Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| CSIS interview w/Palestinian |
|---|
| amatullah |
| 01/17/02 at 22:55:34 |
| Bismillah and salam, STEPHEN THORNE Canadian Press Wednesday, January 16, 2002 OTTAWA (CP) - It starts out sounding like an interview for a consumer loan. She's pleasant. He's co-operative. But soon the Canadian intelligence agent and the Palestinian refugee are going head-to-head over world politics, religion and terrorism. It culminates in the question: "Do you have any idea where bin Laden would be right now?" I don't know, comes the reply. "You would have millions," says the CSIS agent, an apparent reference to a $25-million US reward for information leading to the capture of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden. America, with all its technology, doesn't know where he is, says the landed immigrant. How could he, a construction worker who has barely left Canada in 11 years, know the whereabouts of the most wanted man on earth. "I wish I knew," he says. "I would be a hero." A muffled tape recording of the 90-minute interview last Thursday between Mary Mardall, a security screening officer with Canada's spy agency, and Fathi Mohamad Aowad, who immigrated as a refugee in 1991, was obtained by The Canadian Press. The tape was made at a Toronto-area immigration office by Aowad's legal counsel, Harry Kopyto, to help in his note-taking and in case of future court action. Kopyto said he turned it over to the national news co-operative because he thinks the public should know the assumptions government agencies make when dealing with immigrants of Muslim or Arabic origin. The recording is a fascinating insight into what's happening behind closed doors between CSIS agents and some immigrants since the September terrorist attacks by Muslim extremists on the United States. "The process is indoctrination, it's intimidation, and it's applied selectively to Palestinians, Arabs and other people," contends Kopyto. "It undermines the very features of this country that attract them to it in the first place. "What is bizarre here is (the) assumption that if a person was a terrorist and knew where bin Laden was, they would tell her," he said. CSIS spokeswoman Chantal Lapalme said the question is worth asking. Aowad was not targetted, nor was he under investigation, she said. He applied for Canadian citizenship and, at the government's request, CSIS interviewed him. This is his third security interview since 1991, the second for his citizenship application, which is still pending. "From that interview, we provide advice and information on security matters in order to assist the minister of immigration," Lapalme said. "We stand behind our interviewer, the questions that were asked and the methods we used to ensure the security of all Canadians." Lapalme added the tape was made surreptitiously and CSIS has no way of knowing if it's been altered. Mardall delves into Aowad's family, friends, religious and political beliefs and affiliations dating back to his childhood in Lebanon. She even asks about a shopping and sightseeing trip Aowad took to Detroit in 1999 - his only trip outside Canada since coming here, he says. "Silly," Aowad, 36, a husband and father of two, said in an interview with The Canadian Press. "Very, very silly." What does he think of Israel, Mardall asks. He says he has nothing against Israelis; it's the government he doesn't like. Why did he never take up arms? He doesn't believe in war, he says. When he was a medic, he was shot in both legs by Israeli gunfire in 1982. He spent a year in a German hospital. Would he ever go back to Palestine? "I wish I could," he says. "I wish." She asks questions several times in different ways, testing Aowad's patience. "Our concern is for the security of this country and the people . . . that no one is promoting or assisting in carrying out any kind of violence," Mardall explains. "I'm sure you know what I'm getting at. "Do you feel so strongly, Mr. Aowad, about the situation back there that you would assist in any way in the violence that's going on?" No, he says. "You still feel very strongly about your homeland of Palestine," she says. "Would you do anything against Canadian law to promote Palestine?" Aowad says he wouldn't. "What's your opinion of Osama bin Laden?" she asks. Aowad says he never heard of him before Sept. 11. "You must have heard of him before Sept. 11. He's been in the news for probably three or four years, at least. . . . What do you think of his opinions and the fact that he is promoting a holy war?" "I don't know anything about them." "Did you ever assist Mr. bin Laden?" she asks. "Assist him with what?" "Financially, give assistance to him or his organization?" "I told you madam, he wasn't known to us." She asks if Aowad attends a mosque, if he prays regularly. She offers to leave the room to let him pray. What is the point of all this, Mardall is asked. Her background is Irish Protestant, she explains. She may have views about Northern Ireland, but she can't finance weapons shipments. "That goes way beyond views, that goes into actions and that is against Canadian law," she says. There is nothing in Aowad's past to warrant such damaging questions and assertions, Kopyto says. - Some of the questions Mary Mardall, a security screening officer with Canada's spy agency, asks Palestinian refugee Fathi Mohamad Aowad during a 90-minute interview in Toronto on Jan. 10: - Do you have any idea where bin Laden would be right now? - What's your opinion of Osama bin Laden? - Did you ever assist Mr. bin Laden? - No loyalties anywhere else? - How did you and your family feel about the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982? Didn't you want to do something about it? Didn't you want to take up arms and fight back? - Would you do anything against Canadian law to promote Palestine? - Were you ever in contact with the PLO? Did you ever think of joining the PLO organization to fight against the Israelis? - What's your opinion of Israel? - Are you a Muslim? Do you attend mosques? Did you used to go to mosques? Part of the requirement as a Muslim is to donate to charity. Do you do that? - What do you think of the World Trade Centre situation? Do you have any theories at all about who would do this?Some of the questions Mary Mardall, a security screening officer with Canada's spy agency, asks Palestinian refugee Fathi Mohamad Aowad during a 90-minute interview in Toronto on Jan. 10: - Do you have any idea where bin Laden would be right now? - What's your opinion of Osama bin Laden? - Did you ever assist Mr. bin Laden? - No loyalties anywhere else? - How did you and your family feel about the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982? Didn't you want to do something about it? Didn't you want to take up arms and fight back? - Would you do anything against Canadian law to promote Palestine? - Were you ever in contact with the PLO? Did you ever think of joining the PLO organization to fight against the Israelis? - What's your opinion of Israel? - Are you a Muslim? Do you attend mosques? Did you used to go to mosques? Part of the requirement as a Muslim is to donate to charity. Do you do that? - What do you think of the World Trade Centre situation? Do you have any theories at all about who would do this? © Copyright 2002 The Canadian Press |
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