Further action on Arar up to Americans

Arar's case gets some sympathy. Senator Leahy has also requested more information and is being stonewalled. Hopefully, he will take furth action.


(Mar 8, 2007)

Maher Arar has received an apology as well as financial compensation from the Canadian government for the role federal officials played in having him sent from the United States to Syria where he was tortured. This was certainly appropriate. Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian, was not the security risk that he was initially made out to be.

Canada, in short, has done what it can to enable Arar to live without any suspicion that he is a terrorist. Regrettably, up to this point, the government of the United States has not taken the same position. It has continued to keep Arar on a list of foreigners who are not allowed to enter the United States for security reasons, or, as the Canadian government might say, for so-called security reasons.

The case to completely clear Arar's name has been made at the highest level. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has gone so far as to say he suspects U.S. bureaucrats just don't want to acknowledge a mistake.

The American government's viewpoint may be unreasonable but there is little more the Canadian government can do on Arar's behalf. Ottawa cannot force the U.S. to instruct its border guards to permit Arar into that country should he wish to do so. The United States is a sovereign country, entitled to grant or deny entry to whoever it wants.

Arar's vindication in the U.S. will have to come from Americans, not Canadians. Fortunately, there is some evidence that quite a few Americans have heard of his case and are sympathetic to him.

Democrats in Congress have mentioned the Arar case as a good example of what should not happen. Representative Ed Markey of Massachusetts has reintroduced a bill to halt the practice of sending people to countries where they will be tortured. This, of course, is exactly what happened to Arar. Markey has the support of 44 other Democrats. They think Arar's rights were grossly violated.

Markey, quite rightly, pointed out that this practice, "undermines our international standing because our own gross hypocrisy prevents us from advocating for improved human-rights policies around the globe." The process is even worse when it is applied to an innocent person such as Arar.

Clearly, some congressional leaders realize that some of the tactics that President George W. Bush's government has used in the war on terror have not helped anyone. They have only embarrassed Americans.

Like all countries, the United States has its faults, but it is still a country that vigorously debates positions taken by its government -- and that is good for the U.S. and good for democracy.

An Update on the Arar Case

I really can't fathom Leahy. There is no reason on earth why he could not say whether he thought that Arar should remain on the no-fly list. Given his weasel words on this I would not have much confidence that there will be much of an investigation by congress into rendition but I hope I am wrong.
This article shows how Jordan is complicit in rendition. It shows too that they have little qualms about really telling whoppers about Arar!


U.S. senators won't let Arar case drop
PAUL KORING AND JEFF SALLOT

Globe and Mail Update

WASHINGTON AND OTTAWA — A top-secret briefing yesterday failed to convince two senior U.S. senators that the Bush administration was right to send Maher Arar to Syria.

Both Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy and Republican Senator Arlen Specter, the chairman and ranking member of the Senate judiciary committee, said the briefing resulted in more questions than answers.

Neither would say whether they had been convinced of the merits of the U.S. government's position that Mr. Arar should remain on a no-fly list — effectively banned from entering the United States — despite being exonerated in Canada and paid $11.5-million in compensation by Ottawa.

"To respond to your questions would inevitably involve classified material," Mr. Specter said.

Related to this article

Maher Arar discusses the government's apology and compensation package at a news conference in Ottawa on Jan. 26. Mr. Arar was wrongfully deported to, detained, and tortured in Syria. (Tom Hanson/CP Photo)

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Mr. Arar was detained while in transit at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport in 2002 by U.S. agents acting on information provided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that identified him as a suspected terrorist. He was sent to Syria after a special order signed by the deputy U.S. attorney-general and after assurances from Damascus that he would not be mistreated.

Mr. Leahy, who has championed the Arar case in the United States, has said that that kind of midnight rendition had sullied the reputation of the United States. (Extraordinary rendition is the term used for the grabbing terrorism suspects and sending them overseas for interrogation.)

"That has happened a number of times in the past five years," Mr. Leahy said in an angry exchange with U.S. Attorney-General Alberto Gonzalez. "It is a black mark on us. It has brought about the condemnation of some of our closest and best allies."

