The best way to battle ignorance and misinformation is by clearly,
frequently and persistently stating the facts.
While we realize the long list of Mirror readers is unlikely to include U.S.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano or former Republican
presidential candidate John McCain, let us nonetheless state this for the
record: Not one of the 9-11 hijackers entered the United States from Canada.
This is a myth that gained traction in the days following the terrorist
attacks, but which was quickly debunked. In fact, all of the hijackers
entered the U.S. from overseas, and all of them did so with American-issued
travel documents.
And yet both Napolitano and McCain repeated the Canada myth as fact during
recent television appearances.
In a CBC interview on April 20, Napolitano was asked why Canadian border
security should be increased to the same level as the Mexican border. She
replied: "To the extent that terrorists have come into our country, or
suspected or known terrorist have entered our country across a border, it
has been across the Canadian border."
When pressed to reveal if she was referring to the 9-11 attackers, she
answered: "Not just those, but others as well."
Defending her on Fox News a few days later, McCain said, "Well, some of the
9-11 hijackers did come through Canada, as you know."
Good grief. Is it really possible such mind-boggling ignorance can be
present in people who hold such high office?
In trying to wiggle out of her remarks a day later, Napolitano claimed to
have "misunderstood" the question, although a reading of the transcript
makes that difficult to swallow.
Much more credible is the conclusion that U.S. officials still view Canada -
with our "lax" immigration laws and troublesomely multicultural population -
as a haven for terrorists.
In the famous words of the Oscar-nominated song from the South Park movie,
it suits their purposes to "blame Canada," thereby deflecting attention from
American security shortcomings.
But that doesn't mean such nonsense should go unchallenged.
