMP Play Down Threat,” Gazette (Montreal), December 1, 2001.
18 “a serious intelligence error” Andrew Mitrovica, “CSIS Tracked Suspected Terrorist for Years,” Globe and Mail, December 23, 1999.
19 “Hey, we’ve got something here” Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower: al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (New York: Knopf, 2006), p. 297.
20 “Bottom line, we couldn’t get travel documents” “Is Canada a Safe Haven for Terrorists?” “Trail of a Terrorist,” Frontline, PBS, interviews, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/
frontline/shows/trail/etc/canada.html, last accessed December 9, 2008.
21 “This year alone Algerians have been slain” Amnesty International, “Algerians: Failed by Their Government and by the International Community,” http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=DAE932F2EA6C7D7E8025690000693085, last accessed October 26, 2008.
22 Having a passport is what allowed him Stewart Bell, “Passport Office Takes Blame in Ressam Case,” National Post, December 4, 2003.
23 “Algeria Considered Suspect a Terrorist” Stewart Bell, Marina Jiménez and Andrew McIntosh, “Algeria Considered Suspect a Terrorist,” National Post, December 21, 1999. See also “Extremist Linked to Arrest,” Times Colonist (Victoria), December 19, 1999; Paul Koring and Barrie McKenna, “Terrorist Bomb Plot Suspected,” Globe and Mail, December 18, 1999; and “Police Fear Millennium Bomb Plot,” BBC News, December 19, 1999, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/571584.stm, last accessed October 30, 2008. The Times Colonist and the Globe both quote the RCMP falsely stating that Ressam’s asylum application was denied because he was a member of the Armed Islamic Group. For a rebuttal of this claim see Allan Thompson, “Man Never Regarded as a Terrorist Threat,” Toronto Star, December 21, 1999.
24 “To them [the Algerian government]” Ahmed Ressam refugee claim form.
25 “The wisdom of allowing people” “Another Wintry Day, Another Refugee Debacle,” Globe and Mail, December 22, 1999.
26 “Absurd refugee laws” Barrie McKenna, “Canadian Border Raises Few Hackles Outside Hearing,” Globe and Mail, January 27, 2000.
27 “Algerian refugee” “Trail of a Terrorist,” Frontline, PBS, transcript, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline
/shows/trail/etc/script.html, last accessed December 9, 2008.
28 “Ressam was accepted in Canada, Canadian Press,” “Terrorist Ressam’s Confessions Helping Canadian Spy Agency, Says Post,” April 9, 2002.
29 “When Ahmed Ressam came to Canada” “Trail of a Terrorist,” PBS, interviews, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows
/trail/etc/canada.html. Last accessed December 9, 2008. Smith seemed unaware of the case of Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, an asylum claimant who participated in the World Trade Center bombing of 1993, which injured 1,000 people and killed six. Ramzi, who to my knowledge is the only person to have committed asylum fraud as part of a successful terror operation in North America, was caught upon arrival at Kennedy International Airport in 1992. He could have been detained had it not been for a lack of detention facilities. In the United States at the time, jail space for aliens was funded through a user fee charged on international plane tickets. According to Philip Schrag, the fee was also used to fund airport facilitation, “that is, for the [immigration] and customs inspectors who worked in airports. The traveling public and the airlines cared a lot about facilitation, which directly affected how long an arriving international passenger had to wait in line after a flight. The airlines, which had considerable political clout in determining how the fees they collected would be used, lobbied successfully for the government to use most of the money for facilitation, as opposed to … detention.” This unusual funding arrangement contributed to a security arrangement that allowed Yousef to enter the United States. For the details of his case, and the many restrictive measures the U.S. added to its refugee system as a result, see Schrag’s book A Well-Founded Fear: The Congressional Battle to Save Political Asylum in America (New York: Routledge, 2000). Yousef’s arrival is mentioned on page 39.
30 “Following a familiar terrorist pattern” The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist A
ttacks Upon the United States (Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2004), p. 585.
31 “the rich ethnic mix” John Kifner, “Terrorists Said to Hide in Canada’s Melting Pot,” New York Times, December 24, 1999.
32 “We need a gigantic cultural shift” “Trail of a Terrorist,” PBS, Interviews, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/
frontline/shows/trail/etc/canada.html.
33 “high immigration compromises security” Mark Krikorian, “Mass Immigration Defeats Homeland Security,” in Immigration Policy and the Terrorist Threat in Canada and the United States (Vancouver: Fraser Institute, 2008), p. 45.
34 “no amateur” Paul Koring, “Plot Carries Trademarks of bin Laden,” Globe and Mail, December 20, 1999.