He said after yesterday's briefing that his primary concern — an explanation as to why Mr. Arar, who is both a Canadian and Syrian citizen, was bundled aboard a chartered jet and sent to Damascus rather than returned to Canada — has not been given.

Yesterday's classified briefing came after Mr. Leahy publicly rebuked Mr. Gonzalez last month for failing to answer questions about Mr. Arar's treatment.

Asked if the senators had found out whether Canadian authorities were asked to take Mr. Arar back in 2002, before he was sent to Syria, but rebuffed the offer, Mr. Leahy said, "That's a excellent question," adding, "You should ask them."

The Pennsylvania Republican said he and Mr. Leahy were unable to provide details of what they had been told, but wanted "to give public assurance that this matter is under intensive congressional oversight."

Mr. Arar's lawyer, Lorne Waldman, said he is pleased that the two U.S. senators are not going to let the matter drop.

"There is no justification for sending anyone to Syria for torture, much less an innocent man like Maher Arar," he said.

Despite the Canadian government's apology to Mr. Arar last week and payment of $11.5-million in compensation, there are still a number of important, unfinished items of business in the case, Mr. Waldman said.

For instance, Canada should officially protest to the Jordanian government for its "bald-faced lies" to the United Nations about its involvement in Mr. Arar's deportation.

Mr. Arar was first taken to Jordan aboard a U.S. government flight before being transported overland to Syria. Senior Jordanian intelligence officials told a UN human-rights investigator that Mr. Arar arrived as a normal passenger aboard a commercial Royal Jordanian Airlines flight. The Jordanians said Mr. Arar could not remain in their country because he was on a terrorist watch list.

Mr. Arar, the Jordanians claimed, asked to be driven to Syria.

The UN human-rights investigators said in a recent report that the Jordanian claim that Mr. Arar wanted to go to Syria is "astonishing" and "is clearly contradicted" by well-established evidence. The UN report also said the Jordanian claim that it does not torture prisoners is also not credible.

Mr. Waldman said Canadian officials have to ask hard questions about whether they can co-operate with Jordan on anti-terrorism cases if Jordanian officials are so blatantly lying about their involvement in the Arar case.

Report on Gonzales briefing of Specter and Leahy

U.S. senators briefed on Maher Arar. This report did not mention Leahy's refusal to say whether Arar should remain on the list. We will have to keep watching to see if there is any GAO investigation into these matters and if congress keeps up any pressure to examine rendition.


Canadian Press


Thursday, February 01, 2007





WASHINGTON (CP) — Two U.S. senators who have been briefed on the Maher Arar case say they have a lot more questions.

But Democrat Patrick Leahy and and Republican Arlen Specter clammed up about what they were told by Justice Department officials today during a meeting that lasted an hour and 40 minutes.

They say the information is classified but wanted to assure people that the file was receiving a lot of congressional oversight.

The two senators say they want to know more about why Arar was sent to Syria and why the United States won’t take him off its security watch list when he’s been completely exonerated in Canada.

Leahy also wants the Government Accountability Office to look into Arar’s case. The office is already conducting a study of how people make it onto the U.S. no-fly list.

Leahy angrily demanded answers last month from Gonzales at a public hearing, saying the case was a black mark on the United States.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leahy questions Gonzales on Arar affair

Leahy is wrong in saying that Arar would have been held and charged if he had been returned to Canada. In fact the US authorities were informed that Canada had no grounds upon which to arrest Arar and charge him.
Gonzales is a poor excuse for a lawyer. He wants to redefine torture out of existence except in the absolute worst cases. No doubt that is why Bush wanted him appointed. How anyone can say with a straight face that they had assurances from Syria that Arar would not be tortured is beyond me, especially since the whole purpose of sending him there was to extract information by torture.
Chertoff is a complete incompetent. He seems not to know that there is nothing theoretical about Arar's position. He has already not attended an award given him in the US because he feared he might be detained. This is the same idiot who ran the New Orleans relief programme. He learned that there were people in a stadium in dire straits long after every one else had seen it on TV!



