NYT: Torture Victim Had No Terror Link, Canada Told U.S.

[DeepModem Mom]

Torture Victim Had No Terror Link, Canada Told U.S.
By SCOTT SHANE
Published: September 25, 2006


(Dave Chan/Reuters)
Maher Arar, at a news conference last week in Ottawa, was tortured in Syria. The United States had sent him there, saying he was a terrorist.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 — When the United States sent Maher Arar to Syria, where he was tortured for months, the deportation order stated unequivocally that Mr. Arar, a Canadian software engineer, was a member of Al Qaeda. But a few days earlier, Canadian investigators had told the F.B.I. that they had not been able to link him to the terrorist group.

That is one of the disclosures in the 1,200-page report released last week after a two-year Canadian investigation of Mr. Arar’s case found him to be innocent of any terrorist ties. The report urges the Canadian government to formally protest the American treatment of Mr. Arar, a recommendation Canadian officials are considering.

Mr. Arar, 37, who now lives in British Columbia, has a lawsuit against United States officials and agencies that is on appeal, and he has demanded an explanation for his treatment from the Bush administration.

A close reading of the Arar Commission report offers a rare window on American actions in the case, describing seemingly flimsy evidence behind the American decision in 2002 to send Mr. Arar to a country notorious for torture; a deliberate attempt by American officials to deceive Canada about where Mr. Arar was; and lingering confusion among top American officials about the two countries’ roles in the case.

President Bush earlier this month acknowledged for the first time that high-level people suspected of being terrorists had been held in secret prisons overseas by the Central Intelligence Agency. But he and other officials have said nothing publicly about the American practice of rendition, in which dozens of suspects have been seized and turned over for interrogation to other countries, including several known to engage routinely in torture....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/25/world/americas/25arar.html

[LynnTheDem]

1. When will Americans ask WTF a member of al Qaeda was sent to SYRIA

instead of being imprisoned & tried in AMERICA?

Ignore the fact Mr. Arar was not a member of al Qaeda...most the disappeared at America's gitmo gulag are also innocent men & boys, not members of al Qaeda or any other terrorist group.

[GliderGuider]

3. I'm still wondering why the US sent him to that particular country

Syria is, after all, a junior partner in the Axis of Eeeeeevil. Why would the USA have expected Arar to be tortured for his membership in al Qaeda, rather than being given a hero's welcome and a state dinner? Are there two factions at work in Syrian officialdom, one that tortures terrorists and a different one that supports them? This makes no sense. What gives here?

[LynnTheDem]

4. Exactly; but RWnuts are too MFing stupid to have thought about that.

If Syria = evil supporters of terrorists/terrorism, WHY THE FUCK would bush send an AL QAEDA AGENT to SYRIA???!!

DUHHHHHHHHHHH!

But rightwingnuts truly are the stupidest MFers.

Ever.

[ShortnFiery]

2. If the Torture Bill passes the Senate, you can bet that the definition

of "A Terrorist" will be expanded to include ANYONE whom The Executive Branch considers their political enemy. :scared: