White House Backs Torture-Abroad, Law Bypasses U.S. Restraints

[G_j]

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1001-21.htm

Published on Friday, October 1, 2004 by the Toronto Star

White House Backs Torture-Abroad
Law Bypasses U.S. Interrogation Restraints, 'Rendition'
Bill Angers Canadian Arar

By Michelle Shephard

WASHINGTON - The White House has endorsed a proposed bill that would make it legal for U.S. intelligence officials to deport individuals to countries known to use torture to extract information.


The "9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act" marks the first time the U.S. government has officially scripted its policy known as "extraordinary rendition," whereby American authorities can circumvent their own restraints on interrogations by sending suspects to countries known to employ harsh tactics.

Canadian Maher Arar alleges he was a victim of this practice, which is the crux of the lawsuit he has launched against the U.S. government. Arar was detained in New York on Sept. 26, 2002, on a stopover flight to Canada, and after two weeks was quietly deported on a private plane to Syria, via Jordan. He says he was questioned and tortured for almost two weeks, then held without charges in deplorable conditions for a year.

"What does this mean for Canada? Should we keep maintaining the sharing of information knowing now, publicly, that this is going to happen?" Arar said in an interview Wednesday. "This administration is now showing their real face and hopefully people now understand what kind of human rights they're trying to violate."

..more..

[Disturbed]

1. "deported on a private plane to Syria"

Strange. I thought that Syria was on the US Govt. shit list.

The US Govt. has been doing this all along. They now want to make it legal to avoid War Crime charges.

[whistle]

2. Outsourcing torture, as nice way to deal with the enemy...

...and also why George Bush refuses to sign the International Criminal Court Agreement on behalf of the United States. As Shrub said in the debate on Thursday, "I won't sign the agreement because Americans will be prosecuted as criminals". Well dahaaa, torture is a crime stupid!

<link> http://www.un.org/law/icc/

[G_j]

3. don't you just hate it when

criminals are prosecuted as criminals?