35 “all-star” Robert Leiken, Bearers of Global Jihad? Immigration and National Security after 9/11 (Washington, D.C.: The Nixon Center, 2004), p. 80. Leiken makes this remark in the course of listing Ressam as one of several terrorist all-stars who attended a mosque in London. In reality, Ressam never travelled to Britain.
36 “all but volunteered to immigration officials” “North of the Border,” 60 Minutes, CBS News, September 7, 2003, transcript, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/
04/60minutes/main571584.shtml, last accessed December 11, 2008.
37 “There should be a complete moratorium” Diane Francis, “Ottawa Pursuing an Incompetent, Dangerous Policy,” National Post, January 4, 2000.
38 received funding only after September 11 Janet Dench, “Anti-terrorism and the Security Agenda,” Canadian Council for Refugees, http://www.ccrweb.ca/ICLMGforum.html, last accessed December 11, 2008.
39 “None of them actually came through” Peter Showler interview, autumn 2004.
40 “The first thing that happens” Showler interview, autumn 2004.
41 al-Qaeda maintained its own passport office The 9/11 Commission Report, p. 169.
42 aware of 350 terror suspects in Canada Jeff Sallot, “Canada Not Overrun by Terrorists,” Globe and Mail, March 3, 2000.
43 Essam Marzouk Marzouk’s time in Canada is described in a three-part National Post series. See Stewart Bell and Jane Kokan, “Bin Laden’s B.C. Helper,” National Post, October 13, 2005; Stewart Bell and Jane Kokan, “Under Western Eyes,” National Post, October 14, 2005; and Stewart Bell, Jane Kokan and Nagwa Hassaan, “Mossad’s Canuck Gets His Man,” National Post, October 15, 2005. Marzouk’s capture and rendition to Egypt are described in Michael Ross and Jonathan Kay, The Volunteer: A Canadian’s Secret Life in the Mossad (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2007), pp. 222–25.
44 a fundraiser for Hezbollah For the case of Mohammed Dbouk, see Stewart Bell, “Hezbollah Uses Canada as Base,” National Post, October 31, 2002, and “Hezbollah Assigned Kingpin to B.C.,” National Post, November 27, 2002.
45 “Hence an act of terrorism” Cass Sunstein, “Terrorism and Probability Neglect,” Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, vol. 26, no. 2/3 (2003), p. 122.
46 “Fifty percent of claimants do not have documents” Showler interview, Peter Showler interview, autumn 2004.
47 “Even when refugees are turned down” “Three Ways to Fight Terrorism,” National Post, March 3, 2006.
48 “It is recently arrived Muslims” Lorne Gunter, “A Dutch Lesson for Canada,” National Post, November 15, 2004.
49 “What the recruits tended to have in common” Wright, The Looming Tower, p. 304.
50 In 2001 Canada increased its budget Paul Koring, “Some Border Security Gaps Plugged, Many Remain,” Globe and Mail, March 14, 2001.
51 “If you’re in a situation” Showler interview, autumn 2004.
52 “It becomes particularly significant” Quoted in Jack Aubry, “Refugee Laws Far Too Lax: Expert,” Ottawa Citizen, October 2, 2001.
53 “Why does the Prime Minister” Canada, Parliament, House of Commons, Debates, 37th Parliament, 1st Session, Edited Hansard no. 105 (October 30, 2001).
54 “Singh decision extended charter protections” “Gatecrashers Shouldn’t Stay,” Calgary Herald, April 24 2004, 2006. See also Rory Leishman, “A Court-Contrived Refugee Scandal,” London Free Press, August 3, 2004.
55 Large swaths of the media The editorial boards of The Globe and Mail and the National Post have long opposed Singh, as have marquee columnists at both papers and at the Toronto Star. See “There Is a Difference Between Everyone and Anyone,” Globe and Mail (editorial), November 6, 1999; “Fighting Terrorism on the Home Front,” National Post (editorial), October 4, 2001; Jeffrey Simpson, “Speaking of Suckers …,” Globe and Mail, November 24, 1999; Diane Francis, “Canada No Help to Legitimate Refugees,” National Post, March 2, 2002; Richard Gwyn, “A Visionary Challenges Our Policy on Immigration,” Toronto Star, March 12, 2000.
56 In addition to Stockwell Day, prominent politicians who have opposed Singh have included former Reform Party leader Preston Manning and former Liberal leadership candidate John Manley. For media coverage of their respective views, see Stockwell Day, “Defence Policy a Shambles,” Calgary Herald, February 2, 2002; “Make Charter Apply to Residents Only: Manning,” Record (Kitchener-Waterloo), September 23, 1994; and Marina Jiménez, “Broken Gates: Canada’s Welcome Mat Frayed and Unravelling,” Globe and Mail, April 16, 2005.
