Napolitano Clarifies Sept. 11 Remarks

(Bill Curry — Globe & Mail)

It’s the American myth that just won’t die, and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano distanced herself from it before Wednesday’s visit to Ottawa, reiterating that she does not believe the Sept. 11 attackers came from Canada.

“Now we know the 9/11 terrorists did not use the Canadian border,” she said Tuesday in Detroit, a month after she suggested in an interview that they did.

“However, we also know that just as our economy has become globalized, so has terrorism. And it erupts in many ways, in many different facets beyond the traditional al-Qaeda episodes that we have seen in the past and attacks we have seen in the past.”

Ms. Napolitano’s comments fall short of what opposition MPs want to hear from her Wednesday on Parliament Hill in her first Canadian visit as secretary: a clear statement to the U.S. audience that Canada is not a threat. Read more here.