U.S. to look into Arar's status: Rice

U.S. security officialswill review why Canadian Maher Arar is still on a U.S. terrorist watch list, Secretary of StateCondoleezza Rice said Thursday following a meeting with Canada's foreign affairs minister.

"It will of course be looked at," Rice told reporters at a joint news conference with Peter MacKay in Washington.

Ricesaid she instructed Michael Chertoff, the Department of Homeland Security's secretary, and the Justice Department to look further into the matter.

"He said he would examine it and would get back to me."

ButRice reiterated that the U.S. makes its own security decisions based on independent information.

"We value accuracy in cases but we do have our own process," she said. "It needs to be understood that in the post-Sept. 11 circumstances, we are determined to protect our borders."

MacKay said hebrought upArar's statusin the meeting withhisU.S. counterpart and reiterated that Arar has been cleared by the Canadian government of any ties to terrorism.

"There's clarity in Canada's position with the findingsof Mr. Arar," MacKay said. "I'm very pleased at the decision to revisit the restriction on his case."

Arar, a Canadian citizen born in Syria,was seized ata New York airport in 2002 and sent to Syria, where he was tortured. A judicial inquiry into his case led by Justice DennisO'Connorwas set up afterArar returned to Canada more than a year later.

O'Connorconcluded Arar had no terror links and the RCMP had given misleading information to U.S. authorities, which may have been the reason he was sent to Syria.

Parliament apologized to Arar and the government has been asking Washington to remove him from a watch list that prevents him fromtravelling to the U.S. andmakes himamarked man, despite being cleared in Canada.

However, the U.S. has refused and has not explained why.

'Go our own way'

The meeting between MacKay and Rice came a day after an Americansecurity official bluntlystatedthe U.S.would follow its own path on Arar without informing Canadians on its reasons.

"With respect to some issues, we're going to have to respectfully but firmly go our own way and the Arar matter, at least for now, is one of those," Paul Rosenzweig, acting assistant secretary for international affairs for the Department of Homeland Security, told reporters in Washington.

"As for the sharing of information with the Canadian government, while I do recognize that in an idealized world we would share every bit of intelligence information with all of our partners, in the real world that is an idealization that isn't achievable."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper told Sun Media that "as near as I can see, we simply have a U.S. government that won't admit it's wrong."

He said he can't compel the U.S. to explain why it still views Arar with suspicion.

"I'm not aware of the U.S. violating any law by not sharing it with us, but I'm obviously disappointed that they don't seem at this point to have responded fully to the conclusions of our own inquiry, and I have no explanation for why they're taking the position that they are."

Arar's lawsuit againstthe U.S.has been cited as one reason American authorities won't talk about the case.