57 For other calls to use the notwithstanding clause against Singh, see Christie McLaren, “Jammed at the Door: Refugees in Canada,” Globe and Mail, February 27, 1991; Tom Kent, “How to Reform Immigration Policy,” Literary Review of Canada (March 2000), p. 5; “Notwithstanding Clause Could Offer Some Safety,” Vancouver Sun, October 3, 2001; Rory Leishman, “Some Sound Advice from a Liberal Icon on the Need to Invoke the Notwithstanding Clause,” London Free Press, October 9, 2001, and “Court-Contrived Refugee Scandal,” London Free Press, August 3, 2004; and Joe Easingwood, “It’s Time to Overhaul Canada’s Stupid Immigration Laws,” Times Colonist (Victoria), May 5, 2002.
CHAPTER 9: In the Tracks of Leviathan
1 “The very institution of a state” Arendt, Origins, 230.
2 “Should be guaranteed by” Arendt, Origins, p. 298.
3 Arendt scholars have often noted For an example, see Bridget Cotter, “Hannah Arendt and ‘The Right to Have Rights,’ ” in Hannah Arendt and International Relations: Readings Across the Lines, Anthony Lang Jr. and John Williams, eds. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), p. 97. “For Arendt, [national sovereignty] refers to two separate principles, although she does not always clearly distinguish between them. First it is ‘state sovereignty’ … Second, ‘national sovereignty’ also refers to ‘people’s sovereignty.’ ”
4 “a generation ago, the sovereign state” Daniel Philpott, Revolutions in Sovereignty: How Ideas Shaped Modern International Relations (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2001), p. 3.
5 If it should happen that the count Hendrik Spruyt, The Sovereign State and Its Competitors: An Analysis of Systems Change (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), p. 39. My account of the history of sovereignty owes a debt to Spruyt’s excellent book.
6 “the Roman Empire conceived” Friedrich Kratochwil, “Of Systems, Boundaries and Territoriality: An Inquiry into the Formation of the State System,” World Politics, vol. 39, no. 1 (1986), p. 36.
7 “the logic of feudal organization” Spruyt, The Sovereign State, p. 38.
8 transformed the king into a new type of ruler See Ernst Kantorowicz, The King’s Two Bodies: A Study in Mediaeval Political Theology (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1957).
9 “The first notions of sovereign authority” Spruyt, The Sovereign State, p. 79.
10 “islands of urban law” Spruyt, The Sovereign State, p. 124.
11 “Political entrepreneurs copy institutions” Spruyt, The Sovereign State, p. 171.
12 “process of mutual empowerment” Spruyt, The Sovereign State, p. 178.
13 “The empire after 1648” Quoted in Philpott, Revolutions in Sovereignty, p. 87.
14 “null, void, invalid, iniquitous” Quoted in Philpott
, Revolutions in Sovereignty, p. 87. p. 324–325 “One does not really know” Quoted in Spruyt, The Sovereign State, p. 170.
15 “the end of an epoch” Leo Gross, “The Peace of Westphalia, 1648–1948,” American Journal of International Law, vol. 42, no. 1, p. 28.
16 a change in the practice of politics that was given theoretical expression only much later Philpott, Revolutions in Sovereignty, p. 84; Andreas Osiander, “Sovereignty, International Relations, and the Westphalian Myth,” International Organization, vol. 55, No. 2, 2001, p. 281.
17 “the French people born with the baptism of Clovis” Quoted in Patrick Geary, The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2002), p. 7.
18 “sanction of perpetuity” Eric Hobsbawm, “Introduction: Inventing Traditions,” in Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, eds., The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. 2.
19 “Human dignity needs a new guarantee” Arendt, “Preface to the First Edition,” Origins, p. ix.
20 “A possible law above nations” The Burden of Our Time, London: Secker & Warburg, 1951, p. 436. This is the first British edition of Origins. It contains a chapter “concluding remarks,” found in some but not all American editions of the text.
21 “regional and global federation” Jeffrey Isaac, “A New Guarantee on Earth: Hannah Arendt on Human Dignity and the Politics of Human Rights,” American Political Science Review, vol. 90 no. 1, p. 70.
22 “a binational, confederate state” Jeffrey Isaac, “A New Guarantee on Earth: Hannah Arendt on Human Dignity and the Politics of Human Rights,” American Political Science Review, vol. 90 no. 1, p. 70.
23 “Rejecting national sovereignty as a recipe” Isaac, “A New Guarantee on Earth,” p. 70.
24 “confederation of communities” Jeffrey Isaac, Arendt, Camus and Modern Rebellion (New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 1992), p. 222.
25 “would quickly succumb to hunger” Michael Marrus, The Unwanted: European Refugees in the Twentieth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985), p. 5.