U.S. Questioned About Arar Torture Case (evidence was not definitive)

[sabra]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2588333

U.S. Questioned About Arar Torture Case
Questions Raised About U.S. Conduct in Sending Canadian Citizen to Syria, Where He Was Abused

WASHINGTON Oct 19, 2006 (AP)— Days before the Bush administration put Canadian citizen Maher Arar on a plane for Syria, Canadian law enforcement officials advised their U.S. counterparts that evidence of terrorist links by Arar was not definitive.

Why the Bush administration still shipped Arar to Syria where he was tortured and whether he remains on the United States' terror watch list are still unknown. Administration officials refuse to talk about the case.

It has been a month since a Canadian commission cleared Syrian-born Arar of all suspicion of terrorist activity, yet Arar still can't get into the United States, one of his lawyers, Michael Ratner, said Thursday.

John Cavanagh, director of the Institute for Policy Studies, asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to clear Arar's name and let him come into the United States this week to receive a human rights award.

Gonzales did not reply, Cavanagh said. At the Justice Department, a spokesman said he was unaware of the letter and could not comment.

[Kagemusha]

1. No, you don't understand... the evidence was not conclusive, that's why

...the US had to send him to Syria to be tortured in order to obtain the appropriate evidence.

See? It's simple.

[grytpype]

4. Right!

Does Canada want us to wait until Mr. Arar does something overtly terroristic before we have him tortured? Better to torture him now and find out what he's really up to!

Damn, some people just don't know how to keep America safe!

[damntexdem]

7. And just imagine: there are now 300 million AMERICANS ...

just wandering around, most untortured. Who knows what they might be up to?

[leftchick]

2. wow! Torture has now become "abuse"?

way to go ABC!

[glarius]

3. Here's a thread I posted yesterday about this case.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2424393

Mr. Arar was linked up with Washington via video to receive his award. He's quite a hero here in Canada.

[sabra]

5. thank you, a hero indeed!

[BootinUp]

6. I doubt he will be allowed back in

for many many years.

[damntexdem]

8. If he were allowed in, would he be wise to come in?

There are likely still plenty of rendition flights, and plenty of destinations where torture is used. And simple publicity doesn't seem to affect the actions of the idiot in the WH.

[nealmhughes]

9. Isn't that the definition of kidnapping? By Chertoff, Bush or whomever

approved it, since he was in transit and merely changing planes in NY? I doubt he even got out of the international area before they grabbed him... How many statutes and treaties violated is that?