[R-G] Wash. Times Lauds Canadians for Barring Galloway & Ayers

[Anthony Fenton]

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/26/poetic-justice/

The Washington Times
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
EDITORIAL: Poetic justice

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

EDITORIAL:

American radicals had no trouble dodging their duty and crossing into  
Canada in the Vietnam era, but as radical William Ayers recently  
learned, our northern neighbor seems to have learned its lesson.

Canada has denied entry to Mr. Ayers twice in the past five months. At  
Toronto Island Airport, immigration officials denied him entry on Jan.  
18. Mr. Ayers let the press know about this major miscarriage of  
justice, later telling a Canadian reporter (without irony): "Are we  
living in some kind of McCarthyist nightmare?"

The Canadian government somehow survived Mr. Ayers' fusillade.

Then, on May 18, he was barred again. Sadly, he will have to deliver  
his remarks to an academic conference via teleconference.

We are sure that Canadian immigration officials have their reasons.  
Mr. Ayers co-founded the terrorist hippie group, the Weather  
Underground, that bombed the Pentagon, the U.S. Capitol, and New York  
City Police Headquarters; robbed banks; and assaulted policemen. He  
has not repented. On the eve of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks,  
he told the New York Times: "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we  
didn't do enough."

We doubt that Mr. Ayers is on some sort of watch list. Chances are the  
aging radical is right that his 40-year-old felony conviction is the  
reason. Canada has denied entry to American hunters with decades-old  
drunken-driving convictions and other comparatively minor offenses,  
costing its economy sizable fees. That our northern neighbor wants to  
bar anyone with a criminal record hardly seems the stuff of  
"nightmares."

George Galloway, the member of Britain's Parliament best-known for his  
cozy history with Saddam Hussein and his anti-American rants, was also  
barred by Canada because, according to press reports, he led a convoy  
to Gaza earlier this month that delivered humanitarian aid to the  
territory's Hamas government. Canada considers Hamas a terrorist  
organization, which, of course, it is.

Two lessons emerge from these events: The United States could learn  
from the Canadian example, and Mr. Ayers, with his stoked-up fears of  
"McCarthyist nightmares," needs to stop crying wolf. Or switch to  
decaf.