Larisa Alexandrovna On New Documents Re: Canadian Citizen Arar/Extraordinary Rendition

[Hissyspit]

http://www.atlargely.com/2007/08/they-hate-us-fo.html

They hate us for our freedom?

I give you the human rights policy of the United States:

"The previously blacked-out passages in the documents were released after a court order. US security officials arrested Mr Arar at a New York airport in 2002 and deported him to Syria. In Canada, a government inquiry completely exonerated Mr Arar of any links with terrorist groups. The Canadian government had fought to keep the unreleased sections of documents submitted to the Maher Arar inquiry from coming out.

They reveal that in 2002 a Canadian intelligence official in Washington wrote to his superiors about the so-called rendition to third countries by the FBI and the CIA.

- snip -

Canada has awarded the man $10 million and made a formal apology. The US? Well first let's look at the summary of this case:

- snip -

Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen, was detained during a layover at John F. Kennedy International Airport in September 2002 on his way home to his family in Canada. He was held in solitary confinement in the U.S. for nearly two weeks, interrogated, and denied meaningful access to a lawyer. The Bush administration labelled him a member of Al Qaeda and rendered him, not to Canada, his home and country of citizenship, but to Syrian intelligence authorities, known by the U.S. government to practice torture. While in Syria, he was regularly tortured for almost a year before being released to Canada.

Both the Canadian and Syrian governments have publicly cleared Arar of any links to terrorism. The United States government, however, refuses to clear Arar’s name and continues to have both him and his family on a watchlist."(Wiki)

So I ask again, if both the Syrian government and the Canadian government have cleared him, why won't the US even acknowledge that they were wrong? Because what they did is illegal and punishable under the terms set forth during the Nuremberg Trials. It is criminal. The only reason Arar did not win his legal case in the US against the Bush administration is because the judge in the case classified the case and dismissed it on the grounds of national security. Proud yet?

CBC Video Here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x46442

[Clintonista2]

1. It's disguisting

It's part of a larger problem, the contempt for which many Americans, and this particular administration especially, hold towards other countries. My avatar used to be a Canadian flag, but even here on DU, I find that people really don't have much respect for your opinion if you aren't an American citizen. Why should a Canadian care about American politics? For this exact reason. Yea it would be nice if I didn't have to worry about whether the next American administration is going to deport my fellow citizens to Syria to be tortured, or whether it's going to renegade on trade agreements it doesn't want to follow. Unfortunatley, that's the way it is.

[Kurovski]

2. K&R. (nt)