Thursday » January 18 » 2007

U.S. Senate demands answers from White House on Arar affair

Sheldon Alberts
CanWest News Service
Thursday, January 18, 2007
WASHINGTON —U.S. Senate Democrats on Thursday threatened congressional hearings into the Maher Arar affair, calling the deportation of the Canadian engineer to Syria a “black mark” on America. Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, demanded the Bush administration provide intelligence information to back its claim Arar was ever a security threat to Americans. The Vermont Democrat also asked for a detailed explanation about why Arar still remains on a U.S. terror watch list despite being cleared last year by a Canadian inquiry. During a heated exchange at the committee with U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Leahy said he was perplexed “this country has not said anything at all that we made a mistake or had any apology” to Arar.“The Canadian government has apologized for its part in this debacle,” Leahy said.“Why is he on a (U.S.) government watch list if he’s been found completely innocent by this Canadian commission?”Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian, was detained by U.S. authorities at New York’s JFK airport in 2002 and deported to Syria, where he was imprisoned and tortured for nearly a year. Justice Dennis O’Connor, in report last September to the federal government, found no evidence Arar was a security threat and said the RCMP gave false information to U.S. authorities identifying the former Ottawa engineer as an Islamic extremist. Former RCMP commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli resigned over the case and apologized last year —the only Canadian official to publicly express regret to Arar and his family. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has actually deferred an apology until a civil suit against the federal government is complete.Gonzales promised to provide Democrats and Republicans on the judiciary committee with a confidential briefing on Arar within a week, saying he had “some very definite views about this particular case.”In fact, Gonzales added: “We may be able to say more about this publicly shortly. I’m just not at liberty at this time to say more.” Leahy said he found it inexcusable that U.S. officials did not return Arar to Canada after detaining him on suspicions of connections to a terrorist network.“We knew damn well if he went back to Canada he wouldn’t be tortured. He would be held and he would be investigated,” Leahy thundered, wagging his finger at Gonzales. “We also knew damn well if he went to Syria he would be tortured. And it’s beneath the dignity of this country, a country that has always been a beacon of human rights, to send somebody to another country to be tortured. It’s a black mark on us. It has brought about the condemnation of some of our closest and best allies.”Gonzales said “there were assurances sought that (Arar) would not be tortured” by Syria.“We understand what our legal obligations are with respect to when someone is either removed, extradited or rendered to another country,” Gonzales said. “We understand what our obligations are under the conventions against torture, and we do take the steps to ensure that those obligations are being met.”Because Arar is currently suing the U.S. government, Gonzales said he could not make any more extensive comments. Leahy, however, was undeterred.“It is easy for us to sit here comfortably in this room knowing that we’re not going to be sent off to another country to be tortured,” he said. “Canadians, who have been our closest allies, longest unguarded frontier in the world, they’re justifiably wondering what’s happened to us ... Let’s not create more terrorism around the world by telling the world that we cannot keep up to our basic standards and beliefs.”After Leahy paused, Gonzales told the senator “before you get more upset, perhaps you should wait to receive the briefing.”Replied Leahy: “I’ll wait (until) next week for that briefing. If we don’t get it, I guarantee you there will be another hearing on this issue.”The confrontation follows Canadian requests last year that the U.S. provide information showing why Arar remains on a U.S. terror watch list. Ottawa also filed a formal complaint about Arar’s treatment by American law-enforcement authorities. Public Security Minister Stockwell Day, in Washington for meetings with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, said the U.S. has since provided Canada with some new information on Arar. Nothing in the U.S. dossier so far has changed Canada’s view Arar poses no threat to either country, said Day, who discussed the case with Chertoff during their Thursday meeting. “We have made it clear to the Americans we have removed Arar from the (Canadian terror watch) list, as we have with his family, and there has been no further evidence presented to us suggesting we should have done otherwise,” said Day.“We have seen some recent (U.S.) information that has not altered our opinion on this at all.”The Bush administration agreed to review the intelligence file on Arar after an appeal last month by Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she has personally asked Chertoff to re-examine the Arar case. But Chertoff told reporters he was “not at liberty to comment” on Arar because of privacy rules. Regardless of whether Arar remains on a terror list, he said, is “kind of a hypothetical issue” because it is only relevant if he tries to enter the U.S. “If and when anybody wants to come into the United States and present themselves, we will make a judgment at that time about their admissibility,” Chertoff said.

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