February 3, 2007 8:42 AM

If you can't find terrorists, you can always create your own. It certainly worked in Iraq.

Canada apologizes, pays millions to U.S. terror suspect

Canada to innocent terror suspect deported and tortured for a year: “Our bad. Here’s $9 million, we’re cool, right?”

OTTAWA — Maher Arar, the Canadian software engineer who was detained by U.S. officials in 2002 and deported to Syria, where he was jailed and regularly tortured, will receive $9.75 million in compensation from the Canadian government, under a settlement announced Friday. The compensation ends a lawsuit brought by Arar and follows a recommendation from a judicial inquiry that the expulsion to Syria was caused by false assertions by the Canadian police to U.S. officials that Arar was an Islamic extremist linked to al-Qaida. Arar, traveling on a Canadian passport, was pulled aside by U.S. immigration agents in New York as he changed planes on his way to Ottawa from Tunisia. He was instead flown by private jet to Syria, his birthplace. The Canadian judicial inquiry cleared Arar of any terrorism connections in 2006, and concluded that anonymous Canadian officials had orchestrated a defamation campaign against him following his return from Syria in October 2003.

Oops…our bad…here’s $9 million…now can we let bygones be bygones??

It’s one thing to want to prevent terrorism. It’s quite another when the desire to do so leads to the wanton violation of an individual’s human rights- an individual whose only apparent “crime” was “trying to fly while swarthy”. Yeah, the old “if he looks like a terrorist, and walks like a terrorist…he must BE a terrorist, eh?”

And for that and that alone, an individual can be detained and whisked off to another country with no warning, to be questioned and tortured. Who are the terrorists now??

As he announced the settlement, Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered a formal apology to Arar, his wife and two children.

“On behalf of the government of Canada, I want to extend a full apology to you and Monia as well as your family for the role played by Canadian officials in the terrible ordeal that you experienced in 2002 and 2003,” Harper said in Ottawa.

Arar, whose career was destroyed by the episode and who has suffered emotional problems since returning to Canada, said the government’s apology was more important for him than the settlement.

Credit Arar for being gracious enough to accept what seems to be a heartfelt apology from the Canadian government. It’s just too bad, though hardly surprising, that the US government in their anti-terrorist zeal still isn’t convinced that Arar is not a terrorist.

Well, you know….he still kinda looks like a terrorist….

After apologizing, Harper renewed calls for the United States to remove Arar from its terrorist watch list.

“Canada fully understands and appreciates and shares the United States’ concerns with regard to security,” he said. “However, the Canadian government has every right to go to bat when it believes one of its citizens has been treated unfairly by another government.”

Arar’s case is an example of “extraordinary rendition,” a covert U.S. practice of sending terrorism suspects to third countries for detention and interrogation. Often those countries have more relaxed rules regarding torture.

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff have told Canadian officials that Arar is still on the watch list because of information about him obtained independently by U.S. authorities.

After reviewing a confidential file on Arar, Stockwell Day, Canada’s public safety minister, said that it contains “nothing new” that justifies blocking Arar from entering the U.S.

This week, David Wilkins, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, publicly rebuked Day. “It’s a little presumptuous for him to say who the United States can and cannot allow into our country,” Wilkins said at a news conference in Edmonton, Alberta.

Ah, “extraordinary rendition”, that hallmark of a democratic and free society. A “person of interest” can be whisked quietly off to a Third World country, and there be subjected to any sort of interrogation method their inquisitor deems appropriate. With no representation or even in most cases notification provided to friends and loved ones, an indivdual can simply be “disappeared” for as long as our government deems necessary.

Time was when America was a shining example for democracy and for the rights of individuals to live as they saw fit. We cherished individuality and the prosperity it brought when ideas and passions could be turned into profitable enterprises. We encouraged mavericks and those who thought “outside the box”. Since 9.11, though, we have allowed ourselves to become a nation of paranoids, and we’ve allowed our government to turn the screws ever tighter on our civil liberties.

How long before we’re subjected to strip searches and cavity checks before being allowed to board an airplane. You may laugh at the thought, but it’s not idle speculation. While I agree that maintaining strict and strong security is an unfortunate necessity, must we sacrifice our dignity and civil rights for it?

Maher Arar was apparently guilty of the high crime of looking like a terrorist (And doesn’t every swarthy, bearded male LOOK like a terrorist these days?). If this is allowed to continue without recourse, then the terrorists really have won. We will have become them in our effort to avoid being destroyed by them.

Talk about your Pyrrhic victory….

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on February 3, 2007 8:42 AM.

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