The U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins said today that the U.S. still considers Maher Arar a threat. Here’s some addition comments given by U.S.  State Department spokesman Sean McCormack who was asked today about the Arar case:

QUESTION: A question from Canada about the case of Maher Arar. He was the
Canadian that was deported from --

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: Anyways, since he was deported to Syria and tortured and two false
confessions of terrorist activity, a Canadian federal inquiry has cleared him
of any wrongdoing. Today the U.S. Ambassador to Canada confirmed that he's
still on the U.S. terror watch list. Why is that?

MR. MCCORMACK: I can't tell you the reasons for that. I don't know. The terror
watch list is managed here by the U.S. Government. There's a lot of different
inputs to it. I can tell you it's not a State Department input that has
resulted in his still being on the list. I'm happy to look further into the
question for you, but I can't tell you why. I don't know why.

QUESTION: I'm wondering if the U.S. Government has been in contact with the
Canadian Government about his case since the federal inquiry and shared the
information about his, you know, exoneration.

MR. MCCORMACK: I think there have been some exchanges. I don't have the details
for you though.