Those who think that torturing terrorism suspects is a necessary evil should consider the case of Maher Arar. The Canadian citizen and telecommunications engineer was detained in 2002 while changing planes in New York City on his way back to Canada from Switzerland. He was mistakenly identified as having ties to al-Qaida. Rather than sending him back to Canada or even Switzerland, U.S. officials sent him to Syria, which tortures prisoners. Arar was imprisoned for a year and beaten with a metal cable before finally being released and allowed to return home. Canadian officials apologized to Arar and awarded him about $10.3 million. But it wasn’t until last week that the U.S. Justice Department acknowledged that it was investigating the case, six years later.
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27 Comments
Something I don’t get- I thought Syria was not our friend. SO would Syria be running a prison for the US CIA? Did I miss something here? I have no doubt that Bush tortured the Canadian but I just do not get how Syria would be involved. Perhaps it was Israel, Egypt or Saudi Arabia that tortured him and they just say it was Syria to make Syria look bad. And another thing- why did the Canadian government pay him $10 million? It would seem to me that, if the American government kidnapped him in the USA, they should have paid him. This just doesn’t add up.
Kev in the immediate aftermath of 9-11 there were many countries willing to help. Friend and foe, Iraq offered to help us fight the terrorists along with most of the countries of the Middle east. They saw Al-Qaeda as a threat to them too.
The Syrias beat the man,not us. The Canadians provided the man to be deported, because it gave the U.S. leeway to do so. Canada could have stepped in, but they didn’t.
This is old news. Besides, didn’t this guy already become a multi-millionaire from the deal from Canada alone?
My advice - quit your bitchin’- get on with life.
Regular: Arar was on his way home from visiting relatives in Syria and Canada did not know Arar had been grabbed and it took Ottawa a long time to find the guy because the US is rather secret about it’s outsouring for torture needs. They did find him after an intensive lobbying of Syria though, and got Arar home. The US said it was preducicial to American interestes to just let him continue home to Canada and Rice as told the Canadian Government the US made a mistake in this case, but refused to apologize. I’m told the Canadian Government has been bewildered by the actions of America (read Bush) for years, but preferred to keep quite rather than openly criticize a friend but this case tipped the scales of Canadian public opinion to where 70%+ feel the US is the biggest obstacle to peace in the world, joining universally held negative views, well except for Israel. This case was held up as a prime example of US arrogance during a Senate investigation.
Why the Canadians paid 10 million
“An exhaustive inquiry by a Canadian commission found that Canadian police and intelligence officials had provided inaccurate information to their American counterparts, erroneously linking Mr. Arar to Al Qaeda. Canadian officials apologized to Mr. Arar and awarded him about $10.3 million.”
I say, let’s torture McCluer. He will be understanding, and if not, we can always tell him,
“quit your bitchin’- get on with life.”
LOL… entertainment this good shuold not be free…
Notice how Republicans want to “get on” and away from much these days? Could it be even they are beginning to recognize how bad the situation their party has created really is? Could they be seeing McCain is campaigning for bush’s third term so scrutiny can’t be a good thing?
Investigate! Everything! At least let history show the complete story. At least allow Americans to see how they were taken and have the opportunity to guard against future abuses.
If the US knowingly delivers a man into the hands of a torturing security force, it is the outsourcing of torture.
I agree linda. If even the Bush Justice department is looking at this think of what can happen with a REAL Justice Department. If we can get Democratic control of the Congress and the White House we just might get to the bottom of all of this.
I agree, Steven.
Let’s imprison him in Syria for a year and beat him with a metal cable.
Then when he’s released, we can say, “Hey, it wasn’t us, it was the Syrians. Quit b!tching and move on with your life.”
After all, the guy had access to a Quran whenever he wanted it. What more do you need?
Old Rush Limbaugh will probably fall back on his “this is no worse than Frat hazing,” which he really has no idea about since he never went to college.
And in spite of being a huge Vietnam War fan — and looking at his pictures, huge is no overstatement — he managed to evade the draft by claiming a butt boil.
You can’t make this stuff up when it comes to CON world.
StevenEDavis
Posted June 9, 2008 at 9:33 am | Permalink
I say, let’s torture McCluer. He will be understanding, and if not, we can always tell him,
“quit your bitchin’- get on with life.”
LOL… entertainment this good shuold not be free…
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Too late for that, was in a hospital for many months and had 18 months of excrutiating pain to deal with after that. And still have daily pain.
