Toronto, April 25 (Inditop) Former Republican presidential candidate John McCain created a diplomatic flap Friday when he told a US television network that 9/11 terrorists came from Canada.
He joined US homeland security secretary Janet Napolitano who earlier this week suggested that the 9/11 terrorists entered the US from Canada.
McCain told Fox News channel that the homeland security secretary was right in suggesting that the terrorists entered the US from Canada to carry out the biggest attack on American soil eight years ago.
The senator from Arizona said: “Well, some of the 9/11 hijackers did come through Canada, as you know.”
The Canadian mission in Washington immediately issued a rebuttal, saying that none of the 9/11 terrorists entered the US from Canada.
Canadian ambassador Michael Wilson said: “Unfortunately, misconceptions arise on something as fundamental as where the 9/11 terrorists came from.
“As the 9/11 Commission reported in July 2004, all of the 9/11 terrorists arrived in the US from outside North America. They flew to major US airports.
They entered the US with documents issued to them by the US government. No 9/11 terrorists came from Canada.”
Earlier this week, US homeland security secretary Janet Napolitano had told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) that the 9/11 terrorists came from Canada.
Though she later said that she misunderstood the interviewer’s question and that there was no Canadian links to 9/11, the US home secretary, however, insisted that the border with Canada posed security risks to the US.
The Canadian government has not yet officially commented on the remarks of two high-level American leaders, but the Canadian public and the media have reacted angrily to these statements.
Much before the 9/11 happened, the Americans had arrested the so-called millennium bomber Ahmed Ressam on entering the US from Canada in December 1999 to carry out an attack on Los Angeles International Airport.
Canada and the US have the world’s longest open border of more than 8,800 km. Every day, more than 300,000 people cross this border from both sides. The countries also conduct trans-border trade worth about $1.5 billion daily.