I know about pain and I also know how to get on with my life.
The Canadians screwed up and admitted their mistake. The U.S. did what the regulations told them to do under such circumstances.
The Canadians admitted their fault and compensated the man.
But hey Steven Davis and Crapn, do continue to be bitter old Libs.
I wonder if the CIA quit smuggling Cocaine after its rendition plane crashed in mexico with 5 tons of coke in it?
It is the US who sent him to Syria to be tortured. The US should be more culpable than Canada. He was never in Canadian custody.
bth
Posted June 9, 2008 at 11:31 am | Permalink
It is the US who sent him to Syria to be tortured. The US should be more culpable than Canada. He was never in Canadian custody.
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What a weasel statement.
The U.S., after being advised by the Canadians returned him to Syria. They didn’t send him to be tortured.
Ben, the king of weasel words.
This case was mentioned before on the blog and the fascists on the board applauded. As long as someone is being detained and tortured, innocent or not, like we’re in Stalinist Russia then they are happy.
Good weaseling job yourself irregular. According to the US state department the Justice Department KNEW Syria tortured prisoners. But, the Justice Department sent him there anyway.
By the way - if they were going to ‘return’ him someplace it should have been Switzerland - that is where his flight had originated.
bth
Posted June 9, 2008 at 11:51 am | Permalink
Good weaseling job yourself irregular. According to the US state department the Justice Department KNEW Syria tortured prisoners. But, the Justice Department sent him there anyway.
By the way - if they were going to ‘return’ him someplace it should have been Switzerland - that is where his flight had originated.
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So you want U.S. border agents to violate their own regulations, eh Ben?
Torture - Americans are supposed to be better than that……………..
Too late for that, was in a hospital for many months and had 18 months of excrutiating pain to deal with after that. And still have daily pain.
I know about pain and I also know how to get on with my life.
*****
Wow. That would mean something if your word meant something, Regular.
How’s Mississippi?
“Regular” –
Were your injuries worse than Carol McCain’s?
“For richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health” only applies to the idealist masses, MH, you know that.
Rich Repukes like McCain marry trophy wives with mega-bucks, “richer or poorer, my ass.”
As for the “in sickness and in health” wife . . . marriage vows be damned.
You don’t get to be John McCain by sticking to principle.
irregular - there were no regulations that required them to send him to Syria. That decision came from the White House. Regulations would have sent him to the point of origin of his flight - Switzerland. Or possibly simply detained him here.
OK — time to re-issue my challenge… All of you “good folks” who see no problems with torture… We will have a public display of waterboarding… not hollywood style… but the real thing… We will charge admission… You will each be waterboarded in public, and then you can each tell the asssembled masses why you believe it is/is not torture…
Charge $5 admission… all proceeds to Lord’s Diner…
Any takers???
Regular: What America got from Canada was the backround of a passenger, now demanded for all Canadian citizens taking any flights into, or over US territory. The Canadians admit that the information they gave to US intelligence could be used in a myriad of ways, the prospect of torture was not one of them. The man held dual citizenship and US Intel linked the rather common name Arar to certain cells. Did you hear about Quebecer living in a town that has the international boundary line running through it, who was arrested becase he entered the US illegally? Seems the rules changed about getting gas, and notice was posted at the pumps saying folks now had to drive to US Customs and say they we headed to get gas. The entry/exit ramps to the pumps are in Canada the pumps themselves are in the US. He reads French only(Quebecois)and just wanted gas before going hunting as he had done for years. He was picked-up, charged up as a terrorist carrying a weapon and held in solitary for a month in until Powell arranged for his release as a “gesture”. Vermonters were horrified but helpless to intervene. There are towns along the border where a critical facility is on one side of the line only. Quebecois firefighters hell bent for mercy, were rushing into New York State and held up because one of the firefighters name was on a “list”. Wrong guy, this Canadian had been fighting fires in NY for decades. The building burnt down. There is more than the Arar case that puzzles our northern cousins.
Hey regular, how about we send you to be tortured…we can pay you off afterwards.
Right there is republican morality. Hey, doens’t matter that we took you away from your family and you probably thought you were going to die for a year…hey we gave you money.
How about DOING THE RIGHT THING to keep that from happening again douchebag.
Not quite correct p-mama: WE didn’t pay him off; someone else did. Now that is the REAL Republican morality - get someone else to pay for your screw-ups. Just like Bush did with all his failed businesses.